Personally a favorite from season four.
So what grade would you give it???
So what grade would you give it???
Future Imperfect
- Thread starter startrekwatcher
- Start date
Good Will Riker
Admiral
I give it a solid "B."
It was actually more creative and imaginative than your typical Season 4 episode, but at the same time, it didn't wow me or knock my socks off either. It was great seeing Minuet again, though. This was actually a pretty decent Riker episode.
It was actually more creative and imaginative than your typical Season 4 episode, but at the same time, it didn't wow me or knock my socks off either. It was great seeing Minuet again, though. This was actually a pretty decent Riker episode.
A low A.
I gave it a solid A.
We may have become a bit jaded over the years with the OVER-use of the various "reset buttons", i.e.
"It was all just a big dream" (the Newhart Solution)
"We went back in time and fixed it so it never happened" (the Idiot's Paradox)
"It's an alternate universe so we can do anything we want!" (the Deadly Mirror Syndrome)
"It was all a fake made to fool us!" (the Future Imperfect Solution)
But Future Imperfect was one of the earliest of these in TNG (TOS had a few with Tomorrow Is Yesterday and The Naked Time), and was the first to use holographic simulation as a reset button. FI invented the whole concept of holographic tech being used as a reset button, and was done far better than previous TNG reset button eps like Hide and Q.
FI was also a great episode for those of us who love looking for little details on screen. Things like different combadges with integrated rank bars, a Ferrengi ensign, a female Klingon Lt., new graphics on interior doors, and modifications to the Bridge, Ready Room, and Sickbay sets, were all visual treats for us, and still are.
I do agree with sbk1234, however, that the whole thing would have been more effectively done if it had been a Romulan plot by Tommalak to trick information out of Riker; the various differences in the "future" could have been explained as areas where Romulan intel about Enterprise-D were thin. Had they aired the episode just a little later in S4 they could have written in the concept that the fake Ambassador T'Pel from "Data's Day" had provided Tommalak with detailed intel on Enterprise-D and her command crew. Oh, well, another lost story possibility, I guess...
We may have become a bit jaded over the years with the OVER-use of the various "reset buttons", i.e.
"It was all just a big dream" (the Newhart Solution)
"We went back in time and fixed it so it never happened" (the Idiot's Paradox)
"It's an alternate universe so we can do anything we want!" (the Deadly Mirror Syndrome)
"It was all a fake made to fool us!" (the Future Imperfect Solution)
But Future Imperfect was one of the earliest of these in TNG (TOS had a few with Tomorrow Is Yesterday and The Naked Time), and was the first to use holographic simulation as a reset button. FI invented the whole concept of holographic tech being used as a reset button, and was done far better than previous TNG reset button eps like Hide and Q.
FI was also a great episode for those of us who love looking for little details on screen. Things like different combadges with integrated rank bars, a Ferrengi ensign, a female Klingon Lt., new graphics on interior doors, and modifications to the Bridge, Ready Room, and Sickbay sets, were all visual treats for us, and still are.
I do agree with sbk1234, however, that the whole thing would have been more effectively done if it had been a Romulan plot by Tommalak to trick information out of Riker; the various differences in the "future" could have been explained as areas where Romulan intel about Enterprise-D were thin. Had they aired the episode just a little later in S4 they could have written in the concept that the fake Ambassador T'Pel from "Data's Day" had provided Tommalak with detailed intel on Enterprise-D and her command crew. Oh, well, another lost story possibility, I guess...
I'm surprised by the people who didn't want the second twist in the story. ``Future Imperfect'' would have been an interesting episode if the Romulan Plot had been the actual ending, but it's the second twist with the child that lifts this into a strikingly memorable episode, and one that puts it neatly into the Twilight Zone genre they were building that season.
I was perfectly satisfied with the extra twist myself. I'm sure anyone can and do find that a story could have "done this or that" differently but I'm not one of those people unless an episode is so bad or boring that your mind wanders.
Here that wasn't the case. It would have been too obvious and straightforward had it all been just a Romulan ploy. Besides with only so few minutes left in the story this resolution offered a nice elegant way of getting Riker out of a seemingly inescapable corner while at the same time providing a nice poignant ending with Barash. I liked the idea that it wasn't some elaborate scheme by the Romulans but an effort by a lonely child seeking companionship.
If it had ended with it being a Romulan plot then the whole episode would've been predictable. Who predicted the lonely alien kid?
"A"
I'd place it in my top 15 TNG episodes of all-time (maybe top 10, but it's been a while since I've ranked them): the mystery surrounding what the hell is going on, the sense of disorientation and the clues that something is definitely wrong, some of Riker's lines ("I said 'Shut Up!' - as in close your mouth and stop talking!"), and the multiple twists make this, for me, an unforgettable episode.
I'd place it in my top 15 TNG episodes of all-time (maybe top 10, but it's been a while since I've ranked them): the mystery surrounding what the hell is going on, the sense of disorientation and the clues that something is definitely wrong, some of Riker's lines ("I said 'Shut Up!' - as in close your mouth and stop talking!"), and the multiple twists make this, for me, an unforgettable episode.
A - loved it.
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