The Nth Degree Revisited

[Doug Otte]

I should really do this more often. I haven't watched TNG much for the past year or two, but when I do, I pull out the old chestnuts ("The Measure of a Man" etc.). But, I've watched my favorites so many times, I've become terribly bored with them.
I don't know what made me think of "The Nth Degree", but I popped in the blu-ray yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. I remember always liking it.
Yes, there are some ridiculous plot points. But, most of the characters have some good moments, the story is fanciful and imaginative, and the effects are beautiful. The profile shot of the D with the red sparkly "stars" behind it was stunning. Overall, it has some serious character scenes, an epic sci-fi plot, and it's balanced with some light-hearted moments that poke fun at the TNG formula.
Edit: One more thing is the beautiful score. This time, the 5.1 mix is stunning, with everything mixed effectively. By contrast, when I watch another favorite with a unique score, "Who Watches the Watchers?", the score is so low in the 5.1 mix that I usually switch to the 2.0 mix.

 

[at Quark's]

^Only too bad they apparently didn't send a download of that new propulsion method ComputerBarclay invented back to Federation archives - a certain Intrepid-class starship could have benefited from it a few years down the line.

 

[Finn]

Yeah. Probably due to their version of prime directive. No sharing technology.

 

[at Quark's]

Yeah. Probably due to their version of prime directive. No sharing technology.

Captain's log, stardate 44721.9. After ten days in the company of the Cytherians, the Enterprise has been safely returned to Federation space. We bring back knowledge of their race that will take our scholars decades to examine. (*) Unfortunately, their version of the Prime Directed prohibits the actual sharing of technology and scientific knowledge, but apparently not other information. Which means that we were subjected to ten days of stuff like mythology, their language, their sociology, their history, and such. Most of our science and tech personnel were bored out of their skulls.

(*) Up until this point, it's an actual quote of the episode.

 

[shivkala]

In true TNG style, I think they wisely avoided the "Flowers for Algernon" ending where the character suffers because they know what they lost. Barclay is returned to normal, well slightly better than normal, with no frustration over what he lost.

Really, it's probably the best outcome for him. He couldn't have go on with the knowledge and skills and live his normal life. But he does retain the tiniest sliver of it.

 

[Oddish]

The method of transit probably required an artificially advanced organic mind to execute. And of the people on board Voyager, only LCDR Cavit and Lt. Stadi had brains compatible with the Cytherian technology. Pity, that.

 

[somebuddyX]

Captain's log, stardate 44721.9. After ten days in the company of the Cytherians, the Enterprise has been safely returned to Federation space. We bring back knowledge of their race that will take our scholars decades to examine. (*) Unfortunately, their version of the Prime Directed prohibits the actual sharing of technology and scientific knowledge, but apparently not other information. Which means that we were subjected to ten days of stuff like mythology, their language, their sociology, their history, and such. Most of our science and tech personnel were bored out of their skulls.

(*) Up until this point, it's an actual quote of the episode.

I like that. It's a good explanation for why they don't have the tech and I like that it puts the TNG crew on the other side of the Prime Directive for once. "Can we have your tech?" "No." "Okay fair enough."

 

[at Quark's]

The method of transit probably required an artificially advanced organic mind to execute. And of the people on board Voyager, only LCDR Cavit and Lt. Stadi had brains compatible with the Cytherian technology. Pity, that.

A similar thought crossed my mind (I mean about the method not working without a Super-Barclay in place). Even so, they'd still have the sensor logs and readings as a starting point to work towards replication of it.

 

[Oddish]

If nothing else, they could have set a course for the Cytherian homeworld. Given their previous friendly relations, maybe they could have cut their travel time by about half.

 

[somebuddyX]

I think that falls under the same idea of like why not head to the Gamma end of the wormhole and people have said "well what if it's not there anymore?" They may make it to Cytheria but what if they've all left.

 

[at Quark's]

Possibly. Then again, if they did have a Prime Directive of sorts ('we'll bring you home this time, because it was us that brought you here in the first place, but we won't interfere in events caused by others'), that would be useless. Perhaps Voyager knew that.

The episode says they were with the Cytherians for ten days. I suppose they weren't able to communicate with Starfleet during that time. So now I'm wondering how often ships are supposed to check in, and how long it would take before a ship was considered 'missing'. Did Starfleet start a massive search for the ENT-D, or didn't they even notice its absence?

 

[JesterFace]

If nothing else, they could have set a course for the Cytherian homeworld. Given their previous friendly relations, maybe they could have cut their travel time by about half.

Even if Barclay says something like "Cytherians are on the same mission but never leave their home" it would make sense not to lead someone they don't know on their doorstep.
Who knows what kind of creeps might come to visit. Perhaps the place Enterprise met the Cyherians is near enough to the Cytherian homeworld to call it home.

 

[Qonundrum]

Possibly. Then again, if they did have a Prime Directive of sorts ('we'll bring you home this time, because it was us that brought you here in the first place, but we won't interfere in events caused by others'), that would be useless. Perhaps Voyager knew that.

The episode says they were with the Cytherians for ten days. I suppose they weren't able to communicate with Starfleet during that time. So now I'm wondering how often ships are supposed to check in, and how long it would take before a ship was considered 'missing'. Did Starfleet start a massive search for the ENT-D, or didn't they even notice its absence?

A TOS episode, "The Enterprise Incident", mentions how long messages to Starfleet take three weeks to arrive. Even in TNG's timeline, if all ships had a transponder, any automated signal to tell home base that the ship is beeping accordingly, would still be beeping until after the last signal is received by the time the anomaly is hit. We see 1701-D be taken by the anomaly, but the current signal sending out at that point would still take a while to get there... By the time 1701-D got home, they'd send another message saying 'Oh, if we stop beeping, that's okay, here's why."

Unless there are beacons and relays littered throughout Starfleet's territories, which makes sense. Like a network repeater, and it also would have relative coordinates as to the generic whereabouts of the ship. At which point the ship would be seen as vanishing a lot sooner... so, yeah, great point, what do they do at HQ, apart from saying "this ship is disappeared, tell the fleet admiral to get the rest of the fleet out there to see what's happened". well, maybe one or two ships, it'd be dumb to send everyone over there at once and then *bloop* they all promptly vanish, woops...

 

[shivkala]

The episode says they were with the Cytherians for ten days. I suppose they weren't able to communicate with Starfleet during that time. So now I'm wondering how often ships are supposed to check in, and how long it would take before a ship was considered 'missing'. Did Starfleet start a massive search for the ENT-D, or didn't they even notice its absence?

A TOS episode, "The Enterprise Incident", mentions how long messages to Starfleet take three weeks to arrive. Even in TNG's timeline, if all ships had a transponder, any automated signal to tell home base that the ship is beeping accordingly, would still be beeping until after the last signal is received by the time the anomaly is hit. We see 1701-D be taken by the anomaly, but the current signal sending out at that point would still take a while to get there... By the time 1701-D got home, they'd send another message saying 'Oh, if we stop beeping, that's okay, here's why."

Unless there are beacons and relays littered throughout Starfleet's territories, which makes sense. Like a network repeater, and it also would have relative coordinates as to the generic whereabouts of the ship. At which point the ship would be seen as vanishing a lot sooner... so, yeah, great point, what do they do at HQ, apart from saying "this ship is disappeared, tell the fleet admiral to get the rest of the fleet out there to see what's happened". well, maybe one or two ships, it'd be dumb to send everyone over there at once and then *bloop* they all promptly vanish, woops...

In "Interace," the Hera kept in contact with DS3 for 5 days and then wasn't heard from for 4 days, leading to a 72 hour search.

Nine days ago, the Hera left here on a routine courier mission. We were in contact with them for five of those days. Then the ship disappeared without a trace.

The podcast "The Greatest Generation" mentioned in their recap with that short of a time, Geordi's mother (as well as other family members) must have gotten the, "The Enterprise is missing" message so many times.

 

[Doug Otte]

I should follow my own example (rewatching episodes I haven't seen as many times, instead of my favorites). Over the weekend I rewatched "The Inner Light" for the zillionth time. It was great, as usual, but I've seen it so many times I anticipate every shot, line of dialogue, and music cue.

 

[Oddish]

I know the feeling; I have my favorites as well.

 

[Mojochi]

Quintessential Star Trek stuff. Hits all the notes imho

 

[publiusr]

^Only too bad they apparently didn't send a download of that new propulsion method ComputerBarclay invented back to Federation archives - a certain Intrepid-class starship could have benefited from it a few years down the line.

Their probe's propulsion is interesting---no obviois field effect seen. Like the Doomsday Machine maybe?