Revisiting ST-TNG...

[KHAAAN!]

This thread is so good...I just bought the first season of TNG and have been watching it. Thank you so much for the reviews, they are great. I plan to fork out the money to get the rest of the seasons, one per month, until I have them all. Anyone know why they are still so exuberantly expensive per season?

 

[Warped9]

^^ I, too, think the season sets are still pricey although I was fortunate enough to save a few dollars by being able to buy them via staff purchase where I work. But keep an eye open because periodically I've seen these sets put on special for about half the regular price.

I also think the set packaging is rather bulky and showy for what is basically a cardboard box. In an era when you'd think companies would try to save on packaging this looks like an awful waste of materiel. It also takes up a lot of shelf space. I see no reason why these boxed sets couldn't be more compactly packaged and without losing any of the discs' content. I've seen other dvd sets more reasonably packaged and certainly BluRay sets are understandably compact.

Now the TOS dvd sets are also bulky as are the VOY sets I've seen. One could argue that at least they're made of sturdier plastic, but I still think they're bulkier than they need to be.

Warped 9, you know TOS and Roddenberry as well as anyone around here, and you've just watched the first season, so I ask you this : how involved do you really think GR was with TNG? I see his hands all over the first half-dozen episodes maybe, but after that, I don't see those Roddenberry touches as much. I have always felt he was a figurehead for TNG, but had little input beyond the earliest scripts. What do you think?

I think GR was integral in laying out the basics of the show. He established much of the setting and the characters and possibly something of their background. GR was a decent "big idea" man, but when it came to the finer details then not so much. However, GR wasn't the guy he was during TOS (most particularly the earlier seasons) and yet he possibly wanted more involvement and say in the regular production aspects of TNG and I'm not sure he was up to the task. Note that we've heard of a lot of friction between GR and staff on TNG during the first season. I think as time passed overall control of production gradually passed from GR to Rick Berman and others began to better finesse the details of TNG's universe and production and writing.

Even back during TOS GR had established the big ideas and the essential template yet it was people like Robert Justman and Gene Coon and Matt Jefferies and others who really fleshed out the nuts-and-blots of GR's creation.

 

[Warped9]

“The Child” ***

New Chief Medical Officer Katherine Pulaski’s first case aboard involves Counselor Troi impregnated by an alien entity.

This is a decent effort to kick off Season 2. It’s a reasonably polished effort even though I’m not a Troi fan. I can’t say I cared for the kid’s performance particularly when he supposedly burns himself on purpose. On another note I rather liked how they introduced Guinan, giving us a sense that she’s actually been aboard ship for quite sometime rather than being newly arrived. Guinan also strikes me as a better and more interesting counselor than Troi (better actress, too). Worf gets better makeup and Laforge gets a promotion to Chief Engineer thereby doing away with the revolving door of Chief Engineers during Season One. Riker looks a lot better with the beard.

It should be noted that this episode is an adaptation of a story originally intended for the aborted Phase II series a decade earlier.

Hmm...even the f/x seem to look a little better.


"Where Silence Has Lease" ****

The Enterprise is trapped within a dimensionless void.

This episode seems to get panned by quite a few and yet I rather like it. It doesn't have much in the way of action and it reminds me somewhat of TOS' "The Immunity Syndrome." I can't find any real fault with it and it does deal without encountering "new life." On that point the writers goofed in terms of continuity when Picard asks Data if there was any record of remotely similar phenomena previously and Data has no record of the events of "The Immunity Syndrome."

I appreciate that we begin to see more of Worf's life off duty, but is it really necessary for him to growl?---it always strikes me as ridiculous. Certainly none of the movie era Klingons ever growled.

 

[Trekker4747]

I always quite liked many aspects of "Where Silence Has Lease" it's probably one of my more favorite episodes of the second season and I liked the "mystery" surrounding the void for the bulk of the first half of the episode.

Hated the way Pulaski treats Data in this episode, "IT does know how to do these things, doesn't it?!"

Picard - "IT" Is Data, my second officer, a sentient being and your superior officer so stop being such a bitch to him."

Pulaski - "I'm sorry, Data. I guess it's right you "are" "alive", I guess."

 

[JB2005]

I always quite liked many aspects of "Where Silence Has Lease" it's probably one of my more favorite episodes of the second season and I liked the "mystery" surrounding the void for the bulk of the first half of the episode.

Hated the way Pulaski treats Data in this episode, "IT does know how to do these things, doesn't it?!"

Picard - "IT" Is Data, my chief engineer, a sentient being and your superior officer so stop being such a bitch to him."

Pulaski - "I'm sorry, Data. I guess it's right you "are" "alive", I guess."

Except that at that point Pulaski outranked Data, he hadn't been legally recognised as sentient and he wasn't the chief engineer

 

[TrekAlliance92]

Ah, "Where Silence Has Lease," one of my favorite TNG episodes. I'm not ashamed to say I rank it higher than "Inner Light," "Darmok," "Birthright," etc. The space mystery is great, and something I would have liked to see TNG do more of. The plot is interesting, and Ron Jones has a spectacular and memorable score for this episode--one of his best.

 

[Trekker4747]

I always quite liked many aspects of "Where Silence Has Lease" it's probably one of my more favorite episodes of the second season and I liked the "mystery" surrounding the void for the bulk of the first half of the episode.

Hated the way Pulaski treats Data in this episode, "IT does know how to do these things, doesn't it?!"

Picard - "IT" Is Data, my chief engineer, a sentient being and your superior officer so stop being such a bitch to him."

Pulaski - "I'm sorry, Data. I guess it's right you "are" "alive", I guess."

Except that at that point Pulaski outranked Data, he hadn't been legally recognised as sentient and he wasn't the chief engineer

The position error is fixed.

No, Data was the second officer of the ship meaning he out-ranked pretty much everyone except for Picard and Riker on the ship regardless of their promotion-provided rank. Data was Pulaski's superior officer. Infact, Pulaski didn't even consider herself one of the senior officers which is why we seldom saw her on the bridge or in the ObsLounge she wanted to be in sickbay so Data was very much over her in the command structure of the ship. And, my understanding, is that in "Measure of a Man" it was more of a battle on whether or not Data was allowed to make his own career decisions his sentience may have been in doubt but considering Starfleet allowed Data to go through the academy and work his way up the ranks they must have considered him sentient or a "life form" of some level. Regardless of that how Pulaski treats Data during much of the second season is just disrespectful and plain rude.

 

[Warped9]

"Elementary, Dear Data" *****

The Enterprise finds itself menaced by a fictional holodeck character.

For me this is TNG's first 5 star rated episode and it's a nice bit of fun. I grew to really dislike holodeck stories, but this is early goings and everyone's performance is on target while the episode deals with a new life form, an idea initially touched upon in Season One's "The Big Goodbye."

I do have one question: why is Laforge apparently building his H.M.S. Victory model in Main Engineering?


An encouraging sign that Season Two has kicked off with three good episodes.

Hated the way Pulaski treats Data in this episode, "IT does know how to do these things, doesn't it?!"

Yep, I think it was oddly out of character for someone with such vast knowledge of life sciences and other forms of life. I think it's more likely that the writers simply wanted to evoke something of the old McCoy/Spock chemistry and went about it clumsily.

 

[Trekker4747]

"Elementary, Dear Data" *****

The Enterprise finds itself menaced by a fictional holodeck character.

For me this is TNG's first 5 star rated episode and it's a nice bit of fun. I grew to really dislike holodeck stories, but this is early goings and everyone's performance is on target while the episode deals with a new life form, an idea initially touched upon in Season One's "The Big Goodbye."

I do have one question: why is Laforge apparently building his H.M.S. Victory model in Main Engineering?


An encouraging sign that Season Two has kicked off with three good episodes.

Hated the way Pulaski treats Data in this episode, "IT does know how to do these things, doesn't it?!"

Yep, I think it was oddly out of character for someone with such vast knowledge of life sciences and other forms of life. I think it's more likely that the writers simply wanted to evoke something of the old McCoy/Spock chemistry and went about it clumsily.

Yeah, they were obviously going for a McCoy/Spock thing but Spock was half-human and not naive about human interaction so he could, more or less, stand toe-to-toe with McCoy and dish it back some they also had a "working relationship" enough that Spock likely even knew McCoy was just yankin' his chain.

Between Pulaski and Data? Data is vastly more naive when it comes to human interaction and social skills, didn't know enought hat Pulaski was insulting him and Pulaski actually believed that Data was a lesser "being." So it's less "McCoy/Spock" and more "big mean bully picking on the retarded kid."

 

[tomalak301]

You know when this thread started, I kind of brushed it off as a bash fest for TNG but the more I read it, the more I'm finding myself interested to reading the commentary. In other words, I'm finding this thread fair and really worth reading. Warped9, I'm enjoying your reviews and look forward to reading the rest.

 

[Warped9]

^^ Thanks. And I'm enjoying this revisit...even when I'm enduring episodes that aren't quite so enjoyable.


"The Outrageous Okana" **

A roguish freighter Captain inadvertently inveigles the Enterprise between two argumentative worlds.

Bummer. After a good start Season Two trips and falls on its face with this outing that tries too hard to be charming and funny. It's as painful as Data trying to tell lame jokes. The main cast is competent, but it's as if they're caught in a crossover with a really cheesy sci-fi show. The humour in "Elementary, Dear Data" was deftly executed and distinctly charming while here it's as obvious as a sledge hammer. "Elementary, Dear Data" also had some drama to balance against the humour which this episode most certainly doesn't.

 

[Trekker4747]

But... but... Data did the wacky comedian scene complete with the dapper-like accent and "badda-boom-boom" stingers at the end of his jokes! And Guinan, teaching Data about humor, told the greatest joke ever!

 

[Warped9]

But... but... Data did the wacky comedian scene complete with the dapper-like accent and "badda-boom-boom" stingers at the end of his jokes! And Guinan, teaching Data about humor, told the greatest joke ever!

Ahh...no.

 

[tomalak301]

^^ Thanks. And I'm enjoying this revisit...even when I'm enduring episodes that aren't quite so enjoyable.

I'm finding a lot of what you're writing is stuff I agree with. For example, Symbiosis is known as the Tasha Yar speech about "Drugs are bad, um'kay" (Even though Mr. Maggy did it 100 times better), but as a whole it really wasn't that bad. Then episodes like Outrageous Okona come and yeah you realize that there are worse than bad episodes in the early going.

 

[Warped9]

Last episode of the evening and then I'm calling it a day. Fortunately it's Family Day tomorrow here in Ontario and I have that day off.


"The Schizoid Man" ***

A dying scientist transfers his consciousness into Data.

Brent Spiner gets to cut loose as an egotistical scientist takes control of Data by transferring his consciousness into the android. This is yet another story, decently told, exploring what it is to be alive and to be human. Some of it is amusing, but the eulogy Data/Graves delivers is really cringe inducing. And this time not just for us viewers but for the rest of the ship's crew as well.

I really liked Doctor Selar and only wish we would get to see more of her...which, regrettably, we know we never will. Graves was a riot and Brent Spiner did a fair job of channeling him in Data's body.

 

[Trekker4747]

Yeah, I liked this episode better in showing of Spiner's acting talents/ranges by stepping out of the limitations of Data. Far better than cringe-inducing stuff he'll do five seasons later in "Masks."

 

[Warped9]

I am about to speak blasphemy... I'm enjoying this revisit...to the point that I might, just might, have to rewrite my signature.

You know when this thread started, I kind of brushed it off as a bash fest for TNG but the more I read it, the more I'm finding myself interested to reading the commentary. In other words, I'm finding this thread fair and really worth reading.

Thanks. I appreciate the sentiment.

Of course I'm doing this out of my own interest, but a side benefit could be some might see that I'm not blinded to other things beyond what I like most.

And as I mentioned a little while ago upthread I'm now thinking of revisiting TOS after I'm through TNG because I haven't watched TOS regularly in quite some time. I'm undecided about watching the TOS-R versions because that would mean I'd have to pick up those sets and they're not cheap. And if I get the BluRay discs then I'd also have to buy a BluRay player.

 

[Warped9]

"Loud As A Whisper" ***

A deaf mediator is called upon to arbitrate between two warring factions.

This is somewhat better than I remembered it. It's actually decently executed and I can't really find fault with it other than I wasn't all that interested. Maybe it's simply that anything that brings Deanna Troi to the fore usually makes my eyes roll into the back of my head. I also found Riva's Chorus idea an odd thing to get my head around. I understand it, but I still find it a little too far out.

I was struck by a couple of other things. Doesn't anyone in the 24th century ever have any luggage? A ship picks you up for an indeterminate period of time and you depart simply with the clothes on your back? I think Llwaxanna Troi is the only one I ever saw with a traveling trunk. And, of course, I know in later seasons we see some people with a duffle bag of sorts slung over their shoulder.

The aliens that Riva is meant to negotiate for looked a little too much like prehistoric cavemen for my tastes. I know they have to work with humanoids, but couldn't something a little more interesting have been imagined? Sometimes I do envy some of the alien designs we've seen throughout the six Star Wars films even though feature film budgets made many of those possible.

 

[tomalak301]

What good in carrying luggage when you can just have it beamed up at a later time. I think it was even mentioned that that is the case. As for the duffle bag thing or Lwaxana's case, I think it's just personal preference to carry it around.

 

[Warped9]

"Unnatural Selection" ****

Dr. Pulaski and a research station are confronted by a deadly aging contaminant.

On the face of it this is one of those "disease of the week" type stories, but there are things in this I quite like. Firstly I like the dynamic between Picard and Pulaski, two strong willed individuals. I also like that Pulaski, like Picard, is an older character rather than yet another twenty or thirty something one. The story is also based on an interesting idea: an immune system that attacks rather than just defends. Of course this is essentially a cautionary tale about not really thinking something through before you unleash it.

Season Two gives us two other things new to the series albeit rather minor at this point. Over the past several episodes Picard has begun gesturing when he orders warp speed to be engaged whereas during Season One he just verbally gave the order. This strikes me as a rather odd self-conscious affectation. The other is that we're now beginning to see the emergence of recognizable technobabble as uttered by O'Brien when questioned about potential adjustments to the transporter system. It's done with a light hand now, but we know that isn't going to last.