Revisiting ST-TNG...
- Thread starter Warped9
- Start date
Tin Man is an episode with a lot of good possibilities in it but I really think the guy playing Tam ruined it. I simply couldn't like him enough to care about the story.
That's a good point. I think he's part of the reason it doesn't come alive for me.
I know you feel that way, I think he was a strength of the episode. He is SUPPOSED to be irritating and disturbed...masking his tree feelings and intent. The way he transformed in the episode really worked.
RAMA
"Transfigurations" ***
A severely injured humanoid with amnesia rapidly heals physically and also displays remarkable healing powers.
This isn't bad although it didn't wow me either. It's a very talky episode playing with an interesting idea: the next phase of a lifeform's evolution. I did find it a little silly that John Doe spends most of the episode walking about the Enterprise in what looks like long underwear.
"Best Of Both Worlds" (Part I) *****
The Enterprise and Starfleet are caught unprepared when the Borg arrive early in Federation space.
Excellent! Star Trek's first cliffhanger and it's a damned good one. The Riker/Shelby friction is interesting and certainly hints at possible changes to the status quo (even if they never did follow through). Turning Picard into a Borg was a helluva dramatic move. The Borg as depicted here make Klingons, Romulans and Cardassians look like wusses. A great ending following an inconsistent last few episodes. When this first aired it was torture waiting for the next season opening episode.
A severely injured humanoid with amnesia rapidly heals physically and also displays remarkable healing powers.
This isn't bad although it didn't wow me either. It's a very talky episode playing with an interesting idea: the next phase of a lifeform's evolution. I did find it a little silly that John Doe spends most of the episode walking about the Enterprise in what looks like long underwear.
"Best Of Both Worlds" (Part I) *****
The Enterprise and Starfleet are caught unprepared when the Borg arrive early in Federation space.
Excellent! Star Trek's first cliffhanger and it's a damned good one. The Riker/Shelby friction is interesting and certainly hints at possible changes to the status quo (even if they never did follow through). Turning Picard into a Borg was a helluva dramatic move. The Borg as depicted here make Klingons, Romulans and Cardassians look like wusses. A great ending following an inconsistent last few episodes. When this first aired it was torture waiting for the next season opening episode.
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And so we come to the end of Season 3. First some numbers.
Overall Rating = 84 of 130 = 64.6% = average episode rating of 3.23 of 5
1st half season = 3.07 average
2nd half season = 3.38 average
26.8% poor to bad episodes
73.2% fair to excellent episodes
***** Excellent (19.2%)
“Yesterday’s Enterprise”
“The Offspring”
"Sins Of The Father"
“Sarek”
“The Best Of Both Worlds” (Part I)
**** Good (23.0%)
“The Ensigns Of Command”
“The Survivors”
“The Enemy”
“The Vengeance Factor”
“The Defector”
“Captain’s Holiday”
*** Fair (30.7%)
“Evolution”
“Who Watches The Watchers”
“Booby Trap”
“The Hunted”
“The High Ground”
“Tin Man”
“The Most Toys”
“Transfigurations”
** Poor (15.3%)
“The Bonding”
“The Price”
“Allegiance”
“Hollow Pursuits”
* Bad (11.5%)
“Deja Q”
"A Matter Of Perspective"
“Menage A Troi”
So in 1st season we had 52% of episodes that were fair to good (no excellent), in 2nd season we had 63% and in 3rd we have 73%. So we definately see a somewhat consistent improvement of about ten percent each season.
***** The biggest change here is that S1 had no excellent episodes and S3 had a longer season to get 2 more over S2.
1st Season = 0 episodes
2nd Season = 3 episodes (13%)
3rd Season = 5 episodes (19%)
**** This actually looks pretty consistent particularly between S2 and S3 and considering S2 had a shorter season.
1st Season = 4 episodes (16%)
2nd Season = 6 episodes (27%)
3rd Season = 6 episodes (23%)
*** S2 looks weaker here, but then the average quality of S2 episodes tended to go good or bad rather than just okay.
1st Season = 9 episodes (36%)
2nd Season = 5 episodes (22%)
3rd Season = 8 episodes (30%)
** Definate improvement over S1, but remains consistent between S2 and S3.
1st Season = 9 episodes (36%)
2nd Season = 4 episodes (18%)
3rd Season = 4 episodes (18%)
* S2 had more than it's share percentage wise although the number of them is pretty consistent throughout all three seasons.
1st Season = 3 episodes (12%)
2nd Season = 4 episodes (18%)
3rd Season = 3 episodes (11%)
What I see is that as the seasons progressed there was a definate improvement in consistency and execution. The improvement is more marked from Season 1 to Season 2 and not quite so marked between Season 2 and Season 3 (though still distinctly noticeable). For me the most apparent change in Season 3 is polish---even in the worst episodes the performances and writing remained reasonably consistent. The disappointing episodes from the first two season were generally of the cringe inducing variety whereas those of the third season were of the mind numbing kind.
Throughout my revisit I noted another change in Season 3 and that is one of feel and style. The third season feels a little more thorough overall...yet it also feels just a little stiff and stuffy. It's only a light touch at this point and so it's not objectionable, but it is a recognizable quality that I know will become more apparent.
As noted before throughout the thread the tone of the show is changing at this point. Up till now TNG had a sense of adventure to it that I quite like and lent the show a spiritual connection to its predecessor. In third season that begins to change and I admit some disappointment, because while some of what the show does may have merit for me it drifts from what I think Star Trek is: a space adventure that uses a science fiction setting to explore cool ideas all the while not losing that sense of adventure. For that reason I find that I tend liking Season 2 most because of its overall feel even while acknowledging that Season 3 has some damned fine episodes. I feel a sense of vitality in Season 2. It's also noteworthy that my favourite TNG episodes, "The Measure Of A Man" and "Q Who," are 2nd season.
A couple of other things of note. I already commented some pages back about the uniforms. While they could have been better I kind of liked the Season 2 uniforms because they look more distinctive. The early version of the S3 uniforms was fine with the seams on the front to give it shape and some visual texture, but I don't care at all for the revised version with no seams in the front and a very apparent one in the back. I can't imagine how one could easily get into and out of such a thing.
Another change is in terms of music which is something that creates a sense of atmosphere and feeling in an episode. Some of the music in S3 seemed to be just noise which, for me, could serve to sap the energy out of a scene.
A final thing I note is that these main characters don't really seem all that different from each other. In TOS there was a sense that the main characters came from diverse backgrounds. I don't get that feeling from the TNG characters except for Data and Worf. Everyone else feels like they could all have grown up down the block from each other. They all feel like mainstream America.
So now it's on to Season 4 (which I still have to pick up) and to see how long my enjoyment of the previous three seasons lasts further into the series.
Overall Rating = 84 of 130 = 64.6% = average episode rating of 3.23 of 5
1st half season = 3.07 average
2nd half season = 3.38 average
26.8% poor to bad episodes
73.2% fair to excellent episodes
***** Excellent (19.2%)
“Yesterday’s Enterprise”
“The Offspring”
"Sins Of The Father"
“Sarek”
“The Best Of Both Worlds” (Part I)
**** Good (23.0%)
“The Ensigns Of Command”
“The Survivors”
“The Enemy”
“The Vengeance Factor”
“The Defector”
“Captain’s Holiday”
*** Fair (30.7%)
“Evolution”
“Who Watches The Watchers”
“Booby Trap”
“The Hunted”
“The High Ground”
“Tin Man”
“The Most Toys”
“Transfigurations”
** Poor (15.3%)
“The Bonding”
“The Price”
“Allegiance”
“Hollow Pursuits”
* Bad (11.5%)
“Deja Q”
"A Matter Of Perspective"
“Menage A Troi”
So in 1st season we had 52% of episodes that were fair to good (no excellent), in 2nd season we had 63% and in 3rd we have 73%. So we definately see a somewhat consistent improvement of about ten percent each season.
***** The biggest change here is that S1 had no excellent episodes and S3 had a longer season to get 2 more over S2.
1st Season = 0 episodes
2nd Season = 3 episodes (13%)
3rd Season = 5 episodes (19%)
**** This actually looks pretty consistent particularly between S2 and S3 and considering S2 had a shorter season.
1st Season = 4 episodes (16%)
2nd Season = 6 episodes (27%)
3rd Season = 6 episodes (23%)
*** S2 looks weaker here, but then the average quality of S2 episodes tended to go good or bad rather than just okay.
1st Season = 9 episodes (36%)
2nd Season = 5 episodes (22%)
3rd Season = 8 episodes (30%)
** Definate improvement over S1, but remains consistent between S2 and S3.
1st Season = 9 episodes (36%)
2nd Season = 4 episodes (18%)
3rd Season = 4 episodes (18%)
* S2 had more than it's share percentage wise although the number of them is pretty consistent throughout all three seasons.
1st Season = 3 episodes (12%)
2nd Season = 4 episodes (18%)
3rd Season = 3 episodes (11%)
What I see is that as the seasons progressed there was a definate improvement in consistency and execution. The improvement is more marked from Season 1 to Season 2 and not quite so marked between Season 2 and Season 3 (though still distinctly noticeable). For me the most apparent change in Season 3 is polish---even in the worst episodes the performances and writing remained reasonably consistent. The disappointing episodes from the first two season were generally of the cringe inducing variety whereas those of the third season were of the mind numbing kind.
Throughout my revisit I noted another change in Season 3 and that is one of feel and style. The third season feels a little more thorough overall...yet it also feels just a little stiff and stuffy. It's only a light touch at this point and so it's not objectionable, but it is a recognizable quality that I know will become more apparent.
As noted before throughout the thread the tone of the show is changing at this point. Up till now TNG had a sense of adventure to it that I quite like and lent the show a spiritual connection to its predecessor. In third season that begins to change and I admit some disappointment, because while some of what the show does may have merit for me it drifts from what I think Star Trek is: a space adventure that uses a science fiction setting to explore cool ideas all the while not losing that sense of adventure. For that reason I find that I tend liking Season 2 most because of its overall feel even while acknowledging that Season 3 has some damned fine episodes. I feel a sense of vitality in Season 2. It's also noteworthy that my favourite TNG episodes, "The Measure Of A Man" and "Q Who," are 2nd season.
A couple of other things of note. I already commented some pages back about the uniforms. While they could have been better I kind of liked the Season 2 uniforms because they look more distinctive. The early version of the S3 uniforms was fine with the seams on the front to give it shape and some visual texture, but I don't care at all for the revised version with no seams in the front and a very apparent one in the back. I can't imagine how one could easily get into and out of such a thing.
Another change is in terms of music which is something that creates a sense of atmosphere and feeling in an episode. Some of the music in S3 seemed to be just noise which, for me, could serve to sap the energy out of a scene.
A final thing I note is that these main characters don't really seem all that different from each other. In TOS there was a sense that the main characters came from diverse backgrounds. I don't get that feeling from the TNG characters except for Data and Worf. Everyone else feels like they could all have grown up down the block from each other. They all feel like mainstream America.
So now it's on to Season 4 (which I still have to pick up) and to see how long my enjoyment of the previous three seasons lasts further into the series.
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"Transfigurations" didn't rate too highly with me. Beverly eps fall flat, consistently. Nothing really wrong with it, but just "eh". I will give the eps major points for addressing a big issue in ST, the corporeal and non-corporeal life.
There's a lot of life in ST, and much of it is divided between the physical and non-physical varieties.
Are they mutually exclusive? Linked evolutionary?
At least "Transfigurations" attempts to show what the connection might be, how non-corporeal life might come to exist. I've always wondered about that in ST.
There's a lot of life in ST, and much of it is divided between the physical and non-physical varieties.
Are they mutually exclusive? Linked evolutionary?
At least "Transfigurations" attempts to show what the connection might be, how non-corporeal life might come to exist. I've always wondered about that in ST.
It had a nice little metaphor to me, about evolutionary, but mainly SOCIAL changes and how they are not accepted by many in their time. A very nice parallel to the 20th century Earth it was made in. Still, the execution was not as energetic as it might have been. It was obviously a bottle show, they didn't spend much on production design.
It will be a few days until I start the reviews gain, but I've been reflecting on something primarily because I know a fair amount of what is already coming.
Early fourth season would have been a good time to shake things up some. After Picard gets rescued and the Borg cube destroyed Starfleet is now short a lot of ships and good officers. It would have been an ideal time for Riker to accept a command of his own. Frakes was okay, but I never really warmed to him so I wouldn't have missed him at all. And since he'd leave he could take Troi with him...please.
Yep, then I'd have liked to see Shelby as Picard's new Number One. And with Troi gone find a way to make Guinan the ship's Counselor...if you really have to have one.
Early fourth season would have been a good time to shake things up some. After Picard gets rescued and the Borg cube destroyed Starfleet is now short a lot of ships and good officers. It would have been an ideal time for Riker to accept a command of his own. Frakes was okay, but I never really warmed to him so I wouldn't have missed him at all. And since he'd leave he could take Troi with him...please.
Yep, then I'd have liked to see Shelby as Picard's new Number One. And with Troi gone find a way to make Guinan the ship's Counselor...if you really have to have one.
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