Episode of the Week: 3x20 "Tin Man"

[Jeyl]

First let me apologize for not making the post yesterday. I got delayed on such a constant basis I honestly felt bad for missing the Monday routine.

Our episode today is Tin Man, and it's an average episode to say the least. The plot is pretty straight forward and goes in the directions you would expect it to go. A "one shot" character named Tam who manages to communicate with a new "one shot" alien life form. The two of them decide to become best friends and go off together leaving our main characters with a sense of aww and wonder. *checks watch* Oh, good. They're almost here.

I guess what makes Tin Man stand out is the Tin Man himself, who's real name turns out to be Gomtuu. He's a... pine cone(?) shaped creature who has the ability to destroy ships with the power of V'Ger Evolution! Well, that's what I call it anyways since it uses the same effect when V'Ger evolved in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Maybe this is the entity that spawned from V'Ger in TMP and is now back! Weird.

We also get a bit more Romulan action this time around, only in the form of "We can't have anything good!" Romulans who seek to destroy Tin Man by any means necessary. One warbird gets destroyed when Tam warns Tin Man (wait.... Did Tam really name Tin Man after himself in a weird way?) about the danger. It's not a real good scene since the actor playing Tam doesn't really benefit from "close up" shots of him thinking really hard. It just looks silly.

Also gotta give a shout out to the set and props departments for the interior of Tin Man and the cool effect of forming the alien chair.

CONCLUSION:
If you can get passed Harry Groener's performance of Tam, this episode is just an average, episodic TNG fare. While the episode kind of plays out like a Troi episode, it does a 180º at the very end and makes this a Data episode where he learns that being on the Enterprise is where he belongs. Maybe next time Troi.

STINGER:

 

[CorporalCaptain]

If you can get passed Harry Groener's performance of Tam, this episode is just an average, episodic TNG fare.

Nonsense. This is among the better TNG episodes. It was scripted by the authors of the Nebula-nominated short story "Tin Woodsman", on which the episode was based.

 

[Jeyl]

If you can get passed Harry Groener's performance of Tam, this episode is just an average, episodic TNG fare.

Nonsense. This is among the better TNG episodes. It was scripted by the authors of the Nebula-nominated short story "Tin Woodsman", on which the episode was based.

So the authors just retold their own story? Ok. I don't quite see how that automatically qualifies "Tin Man" to be one of the better TNG episodes.

But if that's what you think, I'm perfectly fine with your opinion being different than mine. I'm simply initiating my own thoughts on the episode for the sake of discussion. And what's wrong with an average episodic episode of TNG? Just because it's average doesn't mean it's not worth watching. I liked some of the material that was in this episode and I thought it was visually well done. I don't think it's one of the better TNG episodes because, as is the course of the "episodic" nature of the show, the only important things that happen occur to the one-shot characters and not our main characters.

I understand that's what a lot of trekkies love about Star Trek, but I like it better when the story involves the main cast rather than having them act merely as observers. Episodes like Tin Man are what I consider an average episode to be. Our heroes basically sit back and watch things as they happen while the "one shot" character who's specific to this one story does all the work.

 

[Use of Time]

Yeah, this one was pretty ho hum. I enjoy the TNG Romulans but these guys were just cookie cutter assholes with no depth.

 

[Trekker4747]

I find this episode very, very overrated. It's honestly not one I often watch when I watch-through the series. It's not a terrible episode but there's not much here to make me want to watch it. It's mostly that Tam is impossible to like as a character or to get invested in and really the "creature of the week" isn't interesting either.

This episode does have some great music in it, though.

 

[jimbotron]

Average season 3 episode (which is a good thing). Chattaway's first score elevated it though.

 

[Melakon]

It was the first time I'd seen Harry Groener outside his nerd guy character on the series Dear John, so I found it interesting for that. There are some wonderful effects, and the music helps to add a sense of something mystical to the whole thing, but it's still mostly The Tam Elbrun Show.

 

[GalaxyX]

Hmm, I think it's one of the better TNG episodes. At least it was dealing with actual space stuff (the discovery of an organic living starship is a cool concept).

Didn't hate Tam, I sort of understood where he was coming from, and it was nice of him to put down the (usually) smug TNG senior staff for once.

The interactions with Data were pretty good as well.

 

[BillJ]

Very, very average.

 

[Makarov]

Not too fond of this one. I liked the alien but I think Tam should be teleported out into space. I hate Tam and I don't really like the "solution" to the episode.

 

[MikeS]

I think when it was made the effects fell into the "outstanding" category and as such the episode was considered a great one. As others have said, it is ok, I love the Romulan involvement. This episode highlights the fact that vfx aren't everything.

 

[publiusr]

I rather liked this episode myself.

 

[Chensams]

I liked the episode. Each to their own, I guess.

 

[Thestral]

This is among the better TNG episodes. It was scripted by the authors of the Nebula-nominated short story "Tin Woodsman", on which the episode was based.

Agreed. In terms of episodes that had no real callback, this is one of my personal favorites. Tam's loneliness and isolation and Gomtuu's alien...ness, and the fact that it's one of Troi's very few good focus episodes makes it one I've always loved.