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Episodes that got better or worse after repeated viewings

I don't recall "Half a Life" weighing in on one side or the other of the involuntary euthanasia question beyond respecting Timicin's right to live his life as he wanted to.
 
The man was perfectly healthy and an effective contributor to his society, and his people were about to force him to kill himself. And his daughter guilt tripped him into doing it. So yes, I passionately hate that episode.

I agree, the ending was terrible, and the analogy they were trying to go for was clumsy at best, especially since they went with the ending they did.

But I did like the glimpse behind Lwaxana's facade we saw in that scene with Troi.

Though another thing that really bugs me about that episode is that story about Betazoid women from an earlier time period wearing wigs with animals caged inside.
To me that kinda clashes with the idea of how empathic and stuff Betazoids supposedly are.
Wouldn't they have constantly felt the anguish of the caged animal?
Or maybe it was before they gained their ESP powers?
 
Probably a throwaway line of dialogue that no one really thought much of.

Or, maybe Betazoid women were really sadistic at one point in their cultural history. Like the guillotine knitters.
 
The man was perfectly healthy and an effective contributor to his society, and his people were about to force him to kill himself. And his daughter guilt tripped him into doing it. So yes, I passionately hate that episode.

Fair, but I don't think anyone involved in the production of the episode intended for it to be interpreted as advocating for involuntary euthanasia. Timicin makes his choice, but nobody hails it as him "coming to his senses" or such beyond perhaps his own (potentially now doomed) planet.

It's not like INS, for instance, where we're obviously supposed to cheer for the Baku and jeer at the Son'a.
 
But I loathe Half a Life because it defends what is effectively involuntary euthanasia.

I just ignore things like that because it's TV. It's drama meant to entertain. In the case of Half A Life, it fails at entertaining in any way. Yes, I can separate the art from the artist.


What makes me think the most is what it's like returning to your old life afterwards...decades have passed for you, but mere minutes for everyone else. What's it like, just having to resume captaining a starship like nothing happened?

Yes, that's part of it. What would it be like? Of course, we never get to see that because of the episodic nature of TNG.
 
It's not like INS, for instance, where we're obviously supposed to cheer for the Baku and jeer at the Son'a.

One reason why I'm not fond of "Insurrection". The 600 Baku are sitting on something that could extend/improve the lives of billions, and all the Federation was proposing was simply relocating them to access it. In terms of greatest good/greatest number, it's a no-brainer.

beyond perhaps his own (potentially now doomed) planet.

I'm NOT saying it would be a good thing if Timcin's people were wiped out because their star went pfoom because he wasn't around to help save it... but it would be seriously @*$#!-ing poetic!


QUOTE: Yes, that's part of it. What would it be like? Of course, we never get to see that because of the episodic nature of TNG.

Yeah, it's only mentioned in "Lessons" a year later. And sort of in "A Fistful of Datas". A lot of characters undergo life-changing, even life-shattering events, and nothing really changes for them.
 
Though another thing that really bugs me about that episode is that story about Betazoid women from an earlier time period wearing wigs with animals caged inside.
To me that kinda clashes with the idea of how empathic and stuff Betazoids supposedly are.
Wouldn't they have constantly felt the anguish of the caged animal?
Or maybe it was before they gained their ESP powers?

Deanna did say in Pen Pals that Betazoids tend to make poor animal trainers because they get caught up in the animals emotions.

In the case of Half A Life, it fails at entertaining in any way.

I mean, David Ogden Stiers is always entertaining to me...
 
I actually liked "Homeward" at first. Then I realized just how deplorably it assassinated Captain Picard.

I'd say that's because its core story (the Boraalans being brought to safety with the help of the holodeck, even if they don't know it), with Worf and his brother bickinering along the way as leaders of the 'trek' is quite a good story in itself. It's just that the writers needed to frame that conflict and they apparently could think of nothing better than having Picard adopt this ridiculous rigid stance about the Prime Directive to do so. I'm sure that with a little tweaking, the same story could have been told without slaughtering Picard's character.
 
The trouble with Prime Directive episodes like Pen Pals and Homeward is that the Prime Directive is used to create drama, so the characters have to go up against their rule to do the right thing. They ultimately save as many lives as they can and this is portrayed as being good (because it is). But Picard is a true believer in the Prime Directive, so that means he has to start off believing in the wrong thing, and considering that the fate of whole civilisations are at risk in these stories that's a whole lot of wrong.
 
The most surprising thing to me upon rewatching a lot of TNG the past couple of years is that Season 1 is actually not as bad as I thought. Sure the stinkers are there but mostly the plots are well written and executed well enough.

Conversely I now find Season 2 a bit of a step down from Season 1 whereas before my impression was the reverse.
 
Conversely I now find Season 2 a bit of a step down from Season 1 whereas before my impression was the reverse.
I don't agree that Season 1 was particularly good, but I agree that Season 2 wasn't that much of an improvement.

Season 2, to me, was pretty much Season 1 without the cheesy, campy fun. And with Beverly Crusher replaced with the Queen of the Space Harpies. Thank god Dr.Crusher came back in Season 3.
 
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I don't know whether it could truthfully be said that I "liked" Janeway, but the aspects of her personality that might lend to her being called a harpy I appreciated.
 
Strangely, I actually do. Despite thinking that, in some ways, Chakotay would have made a better captain.
 
Then I must have a secret harpy fetish, because I liked both Janeway and Pulaski a lot.

You know that I only really object to the Janeway in Endgame (and her actions with the Fluidic Space aliens, you know, Species ICantRememberTheNumber)

With Pulaski, I have thought long and hard why exactly she rubs me the wrong way. It's not just the Data stuff, not even primarily.
I think I dislike her because she's too "sober" of a character, if that makes sense, and maybe too cold. She's unlikely to get starry eyed or to romanticise/idealize things. Like, I got the impression with her that if she got married, she'd already draw up plans for the divorce fie years later.
And yes, I would and do dislike the same aspects in male characters.
 
^Do you like McCoy? Only asking since he was basically the template for Pulaski.

No. Not really.
I do like Dr. T'na, though. Maybe it's because LD is more of a comedy, maybe it's because she's a humanoid cat and that makes her grouchiness easier to swallow. Maybe because she gets enough "pet the dog" moments"
 
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