Say something critical about a fan favorite episode

[Bea Jonas]

I remember fans going ape over Yesterday's Enterprise back in 1990, with some even saying "Yes! That's the show TNG should be! More action/starship battles!" Personally, I found the episode too dark—who wants to see the entire crew die in various horrible ways? Not me (although I'll admit it was great to see Tasha again). My favorite Trek episodes have always featured the Enterprise as a ship of exploration, not of war. For that reason, Yesterday's Enterprise has never been a favorite of mine.

 

[Vger23]

I remember fans going ape over Yesterday's Enterprise back in 1990, with some even saying "Yes! That's the show TNG should be! More action/starship battles!" Personally, I found the episode too dark—who wants to see the entire crew die in various horrible ways? Not me (although I'll admit it was great to see Tasha again). My favorite Trek episodes have always featured the Enterprise as a ship of exploration, not of war. For that reason, Yesterday's Enterprise has never been a favorite of mine.

I agree to some extent, but I always took "Yesterday's Enterprise" as a tale that shows us how thankful we should be that our crew lives in a time and place free of the horror of war, and how one incident can change the history of the galaxy for decades.

It's hard to appreciate what you have unless you see what the other, less desirable options may be.

Wasn't this thread simply about saying something critical about an episode? That doesn't mean we have to prove the entire episode is bad, does it?

You're right...good point.

 

[Bea Jonas]

I agree to some extent, but I always took "Yesterday's Enterprise" as a tale that shows us how thankful we should be that our crew lives in a time and place free of the horror of war, and how one incident can change the history of the galaxy for decades.

It's hard to appreciate what you have unless you see what the other, less desirable options may be.

I always assumed that to be the writer's intent, but I was a regular Creation Con attendee back then and I repeatedly heard fans say that Yesterday's Enterprise was everything they wanted TNG to be in terms of explosive action, a sentiment I strongly disagreed with both then and now.

 

[fireproof78]

Ok, I'll play!

"The Best of Both Worlds". Riker follows a wonderful arc in that story, the arc of a great captain emerging. Picard assures him that he's ready to work without a net, and he realizes that he is. Shelby accuses him of being unable to make the big decisions... he shows that he can. He claims victory not by doing what Picard would do, but by doing what he wouldn't. Picard says it all in the following statement:

PICARD: "[I remember] Everything. Including some brilliantly unorthodox strategy from a former first officer of mine."

It's the perfect exit arc, in an episode that's as much a Riker episode as a Picard one... but nothing happens.

I came here to say exactly this. The set up for Best of Both Worlds was something I though had a lot of potential to take the crew in a different direction, and unfortunately parts of that fizzled out.

It's manipulative. The other episodes you mentioned come out and says this is bad, but with The Inner Light, we're supposed to believe this experience was good for Picard? I guess I wish there was a hint in this episode that the intentions weren't all good, yet that's not the point the episode wanted to make.

I feel a similar way. It's hard to appreciate the episode when basically Picard gets hit with a brain bending ray and people are left wondering is he dying or whatnot.

I have a similar objection to Voyager's episode that uses a memorial to create traumatic memories in the crew and the option at the end is just "Eh, put a warning beacon there." Not archive the data and have a less traumatizing way of recalling history.

 

[Oddish]

Someone brought it up here on this board years ago and I haven't been able to get over it ever since. In The Inner Light, Picard was Mind-Raped, and for that reason I think the episode is really overrated. Stewart still acted the hell out of it, but Mind-Rape is Mind-Rape, no matter what the intentions are.

No harm was intended by the people of Kataan, and no lasting harm was done to Picard. Indeed, I would argue that his life was richer and fuller for the experience. And in any case, the perpetrators had long since been crisped.

Excellent acting by Meaney, and a great story. My only problem with it is not the fault of the episode itself... it was never mentioned again. Such a traumatic thing to happen to him, and it doesn't even get a passing reference. A very rare case of DS9 dropping the ball.

Yes. Like with Voyager's torpedo problem, it's easy to hammer out a solution (I have several, including my oft-stated head canon). They just didn't do it.

Yesterday's Enterprise has never been a favorite of mine.

Me either. It always bothered me that Picard was sacrificing hundreds of lives on what was basically a feeling Guinan had. Yes, she was right, but how could he know that?

 

[Lord Garth]

Thinking here...

"Bread and Circuses" (TOS) - I know that McCoy's a doctor, but you'd think he'd have still had some sort of training to fight. Not as good as Kirk or Spock, but at least something. Or, to quote Odo on DS9 to Bashir, "Don't count on that blue uniform to protect you."

"The Swarm" (VOY) - Speaking of Doctors... This episode shouldn't have made it look so much The Doctor would lose his memories forever, as this was undone shortly thereafter with a simple, "I'm still regaining my memories" in "Future's End".

No point in going into anything newer than VOY. If I point something out, someone will be like, "There! You see? You see?!" Or, on the flip side, someone will be like, "What do you mean?!"

 

[fireproof78]

And in any case, the perpetrators had long since been crisped.

Crisp them again.

 

[Oddish]

NIGHT (VOY): A couple issues with this one.
1. After doing an exemplary job of rationing the ship's 38 photon torpedoes for four years... they just randomly scrap that rule and go nuts with the photons.
2. This was the episode where they could have resolved the issue with Harry's rank easily and quietly. No ceremony, no dialogue, no fuss... Harry simply has an extra pip on his collar, and everyone just assumes it happened long ago.

 

[Farscape One]

I came here to say exactly this. The set up for Best of Both Worlds was something I though had a lot of potential to take the crew in a different direction, and unfortunately parts of that fizzled out.


I feel a similar way. It's hard to appreciate the episode when basically Picard gets hit with a brain bending ray and people are left wondering is he dying or whatnot.

I have a similar objection to Voyager's episode that uses a memorial to create traumatic memories in the crew and the option at the end is just "Eh, put a warning beacon there." Not archive the data and have a less traumatizing way of recalling history.

Regarding "MEMORIAL", I loved that episode. Everyone brought their 'A' game, acting wise. It was quite fitting that Neelix, given how he lost his entire family to the Metreon Cascade, would be the sole voice of keeping the memorial on. And I agree with him. Reading about war and atrocities is one thing. Actually experiencing it is quite another.

People are much more likely to avoid repeating an atrocity if they have a memory of it instead of just reading about it.

 

[Farscape One]

I have an issue within the episode itself...

"Chain Of Command, Part II" - Riker was relieved, and Data was sporting the red uniform. Give him the damned third full pip!

Even with Riker getting his XO position back at the end, Data should still have been a full commander after not only all those years of excellent service, and saving Earth from assimilation, but he performed the job of XO flawlessly each time he had it. And he was already Second Officer of the Federation flagship. Definitely had a better right to be a full commander than Troi did in season 7.

 

[Lord Garth]

Even with Riker getting his XO position back at the end, Data should still have been a full commander after not only all those years of excellent service, and saving Earth from assimilation, but he performed the job of XO flawlessly each time he had it. And he was already Second Officer of the Federation flagship. Definitely had a better right to be a full commander than Troi did in season 7.

It's all politics.

Jellico: "I need someone who can get the job done! Data could do it. He has years of experience. He's better than Riker! So I gave him the same rank!"

Picard: "Good idea."

Starfleet Admiral: "We're sorry, gentlemen, but we don't believe an Artificial Lifeform should be a heart-beat away from the Captaincy. It was only four years ago that Data was legally declared to have the right to choose. Do you realize the ramifications if we promote an Artificial Lifeform to a higher rank than it already is?"

Picard: "He. Not it."

Jellico: "This is ridiculous!"

Starfleet Admiral: "Starfleet views Data's promotion as temporary. Once the assignment was over, so was its rank as Commander. This is not up for debate. You're both ordered to drop this discussion. Dismissed."

 

[Oddish]

"Chain Of Command, Part II" - Riker was relieved, and Data was sporting the red uniform. Give him the damned third full pip!

Definitely. And when Picard returns, he states that while Riker has been reinstated as XO, Picard has requested that the android's promotion to commander be confirmed.

Maybe he could even say that the uniform suits Deanna, too.

And he was already Second Officer of the Federation flagship. Definitely had a better right to be a full commander than Troi did in season 7.

Yeah. I'd go after "Thine Own Self" next... but it's not really a highly rated episode.

 

[Oddish]

Starfleet Admiral: "We're sorry, gentlemen, but we don't believe an Artificial Lifeform should be a heart-beat away from the Captaincy. It was only four years ago that Data was legally declared to have the right to choose. Do you realize the ramifications if we promote an Artificial Lifeform to a higher rank than it already is?"

If Data can be a lieutenant commander before he saves Earth from the Borg and then prevents the Federation from taking it up the rear end when the Romulan backed Duras family takes over the Klingon Empire... he can be a commander after he does these things.

An issue I have with "In the Pale Moonlight", one of timing. ONE EPISODE EARLIER, it's revealed that Starfleet has its own answer to the Tal'Shiar and Obsidian Order, the EXACT SORT OF ORGANIZATION who would be covertly bringing the Romulans into the fight. Sisko is a shipbuilder, station commander, and part time religious icon... so why in the Vaults of Eternal Destitution is he doing a job that has Sloane written all over it?

 

[Vger23]

Small nit to pick regarding "Arena," which I believe qualifies as a "fan favorite":

How did the Enterprise not realize that the entire facility had been bombed back to the stone age when they entered orbit? I know the Gorn faked a communication, but wouldn't the sensors reveal residual signatures from weapons, limited life signs, etc etc etc?

 

[fireproof78]

An issue I have with "In the Pale Moonlight", one of timing. ONE EPISODE EARLIER, it's revealed that Starfleet has its own answer to the Tal'Shiar and Obsidian Order, the EXACT SORT OF ORGANIZATION who would be covertly bringing the Romulans into the fight. Sisko is a shipbuilder, station commander, and part time religious icon... so why in the Vaults of Eternal Destitution is he doing a job that has Sloane written all over it?

This one definitely comes up a couple of times across Trek and it bothers me. "The Enterprise Incident", one of my personal favorite episodes, starts out with Kirk being sent to pick up a top secret piece of military tech, with no idea how it might work or what it potentially could look like. "Chain of Command" (pretty sure that's a fan favorite) sends Picard, and Crusher to infiltrate a Cardassian base.

 

[Brennyren]

NIGHT (VOY): A couple issues with this one.
1. After doing an exemplary job of rationing the ship's 38 photon torpedoes for four years... they just randomly scrap that rule and go nuts with the photons.
2. This was the episode where they could have resolved the issue with Harry's rank easily and quietly. No ceremony, no dialogue, no fuss... Harry simply has an extra pip on his collar, and everyone just assumes it happened long ago.

My issue with that one is just this: That's not how you cure depression! In a slightly more realistic take, Janeway might still rise to the occasion when the ship was in danger, but she would not be "all right" afterward. Depression is not the sort of thing you can just flip a switch on and say, "Okay, I'm done."

 

[Tosk]

DS9's "HARD TIME".

Excellent acting by Meaney, and a great story. My only problem with it is not the fault of the episode itself... it was never mentioned again. Such a traumatic thing to happen to him, and it doesn't even get a passing reference. A very rare case of DS9 dropping the ball.

(Though I have wondered if the writers thought it was too dark to revisit, even by reference. A beloved lead character on the brink of suicide? Only one episode really feels darker, and that's VGR's "COURSE: OBLIVION".)

(I personally have no problem with Miles' recuperation happening off-screen) There's another time that (IMO) DS9 skipped over a major change. In Doctor Bashir, I Presume, O'Brien and Sisko find out that Bashir has been genetically altered. But we never see the first reaction of any of the other crew. Not in this episode, and not in any subsequent ones. The show just jumps straight to the new status quo. Not that I'd expect fireworks, but it's a character beat and DS9 is usually good at showing those.

 

[Lord Garth]

If Data can be a lieutenant commander before he saves Earth from the Borg and then prevents the Federation from taking it up the rear end when the Romulan backed Duras family takes over the Klingon Empire... he can be a commander after he does these things.

I agree. I was just saying what I think an Idiot Starfleet Admiral would say. Stupidity and hypocrisy go hand-in-hand.

 

[Oddish]

I personally have no problem with Miles' recuperation happening off-screen

Me either, since my head canon (and the only solution that makes sense) is that Bashir was able to intervene medically. Perhaps he could not fully erase the prison memories, but he could reduce them to a blur... imagine how you would remember a three-day tequila bender. A brief moment of clarity here, a bad dream there, but it's mostly buried in a protective mental fog.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Someone brought it up here on this board years ago and I haven't been able to get over it ever since. In The Inner Light, Picard was Mind-Raped, and for that reason I think the episode is really overrated. Stewart still acted the hell out of it, but Mind-Rape is Mind-Rape, no matter what the intentions are.

An inanimate object is a tool of rape, not a rapist. So it's some ten thousand year old dead guy to blame, unless you want to figure out the IQ on the Probe's AI.