Yes. I meant customs. As for costumes, we’ll, you’re right. Almost no costumes at all.Um, I assume you mean their customs. Not too much of the old costume there to study...
Bigger, Badder, Balder: Revisiting Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Thread starter Trollheart
- Start date
Episode title: “The Battle”
Season: 1
Basic plot: The Enterprise is attacked by a Ferengi commander on a mission of revenge
Importance: 3 (first combat with Ferengi, first mention of the USS Stargazer and first look into Picard’s past)
Crisis point(s) if any: Picard almost fires on his own vessel and tries to use the Picard Manoeuvre to destroy the Enterprise.
Original transmission date: November 16 1987
Writer(s): Lary Forrester (teleplay by Herbert Wright)
Director: Rob Bowman
Stardate:* 41723.9
Destination: Zendi Sabu star system
Mission (if any): Respond to request from Ferengi starship for a meeting
Main character(s) in Plot: Picard
Main character(s) in Subplot (if any):
Not appearing:
Villain/Monster (if any): Damon Bok
Deaths: 0
Lives saved (episode): 1
Lives saved (cumulative): 5
Locations:
Shipboard:
Captain’s quarters
Sickbay
Bridge
Space:
Other:
Ships/vessels: 2 (Ferengi ship, USS Stargazer)
Space battles: 1
Bodycount
Historical
0
Incidental
0
Direct
0
Total: 0
Running total: 84
Make it so: 0
Engage! 1
Combat factor: 10
Planets visited:
Planets mentioned:
Mysteries: Picard’s deteriorating health
Patients in sickbay: 1 (Picard)
Data v humanity: Data works out a defence against the Picard manoeuvre, allowing the Enterprise to capture the Stargazer.
Data 3 - Humanity 3
Character scores:
Picard 90
Riker 40
Troi 10
Bev 15
Geordi 15
Data 55
Worf 15
Wesley 10
Yar 15
O’Brien 0
Earl Grey: 0
Shuttlecraft: 0
Admirals: 0
Starbases: Zendi Starbase 9
First contact: 0
Humour: 0
Episode rating: 4/10
Episode score: 170
This would then be the first solo Picard adventure, as such. It concerns the captain’s past, and brings in the Ferengi as more the aliens we came to know - two of the three are scandalised by Damon Bok’s offer of the Stargazer to Picard for free (!) but they do not know he has an ulterior motive. We also learn that in the 24th century common ailments such as the cold and headaches have been cured, and the brain has been mapped (apparently) so that pain is better understood. We also get more Wesley, unfortunately, as he messes around with the long-range scanners, trying to make them more efficient, and sadly does not disappear in a blue flash. We see the transporter the Ferengi use, and it is slightly different to that used by Starfleet. In “The Last Outpost” we didn’t see them beaming down, now we do, and their transporter beam sort of corkscrews in, warping them as they arrive.
Generally speaking, Starfleet frowns on conga lines, but in the interest of inter-species relations...
Sort of sweet the way Beverly puts Picard to bed. I like the way he’s shown to be just a mere mortal here, questioning his own actions, his own past, wondering if by some chance he could have done what his own log entry says he did? It’s an intensely personal story, though in some ways it mirrors the TOS episode “Balance of Terror”. First time ever - and I think, only time - that Beverly calls Riker “number one”. And what is it with the Stargazer? Is it the Fisher Price guide to Starfleet operations? Can’t recognise the helm unless it’s labelled as such? Riker to Data: “What’s the defence against the Picard manoeuvre?” Data: “There is none.” Riker: “Then devise one, quick!” Data: “Sure. What’ll I do with me other hand?”
Also, Riker to Picard: “It’s RIker sir! Your number one!” Picard: “Well, yes, I know I’m number one, Riker. Thank you, whoever you are.”
"I've changed my mind! Don't bother drawing in hair: it hurts too much!"
Funny how the Ferengi arrest Bok not for engaging in an unauthorised attack against a Starfleet ship, but for an unprofitable venture! A cardinal sin among the Ferengi.
Season: 1
Basic plot: The Enterprise is attacked by a Ferengi commander on a mission of revenge
Importance: 3 (first combat with Ferengi, first mention of the USS Stargazer and first look into Picard’s past)
Crisis point(s) if any: Picard almost fires on his own vessel and tries to use the Picard Manoeuvre to destroy the Enterprise.
Original transmission date: November 16 1987
Writer(s): Lary Forrester (teleplay by Herbert Wright)
Director: Rob Bowman
Stardate:* 41723.9
Destination: Zendi Sabu star system
Mission (if any): Respond to request from Ferengi starship for a meeting
Main character(s) in Plot: Picard
Main character(s) in Subplot (if any):
Not appearing:
Villain/Monster (if any): Damon Bok
Deaths: 0
Lives saved (episode): 1
Lives saved (cumulative): 5
Locations:
Shipboard:
Captain’s quarters
Sickbay
Bridge
Space:
Other:
Ships/vessels: 2 (Ferengi ship, USS Stargazer)
Space battles: 1
Bodycount
Historical
0
Incidental
0
Direct
0
Total: 0
Running total: 84
Make it so: 0
Engage! 1
Combat factor: 10
Planets visited:
Planets mentioned:
Mysteries: Picard’s deteriorating health
Patients in sickbay: 1 (Picard)
Data v humanity: Data works out a defence against the Picard manoeuvre, allowing the Enterprise to capture the Stargazer.
Data 3 - Humanity 3
Character scores:
Picard 90
Riker 40
Troi 10
Bev 15
Geordi 15
Data 55
Worf 15
Wesley 10
Yar 15
O’Brien 0
Earl Grey: 0
Shuttlecraft: 0
Admirals: 0
Starbases: Zendi Starbase 9
First contact: 0
Humour: 0
Episode rating: 4/10
Episode score: 170
This would then be the first solo Picard adventure, as such. It concerns the captain’s past, and brings in the Ferengi as more the aliens we came to know - two of the three are scandalised by Damon Bok’s offer of the Stargazer to Picard for free (!) but they do not know he has an ulterior motive. We also learn that in the 24th century common ailments such as the cold and headaches have been cured, and the brain has been mapped (apparently) so that pain is better understood. We also get more Wesley, unfortunately, as he messes around with the long-range scanners, trying to make them more efficient, and sadly does not disappear in a blue flash. We see the transporter the Ferengi use, and it is slightly different to that used by Starfleet. In “The Last Outpost” we didn’t see them beaming down, now we do, and their transporter beam sort of corkscrews in, warping them as they arrive.
Generally speaking, Starfleet frowns on conga lines, but in the interest of inter-species relations...
Sort of sweet the way Beverly puts Picard to bed. I like the way he’s shown to be just a mere mortal here, questioning his own actions, his own past, wondering if by some chance he could have done what his own log entry says he did? It’s an intensely personal story, though in some ways it mirrors the TOS episode “Balance of Terror”. First time ever - and I think, only time - that Beverly calls Riker “number one”. And what is it with the Stargazer? Is it the Fisher Price guide to Starfleet operations? Can’t recognise the helm unless it’s labelled as such? Riker to Data: “What’s the defence against the Picard manoeuvre?” Data: “There is none.” Riker: “Then devise one, quick!” Data: “Sure. What’ll I do with me other hand?”
Also, Riker to Picard: “It’s RIker sir! Your number one!” Picard: “Well, yes, I know I’m number one, Riker. Thank you, whoever you are.”
"I've changed my mind! Don't bother drawing in hair: it hurts too much!"
Funny how the Ferengi arrest Bok not for engaging in an unauthorised attack against a Starfleet ship, but for an unprofitable venture! A cardinal sin among the Ferengi.
This is our first look at a sympathetic Ferengi, he who arrested Bok. Picard’s first command was nine years before? I always thought he should have had more experience before given command of the flagship of the Federation. Then it bothered me that ST Picard aged Picard ten years over the age of Patrick Stewart. That makes Picard 57 when he took command of Enterprise D. This would put his time of Stargazer at around 48.
Yeah I'm pretty sure he referred to himself as a "young officer" at the time. And he couldn't, surely, have had his first posting at such an advanced age? Kirk had covered half the galaxy and left a trail of broken hearts behind him by that age!
Slight issue: Open Office Calc had a major nervous breakdown and I lost my spreadsheet. I've since reconstructed it, but have decided to dump the "previous score" column, as it is only confusing me when I add up. I've now redone it on Google Sheets, so it may look a little different, but it is essentially the same.
After the last episode you can see there hasn't been much movement, other than for Picard, not surprisingly, who, like Kah'less coming back from the dead, rises from number 8 and rather ungentlemanly bumps Beverly down to 6. This has a slight domino effect, pushing Geordi to 7 and Deanna to 8, both of them dropping one place. Everyone else remains as they are.
For the sixth episode then, Yar remains at the top. Riker spends a third episode at number 2 (hey! Thought he was Number One?) and Wesley clings on to third spot while Data remains at four. Picard now moves into the top five, but other than that everyone more or less stays where they are or exchanges places, with the bottom half of the chart exactly as it was from nine to eleven.
Ah, but look at what's next up!
After the last episode you can see there hasn't been much movement, other than for Picard, not surprisingly, who, like Kah'less coming back from the dead, rises from number 8 and rather ungentlemanly bumps Beverly down to 6. This has a slight domino effect, pushing Geordi to 7 and Deanna to 8, both of them dropping one place. Everyone else remains as they are.
For the sixth episode then, Yar remains at the top. Riker spends a third episode at number 2 (hey! Thought he was Number One?) and Wesley clings on to third spot while Data remains at four. Picard now moves into the top five, but other than that everyone more or less stays where they are or exchanges places, with the bottom half of the chart exactly as it was from nine to eleven.
Ah, but look at what's next up!
He's ba-aaackk!
Episode title: “Hide and Q”
Season: 1
Importance: 7 (reintroduces Q and gives Riker the chance to be one; starts a kind of weird relationship, a sort of respect Q has for Riker, almost, but not quite, friendship)
Crisis point(s) if any: Riker realises Kirk's dream and becomes a god. Despite this, he does not get a raise.
Original transmission date: November 23 1987
Writer(s): C.J. Holland, Gene Roddenberry
Director: Cliff Bole
Stardate:* 41590.5
Destination: Sigma 3 Colony
Mission (if any): Rescue after mine explosion
Main character(s) in Plot: Riker, Q
Main character(s) in Subplot (if any):
Not appearing: Troi
Villain/Monster (if any): Q
Deaths: 1
Lives saved (episode): 2
Lives saved (cumulative): 7
Locations:
Shipboard:
Bridge
Space:
Other:
Unknown planet
Ships/vessels: 0
Space battles: 0
Bodycount
Historical
0
Incidental
1 (Child on Quadra Sigma 3; though I’m sure there are plenty more casualties, this is the only one we see or which is remarked upon)
Direct
0
Total: 1
Running total: 85
Make it so: 0
Engage! 1
Combat factor: 0
Planets visited: 2 (Quadra Sigma 3, unknown Q planet)
Planets mentioned:
Mysteries: None
Patients in sickbay: 0
Data v humanity: n/a
Data 3 - Humanity 3
Character scores:
Picard 10
Riker 265
Troi 0
Bev 15
Geordi 15
Data 15
Worf 10
Wesley 10
Yar 10
O’Brien 0
Q 25
Earl Grey: 0
Shuttlecraft: 0
Admirals: 1 (Technically, Q appears as an admiral)
Starbases: 0
First contact:
Humour: 0
Episode rating: 5/10
Episode score: 270
I love the pace of this episode, the way it totally wrong-foots you. Opening as an urgent rescue mission, it quickly takes a hard left into a Q episode (and all the better for it), where this time Q is presented not quite as the omnipotent godlike being he was in the pilot episode, and more as a kind of trickster figure. Never got the title though: Q episodes from here on in make sense - “True Q”, “Q-less”, “Q Who” etc - but “Hide and Q” is obviously “Hide and Seek”, and the word seek has nothing to do with Q. Then again, there’s a Voyager episode called “The Q and the Gray”, so maybe it doesn’t matter. This is the first - maybe only - episode in which Deanna does not take part, as it mentions at the beginning they have dropped her off for a visit to her mother. That’s also the first mention of her mother, who, sadly, we will have more dealings with. It’s also the point where the Q as a race seem to become less dismissive of, and more interested in humanity, though we are given later the general impression that it is only this Q that is obsessed with them.
Picard wonders if perhaps Starfleet are going a little too far with the cutbacks?
Although I never liked her, it is interesting to see Tasha Yar emotional, breaking down when she realises that she may die if someone else makes a slip-up down on the planet, and Picard eschews his usual gruff attitude and distance to comfort her. It’s a nice snapshot of a captain putting off the rank and protocol for once and just acting as one human being to another. Q seems to be rattled for once when Picard says he sees his own race becoming as powerful as them - like gods - one day, and it would appear Q agrees that this is a possibility. Is it, then, fear, or jealousy that drives his contact with and interest in us? Can it even be a sense of insecurity? This is also the first we hear of the Q Continuum, or even that Q is not a single entity, but is part of a larger community of godlike beings.
"Don't take it personally, Tasha. Geordi knows a hunk when he sees one. On the bright side, you'll be dead soon."
I can understand Picard’s agreeing that Riker should not have used his new Q powers to try to bring the little girl back to life on Quada Sigma 3 - after all, he’s no lover of children. Sod the little brat: let her stay dead. Picard is however canny here; he realises that once Riker uses his powers and sees what will happen, he will see that this is not the gift Q says it is. Data’s response is a little reminiscent of Kirk in Star Trek V: “NO! Don’t take my pain! I NEED my pain!” Geordi’s reaction to Tasha: “You’re more beautiful than I even imagined!” Picard: “Sorry, that’s me you’re looking at, La Forge.” Geordi: “I know.” Heh heh.
There are elements of the TOS episode “The Squire of Gothos” here, not only in the military campaign thing, but in the ending too, where Q is seen to be under the control of other, perhaps older (if age means anything in the Q Continuum) beings to whom he must report. His anguish at being called or pulled back reflects the chagrin, even fear of both Squire Trelayne and Charlie X (the one being a virtual copy of the other) when they were returned to their origin. After a Picard-specific episode, this is the first real Riker-led one, and also has shades of “Where No Man Has Gone Before” in the conferring of godlike powers on one of the crew, so really not that original, but it’s the magnetic presence of John de Lancie as Q that pulls the whole thing together and makes it very markedly a TNG and not a TOS episode. It’s also nice to see Wesley die, even if it doesn’t last.
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So, Picard later tells Wesley about how he was impaled during a fight with a Narcican (spelling) hence his need for an artificial heart. Wasn’t there some word back and forth between Picard and Wesley on the matter. Well, Wesley was impaled here by one of Q’s “Animal Things”. Wesley knew the experience well.
Thanks for that. I'm about to embark on my first ever watch of both that and SNW, so the absence of spoilers is very much appreciated.
Well, the big news is that Yar is down from the number one spot, having been basically hurled off the top by Riker with as much ferocity as Kirk kicking that Klingon captain off the crumbling cliff of the destructing Genesis planet in Star Trek III! Riker becomes the first character not only to smash the 400-point barrier but the 500 one too, and comes within a breath of racking up 600!
Perhaps surprsingly, or perhaps not, Q doesn't earn many points even in an episode which ostensibly revolves around him. The explanation is that it doesn't, not really. Q is there as the agency of Riker's rise to Q-hood/godhood, but really, when you think about it, he doesn't do very much. This episode is all about Riker, and that's why he finally makes it to the top. Everyone else remains where they are, pretty much for the same reason. Will Yar make it back to number one before she has a fatal encounter with Armus? I don't know but I would doubt it. Look at the gap now: we're talking a full 200 points, though on the other hand she does have most of the season to make that defecit up. My money would be on Riker though.
Incidentally, I did consider awarding a "final score" for any character killed, which would, at the end of season one, have given Yar a clear advantage for a long time, but there was no point. She's the only one who dies - sure, Worf does, but they bring him back to life, and Wesley here, and sort of Picard in "Tapestry", and Data gets buried but he's not really dead, and so on. But someone actually dying and leaving the show (shut up! I KNOW about "Yesterday's Enterprise"! What do you want me to do about alternate timelines? I've enough to be dealing with here, thanks)? Just her. So there's little to no point in making a special farewell score.
We'll see, then, how she gets on, but you'd have to imagine once he has his arse on that top chair, it's gonna be harder to move Will from it than it would be to get Picard to break the Prime Directive and maybe smile.
Perhaps surprsingly, or perhaps not, Q doesn't earn many points even in an episode which ostensibly revolves around him. The explanation is that it doesn't, not really. Q is there as the agency of Riker's rise to Q-hood/godhood, but really, when you think about it, he doesn't do very much. This episode is all about Riker, and that's why he finally makes it to the top. Everyone else remains where they are, pretty much for the same reason. Will Yar make it back to number one before she has a fatal encounter with Armus? I don't know but I would doubt it. Look at the gap now: we're talking a full 200 points, though on the other hand she does have most of the season to make that defecit up. My money would be on Riker though.
Incidentally, I did consider awarding a "final score" for any character killed, which would, at the end of season one, have given Yar a clear advantage for a long time, but there was no point. She's the only one who dies - sure, Worf does, but they bring him back to life, and Wesley here, and sort of Picard in "Tapestry", and Data gets buried but he's not really dead, and so on. But someone actually dying and leaving the show (shut up! I KNOW about "Yesterday's Enterprise"! What do you want me to do about alternate timelines? I've enough to be dealing with here, thanks)? Just her. So there's little to no point in making a special farewell score.
We'll see, then, how she gets on, but you'd have to imagine once he has his arse on that top chair, it's gonna be harder to move Will from it than it would be to get Picard to break the Prime Directive and maybe smile.
I’m wondering about the actual terms of Q’s offer to Riker. I’d have hundreds of questions. Will I have an IQ of 2000? Will I be all seeing and all knowing? Will I be immortal? I’m not sure if I could have turned down the offer. I understand that it’s a simple one hour story and my questions go beyond what the story was meant to convey.
It is a little simplistic isn't it? I mean, I guess Star Trek Q might not have had the legs the producers might have wished - "This episode, Riker Q comes across a planet suffering from loss of its atmosphere and fixes it." Hardly exciting, is it? The Borg in pursuit - "We are the Borg. Resistance is fuck it's Riker! Reverse thrust, quickly, before we all end up as novelty toys in some Trek convention!"
Yeah I wonder who could resist (hah) that sort of power? So you lose your humanity and treat people as playthings but can make anything happen? Let me get back to you on that. Okay I've thought about it: I'm in.
Yeah I wonder who could resist (hah) that sort of power? So you lose your humanity and treat people as playthings but can make anything happen? Let me get back to you on that. Okay I've thought about it: I'm in.
Episode title: “Haven”
Season: 1
Importance: 3 (introduces us to Deanna’s mother, gives us some insight into Betazoids; kicks off the uneasy relationship between Lwaxanna and Picard, even if it is only in her mind)
Crisis point(s) if any: It’s an arranged wedding; how could it be anything else?
Original transmission date: November 30 1987
Writer(s): Tracy Tormé, Lan O’Kun
Director: Richard Compton
Stardate:* 41294.5
Destination: Haven
Mission (if any): R&R
Main character(s) in Plot: Deanna Troi, Lwaxana Troi
Main character(s) in Subplot (if any):
Not appearing: O’Brien, Wesley, Worf
Villain/Monster (if any): Lwaxana (Nah just kidding: or am I?)
Deaths: 0
Lives saved (episode): 0
Lives saved (cumulative): 7
Locations:
Shipboard:
Bridge
Transporter Room
Ready Room
Deanna’s Quarters
Quarters set aside for Lwaxanna
Observation Lounge
Ballroom/Banquet Room
Space:
Other:
Haven
Tarellian ship
Ships/vessels: 1
Space battles: 0
Bodycount
Historical
0
Incidental
0
Direct
0
Total: 0
Running total: 85
Make it so: 0
Engage! 1
Combat factor: 0
Planets visited: Haven
Planets mentioned: 2
Mysteries: The girl in the pictures Wyatt has been drawing since a child
Patients in sickbay: 0
Data v humanity: I think we can say Data gets a little too involved, and overwhelmed by all the human interaction, so we’re going to give it to humanity here.
Data 3 -Humanity 4
Character scores:
Picard 10
Riker 10
Troi 150
Beverly 20
Data 10
Geordi 30
Worf 0
Wesley 0
O’Brien 0
Earl Grey: 0
Shuttlecraft: 0
Admirals: 0
Starbases: 0
First contact: 0
Humour: 6
Episode rating: 7/10
Episode score: 245
Ah, why the hell couldn’t Majel Barret be happy doing the voice of the computer? Appearing here for the first time, she will become an annoying blemish on Star Trek (all franchises, or most) at least to me. I just can’t stand the woman. Her treatment of Picard, her dismissive attitude and lack of respect, and then her arrogant belief that he is in love with her, make me want to slap her. It certainly gives me a sense of sympathy for Deanna! We also meet her very tall, silent companion/butler/attendant, Mr. Homm, and learn that she is the ruler of Betazed, which I suppose in some way makes Deanna as her daughter a sort of princess. The gift that transports on to the ship to announce the wedding reminds me of that thing in TOS “Is There in Truth No Beauty?”
"Don't just stand there, Data! This thing's ****ing heavy, and I'm no spring chicken!"
"Spring... chicken, sir?"
"Jesus in a warp core breach! Don't start that **** again!"
If, as Wiki says, Marina Sirtis worried that her being left out of the last episode was an indication she was about to be written out of the series, this episode must have, initially, confirmed those fears, as it’s said once she gets married to her genetically-selected partner she will be leaving the ship. I’m sure her heart must have fluttered as she read those lines. Picard’s sarcastic bow as he is “dismissed” from Lwaxanna’s presence goes completely over her head, despite her mental powers. Bit of a slip of the tongue when Wyatt’s father accidentally calls Lwaxanna’s attendant Comm instead of Homm; he recovers without missing a beat though and they obviously left it in, presumably to indicate he may have had one or two too many, or just been irritated by Deanna’s mother, and who would not be?
"You want fries with that?"
I like how Homm gets totally squiffy and even though he can’t talk, conveys a good impression of someone who is well on; I also like Data’s amusement/fascination with human interaction, especially as Lwaxanna and Wyatt’s mother argue: it’s a good illustration of his studying of human behaviour, though again he’s grinning, and isn’t he supposed to have no emotions? I suppose it would be claimed he is aping human expressions so as to fit in better, as he does later when he mirrors the host’s actions and gestures in “Starship Mine”, seasons from now. More information about Betazoids, as we learn that their weddings are, well, interesting, everyone being required to be naked.
"Somebody get me OUT of here! And get my agent on the phone!"
There’s a good sense of humour in this episode, a lot of catty bitching like a good episode of Dallas or Dynasty, and yet there are very serious subjects being explored here. It’s a love story, a fairy tale, a story of arranged marriage, a warning about ostracising one sector of society because they’re seen as incompatible with the rest of civilisation, like lepers or those with the Black Death. There’s the desire to help, to do what you can to ease the suffering of others, a sense of sacrifice, and destiny. It’s the first Troi-centric episode, the first real one centred around family. A really complex, well written and in the end quite beautiful episode.
And again, nobody agrees with me, and again they can all go **** themselves.
Season: 1
Importance: 3 (introduces us to Deanna’s mother, gives us some insight into Betazoids; kicks off the uneasy relationship between Lwaxanna and Picard, even if it is only in her mind)
Crisis point(s) if any: It’s an arranged wedding; how could it be anything else?
Original transmission date: November 30 1987
Writer(s): Tracy Tormé, Lan O’Kun
Director: Richard Compton
Stardate:* 41294.5
Destination: Haven
Mission (if any): R&R
Main character(s) in Plot: Deanna Troi, Lwaxana Troi
Main character(s) in Subplot (if any):
Not appearing: O’Brien, Wesley, Worf
Villain/Monster (if any): Lwaxana (Nah just kidding: or am I?)
Deaths: 0
Lives saved (episode): 0
Lives saved (cumulative): 7
Locations:
Shipboard:
Bridge
Transporter Room
Ready Room
Deanna’s Quarters
Quarters set aside for Lwaxanna
Observation Lounge
Ballroom/Banquet Room
Space:
Other:
Haven
Tarellian ship
Ships/vessels: 1
Space battles: 0
Bodycount
Historical
0
Incidental
0
Direct
0
Total: 0
Running total: 85
Make it so: 0
Engage! 1
Combat factor: 0
Planets visited: Haven
Planets mentioned: 2
Mysteries: The girl in the pictures Wyatt has been drawing since a child
Patients in sickbay: 0
Data v humanity: I think we can say Data gets a little too involved, and overwhelmed by all the human interaction, so we’re going to give it to humanity here.
Data 3 -Humanity 4
Character scores:
Picard 10
Riker 10
Troi 150
Beverly 20
Data 10
Geordi 30
Worf 0
Wesley 0
O’Brien 0
Earl Grey: 0
Shuttlecraft: 0
Admirals: 0
Starbases: 0
First contact: 0
Humour: 6
Episode rating: 7/10
Episode score: 245
Ah, why the hell couldn’t Majel Barret be happy doing the voice of the computer? Appearing here for the first time, she will become an annoying blemish on Star Trek (all franchises, or most) at least to me. I just can’t stand the woman. Her treatment of Picard, her dismissive attitude and lack of respect, and then her arrogant belief that he is in love with her, make me want to slap her. It certainly gives me a sense of sympathy for Deanna! We also meet her very tall, silent companion/butler/attendant, Mr. Homm, and learn that she is the ruler of Betazed, which I suppose in some way makes Deanna as her daughter a sort of princess. The gift that transports on to the ship to announce the wedding reminds me of that thing in TOS “Is There in Truth No Beauty?”
"Don't just stand there, Data! This thing's ****ing heavy, and I'm no spring chicken!"
"Spring... chicken, sir?"
"Jesus in a warp core breach! Don't start that **** again!"
If, as Wiki says, Marina Sirtis worried that her being left out of the last episode was an indication she was about to be written out of the series, this episode must have, initially, confirmed those fears, as it’s said once she gets married to her genetically-selected partner she will be leaving the ship. I’m sure her heart must have fluttered as she read those lines. Picard’s sarcastic bow as he is “dismissed” from Lwaxanna’s presence goes completely over her head, despite her mental powers. Bit of a slip of the tongue when Wyatt’s father accidentally calls Lwaxanna’s attendant Comm instead of Homm; he recovers without missing a beat though and they obviously left it in, presumably to indicate he may have had one or two too many, or just been irritated by Deanna’s mother, and who would not be?
"You want fries with that?"
I like how Homm gets totally squiffy and even though he can’t talk, conveys a good impression of someone who is well on; I also like Data’s amusement/fascination with human interaction, especially as Lwaxanna and Wyatt’s mother argue: it’s a good illustration of his studying of human behaviour, though again he’s grinning, and isn’t he supposed to have no emotions? I suppose it would be claimed he is aping human expressions so as to fit in better, as he does later when he mirrors the host’s actions and gestures in “Starship Mine”, seasons from now. More information about Betazoids, as we learn that their weddings are, well, interesting, everyone being required to be naked.
"Somebody get me OUT of here! And get my agent on the phone!"
There’s a good sense of humour in this episode, a lot of catty bitching like a good episode of Dallas or Dynasty, and yet there are very serious subjects being explored here. It’s a love story, a fairy tale, a story of arranged marriage, a warning about ostracising one sector of society because they’re seen as incompatible with the rest of civilisation, like lepers or those with the Black Death. There’s the desire to help, to do what you can to ease the suffering of others, a sense of sacrifice, and destiny. It’s the first Troi-centric episode, the first real one centred around family. A really complex, well written and in the end quite beautiful episode.
And again, nobody agrees with me, and again they can all go **** themselves.
I think it's easy to see why Deanna got a posting on the starship going farthest and fastest away from Betazed. If it was me I'd have thumbed a lift on a Jem'ha'dar fighter and not come back! What an awful, awful woman. I mean the character obviously not the actress.
Oh there's no doubt she chewed the scenery deliberately. You only have to look at the times when she reveals Lwaxanna's vulnerabilities - "Half a Life", "Dark Page" etc - to see what a great actress she is and how she was playing the character for shock value. Not that I don't think she enjoyed it immensely. Also, look at her powerhouse performance in DS9's "The Forsaken" when she completely deconstructs her arrogant image and shows us the scared and insecure woman beneath the mask, in order to help Odo. Superb piece of acting, and writing.
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I think you meant "brought out" but I agree.
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