Masks! (S7, Ep 17)

It's nowhere near as bad as Sub Rosa, but it's definitely one of the more forgettable episodes.

 

I was quoting what Brent Spiner said about it himself.

 

Defrosting the archive with the phasers was brilliant.

"Masaka is waking!"

 

This is the only TNG episode that I have never seen and will never see.

7th Season was really pretty weak and there had already been numerous stinker episodes when this one rolled around.

I remember watching the "Next time on....!" for this and just groaned. It looked utterly awful.

I kind of like the fact that there's still one TNG episode out there that I've never watched, even if it's one that I am certain (despite never having seen it) is terrible.

Full disclosure: I gave in and watched the teaser once many years later. It was as bad as I feared and I stopped right then and there, content to keep this one an unopened mystery box for the rest of my days.

 

Brent Spiner mentioned that he and the other cast members thought this was easily one of the worst episodes of TNG. It's also funny that Spiner has said he has never watched the episode (and many other TNG episodes). I guess if you are acting all day, you probably don't go home and watch the show...probably have better things to do with your time.
Here is the link to an interview
https://trekmovie.com/2012/03/23/ex...-why-nemesis-bombed-jj-trek-franchise-future/

I don't mind the episode. It has a certain feel to it that I kind of like, but I can understand why many people think it is one of the worst episodes in the franchise.

 

C'mon, you need to watch it.
You've watched all the other episodes, makes no sense to skip just one.

 

I don't really get why the hate is directed towards this episode when Up The Long Ladder exists

 

I like the fact that TNG is still (and will forever be) just a little bit "unfinished" in my eyes. Like there's still one more adventure I can take if I choose. (even if it's terrible.)

 

Plenty to go around for all the bad episodes. Start a topic on Up the Long Ladder and I will definitely talk smack about it.

 

Masks suffers from just not being everyone's cup of (Earl Grey, hot) tea, more than being a terrible episode, IMHO.

 

I love Masks. It's bonkers. It's brilliant. It's Brent Spiner doing Split 25 years before James McAvoy.

 

Honestly, I don't know how they keep from laughing all the time, period. I mean if you're all kitted up in these uniforms, running around doing whatever when it's all just a set... I know I'd be laughing so frequently I'd get fired. They were laughing all the time on the set of The Office - like on every single episode. They had to do so many takes for some of those sequences. If it's that funny on a comedy, I imagine it's just stupid funny with a bunch of costumes like on sci fi shows. Imagine standing on a set with a carapace on, and a bunch of chrome on a leather suit (or worse,a puffer! I watched 'The Undiscovered Country' last night), being a Klingon, making up words (and I'm sure the script says "make shit up!") in front of your co-worker and NOT laughing... I sure can't. But, actors are just tools. The magic is in the script and the editing.

 

Mark me down as another one who really enjoys Masks. I've always had a penchant for the surreal (thank you, Norton Juster and Lewis Carroll) and this episode supplies it in abundance, driven by a fascinating, symbol-rich culture. A more vivid take on showing, not telling you'd struggle to find. Why read about a culture when you can live it? As to Brent's acting, I can see why it'd be off-putting, but I've always thought a heightened, exaggerated, even slightly overblown approach is kinda fitting when playing out a grand mythology. By their very nature, little about them is subtle!

 

The main problem with the episode is the idea the ship could be transformed like that and back without any structural integrity problems in the void of space stretches suspension of disbelief further than most episodes.

 

And Lewis Carroll was high when he wrote Alice In Wonderland and Looking Glass. I did not know that for a long time.

 

To be entirely fair to them, they were replying to my comment, which did mention Carroll in passing.

 

I do too. You might like these
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortal_(2004_film)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168124/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_(2012_video_game)


I think this would have also been a good setting for Darmok--except we never see the aliens unlike how we saw the Promellians.

This would have been a nice running theme--with them being Iconians at the last.