Revisiting ST-TNG...

[RAMA]

"Hero Worship" **

An orphaned boy adopts Data as a role model.

Another dud in the same vein as "New Ground." At the core this isn't a bad story idea, but how it's presented here just bored me to tears.


"Violations" **

Troi, Riker and Beverley Crusher fall into unexplained comas while a group of telepaths are traveling aboard ship.

Another dud. This one actually has two things going for it: the interesting notion of mental assault and something of a creepy atmosphere. But then it has two BIG strikes against it: we know almost right from the beginning what is going on and the whole thing is done in a very low key manner. There's no energy, no tension, no sense of urgency or menace to it, and largely because we already know what's going on.

Violations was terrific from top to bottom. Genuinely creepy and resonated with a lot of women I have known who saw it. At the end of it, I was terribly concerned that the correct perpetrator was caught, I really didn't know which of the two it was. This is the best way Star Trek of any series has dealt with allegories for rape or mind rape within story, including the Trek movies. *****

RAMA

 

[Warped9]

^^ Well we have to disagree on one point: right off I was convinced who the perpetrator was. And I wasn't at all fooled by Troi "remembering" it as the older Ulian. I didn't buy the red herring for a second.

 

[RAMA]

^^ Well we have to disagree on one point: right off I was convinced who the perpetrator was. And I wasn't at all fooled by Troi "remembering" it as the older Ulian. I didn't buy the red herring for a second.

Well more accurately, I thought I knew who it was but definitely they cast doubt upon that.

RAMA

 

[Warped9]

“The Masterpiece Society” ****

An isolated genetically engineered society is threatened by severe quakes and the presence of the Enterprise crew.

Conceptually I think this is a good story, but I feel it's hampered by two things. Firstly watching Troi's interactions with Aaron Connor was nauseating. Secondly by the this point TNG's execution has really come to feel paint-by-name and bland. It's often so toned down as if they're afraid to allow any energy or tension emanate off the screen. The pacing matches the soulless, bland soundtrack.

In the end, though, there were just enough decent moments to it for me to nudge it above "just okay."

 

[Trekker4747]

The interactions between Troi and the colony leader is what hurts this episode the most for me. Whenever Troi, or Crusher for that matter, is jammed into a episodic relationship it's just terrible to sit through as the melodramatic knob is cranked to 11.

And I think Marina is a nice looking woman and decent enough actress but she doesn't pull much of well in this episode, the scene I cringe at the most is when her and Picard are in the lift, she halts it, and she puts on that deep, gravelly, Jack Palance "serious voice" of hers and confesses her inappropriate relationship with the man.

It's interesting that whenever men in the series are thrust into these episodic relationships it's superficial and meaningless. Usually the two knock boots, share some flirty banter and then it's over. The one or two times we see this happen with Riker he a)has to kill the young woman who was an assassin or he risks his career to "fight for her natural freedoms." (The Outcast). But whenever Troi or Crusher are but into one of these one-off relationships we get...

We get this crap. And the crap between Crusher and the Trill in "The Host." Men get in a relationship they get more powerful in their convictions and fight for the person at all costs! When the women get in one? They get all smooshy, go for beauty treatments, aerobics in embarrassing workout clothes and give deep-voice self-shaming speeches.

Nice message of equality among the sexes there, TNG.

In the same episode the "romance" between Geordi and the colony woman is done much better (and one of the few times Geordi doesn't act like a creep around a woman) and I liked the way the two work from one another and the solution to the problem was born from technology the colony would have never discovered since they selectively breed.

Yeah, I think this episode had a nice little hidden message in it about eugenics/"designer genes."

 

[Warped9]

At this point I'm halfway through season 5, and I have to say that although there are some worthy moments in it overall I find myself underwhelmed. A general "just okay" feeling to most of what I've seen so far is something of a challenge to keep me interested to see more. This certainly isn't on par with Season 4 and nowhere as good as Season 3. Presently the only thing it really has over Season 1 is general execution and polish. That said at least Season 1 had a sense of freshness and experimentation going for it compared with 5's general feeling of "meh."

 

[Gepard]

^Season 5 is generally regarded as a slump in the show's overall quality. It certainly is the season with the highest number of really bland episodes.

 

[Warped9]

"Conundrum" ***

The entire crew struggles with selective amnesia and how to complete their mission in a time of war.

I couldn't get engaged by this. I had a hard time accepting that less advanced alien tech was sophisticated enough to selectively wipe out specific memory as well as very specific computer functions. I also scoffed at Worf's deduction about the Enterprise being a battleship. Would a battleship have families and children aboard? And again the overall execution struck me as bland and lacking in energy.

 

[Tomalak]

I agree, it's weaker than season 7 for me, though I think season six turns it around and is back up to the 3-4 quality. It's just...bland. I remember flicking through the DVDs looking for an episode, and aside from Darmok and The Inner Light at the top and tail of the season, there's only a handful of decent episodes, and nothing that stands out.

I mean I like episodes like Power Play, Ensign Ro, Cause and Effect, Conundrum, First Duty and I Borg, but those should be the bread and butter, not the better efforts. It doesn't help when your blockbuster two-parter, featuring the return of Spock, is a damp squib. There's not even a Q episode.

 

[Trekker4747]

"Conundrum" ***

The entire crew struggles with selective amnesia and how to complete their mission in a time of war.

I couldn't get engaged by this. I had a hard time accepting that less advanced alien tech was sophisticated enough to selectively wipe out specific memory as well as very specific computer functions. I also scoffed at Worf's deduction about the Enterprise being a battleship. Would a battleship have families and children aboard? And again the overall execution struck me as bland and lacking in energy.

Conundrum is an okay episode for me but I think the "tension hook" is ruined a bit by the "new first officer" guy being on board. We the audience would obviously know he's not part of the crew.

 

[Warped9]

^^ Exactly. There's little chance of dramatic tension if the viewer has figured out things before the characters.

 

[Ubik]

^^ Exactly. There's little chance of dramatic tension if the viewer has figured out things before the characters.

Nonsense. That's Hitchcock's very definition of tension and suspense. Two people sitting at a table, there's a bomb under the table, we know it's there and they don't, and it doesn't explode....that's suspense, according to Hitchcock.

The fact that the new first officer is there is what makes the episode suspenseful. Who is this guy? What does he want? Is he dangerous?

Anyway, the episode is great. One of the better ones in an admittedly bland season.

 

[Warped9]

^^ We'll have to disagree because I found it mostly unengaging. The only real life in it were the sparks between Ro and Riker. TNG has done a lot more worthy work than "Conundrum."

If anything Season 5 has shown me is that a character like Ro Laren and/or K'Ehlyr was needed at least as a semi regular to juice things up. Everyone and everything has become so comfortable in how they do things that there's little spark or energy in the episodes

 

[Tomalak]

You'll be pleased to learn the producers at one point considered adding Barclay to the permanent cast.

 

[Warped9]

You'll be pleased to learn the producers at one point considered adding Barclay to the permanent cast.

 

[SchwEnt]

^^ We'll have to disagree because I found it mostly unengaging. The only real life in it were the sparks between Ro and Riker. TNG has done a lot more worthy work than "Conundrum."

If anything Season 5 has shown me is that a character like Ro Laren and/or K'Ehlyr was needed at least as a semi regular to juice things up. Everyone and everything has become so comfortable in how they do things that there's little spark or energy in the episodes

^^^One of the reasons I liked Pulaski back in Season Two. Whether her character is liked or disliked, there's no denying she did bring some sparks and energy. I liked her. She brought a good dynamic into the usual crowd of regulars.

 

[SchwEnt]

"Conundrum" ***

The entire crew struggles with selective amnesia and how to complete their mission in a time of war.

I couldn't get engaged by this. I had a hard time accepting that less advanced alien tech was sophisticated enough to selectively wipe out specific memory as well as very specific computer functions. I also scoffed at Worf's deduction about the Enterprise being a battleship. Would a battleship have families and children aboard? And again the overall execution struck me as bland and lacking in energy.

I see where they were going with this eps, the gimmick of having the crew memories wiped and having fun with that. And I enjoyed it. But wow, the crazy way they tried to write a story around the gimmick.

So the crew don't remember their names, but they remember how to operate the ship controls. They remember how to do their jobs and the technical details, but don't remember that four pips means "captain" and red means "command". THAT'S selective, all right.

And this is coming from an unknown alien race, so how could they know how to alter human minds to such a specific extent? Or Vulcan and android and Bolian and Betazoid and Bajoran?

And all this... THIS is the best way these aliens can devise to defeat their enemies in their war?

Like I said, seems a very roundabout and implausible means to simply have fun playing "the crew as strangers to each other".

 

[Warped9]

"Power Play" ***

Troi, Data and O'Brien are taken over by entities who take the Enterprise hostage.

Alien possession isn't new in Trek and this story does have some edge and intensity to it. So now I'm sitting here wondering why it really doesn't grab me. Part of me is feeling the story unfolded in a predictable way, but then I have to wonder how much of that might be simply because I remember seeing this episode many years ago and just recalled how it went.

I know there is one definite quibble. These aliens claimed to have tried to leave once before aboard the old Essex, but that the ship couldn't withstand the moon's electromagnetic storms. The entities were down in moon's atmosphere while the ship is in orbit. Just why would the ship ever get down into the atmosphere to be exposed to the electrical storms? None of this made any sense to me.


"Ethics" ****

Worf is severely injured and must choose between a ritual death or highly experimental surgery.

I found myself liking this again. Often enough Klingons can be over-the-top, but there's something in how they did this episode that works for me. It's also one of the few episodes where I think Beverly Crusher comes off well. That said I couldn't help wonder what a Klingon raised by a Betazoid empath could turn out like.

I liked the conflict between Crusher and Russell and the exploration of ideas round Worf's choices. There is also Picard's defense of Worf's beliefs that was good.

 

[Warped9]

"The Outcast" *

Riker becomes involved with a member of an androgynous race.

Okay, just shoot me to put me out of my misery. I was with Worf on this one: the Jeni bother me, too. And Riker gets the hots for someone who looks like a boy with a plastic forehead. Yeesh! The analogy in this story is blatantly obvious and candidly cowardly as well. Add to that it's boring as hell.

And can I say once again that I'm thoroughly sick of TNG's forehead-of-the-week aliens?


"Cause And Effect" ***

The Enterprise is caught in a causality loop wherein the crew keep reliving the same day over and over.

When I first saw this originally so many years ago I thought it quite interesting. Then I saw Stargate's and The X-Files' takes on this kind of story---theirs were a lot better. So while at one time I thought this quite good now I think it's just average. TNG's version strikes me as on-the-cheap so to speak. They don't really alter what happens each time around except for shooting the scenes from different angles. In Stargate and The X-Files versions there were interesting variables even if the ultimate outcome remained the same.

This isn't bad, but it could have been so much better.

 

[Tomalak]

Agreed on The Outcast, which is embarrassing and faintly insulting.

Cause and Effect is good fun, but it also opened the floodgate for more "weird/cool stuff happens" episodes from Brannon Braga, which put high concept above good storytelling. This reached it's zenith with an episode of Voyager called Threshold, in which Tom Paris turns into a newt because he flies at warp 10, and impregnates a similarly amphibious Janeway. In TNG they are generally not too bad, but the final season has a couple of crackers.