Probably my favorite mindfuck episode. What did you think of it?
Remember Me
- Thread starter Subcommander R.
- Start date
Loved it right up until the Traveller got involved. Seeing Wesley go all transparent and Traveller-y damn near killed the whole episode for me, but everything up to that was some wonderful and creepy stuff. When it was just Bev and the Captain left on the ship and she had the computer reciting his lifesigns, and the computer went silent...well, that was the only time TNG succeeded in actually scaring me.
Pretty much my thoughts, the episode went downhill when The Traveller showed up with his meta-creepy pedophille stalker act with Wes, and there's only so much "belief" I'm willing to suspend when it comes to Trek and the Traveler's "abilities" are just a bit beyond them as well as "Wes' destiny" or whatever.
Ugh, what a horrible plot arc Wes' journey was and the ending for his character. Oy!
But overall, Remember me is a fantastic mind-fuck of an episode and one of my favorite shots in the series is when the camera pulls from Beverly alone on the bridge, through the disturbance, and into the engineering room on the "real" Enterprise and the silhouette of Wes standing there. There was just something very Treky and "sci-fi"-y about that. And, really, what other series could get away with a line like "If there's nothing wrong with me, maybe there's something wrong with the universe?"
And I love the stuff with Bev's interactions with the computer including when the computer blows a gasket trying to answer the question of why Beverly, who's not experienced to explore the galaxy alone, is the only person on the ship.
I agree with these sentiments. I'd merely erased those less beneficial parts from my memory. I tend to do that when Wesley is involved.
I also agree with what's been said upthread. Beverly isn't my favorite character, but this is a great episode.
The episode is an example of really strong storytelling with its elegant construction, its fresh sci-fi concept, its deft handling of its mystery elements, its skilled balancing of both plot/character and its nice pacing. On its own it is a great show for its entertainment value alone but the thought put into assembling it only enhances it that much more. It also didn’t hurt that this was a good mystery and I love mysteries.
The way the writer Lee Sheldon built the tension up of the mystery by first cleverly focusing our attention on one man’s isolated disappearance and localizing the threat to the ship was a great hook leading to a host of questions--What is going on? Why Quaice? Who took him? Why erase all evidence that he ever existed?
It starts out like a routine missing person’s investigation which nicely works as a way of having the audience settle into a comfortable feeling before things get really interesting and the plot thickens. I particularly liked all the attention to details—Worf mentioning that even if Quaice is missing why would his luggage be missing, the crew suggesting checking for replicator usage since Quaice couldn’t go long without eating, scanning for Quaice’s communicator, Picard suggesting Quaice might have returned to the starbase amidst all the traffic and Beverly realizing O’Brien would have remembered seeing the two of them in the transporter room.
Then we get our next twist… O’Brien denies ever seeing Quaice! Is Beverly now the focus? Is there a conspiracy by Starfleet? Why? Is Picard involved and why would Bev be left out of the loop? Because of her relationship with Quaice? What was Quaice possibly involved in? Why is O’Brien lying? Is O’Brien lying? Or did someone or something alter his memory? Once again I liked she thought to run a scan on him to see if he had been tampered with.
If those moments weren’t surprising enough the scope of the unknown threat continues to widen even further with a series of nicely placed revelations that pack a nice punch. First, there are now more missing faceless crewmen, then the crew complement has dwindled, then no one seems to remember Worf
These are shocking revelations on their own but made even more insidious by the fact that they don’t faze the crew at all, who casually accept it as normal—the way things have always been. The crew continues to act intelligently about the threat considering Wes’ experiment might hold the answers before determining it couldn’t have the reach to effect anyone beyond Engineering.
Another nice misdirection that throws our suspicion off of the obvious but ultimately turns out to be the culprit. Also it soon becomes clear whatever is happening is beyond just an alien conspiracy. Something is wrong with the very universe itself—a staggering prospect. Then Beverly has her run in, which was nicely presented, with the mysterious vortex that seems very likely to be the source of the bizarre happenings.
It all culminates in an appropriately surreal scene where Picard tells Beverly that they are the only crew the Enterprise has ever needed. The way Beverly described all of the senior staff as she was trying to convince mostly herself that all of these people were real and not some figment of her imagination was handled well. Beverly ordering the computer to take continuous scans of Picard in the hope of gathering data that might explain what is going on was another demonstration of her being on the ball.
The two actors have always had chemistry And I really liked that poignant moment after everyone has finally disappeared and she makes a promise to them all that she will *never* forget any of them and that pained look on her face. She now realizes for whatever reason she is the only one left in the universe and the galactic burden is on her to find some way to bring these people back—how devastatingly overwhelming.
The reveals are timed for just the right moments not revealing too little or too much too early and spoiling the speculation. Sometimes the payoff is never quite the equal to all the build up but this was a perfect way to handle the mystery. The big reveal that Geordi & Wes are trying to reach her and she has been inside the bubble all along is so very clever. A brilliant twist and the execution of said twist was outstanding as we see them on the otherside working to maintain the threshold as the camera panned from her side to theirs.
The idea Beverly created her own reality based on what she was thinking about at that moment when she was pulled into the warp bubble was a clever idea and one that was quite satisfying, holding up just as strongly to all the previous build-up. Not only did it build on an already pre-existing thread established all the way back in “Where No One Has Gone Before”, which doesn’t make it seem contrived or out-of-the-blue, but the manner in which the writer uses the earlier conversation to play into the heart of the dilemma by taking the notion of losing people in your life to its most concrete reality was very clever and subtle. I really liked that element a lot. The reveal also allows for everything that happened to hold together and make sense—the loss of people, the effected memories, the logic just works so well.
I loved how Sheldon was determined to not let up even after the main mystery was solved. One example being when Beverly wisely sets a course for Tau Alpha C to contact the Traveler and then being to left to wonder what is wrong now when the engines won’t engage. That void on the screen was disconcerting--presenting the notion of nihilism in a very dramatic and literal way. Very effective.
Then came the ultimate WTF mind-boggling moment when she learns that she is the only one left in a universe that is only 700 meters in diameter and the shape of the universe is very familiar. The writers just kept ratcheting up the insanity. It was great. It reminded me of the very best of the Twilight Zone where perception and reality are distorted.
The last 10 minutes were just as thrilling as space starts collapsing and more of the ship ceased to exist and Beverly raced to reach the threshold in time. In hindsight all of the clues were there, the internal logic holds together even after the mystery is solved. I liked how little details like Quaice’s conversation plays a role but at the same time they are down played so subtlely that you dismiss them. Another one I liked was that the vortex was seemingly at first threatening turns out to be the way home.
Gates did a fantastic job as Dr. Crusher trying to solve the mystery in these extraordinary circumstances. And this episode also showcased exceptionally well the qualities I like best about her. She is a formidable woman with such a steely resolve that once she has her mind made up not even someone like Picard can say no to her. And even when others might cave in and succumb to the overwhelming situation she finds herself in, she remains steadfast keeping her wits about her never letting herself fall to pieces. She just keeps thinking up more ideas to solve this dilemma even getting into it with the computer. She got in some good lines—“ Was he invisible? Did I carry on a conversation with thin air?”, “Will, I didn't conjure up one of my best friends from a test tube.”, “I'm sorry I lost my temper. You do remember that?” and Picard’s “vividly” in reply, “If there isn't anything wrong with me... maybe there's something wrong with the universe...” or her clicking her heels line. And I loved the moment when she sits in the captain’s chair.
Wil Wheaton did a great job as well as a son back in the real world who is having to cope with the realization that he very well may be responsible for his mother’s death if he can’t reach her inside the nightmare he placed in her. I loved how they toyed with us when Beverly rushes to Engineering to find Wesley before he actually disappears.
I also thought including the Traveler made sense. And the final scene although rather brief was a nice way to cap things off after everything Beverly had been through. However brief his appearance, I really liked Quaice too and the way the two managed to sell the warmth and long history between them in such a short amount of time was impressive(The way Beverly intertwined her arms in his as they walked down the corridor for instance). I also really liked the dialogue between the two. Not to mention I’ve always thought that the name “Quaice” was really cool. I also liked the title works as both a plea and as a question.
This is one of those episodes that the show did over the years that really was fun and exploited the series’ sci-fi premise to wonderful effect. Like I have already mentioned--What is really vital to a successful mystery is that the secret is just as strong as the build-up otherwise it is just peters out. TNG had both types--When done well you end up with episodes like this or The Survivors, Clues, Night Terrors, The Nth Degree, Cause and Effect, Parallels, Timescape for instance. If the ending is weak or disappointing everything preceding it just becomes irrelevant—like season seven’s “Eye of the Beholder” or “Emergence” or season two’s “Time Squared”. The episode for me is an A
The way the writer Lee Sheldon built the tension up of the mystery by first cleverly focusing our attention on one man’s isolated disappearance and localizing the threat to the ship was a great hook leading to a host of questions--What is going on? Why Quaice? Who took him? Why erase all evidence that he ever existed?
It starts out like a routine missing person’s investigation which nicely works as a way of having the audience settle into a comfortable feeling before things get really interesting and the plot thickens. I particularly liked all the attention to details—Worf mentioning that even if Quaice is missing why would his luggage be missing, the crew suggesting checking for replicator usage since Quaice couldn’t go long without eating, scanning for Quaice’s communicator, Picard suggesting Quaice might have returned to the starbase amidst all the traffic and Beverly realizing O’Brien would have remembered seeing the two of them in the transporter room.
Then we get our next twist… O’Brien denies ever seeing Quaice! Is Beverly now the focus? Is there a conspiracy by Starfleet? Why? Is Picard involved and why would Bev be left out of the loop? Because of her relationship with Quaice? What was Quaice possibly involved in? Why is O’Brien lying? Is O’Brien lying? Or did someone or something alter his memory? Once again I liked she thought to run a scan on him to see if he had been tampered with.
If those moments weren’t surprising enough the scope of the unknown threat continues to widen even further with a series of nicely placed revelations that pack a nice punch. First, there are now more missing faceless crewmen, then the crew complement has dwindled, then no one seems to remember Worf
These are shocking revelations on their own but made even more insidious by the fact that they don’t faze the crew at all, who casually accept it as normal—the way things have always been. The crew continues to act intelligently about the threat considering Wes’ experiment might hold the answers before determining it couldn’t have the reach to effect anyone beyond Engineering.
Another nice misdirection that throws our suspicion off of the obvious but ultimately turns out to be the culprit. Also it soon becomes clear whatever is happening is beyond just an alien conspiracy. Something is wrong with the very universe itself—a staggering prospect. Then Beverly has her run in, which was nicely presented, with the mysterious vortex that seems very likely to be the source of the bizarre happenings.
It all culminates in an appropriately surreal scene where Picard tells Beverly that they are the only crew the Enterprise has ever needed. The way Beverly described all of the senior staff as she was trying to convince mostly herself that all of these people were real and not some figment of her imagination was handled well. Beverly ordering the computer to take continuous scans of Picard in the hope of gathering data that might explain what is going on was another demonstration of her being on the ball.
The two actors have always had chemistry And I really liked that poignant moment after everyone has finally disappeared and she makes a promise to them all that she will *never* forget any of them and that pained look on her face. She now realizes for whatever reason she is the only one left in the universe and the galactic burden is on her to find some way to bring these people back—how devastatingly overwhelming.
The reveals are timed for just the right moments not revealing too little or too much too early and spoiling the speculation. Sometimes the payoff is never quite the equal to all the build up but this was a perfect way to handle the mystery. The big reveal that Geordi & Wes are trying to reach her and she has been inside the bubble all along is so very clever. A brilliant twist and the execution of said twist was outstanding as we see them on the otherside working to maintain the threshold as the camera panned from her side to theirs.
The idea Beverly created her own reality based on what she was thinking about at that moment when she was pulled into the warp bubble was a clever idea and one that was quite satisfying, holding up just as strongly to all the previous build-up. Not only did it build on an already pre-existing thread established all the way back in “Where No One Has Gone Before”, which doesn’t make it seem contrived or out-of-the-blue, but the manner in which the writer uses the earlier conversation to play into the heart of the dilemma by taking the notion of losing people in your life to its most concrete reality was very clever and subtle. I really liked that element a lot. The reveal also allows for everything that happened to hold together and make sense—the loss of people, the effected memories, the logic just works so well.
I loved how Sheldon was determined to not let up even after the main mystery was solved. One example being when Beverly wisely sets a course for Tau Alpha C to contact the Traveler and then being to left to wonder what is wrong now when the engines won’t engage. That void on the screen was disconcerting--presenting the notion of nihilism in a very dramatic and literal way. Very effective.
Then came the ultimate WTF mind-boggling moment when she learns that she is the only one left in a universe that is only 700 meters in diameter and the shape of the universe is very familiar. The writers just kept ratcheting up the insanity. It was great. It reminded me of the very best of the Twilight Zone where perception and reality are distorted.
The last 10 minutes were just as thrilling as space starts collapsing and more of the ship ceased to exist and Beverly raced to reach the threshold in time. In hindsight all of the clues were there, the internal logic holds together even after the mystery is solved. I liked how little details like Quaice’s conversation plays a role but at the same time they are down played so subtlely that you dismiss them. Another one I liked was that the vortex was seemingly at first threatening turns out to be the way home.
Gates did a fantastic job as Dr. Crusher trying to solve the mystery in these extraordinary circumstances. And this episode also showcased exceptionally well the qualities I like best about her. She is a formidable woman with such a steely resolve that once she has her mind made up not even someone like Picard can say no to her. And even when others might cave in and succumb to the overwhelming situation she finds herself in, she remains steadfast keeping her wits about her never letting herself fall to pieces. She just keeps thinking up more ideas to solve this dilemma even getting into it with the computer. She got in some good lines—“ Was he invisible? Did I carry on a conversation with thin air?”, “Will, I didn't conjure up one of my best friends from a test tube.”, “I'm sorry I lost my temper. You do remember that?” and Picard’s “vividly” in reply, “If there isn't anything wrong with me... maybe there's something wrong with the universe...” or her clicking her heels line. And I loved the moment when she sits in the captain’s chair.
Wil Wheaton did a great job as well as a son back in the real world who is having to cope with the realization that he very well may be responsible for his mother’s death if he can’t reach her inside the nightmare he placed in her. I loved how they toyed with us when Beverly rushes to Engineering to find Wesley before he actually disappears.
I also thought including the Traveler made sense. And the final scene although rather brief was a nice way to cap things off after everything Beverly had been through. However brief his appearance, I really liked Quaice too and the way the two managed to sell the warmth and long history between them in such a short amount of time was impressive(The way Beverly intertwined her arms in his as they walked down the corridor for instance). I also really liked the dialogue between the two. Not to mention I’ve always thought that the name “Quaice” was really cool. I also liked the title works as both a plea and as a question.
This is one of those episodes that the show did over the years that really was fun and exploited the series’ sci-fi premise to wonderful effect. Like I have already mentioned--What is really vital to a successful mystery is that the secret is just as strong as the build-up otherwise it is just peters out. TNG had both types--When done well you end up with episodes like this or The Survivors, Clues, Night Terrors, The Nth Degree, Cause and Effect, Parallels, Timescape for instance. If the ending is weak or disappointing everything preceding it just becomes irrelevant—like season seven’s “Eye of the Beholder” or “Emergence” or season two’s “Time Squared”. The episode for me is an A
Bravo
*applauds*
That right there sums everything up perfectly.
*applauds*
That right there sums everything up perfectly.
This is easily one of my favourite episodes from the entire series, and very rewatchable too. This episode tends to pop up in discussion threads here more frequently than many, which I think is testament in itself.
Personally, I also think some of the conversations Beverly has with the computer in this episode are some of the best exchanges in TNG too:
Crusher: What is the primary mission of the starship Enterprise?
Computer: To explore the galaxy.
Crusher: Do I have the necessary skills to complete that mission alone?
Computer: Negative.
Crusher: Then why am I the only crew member?
<computer can't answer and just makes the usual busy/error noises>
Crusher: Got you there!
Crusher: Here's a question you shouldn't be able to answer. Computer, what is the nature of the universe?
Computer: The universe is a spheroid region 705 meters in diameter.
And just preceding that one:
"If there's nothing wrong with me... maybe there's something wrong with the universe!" 
Personally, I also think some of the conversations Beverly has with the computer in this episode are some of the best exchanges in TNG too:
Crusher: What is the primary mission of the starship Enterprise?
Computer: To explore the galaxy.
Crusher: Do I have the necessary skills to complete that mission alone?
Computer: Negative.
Crusher: Then why am I the only crew member?
<computer can't answer and just makes the usual busy/error noises>
Crusher: Got you there!
Crusher: Here's a question you shouldn't be able to answer. Computer, what is the nature of the universe?
Computer: The universe is a spheroid region 705 meters in diameter.
And just preceding that one:
"If there's nothing wrong with me... maybe there's something wrong with the universe!"
This is easily one of my favourite episodes from the entire series, and very rewatchable too. This episode tends to pop up in discussion threads here more frequently than many, which I think is testament in itself.
Personally, I also think some of the conversations Beverly has with the computer in this episode are some of the best exchanges in TNG too:
Crusher: What is the primary mission of the starship Enterprise?
Computer: To explore the galaxy.
Crusher: Do I have the necessary skills to complete that mission alone?
Computer: Negative.
Crusher: Then why am I the only crew member?
<computer can't answer and just makes the usual busy/error noises>
Crusher: Got you there!
Crusher: Here's a question you shouldn't be able to answer. Computer, what is the nature of the universe?
Computer: The universe is a spheroid region 705 meters in diameter.
And just preceding that one:
"If there's nothing wrong with me... maybe there's something wrong with the universe!"
I'm re-watching my TNG DVD's right now, and this episode was two days ago. I've always loved it, but forgot how good it was. I like it exactly for all the reasons you posts here. Also, because it's a rare episode that focuses on Crusher, one of my favorite characters.
It was a good episode. I think Crusher is the weakest character in the show though, she sees things too much in black and white and human terms. That in itself doesn't make sense since humans are only one of 150 or so species in the Federation, so human values should take no precedence.
"If there's nothing wrong with me... maybe there's something wrong with the universe!"
That's easily one of my favorite lines of any tv show.
Agreed. The parts with the Traveller were completely contrived. I had no problem with them bringing him back, but his return was in no way organic to the plot.
I loved this episode... it was a great Crusher episode, and finally gave Beverly basically a whole episode's worth of lines.
One of my favorites, really like Crusher. But I agree with everyone else, it could be even better if the Traveler didn't show up, or at least Wesley not being all super-natural and what not, as if it's not enough he's smarter than nearly everyone, yet so stupid.
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