I like "Genesis" alot. In fact, I'm quite fond of most of the crew-in-shuttle/runabout comes back to mysterious circumstances episodes, also being a fan of "Timescape" and Voyager's "Macrocosm." It's creepy, different, fun, and very atmospheric. Better than most of the dull episodes of S7 like "Thine Own Self" or "Attached" for DARN sure!
Revisiting ST-TNG...
- Thread starter Warped9
- Start date
I like "Genesis" okay as it's a fun stand-alone episode and all of the medicine/DNA/science stuff can be waved away as just the way things work on TV but, for me, the episode gets a lot of points off for being way to episodic and pretty much ignoring the horrors everyone on the ship went through during the course of this episode while also keeping in mind that civilians and children live on the ship.
But at the end of the episode everyone is smiling, happy and making fun of Barclay again including Dr. Crusher who was nearly paralyzed and had to have reconstructive surgery!
But at the end of the episode everyone is smiling, happy and making fun of Barclay again including Dr. Crusher who was nearly paralyzed and had to have reconstructive surgery!
"Journey's End" ***
Picard must evacuate colonists on a planet ceded to the Cardassians.
I waffled on this because the story is kind of interesting and told decently well enough, but in the end I wasn't really engaged. From the beginning the solution was obvious and obvious in how it was side-stepped and not raised: just tell the colonists that if they stay they will be under Cardassian rule...now make up your mind.
In the beginning Wesley really is an inexcusable little shit here and needed someone's boot in his ass. And I just didn't buy into how everyone was neatly destined to arrive at this place to play their role including Picard having to erase a stain on his family. I also had a hard time accepting the idea that this distant alien world, so far removed from Earth, was a spiritual place that spoke to these wandering Indians.
And finally Wesley's first step onto a new path. He's never shown any indication of abilities beyond human and now he's there. Uh...okay. But then (although not a factor at this point) doesn't he show up in one of the TNG movies with no real explanation?
In the end I'm just "meh" about this episode.
Picard must evacuate colonists on a planet ceded to the Cardassians.
I waffled on this because the story is kind of interesting and told decently well enough, but in the end I wasn't really engaged. From the beginning the solution was obvious and obvious in how it was side-stepped and not raised: just tell the colonists that if they stay they will be under Cardassian rule...now make up your mind.
In the beginning Wesley really is an inexcusable little shit here and needed someone's boot in his ass. And I just didn't buy into how everyone was neatly destined to arrive at this place to play their role including Picard having to erase a stain on his family. I also had a hard time accepting the idea that this distant alien world, so far removed from Earth, was a spiritual place that spoke to these wandering Indians.
And finally Wesley's first step onto a new path. He's never shown any indication of abilities beyond human and now he's there. Uh...okay. But then (although not a factor at this point) doesn't he show up in one of the TNG movies with no real explanation?
In the end I'm just "meh" about this episode.
I like Journey's End myself. I liked how it served to set up some stuff for DS9 and VOY with the DMZ and Native Americans. I am one of the few who liked Wesley--I liked seeing him brought back and I liked the way he was brought back frustrated and burnt out-it would only make sense that someone like Wesley who strived to be the best would burn out. I didn't care as much for Wes riding off with Traveler to exist on a higher plane of existence. I also liked seeing Native Americans brought into the 24th century. This was the last show I enjoyed until Preemptive Strike and AGT.
3 stars out of 4.
3 stars out of 4.
"Firstborn" **
A Klingon warrior tries to teach Alexander what it means to be a warrior.
The Klingon family hour guest starring Quark and the widely popular Duras sisters.
An adult Alexander comes back in time to try to save his father's life. Well just by telling Worf who he was Alexander may have already changed the future. And it takes a whole forty minutes to get the story to that point. Actually that part of the story isn't that bad in itself, but by this point in the series I've had my fill of contemporary style comic opera Klingons. And James Sloyan plays that part to the hilt. For the most part this episode just feels stitched together with parts of past TNG episodes just to get something on the air.
Snoooze...
A Klingon warrior tries to teach Alexander what it means to be a warrior.
The Klingon family hour guest starring Quark and the widely popular Duras sisters.
An adult Alexander comes back in time to try to save his father's life. Well just by telling Worf who he was Alexander may have already changed the future. And it takes a whole forty minutes to get the story to that point. Actually that part of the story isn't that bad in itself, but by this point in the series I've had my fill of contemporary style comic opera Klingons. And James Sloyan plays that part to the hilt. For the most part this episode just feels stitched together with parts of past TNG episodes just to get something on the air.
Snoooze...
Yeah the writers really were burnt out. The Klingon stuff at this point was boring and we'd been down this road many many times about what it means to be a Klingon. The Quark cameo was gratuitous and did nothing for me. Did we really need to bring back Lursa and B'etor? I hated the twist he was actually future Alexander--did we really need more time travel. I didn't mind the Worf/Alexander stuff in S4/S5 but here it just didn't work. 2 stars sounds about right.
"Bloodlines" **
Ferengi Daimon Bok returns to kill Picard's son to avenge his own son's death.
Is Season 7 where they're trying to tie things back to Season 1? This wasn't horrible, but watching Picard trying to bond with a young man who may be his son really didn't engage me. And then Picard is let off the hook when Jason Vigo turns out not to be his son. As I said, not horrible, but it's quite low key and rather plodding.
Ferengi Daimon Bok returns to kill Picard's son to avenge his own son's death.
Is Season 7 where they're trying to tie things back to Season 1? This wasn't horrible, but watching Picard trying to bond with a young man who may be his son really didn't engage me. And then Picard is let off the hook when Jason Vigo turns out not to be his son. As I said, not horrible, but it's quite low key and rather plodding.
This was when I was ready just for TNG to end--it was getting so tedious that I found myself forgetting new episodes were on Saturdays. That was unimaginable a year earlier. TNG as much as I loved it and as much entertainment it brought just needed to end.
I could care less about an old Picard dalliance that led to his son--whoops--the episode ruins what might have been a potentially interesting permanent reality of Picard having a grown son he never knew but the writers couldn't bring themselves to create this fundamental change even in the last remaining hours of the show so it was all faked by Bok--a character I never cared for.
The episode was tedious and the Picard/Jason scenes fell terribly flat. 2 stars is right.
I could care less about an old Picard dalliance that led to his son--whoops--the episode ruins what might have been a potentially interesting permanent reality of Picard having a grown son he never knew but the writers couldn't bring themselves to create this fundamental change even in the last remaining hours of the show so it was all faked by Bok--a character I never cared for.
The episode was tedious and the Picard/Jason scenes fell terribly flat. 2 stars is right.
"Emergence" *
The Enterprise displays a mind of its own.
Once again the holodeck goes haywire and now it's because the ship develops its own intelligence.
This is simply one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. Mind you there's some sort of precedence because something rather similar was done in TAS' "The Practical Joker." And I thought that was stupid too.
I have nothing good to say about this.
At this point Season 7 is distinctly trailing Season 1 by a fair margin. The last three episodes will have to be real winners to reverse that standing.
The Enterprise displays a mind of its own.
Once again the holodeck goes haywire and now it's because the ship develops its own intelligence. This is simply one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. Mind you there's some sort of precedence because something rather similar was done in TAS' "The Practical Joker." And I thought that was stupid too.
I have nothing good to say about this.
At this point Season 7 is distinctly trailing Season 1 by a fair margin. The last three episodes will have to be real winners to reverse that standing.
See this is another good idea poorly executed. I love the idea that the Enterprise attains sentience--something Andromeda does with its starship years later--now that's the kind of big idea appropriate for the final season of a series like TNG, however yet again they are reticent to take that leap and instead the Enterprise wasn't attaining sentience like initially suggested--but was a surrogate for some weird alien macguffin I never quite got even to this day."Emergence" *
The Enterprise displays a mind of its own.
This is simply one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. Mind you there's some sort of precedence because something rather similar was done in TAS' "The Practical Joker." And I thought that was stupid too.
I did enjoy the atmosphere early on in the Orient Express and much like "Eye of the Beholder" it seemed to start out like it might be one of TNG's wonderful high concept mystery shows done well but all the symbolism and New Vertiform city just lost my interest and the resolution was lame. I will say that after several episodes centering on just one particular character it was nice that we got an ensemble piece with every one working together before the show ended.
While I didn't agree with you on a lot of your ratings in S5 and S6 it seems that both big TNG fans like myself and only so-so ones like you can agree TNG lost something this season. I give it 2 stars.
“Preemptive Strike” ***
Ro Laren goes undercover to infiltrate the Maqis and to undermine their operations.
Ro Laren is the best thing about what is otherwise just an okay executed story. It's her presence and her unexpected defection that make this worthwhile. But the rest of it is really pretty much conventional. I just don't feel they told the story in a compelling enough way. I wanted to like it more, but I think it could have been better. Sadly it's not.
Ro Laren goes undercover to infiltrate the Maqis and to undermine their operations.
Ro Laren is the best thing about what is otherwise just an okay executed story. It's her presence and her unexpected defection that make this worthwhile. But the rest of it is really pretty much conventional. I just don't feel they told the story in a compelling enough way. I wanted to like it more, but I think it could have been better. Sadly it's not.
I was surprised that in the penultimate episode they'd choose to focus on a recurring character rather than the regular cast. Like Journeys End I appreciatd how it helped set-up Voyager and tied into DS9.
I like Michelle Forbes and I thought this was a strong episode for her. It is hard to imagine in this day and age of non stop action but TNG rarely did exciting action sequences so the one involving Ro and the raid on the Enterprise was one of the most interesting. Very well done.
3 stars out of 4.
I like Michelle Forbes and I thought this was a strong episode for her. It is hard to imagine in this day and age of non stop action but TNG rarely did exciting action sequences so the one involving Ro and the raid on the Enterprise was one of the most interesting. Very well done.
3 stars out of 4.
I've been following this thread, and maybe I'm just in a minority in liking Season 7. Sure it's not as good as Seasons 3 and 4, but there are a lot of episodes which got low grades that I just enjoy, guilty pleasure or not, such as Emergence and Masks.
As for Preemptive Strike, I loved this episode, but putting it into a bigger landscape, I think it adds greatly to what already was a great story in Season 7 of TNG and Season 2 of DS9. We go from Journey's End, to The Maquis, to Preemptive Strike, and end with Tribunal, and it made for a nice 24th century expanding the universe arc and I loved that. As for this episode only, what's wrong with providing closure to a character that people liked in Ro. It was great closure, and Picard's reaction at the end said it all.
I know I'm not going to change anyone's minds, but seeing this thread and the complete bashing that Season 7 is getting, I might as well be the lone voice in the wind I guess.
As for Preemptive Strike, I loved this episode, but putting it into a bigger landscape, I think it adds greatly to what already was a great story in Season 7 of TNG and Season 2 of DS9. We go from Journey's End, to The Maquis, to Preemptive Strike, and end with Tribunal, and it made for a nice 24th century expanding the universe arc and I loved that. As for this episode only, what's wrong with providing closure to a character that people liked in Ro. It was great closure, and Picard's reaction at the end said it all.
I know I'm not going to change anyone's minds, but seeing this thread and the complete bashing that Season 7 is getting, I might as well be the lone voice in the wind I guess.
^^ You may see it as bashing. But I cannot in all honesty give something a higher grade if I truly didn't enjoy it enough.
Bashing would simply be unfair criticism and generalization. But I honestly feel that for myself most of Season 7 feels like they're just going through the motions and painting it by number largely because they were challenged for ideas and they knew they were winding the show down anyway.
Bashing would simply be unfair criticism and generalization. But I honestly feel that for myself most of Season 7 feels like they're just going through the motions and painting it by number largely because they were challenged for ideas and they knew they were winding the show down anyway.
number6
Vice Admiral
Her defection didn't seem that unexpected. I think you're being generous here, and I agree that Ro Laren is the best part of this, but it seemed like a by the numbers drama episode about betrayal and picking the other side, and yadda yadda yadda..In hindsight this was just a way to set up DS9.. It would have been interesting to see her show up on DS9, but I think they really wore out their welcome with Ro Laren as a character.. The character had limited depth and this episode shows it. I would give it **. At least it was better than Masks.
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