TNG revisited

[Hober Mallow]

...and to see Data stumble and fall over on the bridge...

How Data could possibly have been infected is never explained. At the time, the idea was that Data was created by aliens and at least partially biological (hence the chemical nutrients being like blood line). In hindsight, it just makes no sense.

Geordi not being the engineer is weeeeeird. There are no 'main' characters down in engineering. The balance seems wrong. I can see why they changed it for season 2. I honestly don't even remember engineer whatshername doing anything noteworthy in the whole season.

McDougal was only in this one episode. I kinda liked Chief Engineer Argyle, who appeared in a handful of episodes.

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

Amazing!

Someone who actually LIKES Encounter at Farpoint!!

That makes two of us! Three, if you include Gene Roddenberry!

Count me in, I like EAF.

 

[Start Wreck]

Code of Honor
I could well understand people turning away from TNG in its first run, given some of these early episodes. It didn't exactly get the ball rolling right away, did it?

Code of Honor is an episode based on the clichéd 'Primitive World Has Rare Medicine' principle, a particular favourite of the original series. However it's not an especially inspiring episode, nor particularly well done. As in a lot of these stories, the whole planet is identified as a small settlement. Could Picard not have sourced the rare vaccine from another tribe on the planet? Are there any others? This must be a fairly thriving population, seeing as they're advanced enough to develop molecular transportation and seemingly know about other worlds.

But aside from all that, the episode is just a bit boring and not particularly well-written. There's some clumsy dialogue about the prime directive and about the disease that's infecting the federation world... and then at the end of it, what do they do? They head off at Warp three!! No hurry guys, yeah?

I don't care much for Yar's character, but I must say it was quite refreshing to hear a character confident in her abilities almost to the point of cockiness. "Starfleet training is the best! I can take her on!" A shame the fight was a bit lame. Those glove things they wore didn't make for an exciting battle, since they couldn't really touch each other for most of it.

Overall, pretty bad. Disappointing, too, since I thought from the name this was the Klingon episode, but that's another "something of something".

EDIT: I will also add that even in fairly poor episodes, you can still get some good sub plots. Although season 1 was all a bit 'one plot at a time', there's still some decent character banter, like the scene here with Geordi and Data, which is completely incidental and not relevant to the plot, but made me laugh anyway. There was also another 'Wesley on the bridge scene' which will add to his overall character development. Similarly bad episodes of TOS tend to lack this, so they're less watchable. Just an observation, though.

Noteworthy things:

- We see the holodeck 'grid' for the first time.

- Geordi has taken his visor off in every episode so far.

- "I said kidley, diddle I?"

 

[TheKeeper]

I had a mixed reaction to "Code of Honor". I liked the idea of the native culture using the Enterprise crew for their own political/financial advantage. Did not like the combat/fake death "Amok Time" ripoff. We had just come off of the Naked Time/Now "tribute" episode, we don't need yet another shout-out to TOS, especially with a deeply inferior story. Worst of all - making the native characters black and the culture crypto-African gave Picard's self-righteous speeches a nasty undertone. What were they thinking?

 

[Start Wreck]

The Last Outpost
The Last Outpost uses another staple of Star Trek - the extinct ancient civilization - to introduce us to Ferengi. Essentially this episode says "humanity is awesome, look how evolved and civilized we are", as Riker - poster child for the human race - passes Portal's tests.

Personally, I'm fine with that. A lot of people find the 'perfect humanity' angle a bit boring, but I see it as optimistic and one of Star Trek's defining characteristics. However, in this case it is to the detriment of the Ferengi, who naturally must assume the primitive/backwards roles. They do become a much more fleshed out and believable species over time, but seeing them here acting bizarrely troll-like, hunched over, scampering around the place, is a little embarassing for them.

The 'lost civilization traps two enemy ships in orbit' angle is, admittedly, done much better in season 2's Contagion, but on the whole I still quite enjoyed The Last Outpost, even though we never hear anything about the Tkon empire ever again.

Noteworthy things:

- First appearance of the Ferengi, although their ship interiors were not yet seen (hence the close-up).

- The Ferengi daimon is played by Armin Shimerman. Perhaps a relative of Quark?

- Data uses a 3D holographic display in the observation lounge, for no discernible reason. It's never used again.

- Picard pretends to be French.

 

[finnobrit]

Not having an engineer is especially bizarre when you consider that Worf didn't have a defined role until after Yar died.

Worf as the chief engineer... hmm... that would have been interesting.

Imagine the arguments he could have had with the captain over what the ship could and couldn't do.

TOS had Scotty arguing with Kirk, Worf and Picard could have continued that.

 

[TheKeeper]

This fourth broadcast episode is where I was getting a little irked with TNG. The Enterprise is pursuing a mysterious alien vessel over some affront to the Federation. Both vessels end up immobilized during the chase, and it's caused by some supremely powerful aliens who put both parties through some kind of test.

"Arena", anyone? And this after "Code of Honor" ripped off "Amok Time", "The Naked Now" was a blatant sequel, and we could even argue that the Farpoint resolution was based on "Devil in the Dark." Here's the first new Trek series twenty years later, a new crew and a new century, and they can't open the show with something more original? The effect wouldn't have been so bad if they'd spread these derivative episodes out over the first season.

 

[Start Wreck]

"Arena", anyone?

Hadn't occurred to me. Good spot!

 

[Anwar]

I will admit, I liked that bit where Riker just takes the near axe-to-the-head without blinking.

 

[Start Wreck]

Where No One Has Gone Before
"The Enterprise gets lost, then finds its way back home again." That would be a dismissive description of the episode, ignoring how good it actually is. At the core of the story is a central idea that time, space, speed and thought are all the same thing, and that it is a concept humans are not ready to embrace just yet. The 'Traveller' sees the potential in Wesley Crusher and starts him on a journey that won't end until... Journey's End, in fact!

WNOHGB does a remarkably good job of portraying the sense of scale and speed that takes place in the episode, without getting bogged down with technobabble (in fact, Kosinski's nonsense ramblings are quite amusing; more so that he believes them himself!). Moreover, the special effects sequences throughout, particularly the warp jump itself, are gloriously imaginitve and some of the best effects in the series -- particularly for a season 1 episode.

Once in the realm of thought, ideas become reality, and there are some more imaginitive sequences, including Picard seeing a starfield from the turbolift and a more heartfelt moment where he sees his mother. The lighting and music in this episode are particularly good.

There's also a really heartwarming conclusion where the whole crew focus their good thoughts on the Traveller and Troi senses an atmosphere of well-being throughout the ship.

Despite the similarities in name, this episode is not a great deal like the original series' Where No Man Has Gone Before, although I suppose both are 'human' stories in one way or another. For me, this sort of thing is what Star Trek is all about.

Noteworthy things:

- The is the episode in which Wesley is made an 'acting Ensign'.

- Engineer Argyle is referred to as "one of our chief engineers". It seems they hadn't decided on just one yet.

- The USS Fearless appears to be another Excelsior class ship, or similar. That's the only other starship class seen so far.

 

[TheKeeper]

I had an issue with Starfleet choosing the flagship of the Federation (and one with a large civilian contingent) to conduct what was essentially a 24th century Philadelphia Experiment, and the whole "pray for the Traveller" conclusion annoyed me, but otherwise this was the episode where TNG started to come into its own.

 

[Start Wreck]

Lonely Among Us
This is not a bad episode but not a particularly good one either. There are two stories here and the problem is none of them are concluded satisfactorily.

On the one hand, we have the hostile Federation delegates being taken to a neutral planet, and on the other, a sentient space anomoly. The anomoly travels from person to person and into the ship's systems, finally reaching Picard, convincing him to become one with the cloud. Sadly, this doesn't work and he's beamed into space "as energy" before finding his way back again using the transporter pattern, which is slightly iffy science, but we'll let it slide. The end result is we don't really learn anything much about the energy cloud, what it wanted, why the fusion didn't work, and so on.

The other story thread isn't resolved either, rather it ends with the slightly disturbing revelation that one of the delegates has eaten another one. Still, at the very least, it is nice to see two alien species that aren't just humans with bumpy foreheads. The alien prosthetics are quite good, particularly for an 80s TV show.

Noteworthy things:

- The episode marks the beginning of Data's Sherlock Holmes fascination.

- Chief O' Brien makes his second appearance here, this time as a security officer, although he's still not yet given a name.

 

[TheKeeper]

Overall, I liked this one. It was one of the few S1's I bought on VHS as they were released. The whole alien possession theme was handled pretty well -- the entity was neither evil nor particularly friendly, just minding its own business when the Enterprise blundered by.

The diplomats were another matter. One wonders how they ever got to a stage of negotiations when even their diplomats couldn't stand each others' presence! And the canine ambassador's reaction to Riker's explanation about artificial meat -- "Barbaric!" Not something a diplomat should be saying to their hosts.

None of this excuses Riker and Yar's insufferable arrogance regarding the canine's animal diet. What if they were obligate carnivores? I'm vegan and it's great that human beings have that option, but I feed animal products to my cats without batting an eye.

Still, the main plot was a good one and handled well. This is the one that made me more optimistic about TNG going forward.

 

[Praetor]

^Yeah the 'enslaving animals' bit was some of that 24th century pretentiousness that the first season was so notable for.

 

[Start Wreck]

Justice
This episode is an example of a story concept pushing further than believability will allow. Despite Picard warbling on about the Prime Directive (again), they seem to be in violation of it right from the start -- I mean, this is a pre-warp civilization and our heroes are freely interacting with them, bringing them aboard their ship, showing them their 'god' and so on.

I don't see how the non-interference directive can possibly apply to non-natives of that world. The interference has already happened. This could just be an example of the writers not yet narrowing down exactly what the Prime Directive is, or simply not understanding it.

There is one saving grace of the episode, and that is in Picard's final plea about there being no justice in absolutes, and life itself being exception to rules. The 'god judging their values' angle was quite a good idea, I thought.

But everything else is either poorly conceived or just plain cringeworthy. Wesley falling into the plants happens mere minutes after our heroes learn of the 'crazy laws' - what inconvenient timing! I'm not a Wesley fan at the best of times, but he's particularly insufferable here.

Then there's the Edo themselves, who I just can't take seriously. The costumes, the language, the whole vibe of the episode is far too corny to enjoy without cringing at the whole thing. "Let's run! Let's play! Let's make love! Let's do whatever pleases you!"

I'll just switch off, thanks.


Noteworthy things:

- Geordi uses his visor to look out of a window at the space station in orbit. This isn't something he makes a habit of doing and it doesn't really make much sense anyway. Why would his visor be capable of seeing more than the flagship's own sensor array can? Can't it detect the EM spectrum? It also makes me wonder why the bridge itself doesn't have a window -- I mean, if it's good enough for the USS Kelvin 100 years earlier...

- Data learns that he sometimes babbles.

 

[Anwar]

Well, to be fair Picard and co WERE just going to beam Wesley out of there but the Edo's God stopped them.

And the PD doesn't just apply to pre-warp civilizations, it applies to those who aren't aware of other civilizations. The Edo obviously knew of offworlders so they didn't apply to the PD.

 

[TheKeeper]

Oy, the planet of the blonde joggers! I haven't seen this one in a while. I only find it watchable if I assume the Edo god was using the Enterprise crew and the Wesley situation to teach the Edo to modify their legal system.

 

[Start Wreck]

The Battle
This story of a Ferengi Daimon's revenge for the death of his son gives us a little bit of backstory for Picard, which is always nice. We meet the Stargazer and relive its final battle; we learn Picard had a manoeuvre named after him; we even see some his old crew, albeit in ghostly form, as the illusion is put into his head. It's quite nicely done. I like the mystery of his headaches not being revealed until later. It would be all too easy to show the Ferengi's plan from their perspective first, ruining the surprise.

Daimon Bok's plan isn't the greatest one, though, and it's clear he's gone a bit loopy. Spending his life's fortune on the two mind devices, salvaging the Stargazer, and for what? What did he hope would happen, that Picard would destroy his own ship? I find it hard to believe the Stargazer would be able to destroy the Enterprise, even with his famous manoeuvre. Perhaps he wanted the Stargazer to be destroyed, or just to humiliate Picard for a bit, or increase the intensity of his illusion until he went insane. Who knows?

Ultimately, Starfleet's second recorded encounter with the Ferengi didn't go too badly. Riker and the Ferengi first officer at least saw eye-to-eye for a little while, which bodes well for future encounters.

Not a bad episode all in all, although Wesley is an insufferable know-it-all again.


Noteworthy things:

- The common cold is a thing of the past in the 24th century. Headaches are an unusual occurance.

- The Stargazer is a new class of ship for this series, the first one we see.

- Councellor Troi claims to sense deception on Bok's part. It is later established that Betazoids can't read Ferengis' minds. We must assume she was using her ever-insightful intuition.

- A lot of the episode takes place on the Enterprise bridge, as if the other sets weren't free. I can't think why else the Ferengi would beam directly onto the bridge rather than via the transporter room, or why Geordi would be studying the orb at his bridge station rather than a science lab or engineering. And, again, the Ferengi ship interior is not yet seen (I think it's not until 2 that we see it). Just an observation!

 

[TheKeeper]

It's always nice to get some serious backstory on a major character at this stage of a new series.

I try not to think too hard about the Picard Maneuver. Seems to me that if such a tactic were physically possible then it would be obvious to anyone running a warp-capable ship. For that matter, it could render the concept of a traditional "space battle" meaningless. Wouldn't any battle consist of ships zig-zagging around at high warp and firing blindly?

 

[Hober Mallow]

It's always nice to get some serious backstory on a major character at this stage of a new series.

I try not to think too hard about the Picard Maneuver. Seems to me that if such a tactic were physically possible then it would be obvious to anyone running a warp-capable ship. For that matter, it could render the concept of a traditional "space battle" meaningless. Wouldn't any battle consist of ships zig-zagging around at high warp and firing blindly?

I forget which episode of TOS in which the Enterprise fights a Klingon ship using "warp maneuvers," and just about exactly what you describe, zig-zagging around the other ship at warp speeed, is exactly the way they fight. I think it was in "Elaan of Troyius."