If you can't appreciate the Enterprise riding off into the sunset at the end (like you'd see in just about any Western worth watching) to Jay Chattaway's great mashup of Western leitmotifs and the usual TNG scoring we got every week, then I don't know what to tell you.
Wait a minute -- I do! Not every single episode has to be "Yesterday's Enterprise" or "The Inner Light." "A Fistful of Datas" is a romp and is absolutely one of the stronger Season 6 shows as well as one of the better holodeck shows of all the modern series.
The way you said that made me laugh. In a good ay as in it is rather witty.
However, don't say it's"stronger Season 6 shows" period. It is so in your opinion, and that is 100% okay. But an opinion doesn't make a fact. It's like saying "Blue is one of the better colours"
Same with "True Q" I found that episode abysmal and cheesy.
And why would Patrick Stewart directing it change my opinion of the episode?
What part of thw words "my take" did you not understand?
I'm not saying that there can't be lighthearted episodes, romps or such. However I do dislike holodeck episodes and I'm not a fan of Westerns, so I understand I wasn't their target audience for "Fistful of Datas", but that knowledge won't heighten my enjoyment of it. I tune in to watch a science fiction show, not a Western/Sherlock Homes/Film Noir/Victorian Novel pastiche (and I say that a someone who likes a good deal of 18th/19th century novels) or whatever else the holodeck throws at us.
If I want to see another genre I will watch a show of another genre.
Compare that to Data's Day, which was another lighthearted episode. It's one of my favorites, its charming and goofy, but it also stays within the genre and the setting of the show and doesn't substitute it wit a 1950s setting. Same with Hollow Pursuits, now that was a good holodeck episode, in my eyes, and also a very funny/lighthearted one.
And, to use your own point, this is all in
your opinion. I don't dispute your right to have said opinion, I just disagree with it and have expained why.
GOOD! Now you know how I feel! Welcome to my world!
When I started this thread, I was hoping we could discuss some of the early S6 episodes.
You should try reading posts instead of BURNING them.
EnriqueH, drop the personal "advice" and stick to your subject.
That's fine, but you do realize that the "advice" you're referring to is a paraphrase from Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade in keeping with their theme? (My way of saying I'm not serious.)
Except your choice of quote doesn't apply. I've ably demonstrated that I've been discussing the merits of various season six episodes. I don't see how my disagreeing with you on a few of them constitutes me "burning" your posts, but whatever.
Back on topic:
I thought "Lessons" was a nice "office romance" for Picard, even though we all knew from the beginning they wouldn't be together for very long. It was a nice examination of the life Picard
has to lead in order to be the effective leader and starship commander that he is -- he can't have the luxury of a romance with an officer under his command. Not because he isn't capable or because it's against the rules, but because he, as a man, simply didn't want to lose someone he loved because of his job. It's probably why it took him so long to acknowledge his love for Beverly. It's probably all rooted in his own feelings of guilt regarding Jack. Once again, he finds himself in a situation where he has to risk losing someone he loves - in this case, Nella Darren) and he finally makes the choice to not possibly place her in danger.
About the only real complaint I have about the story is that from a fundamental level, the writers set it up so that Nella would
have transfer away by the end of the show, and it sucks for her as a character and as a woman to have to give up her job because Picard is the captain. Even a throwaway line would have sufficed, with Picard offering to resign or transer himself. It might have been hollow and empty, but Nella was a smart enough character too to know that she couldn't ask him to do that. As it is though, it's a lovely piece and I really like that they bond over music of all things.
As for "Chain of Command" -- the writers gave perfectly credible reasons for including Picard and Crusher. Too, it made all the more sense in Part II for Madred to mindfuck Picard by suggesting that he had Crusher to torture next. There's no way we as the audience would buy Picard offering himself to to stay for many of the other characters as believably as we would if he did so for Beverly.
Fun tidbit: Originally the part of the Ferengi they meet on their way to Celtris III was supposed to be Quark; it wasn't until the writers realized this episode would air before the premiere of DS9 that they realized that no one would know who Quark was! So, they changed it to whatever the hell the name was of that Ferengi.
