TNG:
*Datalore*
-We see a Constitution-class on the readout! (This is before the Berman-era, so we’re still in the season where the show gives nods to TOS).
-Picard is too ‘by the book’ as is everyone else in the crew; very rigid.
-I’m noticing again the synth music for this episode.
-’That guy’ - Tasha’s right hand man - is seen frequently in season one. Unfortunately, once Tasha goes…he goes.
-Wesley actually acts realistically and his age - something I never really noticed - as kids usually notice certain things before adults, but they are unable to relate their side of things which usually leads to the adults being impatient. Here, in this episode, Wesley doesn’t know tact, which leads to Picard and then Beverly to say, “Shut up, Wesley!”
He is probably correct that if an adult officer brought up claims that ‘Data’ was really Lore in disguise, Picard might have followed through, but Wesley comes off - as stated earlier - untactful.
-Picard uses the ‘starfleet officer’ card in this episode.
*Hide & Q*
-Very bold showing a little girl die. I was never a fan of ‘kids are immune’ when it comes to catastrophe in fiction. (One reason I like “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “Let Me In”).
-Worf is quick on the phaser trigger without trying to get the facts. Hence, I agree with Q: Worf is a micro-brain with a macro-head. (And, his head was literally pretty huge around this time - a cross between a football and a turtle).
-While Tasha Yar is one of my favorite characters, I found it a bit amusing how musical strings play on the soundtrack when she explains her frustration of being put in the ‘penalty box.’
-When Worf is given a Klingon woman to mingle with on the bridge - which is random and weird in itself - he is asked by Geordi if that is his idea of sex. Worf replies that it is, but he has no place for it - sex - right now.
Granted, Klingon mating rituals is beating one another up, but he has no need for sex?
-Geordi talks about Yar’s beauty again in this episode. (I think it was ‘The Naked Now’ when he talks about it under the influence of the space sickness). I wonder if there were any LaForge/Yar shippers at the time, or today?
I also like LaForge in the first season, better than the un-confident character in later seasons - Berman-era - that was always unlucky in love and usually the one getting hurt in away team missions. (Some of that rubbed off on Travis, although Travis did get to kiss Hoshi Sato….and get some lovin’ from an attractive Starfleet Intelligence officer).
*All Good Things*
I like this episode because it takes us back to Season 1 costumes, Troi in her Farpoint episode costume, as well as Tasha Yar returning again. Too, there are some hilarious dialogue bits. For example, in the beginning when an older Ambassador Picard meets Data’s maid, Jessel, who asks Picard how he would like his tea:
Jessel (in a strong cockney(?) accent): How’d you like your tea?
Picard: Earl Grey. Hot.
Jessel: Of course it’s hot. What you want in it?
Picard: Nothing!
It just comes off so random...lol
Another is when Picard, coming from another time jump, has Tomalok on the Enterprise viewscreen. Apparently, to Tomalok who doesn’t know about the time jump, Picard is taking his time with the conversation. So, Tomalok says something to the effect...leaning close to his monitor, “How long are we going to keep staaaaring at one another across the Neutral Zone?”
He - Tomalok - then backs away and makes this crazy face as he sighs out of impatience.
And yet another involves Q, when he shows up as an old man and Picard is asking him about a strange anomaly. Q answers to the effect, “Where is your mommy? Why, I don’t know!”
I do think one badass moment is when Admiral Riker shows up in a dreadnought version of the ENT-D and effortlessly blows away a Klingon battleship. (And, I really don’t call Riker a ‘badass’ often).
*The Next Phase*
I remember liking this episode, and liking the character Ro….so I wanted to see this again. Other things I liked:
-I liked seeing an ‘older’ crewmember on the ship, the transporter operator, who has a hand in the plot.
-The exotic looking Romulan woman who actually is a villain. I normally don’t like the look of the Romulans in this era - Berman-era- but she looked….sexy. I like the way Star Trek Online, and even the 2009 Star Trek shows that there are various looks to the Romulans….
-Speaking of exotic and sexy officers, there is this extra seen in Ten-Forward. She was wearing red...and shows (or showed) up in ‘Rascals’ on the bridge.
-There is an interracial couple - black female/white male - seen in one of the rooms enjoying a dinner as the phased characters (Ro and a villainous Romulan) run through the ship. I liked how it was portrayed as ‘normal’ since - if it isn’t white male/Asian female - Star Trek likes to suddenly point and make a huge deal about ‘race’ if it involves black individuals.
-One thing that always bothered me, though: How is it Ro, Geordi, and the Romulan cannot go through the floors into space? Yeah, they’re cloaked….but are they only cloaked against people, walls, and certain things they want to run their hand through? (Can one say ‘plot hole’!)
VOY:
*Distant Origins*
I wanted to see the Voth, since their playing such a big part in Star Trek Online.
This actually wasn’t a bad episode. The characters were competent, Chakotay was the major part of the first contact and wasn’t given any pseudo-Native American nonsense. And most importantly, screentime for Neelix was kept at a minimum.
