Arghhh. That one just pisses me off.
"Code of Honor" had issues, to be sure. But I'll save it for the Neon Cage Spiky Ball Catfight.
"The Battle"
"Haven"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Coming Of Age"
The Most Disliked Episode of TNG, 2023 Edition - Season 1...
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"Code of Honor" had issues, to be sure. But I'll save it for the Neon Cage Spiky Ball Catfight.
"The Battle"
"Haven"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Coming Of Age"
Saving "Coming Of Age".
This one has actually become better over the years because of other episodes, ironically.
First, we get a sequel with "Conspiracy". Second, comparing the psych test to Troi's Bridge Officer's test in "Thine Own Self", Wesley's test was clearly superior.
"The Battle"
"Haven"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
This one has actually become better over the years because of other episodes, ironically.
First, we get a sequel with "Conspiracy". Second, comparing the psych test to Troi's Bridge Officer's test in "Thine Own Self", Wesley's test was clearly superior.
"The Battle"
"Haven"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
The Battle was a much better Ferengi episode than the somewhat embarrassing Lonely Among Us, and it was fun seeing the Stargazer.
"Haven"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Haven"
"Too Short A Season"
"When The Bough Breaks"
I will save "Too Short A Season". It kept me reasonably engaged - I'm not going to argue it's a stellar episode by any means, but it beats the other remaining two!
"Haven"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Haven"
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Haven". For introducing us to Lwaxana Troi, Drunk Mr. Homn, and Armin Shimerman as a box.
"Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing."
"When The Bough Breaks"
"Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing."
"When The Bough Breaks"
I'll save "When The Bough Breaks".
It was a good use of Wesley.
This makes "Haven" the winner of season 1.
I must make a correction. I was too late to save my choice, as "Haven" was saved just before I posted. Therefore, "When The Bough Breaks" is the winner of season 1.
I will start season 2 later tonight. Hope to see you all there.
Thank you all for playing.
It was a good use of Wesley.
This makes "Haven" the winner of season 1.
I must make a correction. I was too late to save my choice, as "Haven" was saved just before I posted. Therefore, "When The Bough Breaks" is the winner of season 1.
I will start season 2 later tonight. Hope to see you all there.
Thank you all for playing.
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It's definitely a stinker, even if I would have gone for Justice or Code of Honor first.
I was hoping The Neutral Zone would lose. I hate that episode - the crew is at their absolute peak smugness acting superior to the "infants" of the 20th century. Riker couldn't have cared less about the discovery of the craft; he wanted to just leave it floating in space while the D was sitting there waiting around. Hello! You're an explorer, right? Then you have Dr Crusher saying that these poor schmucks from the past represent a time when people were afraid of dying. "It terrified them." Oh, okay - who was that I saw pleading hysterically for Picard to save her son from execution in Justice? After all, it's only death. Maybe Crusher should stop treating her patients and trying to save their lives. Why bother? It's only death, what's the big deal?
Another moment I hate: the unfrozen woman having no character or defining trait whatsoever beyond wondering what happened to her family. Troi shows her that the computer can look up their histories. The woman provides her son's name, (just Tommy) and says he was born "February 17th." Uh, hello? What year? Don't you think that detail might help the computer out a little? Drives me nuts.
Another moment I hate: the unfrozen woman having no character or defining trait whatsoever beyond wondering what happened to her family. Troi shows her that the computer can look up their histories. The woman provides her son's name, (just Tommy) and says he was born "February 17th." Uh, hello? What year? Don't you think that detail might help the computer out a little? Drives me nuts.
The only good thing about "The Neutral Zone" is the return of the Romulans and the mystery of the destroyed outposts. Everything else is dull crap.
Code of Honor:
The Neutral Zone
Saved 'em both.
Haha that's definitely fair enough
the aim of the game.
D'oh! I missed this one. Looking forward to seeing season 2!
"Haven" eschews an almost-obvious AIDS allegory (and a very grim one at that) for schmaltzy romance stuff that feels like a fairytale, complete with sets left over from 1968 stuck in a warehouse. The marriage subplot is atrociously cliche, and the scene where
"Bough" definitely is a season 1 example of switching to younger audiences, which is almost as shocking as "Justice" switching to mid-20s that are high on libido pills. The ideas are there, the f/x are robust. But kidnapping only 7 children in a ship loaded with them feels a bit myopic, and this definitely isn't "Wesley's 7', a show that would never begin to outshine "Blake's 7" as the computer and some verbiage and design elements feel like B7 was a possible influence, but I digress.
IMHO, neither of this is the worst. That honor goes to... "Code of Honor" and "Justice", as both eke out and often for similar when not the same reasons. But seeing Picard order a volley of torpedoes to detonate across the planet to coerce the Ligonians to return Yar alone makes that the worst episode plotwise. Or arguably the best, given what the plot was fumbling to do, but I'll get back to that in a moment. Jessie Lawrence Ferguson is quite engaging with Lutan, making the character far more than what's on paper - which is an interesting idea for the plot to try to show the big honorable Federation captain Picard as being the weasel and the planet leader honoring his system, the infamous torpedo scene shows that.. and Lutan stepping down of his own accord is refreshingly rare in sci-fi in the first place. But the story is still a mess. with moments. I like the Yar vs Yareena fight scene, even if the scripting was so stolid that they wanted Yar's opponent to share her name for... what was the reason, or was the name a penciled in name but everyone forgot to replace the placeholder with a genuine character name?
"Justice" just fumbles with the prime directive and took a great idea on paper and turned it into a dumb massage parlor outing where, as a result of simply watching the episode, one can smell the oil and start itching a new crabs infestation as a result. Crabs are still easily treatable, right? the big-S and big-G are harder to treat nowadays due to superbug strains, but nobody imagined that in 1987. But the original draft was more compelling in regards to the prime directive, and not due to Wesley tiptoeing through the tulips and singing decidedly off-key in the process.
Season 1 has grown on me a ton. No, it lacks the consistency and flat studio lighting of season 3 onward. It lacks the diarrhea muzak of season 5-7, and season 1 also lacks the clunkers that the latter-half of the show had. Season 1 has it somewhat better because it's finding its way. Not shifting away from what worked into something else that, despite having initial higher ratings, has aged far worse IMHO. Seasons 2-4 are the high end for me, but that's not to say even the latter half wasn't devoid of solid stuff. Just more missed opportunities combined with a mismatched production style that became too flat.
And risking two officer's lives to resolve an issue you can easily address via diplomacy is little better.
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