The Hunted

[BillJ]

For me, this single episode contains everything great and not so great about TNG in one 45 minute nutshell.

Just some great casting, questions about war veterans place in society, governments response (or lack thereof) to troops coming home, nice direction and effects. Overall, all the pieces seem to be there for a stellar episode.

But, so much of it is just flat repetitive. Troi talks to the captive, talks to Picard and then we have the mandatory conference scene where we are simply retreading pretty much everything up to that point. The pacing is lackadaisical, which really kills the episode. While the captive is loose, Worf and his security folks are just walking around like nothing much is going on. Then, at the end, Worf has Roga Danar cornered, contacts the bridge, has a fight and in all that time, no one ever shows up.

Just so much good and so much bad all in one episode. For me, it is TNG and much of Modern Trek in a nutshell. So close to being great, yet so far away.

 

[Paradise City]

There was no issues that undermined my enjoyment of this. I think the distribution between action and conversation was actually a strong point of this episode. I think Danar's standing in Picard's eyes, pivoting from uncontrollable lunatic with a grudge to uncontrollable sane-person with a grievance is well done. I like caper episodes where the ship itself is a 'battleground' and how this fellow from a people our heroes are condescending towards completely flummoxes them on their own turf.

I'm amused by the fact that engineering is so lightly defended. All you need to do is knock the heads off a few engineers and you have the run of place - with the option to blow the ship up at your leisure! What does Worf's security team do 99% of the time -- play cards? It's dog-eared in this way sure but not unusually so given the era of the television that this was made in. If I want a typical TNG episode where you might groan; I think it's some of the 2nd/5th episodes season that can get very ponderous where you can only most hear the auditor slashing the FX budget in the background.

 

[The Old Mixer]

To be fair, inept security and easily having the run of the ship were both traditions dating back to TOS.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Kind of interested in wondering how Danar is able to break free of a transporter beam, actually...

 

[RAMA]

Kind of interested in wondering how Danar is able to break free of a transporter beam, actually...

Yeah, I always wondered about this, but it could be extreme genetic engineering, which i still don't buy too much, or the planet instilled him with nanobots that deflect energy surges.

 

[matthunter]

Presumably these guys had all been safely reintegrated by the time the Dominion War rolled around, or else a few squads would have been damn handy for special ops.

 

[Danny99]

It had a really good setup with the cat and mouse game at the beginning, but then wasted itself with a lot of Troi moments.

 

[BillJ]

...but then wasted itself with a lot of Troi moments.

The Troi moments didn't bother me. The repetitiveness and poor pace did. Great idea, with lackluster execution. Which is a lot of Modern Trek.

 

[2takesfrakes]

"To simply exist is not enough ..."

Some really great moments in The Hunted, except that its message has dated, somewhat. The USA has not gone as far as it can, or should, perhaps, but it has also made great strides in offering assistance to returning Veterans, since Vietnam. It's also a very different military now, than has ever existed, before, with so many women and the admittance of gays ... obviously, there being no draft. Yet, its message still speaks to other groups and injustices and it's still got legs, for that reason. But I also feel that this episode seems to be presented in a way that's kind of cheap-looking and a little too "staged" at times. With some strong episodes, you can see that the production team's aware of that and a little more effort is applied. Not so, here. There's a sort of typical "TV Drama" approach to the material. It seems to hold itself back from being truly great, in favour of not exerting itself very much.

 

[Marsden]

Just about every episode of TNG seemed to have a bizarre lack of alacrity. They seem to just to kind of stroll about, even when there's supposed to be some important, tense thing happening. Warp core breach in progress, Geordie takes a brisk stroll to engineering. Was there a no running clause in their contracts ? (These people would be dead after 1 episode of Doctor Who.) Even when they need to be somewhere fast, they just don't seem to be in that much of a hurry. They manage to drain most of the "action" out of it. And while I appreciate the rational discussions to show they are thinking people, holy board meeting! I think they leaned on that crutch a bit too much, and then beat it with the technobabble stick.

 

[Ghrakh]

None of which makes nutrek anything other than action schlock.

 

[BillJ]

None of which makes nutrek anything other than action schlock.

Which has zero to do with the thread.

 

[Ghrakh]

^You apparently don't know your "thread" very well:

Modern Trek

 

[BillJ]

^You apparently don't know your "thread" very well:

1987-2005. The Berman Years.

 

[RAMA]

The Troi moments didn't bother me. The repetitiveness and poor pace did. Great idea, with lackluster execution. Which is a lot of Modern Trek.

I thought this was one episode in a series of great ones with excellent execution. Turning the tide of seasons 1 and 2 which had scattershot good episodes.

 

[2takesfrakes]

The only thing I'm really annoyed by in this episode is Danar's eye-tattoo, or whatever that was meant to be. It really, really looked stupid. I hate it when Westmore does a lesser job. Like that DS9 episode, where Quark gets visited by "aliens" who only want to play games, including some weird one they invented and brought along. They just had these horrific patterns painted on their faces. I know makeup's budget is always pretty tight on these shows, but come on ...

 

[Greg Cox]

I remember liking that ep and being particularly impressed by the creative use of the Prime Directive at the end. For once, the PD served the story and Picard rather than tying his hands.

"Sorry. You made your bed. Now you have to lie in it."

Which was nicely ironic, given that the smug planetary leaders had been throwing the PD in Picard's face the whole ep, only to have it come back to bite them in the end.

 

[Kaelef]

I'm surprised no one had issues with Danar having intimate knowledge of the workings of every aspect of the Enterprise. Even the deck layout should've been unknown to him. And escaping the transporter beam? Seriously?

Good premise and decent acting, but, along with the other issues mentioned here (particularly security's bizarre strolling down the halls during an emergency - at least in TOS they hurried to their deaths), the problems ultimately kept me from taking the episode seriously. They could've done the same episode without all the logic-breaking bits in there.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm sure Danar was quick enough on the uptake that he could learn anything he wanted from the ship's computer. But I agree, breaking free of a transporter beam should have been impossible.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I loved the chase scene, I agree it was a bit weird that he was able to break free of the transporter beam and it just happened to transport him somewhere else he wanted to be.