Devil's Due

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

So obviously a bad episode.. terribly cheesy leftover from 60's style Trek.. whenever the female villain appears, the cheesy music starts.. and

Guess what.. I love this episode. There has always been a bit of cheese in Trek.. and this episode remembers that. If I haven't watched Trek in a while I might watch this. I mean Hal a Life might be more well written, a better, more relevant thoughtful story.. but the idea of seeing the villain get the tables turned on her is always fun.

It's amazing how they ALMOST played the scene where Picard asks for a uniform straight, until.. well Worf reacts. hahaha

 

[NCC-73515]

I found it ok - beating her with her own tricks was fun, and it was a comment on blindly following religious texts. Data's reaction to seeing the feklahr was hilarious!

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Actually a terribly cheesy leftover from 1970's ST:Phase II, an actual script they decided to use for TNG.

A likeable episode for me. "Did she even pick up one piece of trash?"

 

[Timo]

Plenty of interesting scifi and stuff there. And plenty of the "weird is our business" deadpanning that made TOS so endearing. It's all crazy as a moon cuckoo, but it all makes sense in the end.

Which is why the bit that makes less sense bothers me a bit. Sure, "Ardra" can make the hero ship disappear with a parlor trick, so that Picard and Data can't make contact and can't even be certain they should make the effort to attempt contact. But how come the resourceful bunch of heroes onboard that ship doesn't succeed in making their continuing existence known? Are they just twiddling their thumbs there?

I mean, making things disappear with smoke and mirrors is standard conjurer fare. But putting a set of heroes in stasis is a weapon of war!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Tosk]

I liked Devil's Due. Maybe 'cause it feels very TOS for obvious reasons, maybe not.

 

[Alexander Corrino]

I love this episode SO MUCH, it's one of my all-time favorites because I'm a huge fan of Ardra's interactions with Jean-Luc. "My, my, you ARE forceful, aren't you? Good. I like my men to be forceful. At least at the start."

I also love how he introduces himself to her in his usual pompous way and she just shrugs it off and says "Keep up the good work." His FACE.

 

[Herbert]

One of my favorite episodes. I wish more stories in TNG had this kind of TOS spirit. It's one thing for Ardra to bamboozle some local yokels but she had chutzpah to take on an entire federation starship.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

And while we're here, R.I.P. to Marta DuBois (2018). A strikingly beautiful woman out of that Ardra makeup.

 

[Alexander Corrino]

And while we're here, R.I.P. to Marta DuBois (2018). A strikingly beautiful woman out of that Ardra makeup.

Indeed. I was very sad when I heard of her death since Ardra is among my top 5 TNG villains. DuBois did such a fine job - and had some great chemistry with Sir Patrick (especially in that scene where Jean-Luc and Ardra are standing very close together and she tells him "Oh Picard, I will enjoy you morning, noon and night").

 

[Finn]

This should have intrigued Picard. There was likely someone or several individuals from that historical period, who would eventually become the person that world know as Ardra. Many of our historical figures were likely a bunch of folks, not one real person.

 

[Mojochi]

I think where this episode succeeds, when trying to shoehorn and old TOS script into this new show could just as easily have failed, is the treatment they gave it.

Cast yourself a fun & engaging adversary, for our hero Picard & his dogged need to always be proved right, for the sake of the downtrodden culture of the week, & THEN have Data be assigned as the judge in a courtroom setting. It's a winning recipe any way you cut it

 

[at Quark's]

But how come the resourceful bunch of heroes onboard that ship doesn't succeed in making their continuing existence known? Are they just twiddling their thumbs there?

I mean, making things disappear with smoke and mirrors is standard conjurer fare. But putting a set of heroes in stasis is a weapon of war!

Timo Saloniemi

Yeah, that part has always bothered me a bit in an otherwise "simple good old-fashioned Roddenberrian fun episode".

Picturing a scene of Picard debriefing Riker now ("She only had a bad copy of a Romulan cloaking device and a few ragtag crew members on an old vessel! How come you couldn't penetrate her cloaking field with all the state-of-the-art equipment and the 1000+ crew our flagship has to offer, but had to wait for Geordi to contact you?")

And then, they were overpowered again on Rikers watch, by a bunch of renegade Ferengi. Perhaps it isn't so surprising he didn't have his own command within a few years after all.

 

[Qonundrum]

From the initial scenes with Data learning by rote in how to emote, to Pentax II's leader calling for help and setting up the plot premise afterward, it's all a massively fun adventure that's coming your way for 40 more minutes - the plot of which most plot holes are resolved to the point that the outstanding ones aren't a big deal despite being a big deal. (Ardra's tricks wouldn't have been the culprit for every example of her malfeasance... but in the end, is it that big a deal? Nope. The story and acting more than make up for the nitpicks...)

Numerous one-liners clearly sweeten the proverbial pot, some of which already mentioned above.

This is ultimately not a grim and gritty story despite having high stakes despite its premise, but one that knows Ardra isn't going to win so they're going to have some fun with it.

Brent Spiner, as usual, excels with getting to do more than Data. It takes a great actor to play someone who has no concept of emotions trying to learn emotions without shattering the suspense of disbelief from the audience, yet in this 43 minute smokin' package that's precisely what we do get.

And while Ardra was conceived for the (eh, benefit?!) of Kirk, it's genuinely nice to see that older middle aged baldies like Picard and me might still be considered.

And the way they called out and dismissed Q was impeccably done.

While early TNG took much inspiration from TOS - either directly as "The Naked Now" or indirectly by taking a plot point and weaving an entirely different story around it (Amok Time = Code of Honor, = Squire of Gothos/Arena/et al = Encounter at Farpoint, and so on), this one just has refinement, with dialogue far better suited to the characters.

And Marta DuBois is simply having a field day with her scene chewing -- and who could blame her, she's positively riveting and embraces the role to make that nemesis her own. It's sad there never was a sequel, but on the flip side what would Ardra do? Have her as a witness to "The Drumhead"? Wouldn't work. Mosey around space until Lore picks her up for a date? Oh heck no, they're still trying to leave behind season one's more rabid misfires and "Measure of a Man" already took a truly cringe moment from season one and turned it into something almost noble, which frankly is extremely impressive...

Lastly, the planet's called "Ventax II" - my photographic memory blew out again. That always happens, in a flash... please don't be too... negative.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Yeah, that part has always bothered me a bit in an otherwise "simple good old-fashioned Roddenberrian fun episode".

Picturing a scene of Picard debriefing Riker now ("She only had a bad copy of a Romulan cloaking device and a few ragtag crew members on an old vessel! How come you couldn't penetrate her cloaking field with all the state-of-the-art equipment and the 1000+ crew our flagship has to offer, but had to wait for Geordi to contact you?")

And then, they were overpowered again on Rikers watch, by a bunch of renegade Ferengi. Perhaps it isn't so surprising he didn't have his own command within a few years after all.

always figured the Enterprise itself didn't know at first that it was not seen

 

[diankra]

This should have intrigued Picard. There was likely someone or several individuals from that historical period, who would eventually become the person that world know as Ardra. Many of our historical figures were likely a bunch of folks, not one real person.

Legendary rather than historical.

 

[Vger23]

I'll echo those who say they like this one. I was never even aware that this was supposed to be a stinker.

I actually think it's highly entertaining and had a fun quotient that wasn't always there in TNG.

 

[at Quark's]

always figured the Enterprise itself didn't know at first that it was not seen

Not likely, given how it happens.

Picard is transported at night - naked or in his underwear- to the science station on the planet, calls for the Ent to transport him back again. The transporter malfunctions so he asks for a shuttle and a uniform. During the final approach of the shuttle, the Ent suddenly vanishes. Picard still tries to contact them, to no avail.

Now, I can still buy that Ardra's crew interfered with transmissions, the same way they interfered with the attempted transport earlier, but surely the Enterprise would have known something was wrong the moment the shuttle turned about and set course for the planet again without another word to them about Picard's apparent change of plans.

And Marta DuBois is simply having a field day with her scene chewing -- and who could blame her, she's positively riveting and embraces the role to make that nemesis her own. It's sad there never was a sequel, but on the flip side what would Ardra do?

Perhaps not on TNG, but on DS9, I could see her as the women that outscams Quark. On TNG it seems Vash was later cast in somewhat the same role.

 

[Tosk]

Is it worth a reminder that this is the ep that the infamous "Picard flipping the bird" image comes from?

...photoshopped to remove one finger, but still.

 

[Timo]

Now, I can still buy that Ardra's crew interfered with transmissions, the same way they interfered with the attempted transport earlier, but surely the Enterprise would have known something was wrong the moment the shuttle turned about and set course for the planet again without another word to them about Picard's apparent change of plans.

Yup. A somewhat more active scheme is required here. But we know "Ardra" can project illusions, pretending to be all sorts of folks even at close range, and perhaps at long range as well (her becoming Picard's helmsman all of a sudden is likely to be pure holotrickery rather than transporter trickery, considering Picard's raised shields - perhaps she never was aboard the ship to begin with, Shinzon style?). We can speculate she kept the hero team entertained one way or another, letting them think they were doing their best to retrieve their captain when in fact they were just fighting shadows.

The timeline isn't too difficult there. Right after losing his ship, Picard goads "Ardra" with the hidden treasure, which obviously has her interested (even if she masks her interest as another sort). She has no reason to delay the court of arbitration, then, and the next scene probably takes place only minutes later. It lasts for a couple of minutes of constant debate and concludes in the one-hour recess, during which (and most probably at the beginning of which) LaForge and Clark get Picard his ship back already. So Riker was fooled for perhaps half an hour, depending more on how long it took the shuttle to return to the surface than on the minutiae of the surface activities thereafter.

Other intriguing bits about the setup:

- Why is the legend and the associated contract so exactingly convenient for a passing con artist? Did "Ardra" actually mess with the Ventaxan archives first, substituting a text that best suited her purposes?
- She has no getaway plan? I mean, perhaps a starship is too much of an opponent for her, but she knew she was facing one from early on - why no Plan G if things go galactic south? And in more immediate terms, she isn't exactly stopped from escaping by the resources of a starship, but by local police... Come on, if the transporter bailout option is lost, why not at least a few flash-bangs?
- Her bag of tricks would be of help for our heroes in many an adventure, so dismissing it all for its cheapness seems counterproductive. But here at least we now know that it's just their better natures holding them back: while Worf undergoes humiliating surgery to masquerade as a native, Section 31 a century earlier already made full use of holomasks. And cloaks, drones and stage magic.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Is it worth a reminder that this is the ep that the infamous "Picard flipping the bird" image comes from?

...photoshopped to remove one finger, but still.

Is it the "one piece of paper" moment?