Just rewatched this. Would someone enlighten me as to why anyone would think this is a good episode? It starts out great, with Data's genuinely hilarious dialogue, especially with Hutch. Then wham, bam, Hutch dies or something, the stranded crew mutters (hopefully more quietly than it's made to look) and devises a plan, and Picard sets off killing people left and right.
Watching Picard neck pinch the man who would be Tuvok was amazing but otherwise, I found this to be the worst episode I'd seen in a while. And what was the deal with having Data do his 'small talk' subroutine if he wasn't even going to use it to help the stranded crew (senior staff) escape?
I liked it myself.... it showed a side of Picard not often shown in the series.... someone who can take matters into his own hands and shows examples as to why he's the Captain.
And I don't see how Data could be used to get them all to escape.... they were supposed to be there and couldn't get out of it.... to slip out while data was chatting away with what'shisface (Hutch?) would have not been very Starfleet.
And while they were taken as hostages, I doubt Data's small talk would have made much of a difference other then Data being shot to shut him up.
Well, fine then, be that way!
Yeah, I guess I can understand why people like it. I just had a hard time swallowing some of the goings-on of the episode; the terrorists not recognizing Picard, the below-par score (IMO) and the 'whispering' of the senior staff down on the planet. That sort of thing. And Picard's willingness to kill was irksome. Not because it was unjustified, but because it doesn't seem his style.
Well they might have known the captain of the ship was Picard, they might not have had access to an image of him, plus he was out of uniform and didn't act like a starfleet officer when they first met him.
the Score? Well I never paid much attention to the background music, so I can't state my opinion on that.
As for the "Loud Whispers" between the crew.... they do that often in all the Star Trek series.... the bad guys are off a few feet in the distance, and they still have to talk loud enough for the viewer to hear them.... I imagine in real life they're talking much lower, but if they were really whispering, the viewer wouldn't know what's going on unless they added subtitles.
Picard killing the terrorists was justified.... they were trespassing on a Starfleet vessel under his command, part of his duties is to ensure the safety of the ship and crew and to also ensure that technology from the ship does not fall into the wrong hands..... they were stealing Warp Plasma to make a weapon which seemed to be intended for killing people or some other harm.... if he allowed them to escape, he would have been responsible since he had the opportunity to stop them by any means necessary.
And considering the situation of the sweep being active and passing through the ship, his options were a little more limited then normal.... most he didn't kill unless no other choice was available, and knocked out most of them, but did you expect him to drag their unconscious bodies through the ship to make sure they remained alive?
The bottom line is that he had a duty to make sure resources/technology from his ship did not fall into the wrong hands or be used to harm innocent..... mission accomplished if you ask me.
It's not like he didn't try multiple times to persuade them to stop what they were doing or warn them of the consequences.
