A Journey
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Skin of Evil – C
This was much better than I had remembered, but the last scene where Yar had her good-byes was just drawn out way to long. This episode was penned by Joseph Stefano, who produced and wrote some of the original Outer Limits episodes, and it showed. I think it got watered down by the other writer that shared the credits, IMO. The oil monster was quite good, actually. I had to downgrade it from a C+ to a C because of Yar babbling on during the last scene. It would have been more touching if they would have cut that in half.
We’ll Always Have Paris – B-
This is a good episode all around, with some touching scenes on the holodeck with Picard. Stewart is in good form in this episode, and the holodeck gets one of its more sensible uses this time. Mama Phillips is quite attractive, quite. It makes me want to find an old CD of the Mamas and Pappas.
The time ripples were fun, along with the three Data’s. It was also quite interesting seeing Beverly miffed about Picard’s old flame. This has always been one of my first season favorites, and it still is.
Conspiracy – B
What can I say? For me, this is the best episode of season one right here. A tight show, written well, and tense all the way to the closing credits. As do all TNG fans, I wish they had followed this up with a direct sequel, but we all know what happened with that idea.
Even though Remmick redeems himself at the end of Coming of Age (or was that a ruse?) it was good watching him get barbequed.
One small point, why wasn’t the neck antenna more obvious to everyone. It was sticking out over an inch from the skin, which should have been noticed. Also how come the transporter’s bio-filters didn’t catch it? Oh well, still a damn good episode.
The Neutral Zone – C+
This one, while a very good episode, just can not get a B from me because of the B plot with those folks from the 20th century. The girl was OK, and understandable, but Mr. Financier and Mr. Southern Hick grated on my nerves. I did like Mr. Financier’s reaction to the Romulans though, that scene alone almost saves his silly character.
The fact that someone unbeknownst to both Romulans and the Federation did this is another mystery that should have been followed up on, but wasn’t. This is two good shows in a row that should have had sequels.
And how cool was it back in 1988 to see the Rommies back!
This was much better than I had remembered, but the last scene where Yar had her good-byes was just drawn out way to long. This episode was penned by Joseph Stefano, who produced and wrote some of the original Outer Limits episodes, and it showed. I think it got watered down by the other writer that shared the credits, IMO. The oil monster was quite good, actually. I had to downgrade it from a C+ to a C because of Yar babbling on during the last scene. It would have been more touching if they would have cut that in half.
We’ll Always Have Paris – B-
This is a good episode all around, with some touching scenes on the holodeck with Picard. Stewart is in good form in this episode, and the holodeck gets one of its more sensible uses this time. Mama Phillips is quite attractive, quite. It makes me want to find an old CD of the Mamas and Pappas.
The time ripples were fun, along with the three Data’s. It was also quite interesting seeing Beverly miffed about Picard’s old flame. This has always been one of my first season favorites, and it still is.
Conspiracy – B
What can I say? For me, this is the best episode of season one right here. A tight show, written well, and tense all the way to the closing credits. As do all TNG fans, I wish they had followed this up with a direct sequel, but we all know what happened with that idea.
Even though Remmick redeems himself at the end of Coming of Age (or was that a ruse?) it was good watching him get barbequed.
One small point, why wasn’t the neck antenna more obvious to everyone. It was sticking out over an inch from the skin, which should have been noticed. Also how come the transporter’s bio-filters didn’t catch it? Oh well, still a damn good episode.
The Neutral Zone – C+
This one, while a very good episode, just can not get a B from me because of the B plot with those folks from the 20th century. The girl was OK, and understandable, but Mr. Financier and Mr. Southern Hick grated on my nerves. I did like Mr. Financier’s reaction to the Romulans though, that scene alone almost saves his silly character.
The fact that someone unbeknownst to both Romulans and the Federation did this is another mystery that should have been followed up on, but wasn’t. This is two good shows in a row that should have had sequels.
And how cool was it back in 1988 to see the Rommies back!
Now I'm way behind and I started like 4 months before you did. Slow down. 
To review the first season, below are the episodes sorted by the grade I gave them. It would appear that I said Conspiracy was the best of the season, but yet I gave 11001001 a better grade. Well, that just goes to show ya that you can’t trust old people. 
What is most surprising to me is that when I average all those grades out (by assigning them a number in Excel) the season averaged out to be a C. Frankly, going into season one I would have thought I would have given it a lower over all grade. It was certainly a mixed season of hits and misses, that’s for sure.
I’m going to give TNG a break so some of yall can catch up to me. But be forewarned, I’m in a TNG mood now, so I might start sneaking a peek into season two this weekend.
11001001 – B+
Conspiracy – B
Where No One Has Gone Before - B-
The Big Goodbye – B-
Datalore – B-
We’ll Always Have Paris – B-
Encounter at Farpoint C+
The Battle – C+
Home Soil – C+
The Neutral Zone – C+
Angel One – C
Heart of Glory – C
The Arsenal of Freedom – C
Skin of Evil – C
The Naked Now - C-
Lonely Among Us – C-
Haven – C-
Coming of Age – C-
When the Bough Breaks – D+
Symbiosis – D+
The Last Outpost – D
Hide and Q – D
Code of Honor – F
Justice – F
What is most surprising to me is that when I average all those grades out (by assigning them a number in Excel) the season averaged out to be a C. Frankly, going into season one I would have thought I would have given it a lower over all grade. It was certainly a mixed season of hits and misses, that’s for sure.
I’m going to give TNG a break so some of yall can catch up to me. But be forewarned, I’m in a TNG mood now, so I might start sneaking a peek into season two this weekend.
11001001 – B+
Conspiracy – B
Where No One Has Gone Before - B-
The Big Goodbye – B-
Datalore – B-
We’ll Always Have Paris – B-
Encounter at Farpoint C+
The Battle – C+
Home Soil – C+
The Neutral Zone – C+
Angel One – C
Heart of Glory – C
The Arsenal of Freedom – C
Skin of Evil – C
The Naked Now - C-
Lonely Among Us – C-
Haven – C-
Coming of Age – C-
When the Bough Breaks – D+
Symbiosis – D+
The Last Outpost – D
Hide and Q – D
Code of Honor – F
Justice – F
I think I'm going to try to get done with Season 1 by the end of this weekend. Depends on what I'm doing but I will probably watch some tonight.
Ummm...
--->
<---(That's a hint.)
EDIT: You should be up to "Q Who?" in about a week or so at the rate you're going. Listen for a reference there.
I finished Disc 5 of Season 1 (Might watch Arsenal of Freedom tonight as well) and might as well write about them. I'm finding a new appreciation for TNG doing this I think. Maybe it was lack of motivation during the summer (Farscape distracted me a lot and I still miss that show 
), but now that we're doing this journey thing, I have a renewed sense of interest. Anyway, onto the episodes:
Home Soil
Yes it's kind of a retelling of one of Star Trek's all time classic episodes and probably my favorite episode of that series, Devil in the Dark. Silicon based lifeform, terraforming crew, misunderstanding, all of it was there. Still, I love this episode as one of the more underrated shows because it was a great scifi story and had a good messege. I still love us being described as Ugly Bags of Mostly Water, and just the crew working together made this a great episode to see. The scene when they discover what the lifeform truely was remains a hell of a scene.
Grade: B
Coming of Age
Yes there is too much Wesley, but still like Wesley so there. . It was a decent episode but it set up the conspiracy arc really well. I also liked the sense of how this ship is becoming a family and picard being kind of like a soul that holds it all together.
Grade: C+
Heart of Glory
This is still a kick ass episode delving greatly into klingon culture. It's amazing that Worf's arc concluded with him taking that commander's word and going back to Quonos as federation ambassador. That all was started in this little episode of TNG. I loved the scene in engineering when Worf has to kill Korris.
B+
), but now that we're doing this journey thing, I have a renewed sense of interest. Anyway, onto the episodes:Home Soil
Yes it's kind of a retelling of one of Star Trek's all time classic episodes and probably my favorite episode of that series, Devil in the Dark. Silicon based lifeform, terraforming crew, misunderstanding, all of it was there. Still, I love this episode as one of the more underrated shows because it was a great scifi story and had a good messege. I still love us being described as Ugly Bags of Mostly Water, and just the crew working together made this a great episode to see. The scene when they discover what the lifeform truely was remains a hell of a scene.
Grade: B
Coming of Age
Yes there is too much Wesley, but still like Wesley so there.
. It was a decent episode but it set up the conspiracy arc really well. I also liked the sense of how this ship is becoming a family and picard being kind of like a soul that holds it all together. Grade: C+
Heart of Glory
This is still a kick ass episode delving greatly into klingon culture. It's amazing that Worf's arc concluded with him taking that commander's word and going back to Quonos as federation ambassador. That all was started in this little episode of TNG. I loved the scene in engineering when Worf has to kill Korris.
B+
I'm not going to grade episodes, just comment on them and point out at least one of my favorite moments.
Datalore - Hey, it's a Data episode, how can I NOT like it? Great moments include Data trying to learn how to sneeze. There are so many other great moments but I can't think of specifics at the moment.
Angel One - I like this episode. Great moments include Data learning about perfume (his reaction was funny when he accidentally squirted himself in the face) and Tasha and Deanna's reactions to Riker wearing that outfit.
11001001 - One of my favorite episodes, though I don't have any particular favorite moments. I know there were a few good laugh out loud moments but I can't remember any at the moment (I went to a party after watching this. It's been a couple hours, and I also have a headache.)
Datalore - Hey, it's a Data episode, how can I NOT like it? Great moments include Data trying to learn how to sneeze. There are so many other great moments but I can't think of specifics at the moment.
Angel One - I like this episode. Great moments include Data learning about perfume (his reaction was funny when he accidentally squirted himself in the face) and Tasha and Deanna's reactions to Riker wearing that outfit.
11001001 - One of my favorite episodes, though I don't have any particular favorite moments. I know there were a few good laugh out loud moments but I can't remember any at the moment (I went to a party after watching this. It's been a couple hours, and I also have a headache.)
I’ve never thought of that. Great point, and yes, two good episodes.
Data came off a little silly in the beginning, but rapidly grew into a great character. Spiner is a much better actor that some folks give him credit for. I always have been and will be a big fan of Masks.
Pixie Dark said:
OMG! Me, too. That's two of us on the board.
I like that episode too. That scene with Tasha and Troi when they see Riker in that outfit is too funny!! And bonus...no Wesley in this episode.
Too Short A Season - Meh. Nothing special.
When the Bough Breaks - This is a cute episode. The ending is particularly funny, too (that little girl puts the furry thing on Picard's back and the whole bridge crew laughs when he's not looking.)
I'm REALLY looking forward to watching Home Soil again, but it's getting a little too late (3:30am here) and I need to go to bed.
When the Bough Breaks - This is a cute episode. The ending is particularly funny, too (that little girl puts the furry thing on Picard's back and the whole bridge crew laughs when he's not looking.)
I'm REALLY looking forward to watching Home Soil again, but it's getting a little too late (3:30am here) and I need to go to bed.
Well, I finally got motivated to throw in my 2 cents about the episodes that the rest of you have torn through so rapidly, so here goes....
"The Naked Now"--I don't hate it as much as everyone else seems to, and I understand why they did this episode, as the original was long hailed for providing a lot of early insight into the crew; but in a show that was going so far out of its way to set itself apart from the original in some areas, doing such a blatant remake as the first regular episode was big misstep. Nonetheless, I can sit back and enjoy this epsisode for what it is, and there are plenty of fun bits.
As much as they were ripping off TOS with this one, it makes the underplayed reference to Kirk's command all the more criminal. I perfectly get that there have been so many starship missions over the centuries that they're not as inimately familiar with that one particular incident as those of us who've watched the episode over and over again...but they changed the Starfleet emblem to the Enterprise arrowhead after Kirk's stint as captain, so Picard shouldn't act like he's never heard of the guy until now.
"Code of Honor"--Entertaining just for being so un-PC...and they probably thought they were being PC at the time by depicting a planet dominated by non-whites. The plot is just a warmed-over "Amok Time"...still not showing much originality.
Or is it the sexism that bothers everyone so much? That never bothered me, as the sexism was coming from the culture of a POTW, not from within the Federation itself. It rings true enough with how most cultures have objectified women throughout human history.
It always bugged me how they tried to sell us the Data/Geordi friendship as a preexisting thing out of left field...the whole execution of that first, expository "my friend" seemed very clunky...though things were fine after that. I think they should have given us a bit more of the O'Brien/Bashir approach in showing us how these people became friends...they'd only met two episodes earlier, so it's not like we could just assume they'd been buds all along.
"The Last Outpost"--Should have been an immortal episode as most first episodes to feature a recurring antagonist race seem to become...but it's ruined by the "What the hell was Gene on that week?" depiction of the Ferengi. Wil Wheaton really tears into this one...at one point he says that the Ferengi were built up to be like the Reavers, and turned out to be more like the Flying Monkeys. That whole "I am the Portal...what is the password, barbarian?" schtick gets kind of silly with age, too.
"Where No One Has Gone Before"--Definitely more like it, though the execution of thoughts becoming reality is rather underwhelming. For the nifty exterior, the cool bits of Picard almost walking into space and talking with his deceased grandmother, and the general wonder/creepiness of it, we get the balance of some rather underwhelming generic crewpeople fantasies...dancing in the ballet or playing in a string quartet isn't anything that these people couldn't have indulged in on the Holodeck. Kosinski annoys the hell out of me, but I guess he's supposed to. And just why the hell is he wearing a uniform without a combadge anyway?
"Lonely Among Us"--Kind of meh, but not horrible by any means. Noteworthy for the beginning of Data's Holmes fixation; the downplaying of the rival species, and their cool makeup which I would rather have seen more of, rather than the generic foreheads-of-the-week that dominated the show by Season Four; and the fact that for all their hand-wringing over the issue, the crew was quick to pick up on the fact that Picard was acting under an alien influence, which shows that Starfleet types have actually learned a few things since the 23rd Century, when it would have taken them the entire episode to figure out that the Captain wasn't really the Captain. ("Turnabout Intruder", anyone?)
"Justice"--Harmless idiocy. The interaction between the crew and the Edo in the early part of the episode is amusing; and I always get a good laugh when the one male Edo proclaims so earnestly, "God will punish you!"
The "we don't lie" line never bothered me. I'd say it was one of Wesley's better moments in an early portrayal that managed to push so many of the wrong buttons.
"The Battle"--Good for the details about the Stargazer; bad for the rather obvious Ferengi shenanigans and some of the most criminal writing of Wesley (which Wheaton himself has more than a few words to say about). I always had a soft spot for that ugly, kit-bashed Stargazer design...it tickled my fancy that a TOS movie-era ship was introduced as an old model in the TNG era. (Interesting sidenote--it was originally supposed to be a Consitution-class, but somebody nixed the idea in post-production, and they chose to call it "Constellation-class" because it was easy to dub over when the actors said "Constitution".)
"Hide and Q"--Generally entertaining, but the "giving everyone their fondest desire" scene was pretty awkwardly-executed. Give Riker a break, though, he hadn't known these people that long. My favorite bit is the "deuling Shakespeares" in Picard's Ready Room. My least favorite--that beefy surfer-boy who looks absolutely nothing like Wil Wheaton, playing an "adult" Wesley with a 15-year-old's voice. Really, what was the point to that? Wanting to be treated as an adult and wanting to be thrust into an adult's body instead of letting nature do its thing in just a handful of years are two different things...and who wants to be in an adult body if your freakin' voice doesn't change? (Wil implies that the casting of adult Wesley was the product of a casting couch session with the costume designer.)
Wil's review for this one also has the line that made me LOL the hardest..."Tasha and Worf have lost their phasers, which is bad news because there are now seven creatures, and they've brought a bugler."
"Haven"--I was never very fond of this one. It has some good bits, but was a pretty low-key episode to go to haitus on. In fact, it was owing as much to this episode as to RL happenings that I went from being enthusiastic about the show in its early episodes to casually not getting around to watching it much during the second half of the season, missing key episodes (such as the next two) in first run.
It's funny that Wil makes such a big deal out of the lost potential of the chameleon rose gag, as I had just noticed this for the first time upon rewatching this episode on DVD shortly before reading his review. What was the point of setting up the gimmick with the cheesy little effect, only to have Troi holding it during all those scenes with her mother while the rose stayed white? It had to be something they dropped the ball on in post-production. Maybe they should have used a practical effect, like fiber-optic lights.
Does anyone else think that Wyatt was being a patronizing jerk to Riker in the Holodeck scene? "Oh, you're the one who wants to be a starship captain." "Don't let me keep you, running all of this must be a big job."
"The Big Goodbye"--A good episode, to be sure, but I never got why it was quite so popular...owing no doubt to the fact that I didn't catch it until it reran in syndication, several seasons into the show's first run. Some of the "rules" of using the Holodeck were clearly still being figured out. In a later episode, Picard would have frozen or turned off the program before leaving. And while the Sternbach/Okuda description of holodeck operation does mention that it makes use of replicated matter, thus giving some basis to the idea that just shutting the thing down when it's malfunctioning might result in the people inside being disassembled...it was enough of a WTF to merit a little explanation.
"Datalore"--Again, I probably would have liked this one a lot better if I'd first seen it in chronological order. Seeing it in hindsight, it struck me as odd how slowly everyone realized that Data was created by Soong, and that Data had a positronic brain. These points particularly conflict with the way that they later establish that Data and Lore were made in Soong's image--if he's so well-known that various crewmembers can cite trivia about him, you'd think somebody would have noticed that this android looked just like that expert in cybernetics who promised everyone a positronic brain, and put two and two together. Surely Data would have evoked more than a little interest amongst Soong's peers.
And the handling of Wesley in this episode takes several steps backward. On the one hand, I'd like to think that Wesley might have been listened to if he'd been a little more discreet in voicing his concerns. On the other, everyone goes so far out of their way to question Data's loyalty in the first half of the episode, only to act blind to the possibility that Lore might pose as Data in the second half when Data starts acting strange. It actually sort of clicked for me in my most recent viewing, as I realized that perhaps everyone was so uncomfortable with their mistrust of Data in the first half that they were bending over backwards to give him the benefit of the doubt in the second...but a little exposition on that point would have helped.
I've never been overly fond of Lore as a villain, either. It's a good idea on paper, but for the great job that he did with Data, I tend to find that Brent Spiner comes off as a little smarmy in other roles.
Also, the easy way in which Lore establishes voice communication with the Crystalline Entity doesn't jibe with all the hoops they jumped through figuring out how to communicate with it in "Silicon Avatar". If "Data" had been sending gravity pulses or whatever it was at the thing, you'd think they would have noticed.
"Too Short a Season"--One of my least favorite episodes of the series. It goes down a little smoother when I hear that they'd originally conceived the visiting admiral as Kirk...but the way that it's executed, he comes off as a poorly-acted, episode-dominating Mary Sue. There's one scene that absolutely kills me, when the somewhat-rejuvenated Jameson is walking and is apparently supposed to be about the same age as Picard, and the two of them are sharing the spotlight on the bridge--the gulf between the two in terms of gravitas couldn't be wider. You can almost hear Stewart thinking, "Who the hell does this overacting little punk in his bad age makeup think that he is? This is my show, thank you!"
I think that'll be all for now.
"The Naked Now"--I don't hate it as much as everyone else seems to, and I understand why they did this episode, as the original was long hailed for providing a lot of early insight into the crew; but in a show that was going so far out of its way to set itself apart from the original in some areas, doing such a blatant remake as the first regular episode was big misstep. Nonetheless, I can sit back and enjoy this epsisode for what it is, and there are plenty of fun bits.
As much as they were ripping off TOS with this one, it makes the underplayed reference to Kirk's command all the more criminal. I perfectly get that there have been so many starship missions over the centuries that they're not as inimately familiar with that one particular incident as those of us who've watched the episode over and over again...but they changed the Starfleet emblem to the Enterprise arrowhead after Kirk's stint as captain, so Picard shouldn't act like he's never heard of the guy until now.
"Code of Honor"--Entertaining just for being so un-PC...and they probably thought they were being PC at the time by depicting a planet dominated by non-whites. The plot is just a warmed-over "Amok Time"...still not showing much originality.
Or is it the sexism that bothers everyone so much? That never bothered me, as the sexism was coming from the culture of a POTW, not from within the Federation itself. It rings true enough with how most cultures have objectified women throughout human history.
It always bugged me how they tried to sell us the Data/Geordi friendship as a preexisting thing out of left field...the whole execution of that first, expository "my friend" seemed very clunky...though things were fine after that. I think they should have given us a bit more of the O'Brien/Bashir approach in showing us how these people became friends...they'd only met two episodes earlier, so it's not like we could just assume they'd been buds all along.
"The Last Outpost"--Should have been an immortal episode as most first episodes to feature a recurring antagonist race seem to become...but it's ruined by the "What the hell was Gene on that week?" depiction of the Ferengi. Wil Wheaton really tears into this one...at one point he says that the Ferengi were built up to be like the Reavers, and turned out to be more like the Flying Monkeys. That whole "I am the Portal...what is the password, barbarian?" schtick gets kind of silly with age, too.
"Where No One Has Gone Before"--Definitely more like it, though the execution of thoughts becoming reality is rather underwhelming. For the nifty exterior, the cool bits of Picard almost walking into space and talking with his deceased grandmother, and the general wonder/creepiness of it, we get the balance of some rather underwhelming generic crewpeople fantasies...dancing in the ballet or playing in a string quartet isn't anything that these people couldn't have indulged in on the Holodeck. Kosinski annoys the hell out of me, but I guess he's supposed to. And just why the hell is he wearing a uniform without a combadge anyway?
"Lonely Among Us"--Kind of meh, but not horrible by any means. Noteworthy for the beginning of Data's Holmes fixation; the downplaying of the rival species, and their cool makeup which I would rather have seen more of, rather than the generic foreheads-of-the-week that dominated the show by Season Four; and the fact that for all their hand-wringing over the issue, the crew was quick to pick up on the fact that Picard was acting under an alien influence, which shows that Starfleet types have actually learned a few things since the 23rd Century, when it would have taken them the entire episode to figure out that the Captain wasn't really the Captain. ("Turnabout Intruder", anyone?)
"Justice"--Harmless idiocy. The interaction between the crew and the Edo in the early part of the episode is amusing; and I always get a good laugh when the one male Edo proclaims so earnestly, "God will punish you!"
The "we don't lie" line never bothered me. I'd say it was one of Wesley's better moments in an early portrayal that managed to push so many of the wrong buttons.
"The Battle"--Good for the details about the Stargazer; bad for the rather obvious Ferengi shenanigans and some of the most criminal writing of Wesley (which Wheaton himself has more than a few words to say about). I always had a soft spot for that ugly, kit-bashed Stargazer design...it tickled my fancy that a TOS movie-era ship was introduced as an old model in the TNG era. (Interesting sidenote--it was originally supposed to be a Consitution-class, but somebody nixed the idea in post-production, and they chose to call it "Constellation-class" because it was easy to dub over when the actors said "Constitution".)
"Hide and Q"--Generally entertaining, but the "giving everyone their fondest desire" scene was pretty awkwardly-executed. Give Riker a break, though, he hadn't known these people that long. My favorite bit is the "deuling Shakespeares" in Picard's Ready Room. My least favorite--that beefy surfer-boy who looks absolutely nothing like Wil Wheaton, playing an "adult" Wesley with a 15-year-old's voice. Really, what was the point to that? Wanting to be treated as an adult and wanting to be thrust into an adult's body instead of letting nature do its thing in just a handful of years are two different things...and who wants to be in an adult body if your freakin' voice doesn't change? (Wil implies that the casting of adult Wesley was the product of a casting couch session with the costume designer.)
Wil's review for this one also has the line that made me LOL the hardest..."Tasha and Worf have lost their phasers, which is bad news because there are now seven creatures, and they've brought a bugler."
"Haven"--I was never very fond of this one. It has some good bits, but was a pretty low-key episode to go to haitus on. In fact, it was owing as much to this episode as to RL happenings that I went from being enthusiastic about the show in its early episodes to casually not getting around to watching it much during the second half of the season, missing key episodes (such as the next two) in first run.
It's funny that Wil makes such a big deal out of the lost potential of the chameleon rose gag, as I had just noticed this for the first time upon rewatching this episode on DVD shortly before reading his review. What was the point of setting up the gimmick with the cheesy little effect, only to have Troi holding it during all those scenes with her mother while the rose stayed white? It had to be something they dropped the ball on in post-production. Maybe they should have used a practical effect, like fiber-optic lights.
Does anyone else think that Wyatt was being a patronizing jerk to Riker in the Holodeck scene? "Oh, you're the one who wants to be a starship captain." "Don't let me keep you, running all of this must be a big job."
"The Big Goodbye"--A good episode, to be sure, but I never got why it was quite so popular...owing no doubt to the fact that I didn't catch it until it reran in syndication, several seasons into the show's first run. Some of the "rules" of using the Holodeck were clearly still being figured out. In a later episode, Picard would have frozen or turned off the program before leaving. And while the Sternbach/Okuda description of holodeck operation does mention that it makes use of replicated matter, thus giving some basis to the idea that just shutting the thing down when it's malfunctioning might result in the people inside being disassembled...it was enough of a WTF to merit a little explanation.
"Datalore"--Again, I probably would have liked this one a lot better if I'd first seen it in chronological order. Seeing it in hindsight, it struck me as odd how slowly everyone realized that Data was created by Soong, and that Data had a positronic brain. These points particularly conflict with the way that they later establish that Data and Lore were made in Soong's image--if he's so well-known that various crewmembers can cite trivia about him, you'd think somebody would have noticed that this android looked just like that expert in cybernetics who promised everyone a positronic brain, and put two and two together. Surely Data would have evoked more than a little interest amongst Soong's peers.
And the handling of Wesley in this episode takes several steps backward. On the one hand, I'd like to think that Wesley might have been listened to if he'd been a little more discreet in voicing his concerns. On the other, everyone goes so far out of their way to question Data's loyalty in the first half of the episode, only to act blind to the possibility that Lore might pose as Data in the second half when Data starts acting strange. It actually sort of clicked for me in my most recent viewing, as I realized that perhaps everyone was so uncomfortable with their mistrust of Data in the first half that they were bending over backwards to give him the benefit of the doubt in the second...but a little exposition on that point would have helped.
I've never been overly fond of Lore as a villain, either. It's a good idea on paper, but for the great job that he did with Data, I tend to find that Brent Spiner comes off as a little smarmy in other roles.
Also, the easy way in which Lore establishes voice communication with the Crystalline Entity doesn't jibe with all the hoops they jumped through figuring out how to communicate with it in "Silicon Avatar". If "Data" had been sending gravity pulses or whatever it was at the thing, you'd think they would have noticed.
"Too Short a Season"--One of my least favorite episodes of the series. It goes down a little smoother when I hear that they'd originally conceived the visiting admiral as Kirk...but the way that it's executed, he comes off as a poorly-acted, episode-dominating Mary Sue. There's one scene that absolutely kills me, when the somewhat-rejuvenated Jameson is walking and is apparently supposed to be about the same age as Picard, and the two of them are sharing the spotlight on the bridge--the gulf between the two in terms of gravitas couldn't be wider. You can almost hear Stewart thinking, "Who the hell does this overacting little punk in his bad age makeup think that he is? This is my show, thank you!"
I think that'll be all for now.
"Angel One"--Bleh. Not worth hating, even. Is it just me, or are the "amazons" not nearly as amazonian as they make them out to be? And the actor playing the stranded ship captain gave a cringe-inducing performance.
IIRC, this is the one in which they make a big deal about having to face off with some Romulans...then, a few episodes later (in either production or airing order) in "Heart of Glory", Picard seems sincere when he says that they haven't heard the name "Romulans" in a long time.
Yeah, the occasional WTF reference to the Prime Directive not applying to civilians does tend to pop up in modern Trek...but I don't buy it. If it only applied to Starfleet, then any entrepreneur with access to an FTL ship could run around exploiting alien cultures to their benefit.
My rationalization would be that Starfleet enforces laws against civilians dealing with non-spacefaring cultures; but civilians would be relatively free to interact with other spacefaring cultures at their own risk.
"11001001"--I remember the whole Minuet thing being a bit of a mindblower when I originally saw this one (which was first-run in this case)...perhaps this is something of what others saw in "The Big Goodbye". It was a nice touch how they brought her back in "Future Imperfect".
Much like in many of the movies, the Enterprise travels at Speed of Plot in this one, making a journey between star systems in what couldn't have been more than a couple of hours to Picard and Riker. And if the Bynar System was at all close to the Starbase, how could they not know that the sun had gone nova?
"When the Bough Breaks"--Yech. I don't hate this one just because it's a Wesley episode, but I can't say much good about it nonetheless. The most unintentionally-funny part is when the girl makes the instrument play that treacly Wesley synth theme and the old maestro reacts like it's the most tragically beautiful piece he's ever heard. Doesn't listen to much classical, does he? Might I suggest a little Tchaikovsky?
And I'm generally not impressed with artistic tools that let you spit out a "work of art" in less time than it takes to think about it.
"Home Soil"--A decent enough (if hardly original) concept bogged down by its methodical execution. Might have been saved if they'd been able to show us some "before and after" terraforming. The Eurasian chick is pretty hot. The blond terraformer acts like he's never heard of Data...if he's the only arguably-sentient android around, and he's been around for 18 years, I'd think that word of his existence would have gotten around to any who might be interested in such things. I'm sure there were a few articles in the 24th Century equivalent of Popular Mechanics. And that guy isn't old enough to have been isolated on that planet that long...he should have been learning about Data in school.
It's a testament to the blahness of this episode that the most entertaining part for me is the cheap fanboy thrill of seeing the actor who played General Gogol in another role. "Let me assure you, my government had no prior knowledge of alien life on this planet."
"Coming of Age"--Better than the average late-first-season episode, but that's faint praise. I guess this would be the first in a long tradition of unauthorized shuttle launches in modern Trek. It always amuses me that they always detect these launches...and there's apparently some procedure in place through which they're theoretically supposed to be able to abort them...but even Data, who's got to be the fastest Ops officer in Starfleet by a wide margin, can't seem to abort them in time. Makes you wonder why anyone else would even bother trying. Definite drinking game material.
"Heart of Glory"--It was about time, and while this one seems weak in light of Moore's later development of the Klingons, this was the episode that laid the groundwork for that exploration. Yeah, the VISOR thing comes off as blatant filler...would have fit a bit better in the first half of the season, which had a bit more of the "joy of discovery" vibe going on. The other Klingon--you know, the one not played by Vaughn Armstrong--comes off as more of a LARPer than the genuine article. If the Simpsons' Comic Book Guy won the dream role of appearing as a Klingon on TNG, this would be his performance.
"The Arsenal of Freedom"--The "musical engineers" thing was just getting silly at this point. (My "in-universe" rationalization: as the first Galaxy-class to see active service, they were using it as a training ground to qualify engineers for the ships in the class that were still being constructed. Might I dare to imagine that Logan or Leland T. Lynch blew up with the Yamato?) I saw part of this first-run, and I think it was a big deal at the time because we'd seen so little out-and-out action at this point in the show. Vincent Schiavelli was entertaining. Geordi sure must have made quite an impression here, because having only recently been promoted to Lt., JG, he wound up rising two more ranks in as many years! Talk about the fast track! He should have been sitting at some Starbase giving Picard orders by the end of the series.
And was the info that the hologram was giving about Rice's ship supposed to be accurate? Because I find it hard to swallow that in the 24th Century, Starfleet is still using ships with a maximum speed of Warp 3. Can't blame Riker for turning down command of that garbage scow!
"Symbiosis"--Drugs are bad, 'mkay? Almost vaguely interesting for seeing Merritt Butrick and Judson Scott in the same Trek installment again, though both were wasted in this clunker.
"Skin of Evil"--Would be completely forgettable if it didn't happen to be Tasha's send-off. It was a pity to see her go so soon, but we lost a potentially-strong female character and gained Worf falling into the role that he should have been conceived for. A man standing in black goo is the best representation of pure evil that they could come up with? The funeral scene is what made the episode for me...too bad we had to sit through the rest of it. (Hmmm...might it have been more daring and intriguing if Tasha had died in some unseen away mission, sort of like "The Bonding", and the entire episode had focused on the crew dealing with the loss of their comrade? Granted, the show just didn't quite have the chops to pull that one off yet.) And this was but one of many examples of how cringeworthy Troi was first season...I always had more of a problem with her than Wesley.
And what was with this week's engineer? The bits where he seemed to try Picard's patience by announcing himself by his full name seemed like half a joke that never paid off. All I can think is that this is the point when Picard had decided to promote Geordi out of pure frustration from dealing with all of these yellow-shirted yahoos.
"We'll Always Have Paris"--Meh. Do I see a pattern here? Like I said before, I missed most of the post-hiatus episodes in first run...as a result, when my interest in the show returned, and before the show went into syndication, I considered these missed early episodes to be something of a "holy grail". I must be the only TNG fan in existence who actually enjoyed "Shades of Gray" when it first aired, because I appreciated the glimpses at episodes that I hadn't seen. When I finally caught these episodes, I really wanted to like them...but I discovered for myself just why people tended to be so down on the first season. Minus the "joy of discovery" factor that I felt in watching the first 10 episodes in first run...there wasn't much to brag of here. This show must have survived only because viewers desperately wanted it to be the show that it managed to become by third season.
"Conspiracy"--Interesting, but not as good as it could have been...particularly if it had been a homegrown conspiracy as reportedly conceived. It seems like lacking the memories of those whom they inhabit would be the biggest achilles heel that these creatures could have. And the depiction of Starfleet HQ never rang true to me, conspiracy-induced "slow day" or no. Not to mention the WTF of seeing Riker almost knocked out by a slowly-applied Vulcan nerve pinch. It was like what we'd get if Spock had tried using it on Adam West's Batman..."Nerve pinch...can't fight back...losing consciousness...Ah, thank you, Boy Wonder!" And this would be the first in a series of unconvincing "guest Vulcans" on TNG. Suzie Plakson seemed to be the only one who'd done her homework.
"The Neutral Zone"--About a month ago, upon revisiting this one on DVD, I started a thread concerning my major issue with this episode: link.
Looks like I'm caught up for the moment, but you guys are probably going to zip right past me in Season Two.
IIRC, this is the one in which they make a big deal about having to face off with some Romulans...then, a few episodes later (in either production or airing order) in "Heart of Glory", Picard seems sincere when he says that they haven't heard the name "Romulans" in a long time.
Yeah, the occasional WTF reference to the Prime Directive not applying to civilians does tend to pop up in modern Trek...but I don't buy it. If it only applied to Starfleet, then any entrepreneur with access to an FTL ship could run around exploiting alien cultures to their benefit.
My rationalization would be that Starfleet enforces laws against civilians dealing with non-spacefaring cultures; but civilians would be relatively free to interact with other spacefaring cultures at their own risk.
"11001001"--I remember the whole Minuet thing being a bit of a mindblower when I originally saw this one (which was first-run in this case)...perhaps this is something of what others saw in "The Big Goodbye". It was a nice touch how they brought her back in "Future Imperfect".
Much like in many of the movies, the Enterprise travels at Speed of Plot in this one, making a journey between star systems in what couldn't have been more than a couple of hours to Picard and Riker. And if the Bynar System was at all close to the Starbase, how could they not know that the sun had gone nova?
"When the Bough Breaks"--Yech. I don't hate this one just because it's a Wesley episode, but I can't say much good about it nonetheless. The most unintentionally-funny part is when the girl makes the instrument play that treacly Wesley synth theme and the old maestro reacts like it's the most tragically beautiful piece he's ever heard. Doesn't listen to much classical, does he? Might I suggest a little Tchaikovsky?
And I'm generally not impressed with artistic tools that let you spit out a "work of art" in less time than it takes to think about it.
"Home Soil"--A decent enough (if hardly original) concept bogged down by its methodical execution. Might have been saved if they'd been able to show us some "before and after" terraforming. The Eurasian chick is pretty hot. The blond terraformer acts like he's never heard of Data...if he's the only arguably-sentient android around, and he's been around for 18 years, I'd think that word of his existence would have gotten around to any who might be interested in such things. I'm sure there were a few articles in the 24th Century equivalent of Popular Mechanics. And that guy isn't old enough to have been isolated on that planet that long...he should have been learning about Data in school.
It's a testament to the blahness of this episode that the most entertaining part for me is the cheap fanboy thrill of seeing the actor who played General Gogol in another role. "Let me assure you, my government had no prior knowledge of alien life on this planet."
"Coming of Age"--Better than the average late-first-season episode, but that's faint praise. I guess this would be the first in a long tradition of unauthorized shuttle launches in modern Trek. It always amuses me that they always detect these launches...and there's apparently some procedure in place through which they're theoretically supposed to be able to abort them...but even Data, who's got to be the fastest Ops officer in Starfleet by a wide margin, can't seem to abort them in time. Makes you wonder why anyone else would even bother trying. Definite drinking game material.
"Heart of Glory"--It was about time, and while this one seems weak in light of Moore's later development of the Klingons, this was the episode that laid the groundwork for that exploration. Yeah, the VISOR thing comes off as blatant filler...would have fit a bit better in the first half of the season, which had a bit more of the "joy of discovery" vibe going on. The other Klingon--you know, the one not played by Vaughn Armstrong--comes off as more of a LARPer than the genuine article. If the Simpsons' Comic Book Guy won the dream role of appearing as a Klingon on TNG, this would be his performance.
"The Arsenal of Freedom"--The "musical engineers" thing was just getting silly at this point. (My "in-universe" rationalization: as the first Galaxy-class to see active service, they were using it as a training ground to qualify engineers for the ships in the class that were still being constructed. Might I dare to imagine that Logan or Leland T. Lynch blew up with the Yamato?) I saw part of this first-run, and I think it was a big deal at the time because we'd seen so little out-and-out action at this point in the show. Vincent Schiavelli was entertaining. Geordi sure must have made quite an impression here, because having only recently been promoted to Lt., JG, he wound up rising two more ranks in as many years! Talk about the fast track! He should have been sitting at some Starbase giving Picard orders by the end of the series.
And was the info that the hologram was giving about Rice's ship supposed to be accurate? Because I find it hard to swallow that in the 24th Century, Starfleet is still using ships with a maximum speed of Warp 3. Can't blame Riker for turning down command of that garbage scow!
"Symbiosis"--Drugs are bad, 'mkay? Almost vaguely interesting for seeing Merritt Butrick and Judson Scott in the same Trek installment again, though both were wasted in this clunker.
"Skin of Evil"--Would be completely forgettable if it didn't happen to be Tasha's send-off. It was a pity to see her go so soon, but we lost a potentially-strong female character and gained Worf falling into the role that he should have been conceived for. A man standing in black goo is the best representation of pure evil that they could come up with? The funeral scene is what made the episode for me...too bad we had to sit through the rest of it. (Hmmm...might it have been more daring and intriguing if Tasha had died in some unseen away mission, sort of like "The Bonding", and the entire episode had focused on the crew dealing with the loss of their comrade? Granted, the show just didn't quite have the chops to pull that one off yet.) And this was but one of many examples of how cringeworthy Troi was first season...I always had more of a problem with her than Wesley.
And what was with this week's engineer? The bits where he seemed to try Picard's patience by announcing himself by his full name seemed like half a joke that never paid off. All I can think is that this is the point when Picard had decided to promote Geordi out of pure frustration from dealing with all of these yellow-shirted yahoos.
"We'll Always Have Paris"--Meh. Do I see a pattern here? Like I said before, I missed most of the post-hiatus episodes in first run...as a result, when my interest in the show returned, and before the show went into syndication, I considered these missed early episodes to be something of a "holy grail". I must be the only TNG fan in existence who actually enjoyed "Shades of Gray" when it first aired, because I appreciated the glimpses at episodes that I hadn't seen. When I finally caught these episodes, I really wanted to like them...but I discovered for myself just why people tended to be so down on the first season. Minus the "joy of discovery" factor that I felt in watching the first 10 episodes in first run...there wasn't much to brag of here. This show must have survived only because viewers desperately wanted it to be the show that it managed to become by third season.
"Conspiracy"--Interesting, but not as good as it could have been...particularly if it had been a homegrown conspiracy as reportedly conceived. It seems like lacking the memories of those whom they inhabit would be the biggest achilles heel that these creatures could have. And the depiction of Starfleet HQ never rang true to me, conspiracy-induced "slow day" or no. Not to mention the WTF of seeing Riker almost knocked out by a slowly-applied Vulcan nerve pinch. It was like what we'd get if Spock had tried using it on Adam West's Batman..."Nerve pinch...can't fight back...losing consciousness...Ah, thank you, Boy Wonder!" And this would be the first in a series of unconvincing "guest Vulcans" on TNG. Suzie Plakson seemed to be the only one who'd done her homework.
"The Neutral Zone"--About a month ago, upon revisiting this one on DVD, I started a thread concerning my major issue with this episode: link.
Looks like I'm caught up for the moment, but you guys are probably going to zip right past me in Season Two.
I finally finished Disc 6 tonight. So I couldn't finish the season this weekend, but I was busy and have a midterm this week so there. Anyway, I'm not going to grade these episodes because after K-Star posted after I did, he was right in that it's kind of irrelevant now.
Arsenal of Freedom
Good episode showing Geordi being a good leader. It suits him well for things to come when he is promoted to chief engineer in Season 2 so this was a nice preview. I also liked the stuff on the planet with the sales person and some good Picard/Crusher action (Where is Hammer anyway ). I agree with Old Mixer about the Chief engineer stuff. I am so glad they picked one in season 2 and it made Geordi's character so much more interesting. This one, I had a hard time accepting Logan's mind change. First of all, he wants command because Geordi won't leave the planet. Then later Logan makes fun of Geordi for leaving the away team in the planet. Make up your damn mind man.
Symbiosis
Damn you Old Mixer for stealing my first line for this episode. I just couldn't help but think how much better South Park's after school special on drugs was compared to this episode. It just sucked all around and it's no wonder I'm not in a hurry to rewatch it.
Skin of Evil
I actually liked this episode, but they made Armus too simplistic. They were trying to give him sympathy while keeping him evil yet you can't have both. Yeah Shades of Gray is a good thing (The concept, I'm not talking about the episode) but if this is about someone who was left because of his true evil nature, they could have done better. Also, the death scene with Tasha still is my second least favorite death scene in all of trek. My first and it still pains me everytime I think about it was Jadzia.
Dukat: I meant you no harm
Me: That is the worst line in all of Star Trek. You just killed her by flame throwing her, and you didn't mean too? Come on writers, you can do better than that.
Anyway, sorry about that tangent but still... I liked the Eulogy at the end though, which gets me every time on a minor emotional level.
We'll Always Have Paris
I still have a soft spot for this episode. It actually reminded me of Alternative Factor, even though this one you could actually understand. AF was an episode that was just all over the place. Anyway, loved the fun with time distortions, and the little bits of Picard letting his guard down. The scenes in Paris were beautifully shot, even to this day.
Anyway, I'm not going to grade these episodes because after K-Star posted after I did, he was right in that it's kind of irrelevant now.Arsenal of Freedom
Good episode showing Geordi being a good leader. It suits him well for things to come when he is promoted to chief engineer in Season 2 so this was a nice preview. I also liked the stuff on the planet with the sales person and some good Picard/Crusher action (Where is Hammer anyway
). I agree with Old Mixer about the Chief engineer stuff. I am so glad they picked one in season 2 and it made Geordi's character so much more interesting. This one, I had a hard time accepting Logan's mind change. First of all, he wants command because Geordi won't leave the planet. Then later Logan makes fun of Geordi for leaving the away team in the planet. Make up your damn mind man. Symbiosis
Damn you Old Mixer for stealing my first line for this episode.
I just couldn't help but think how much better South Park's after school special on drugs was compared to this episode. It just sucked all around and it's no wonder I'm not in a hurry to rewatch it.Skin of Evil
I actually liked this episode, but they made Armus too simplistic. They were trying to give him sympathy while keeping him evil yet you can't have both. Yeah Shades of Gray is a good thing (The concept, I'm not talking about the episode) but if this is about someone who was left because of his true evil nature, they could have done better. Also, the death scene with Tasha still is my second least favorite death scene in all of trek. My first and it still pains me everytime I think about it was Jadzia.
Dukat: I meant you no harm
Me: That is the worst line in all of Star Trek. You just killed her by flame throwing her, and you didn't mean too? Come on writers, you can do better than that.
Anyway, sorry about that tangent but still... I liked the Eulogy at the end though, which gets me every time on a minor emotional level.
We'll Always Have Paris
I still have a soft spot for this episode. It actually reminded me of Alternative Factor, even though this one you could actually understand. AF was an episode that was just all over the place. Anyway, loved the fun with time distortions, and the little bits of Picard letting his guard down. The scenes in Paris were beautifully shot, even to this day.
Offline life was rather ordinary last weekend, so I only got to watch "The Battle".
I wish I hadn't. Even for a Ferengi episode, they're insufferable. Nice insight into Picard's past, though. 3/10.
I'll either catch up eventually or skip ahead to season 2.
I wish I hadn't.
Even for a Ferengi episode, they're insufferable. Nice insight into Picard's past, though. 3/10.I'll either catch up eventually or skip ahead to season 2.
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