Three mini-reviews from my mini-marathon:
Pen Pals:
Riker telling Wes not to let the crewmembers' age alter his judgment is a highlight scene. Granted, if this were season 1 the episode would be reduced to Wesley whining about being a kid, combined with a bunch of oiled-up blue movie genre stars. One mangled rewrite of a great script was more than enough ("Justice").
Pretty stellar special effects, pun intended...
Pulaski and Data agree on something yet remain in character? Cats and dogs living together? A city menaced by a giant Twinkie or at least something else because they couldn't make a 50' version the way I DO hope they were wanting to? The prime directive verbal sparring is the obvious highlight of the episode.
Riker's talk about "cosmic plan" is suited better as a song by the B-52s, circa 1989...
Real science alert: Piezo effect, which made more sense for the solution to the problem as well as the cause...
Great alien sets.
Nikki Cox has some acting chops and it's easy to see why she's cast as Sarjenka.
"Sarjenka" sounding like the name of a coffee brand aside, note when Troi tries to cajole her to get a treat, do all species in the galaxy react the same way to treats? How do they know what she finds to be a treat? Maybe ice cream will give her gas, like how half of humanity is lactose intolerant.. Or do Sarjenka's people eat human eyes as dessert? (They could be a Kromagg colony from a parallel dimension...)
The body language motions Picard gives to Riker are different yet in-character.
And, really, O'Brien refers to Data as "he" but Sarjenka as "that"? What the heck... even Picard states she's a child and not an un-sentient object.
The episode, despite its heart being in the right place, and given the recent mindwipe operation the stone could risk memories not completely wiped be awoken or revitalized - there was emphasis placed on Sarjenka not necessarily being sufficiently humanoid regarding the process... or at least leave a residual mystery even greater than the mystery-man Sarjenka received telephone calls from. It's so blatant an issue I have to wonder if there was to be a deliberate sequel. Some novels do take opportunity, where she does remember and somehow gets into Starfleet and gets to yap at Picard for wanting to let 'em all die - well, who could blame her...
Despite the problems, I still find it a highly engaging story and the worst issues don't crop up until the end.
8/10
Up the long ladder:
Hmmm, it's pointless checklist time:
* clones as gimmick of the week: check (but they had some nice looking people there but while on set, don't light a match as the fumes from all that hairspray would cause as massive explosion)
* mature handling of breeding and species' genetics: check
* cliches for ethnic groups, both for the forgotten colony and "the planet of the Sheldon Coopers": check
* interesting twist on abortion, while mixing up the theme from "The Measure of a Man": check
* Riker getting laid - again: Check (indeed, he and Kirk and how many other sci-fi characters are poster children for "We, the group of characters who have incurable transmittable diseases on a galactic-scale and we're not going to tell you which cooties we have!" At least Kirk was telling stories about teaching love, since real love is about sharing incurable diseases-- oh, wait... the transporter is a magic cooties-cure-all already in effect. Drat.)
* great incidental music: always, though the Borg episode had some minor influence as there's a similar - yet appropriate - theme
* Picard saying "merde" under the radar: Check!
(2nd time for season 2, the first was "Elementary Dear Data", he got to say it in season 1 as well)
The reactions to beaming up the farm animals was kinda nice. Ditto for when everyone was trying to use a real fire and the ship's safety system forcefields it out.
Worf's tea ceremony with Pulaski rules.
Drunky guy tasting a synthahol version of a Klingon ale - Michael Dorn did for Klingons what Armin Shimerman did for Ferengi in DS9 by taking even the most trite "I can beat your strong booze with mine" scene and making it genuinely interesting. Barrie Ingham works well with the cheezy scene as well. Few actors might have made it better, so many more would not have been able to make it work at all. Indeed, when I found out Ingham might have been Picard, I was impressed. It takes someone of good ranger to pull off O'Dell in a way that's even remotely better than what was on the script.
So in the end, both groups have to start breeding and the planet of the Sheldons loathes it and stereotype drunkie who I share a similar heritage with (my peeps are from all over and not just the Iberian Peninsula, which is cool) is all big grins about getting to be a father for all sorts of clones with big red aquanet hair to go with his muttonchops... Indeed, for a story that often tried to be serious, then come lines like "Send in the clones!!"
Strengths are good, weaknesses are a bit much, stereotypes are borderline intolerable and the episode has a lot more than what I mentioned, but I'm going to say 6/10 for its being mature in several key scenes instead of making the whole thing an unending stream of adolescent juvenile jokes.
So send in the clones, w00t w00t!
Samaritan Snare:
Season 2 really experiments with some big and bold ideas, despite being a fledgling show. That's gutsy, especially when it works.
Indeed, "Snare", for all its problems, manages to show an enemy that's actually more vicious than Romulans or Klingons in their kidnap and repeated phaser assaults and bludgeoning of Geordi.
Some really novel ship f/x angles...
The code talk between Riker and Geordi was great as it kept the audience guessing.
If the Pakled ship is sublight only, how did they get that far out into space? Where's their home planet? How come the Federation knows as much about them as they do?
The actors playing the Pakleds are actually quite talented and convincing.
And, indeed, the uncomfortable feeling the audience might feel while watching - would an appropriate word here be "intentional" as by the writers?
Ditto for the Picard/Wes scenes. It actually feels authentic, especially Wes trying to show interest and being awkward and klutzing up. Picard then goes to the back to read his 800 year-old mold-infested books and that doesn't stop Wes. Some body language motions have a singular meaning and are harder to misinterpret. Wes probably has Asperger Syndrome. I know I was diagnosed with it and I acted a lot like Wes as a teen. (spoiler alert??)
And Picard's stories while on the shuttle also show how far Pulaski's influence is when being away from him.
Michael Dorn, as usual, ups the ante regardless of line. His 24th level of ascension is magnificently handled.
The Pakled leader doesn't understand "irony" when accusing Riker of being violent.
Lycia Naff - nice to see her back as engineer Gomez but this would be her last episode. I recall reading the writers were trying to add a new character for more avenues with Geordi for stories, but something feels missing.
Troi gets to be more than "Hey captain, here's the obvious" and it's another (rare) example of how she can be put to good use. Sorta a shame she wasn't there earlier in the episode...
...then again, how anyone got through the line of "are you suggesting a ruse of some sort?" is the most mind-bogglingly bad comment - ever - for Troi, much less a TNG episode. And that includes Riker wanting to throw rocks if the phasers go down again ("Contagion").
Oh, seasons 1 and 2 seem to love doing shots of an actor in front of the main viewscreen with the viewscreen taking up the entire background. These scenes always add a sense of largeness and it always looks cool.
The hospital scenes - ugh. The technobabble, some of it being based on real life terminology, is a bit woolly at times and as I recall, though a lot of it pretty accurate and pretty good considering how much sci-fi flings around terminology.
On the other hand, the episode had moments where I was distracting myself by wondering why the neural suppressor sedative panel placed on Picard's forehead wasn't in the shape of a giant letter "H". Still, whip out the dictionary once Picard's done reading it and enjoy. Might take longer than a trip to starbase from the big-E.
And were the outside door sets to the medical center reused from "Logan's Run"?
Pulaski saving the day - not a big surprise...
So, it's 6/10. It's avant garde and not unsuccessful, but doesn't have as meaty a plot as the other two stories above.
Pen Pals:
Riker telling Wes not to let the crewmembers' age alter his judgment is a highlight scene. Granted, if this were season 1 the episode would be reduced to Wesley whining about being a kid, combined with a bunch of oiled-up blue movie genre stars. One mangled rewrite of a great script was more than enough ("Justice").
Pretty stellar special effects, pun intended...
Pulaski and Data agree on something yet remain in character? Cats and dogs living together? A city menaced by a giant Twinkie or at least something else because they couldn't make a 50' version the way I DO hope they were wanting to? The prime directive verbal sparring is the obvious highlight of the episode.
Riker's talk about "cosmic plan" is suited better as a song by the B-52s, circa 1989...
Real science alert: Piezo effect, which made more sense for the solution to the problem as well as the cause...
Great alien sets.
Nikki Cox has some acting chops and it's easy to see why she's cast as Sarjenka.
"Sarjenka" sounding like the name of a coffee brand aside, note when Troi tries to cajole her to get a treat, do all species in the galaxy react the same way to treats? How do they know what she finds to be a treat? Maybe ice cream will give her gas, like how half of humanity is lactose intolerant.. Or do Sarjenka's people eat human eyes as dessert? (They could be a Kromagg colony from a parallel dimension...)
The body language motions Picard gives to Riker are different yet in-character.
And, really, O'Brien refers to Data as "he" but Sarjenka as "that"? What the heck... even Picard states she's a child and not an un-sentient object.
The episode, despite its heart being in the right place, and given the recent mindwipe operation the stone could risk memories not completely wiped be awoken or revitalized - there was emphasis placed on Sarjenka not necessarily being sufficiently humanoid regarding the process... or at least leave a residual mystery even greater than the mystery-man Sarjenka received telephone calls from. It's so blatant an issue I have to wonder if there was to be a deliberate sequel. Some novels do take opportunity, where she does remember and somehow gets into Starfleet and gets to yap at Picard for wanting to let 'em all die - well, who could blame her...
Despite the problems, I still find it a highly engaging story and the worst issues don't crop up until the end.
8/10
Up the long ladder:
Hmmm, it's pointless checklist time:
* clones as gimmick of the week: check (but they had some nice looking people there but while on set, don't light a match as the fumes from all that hairspray would cause as massive explosion)
* mature handling of breeding and species' genetics: check
* cliches for ethnic groups, both for the forgotten colony and "the planet of the Sheldon Coopers": check
* interesting twist on abortion, while mixing up the theme from "The Measure of a Man": check
* Riker getting laid - again: Check (indeed, he and Kirk and how many other sci-fi characters are poster children for "We, the group of characters who have incurable transmittable diseases on a galactic-scale and we're not going to tell you which cooties we have!" At least Kirk was telling stories about teaching love, since real love is about sharing incurable diseases-- oh, wait... the transporter is a magic cooties-cure-all already in effect. Drat.)
* great incidental music: always, though the Borg episode had some minor influence as there's a similar - yet appropriate - theme
* Picard saying "merde" under the radar: Check!
(2nd time for season 2, the first was "Elementary Dear Data", he got to say it in season 1 as well)The reactions to beaming up the farm animals was kinda nice. Ditto for when everyone was trying to use a real fire and the ship's safety system forcefields it out.
Worf's tea ceremony with Pulaski rules.
Drunky guy tasting a synthahol version of a Klingon ale - Michael Dorn did for Klingons what Armin Shimerman did for Ferengi in DS9 by taking even the most trite "I can beat your strong booze with mine" scene and making it genuinely interesting. Barrie Ingham works well with the cheezy scene as well. Few actors might have made it better, so many more would not have been able to make it work at all. Indeed, when I found out Ingham might have been Picard, I was impressed. It takes someone of good ranger to pull off O'Dell in a way that's even remotely better than what was on the script.
So in the end, both groups have to start breeding and the planet of the Sheldons loathes it and stereotype drunkie who I share a similar heritage with (my peeps are from all over and not just the Iberian Peninsula, which is cool) is all big grins about getting to be a father for all sorts of clones with big red aquanet hair to go with his muttonchops... Indeed, for a story that often tried to be serious, then come lines like "Send in the clones!!"
Strengths are good, weaknesses are a bit much, stereotypes are borderline intolerable and the episode has a lot more than what I mentioned, but I'm going to say 6/10 for its being mature in several key scenes instead of making the whole thing an unending stream of adolescent juvenile jokes.
So send in the clones, w00t w00t!
Samaritan Snare:
Season 2 really experiments with some big and bold ideas, despite being a fledgling show. That's gutsy, especially when it works.
Indeed, "Snare", for all its problems, manages to show an enemy that's actually more vicious than Romulans or Klingons in their kidnap and repeated phaser assaults and bludgeoning of Geordi.
Some really novel ship f/x angles...
The code talk between Riker and Geordi was great as it kept the audience guessing.
If the Pakled ship is sublight only, how did they get that far out into space? Where's their home planet? How come the Federation knows as much about them as they do?
The actors playing the Pakleds are actually quite talented and convincing.
And, indeed, the uncomfortable feeling the audience might feel while watching - would an appropriate word here be "intentional" as by the writers?
Ditto for the Picard/Wes scenes. It actually feels authentic, especially Wes trying to show interest and being awkward and klutzing up. Picard then goes to the back to read his 800 year-old mold-infested books and that doesn't stop Wes. Some body language motions have a singular meaning and are harder to misinterpret. Wes probably has Asperger Syndrome. I know I was diagnosed with it and I acted a lot like Wes as a teen. (spoiler alert??)
And Picard's stories while on the shuttle also show how far Pulaski's influence is when being away from him.
Michael Dorn, as usual, ups the ante regardless of line. His 24th level of ascension is magnificently handled.
The Pakled leader doesn't understand "irony" when accusing Riker of being violent.
Lycia Naff - nice to see her back as engineer Gomez but this would be her last episode. I recall reading the writers were trying to add a new character for more avenues with Geordi for stories, but something feels missing.
Troi gets to be more than "Hey captain, here's the obvious" and it's another (rare) example of how she can be put to good use. Sorta a shame she wasn't there earlier in the episode...
...then again, how anyone got through the line of "are you suggesting a ruse of some sort?" is the most mind-bogglingly bad comment - ever - for Troi, much less a TNG episode. And that includes Riker wanting to throw rocks if the phasers go down again ("Contagion").
Oh, seasons 1 and 2 seem to love doing shots of an actor in front of the main viewscreen with the viewscreen taking up the entire background. These scenes always add a sense of largeness and it always looks cool.
The hospital scenes - ugh. The technobabble, some of it being based on real life terminology, is a bit woolly at times and as I recall, though a lot of it pretty accurate and pretty good considering how much sci-fi flings around terminology.
On the other hand, the episode had moments where I was distracting myself by wondering why the neural suppressor sedative panel placed on Picard's forehead wasn't in the shape of a giant letter "H". Still, whip out the dictionary once Picard's done reading it and enjoy. Might take longer than a trip to starbase from the big-E.
And were the outside door sets to the medical center reused from "Logan's Run"?
Pulaski saving the day - not a big surprise...
So, it's 6/10. It's avant garde and not unsuccessful, but doesn't have as meaty a plot as the other two stories above.
