I can't remember if it was directly stated in Sub Rosa, or only implied, but it seemed that after the disaster, the grandmother and Beverly moved to Caldos (Caldos IV?), which was the place seen in Sub Rosa.
TNG revisited
- Thread starter Start Wreck
- Start date
Skin Of Evil
Whatever else happened in this episode, it will always be remembered as 'The One Where Yar Dies'. Or 'The One Where Yar Is Killed By The Sludge Monster And Gets An Ink Blot Stuck To Her Face'.
'Armus' is more mythical/mystical than most Star Trek 'monsters'. He's the pure negativity of a race who abandoned him there, shedding him like an unwanted skin. Despite all his powers, though, he can't leave the planet by himself, so he lures the Enterprise in by capturing one of its shuttles.
There's not a lot to be said about Armus. There's no redeeming qualities about him and our heroes save the day by 'tricking' him. A one-dimensional villain who you scarsely feel sorry for. Even Data suggests he ought to be destroyed. At least Troi is given someone interesting to play off of.
My main problem with the episode is how Yar's death is handled. It's quick and pointless, which is how it should be, but as this is the first proper main character death in Star Trek, they dwell on it a little too much. If a random redshirt died, would anyone care so much? More to the point, why exactly did Tasha leave a holographic 'goodbye'? When did she record it? Did she know she was going to die? Do all the other characters have a holographic goodbye recorded "just in case"? I just find it a little bit hard to swallow. As is often the case with events like this, it's more like you're saying goodbye to the actor, not the character (see also: latest Doctor Who finale).
Still, if nothing else, the ending is quite touching, particularly Data thinking he's missing the point, but actually getting it spot on.
Goodbye, Tasha. See you in season 3.
Noteworthy things:
- Armus is supposed to be a 'slick' that crawls along the ground, yet during the close-ups, you can clearly see it's a pool dug into the ground, as the edges are visible.
- When 'Riker' is ejected from the black ooze of Armus and rolls onto the ground, it clearly isn't Frakes covered in goo. In fact it appears to be a stunt double dressed in a brown top.
- The crashed shuttle appears to be rather more bulbous and rounded than the shuttles we're used to seeing later in the season. Perhaps an early model. Interestingly it's referred to as Shuttlecraft 13. How many does the Enterprise have?!
- Worf is handed the position of acting tactical officer after Yar's death. No mention is made about security duties. Presumably one of Yar's underlings will take the top spot until Worf's promotion in season 2.
Whatever else happened in this episode, it will always be remembered as 'The One Where Yar Dies'. Or 'The One Where Yar Is Killed By The Sludge Monster And Gets An Ink Blot Stuck To Her Face'.
'Armus' is more mythical/mystical than most Star Trek 'monsters'. He's the pure negativity of a race who abandoned him there, shedding him like an unwanted skin. Despite all his powers, though, he can't leave the planet by himself, so he lures the Enterprise in by capturing one of its shuttles.
There's not a lot to be said about Armus. There's no redeeming qualities about him and our heroes save the day by 'tricking' him. A one-dimensional villain who you scarsely feel sorry for. Even Data suggests he ought to be destroyed. At least Troi is given someone interesting to play off of.
My main problem with the episode is how Yar's death is handled. It's quick and pointless, which is how it should be, but as this is the first proper main character death in Star Trek, they dwell on it a little too much. If a random redshirt died, would anyone care so much? More to the point, why exactly did Tasha leave a holographic 'goodbye'? When did she record it? Did she know she was going to die? Do all the other characters have a holographic goodbye recorded "just in case"? I just find it a little bit hard to swallow. As is often the case with events like this, it's more like you're saying goodbye to the actor, not the character (see also: latest Doctor Who finale).
Still, if nothing else, the ending is quite touching, particularly Data thinking he's missing the point, but actually getting it spot on.
Goodbye, Tasha. See you in season 3.
Noteworthy things:
- Armus is supposed to be a 'slick' that crawls along the ground, yet during the close-ups, you can clearly see it's a pool dug into the ground, as the edges are visible.
- When 'Riker' is ejected from the black ooze of Armus and rolls onto the ground, it clearly isn't Frakes covered in goo. In fact it appears to be a stunt double dressed in a brown top.
- The crashed shuttle appears to be rather more bulbous and rounded than the shuttles we're used to seeing later in the season. Perhaps an early model. Interestingly it's referred to as Shuttlecraft 13. How many does the Enterprise have?!
- Worf is handed the position of acting tactical officer after Yar's death. No mention is made about security duties. Presumably one of Yar's underlings will take the top spot until Worf's promotion in season 2.
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We'll Always Have Paris
This is TNG's first 'tme travel' episode, isn't it? Well, time-themed, anyway. I liked the idea of an experiment-gone-wrong sending out shockwaves, time ripples that spread outwards and affect other ships in the area (although I took the estimate of "thousands of lightyears" a bit hard to swallow).
Picard meeting an old flame... well that's a rather Captain Kirk thing to happen, a bit of a cliché. But we get to know Picard a little better. We also get to see a 24th century recreation of Paris, care of the holodeck, which is kinda cool. Naturally, you can see the Eifel Tower from everywhere in Paris.
The scene in the turbolift where Riker and co see themselves in the corridor is very well done. I would have liked to see more weird time effects but the budget probably didn't allow for it. What was the other 'dimension' that Professor Manheim opened a doorway to? We will never know.
Some antimatter and and android save the day, sealing the hole in spacetime, and Picard gets to say goodbye properly.
Noteworthy things:
- Do people in the future not carry with them means of communication? Meeting at a set time at a café seems so old-fashioned now.
- Tasha Yar's name is still in the title sequence. Not worth changing it for the sake of three episodes, obviously!
- Data says "it's me!" at the end of the episode, not "it is me". Whoops!
This is TNG's first 'tme travel' episode, isn't it? Well, time-themed, anyway. I liked the idea of an experiment-gone-wrong sending out shockwaves, time ripples that spread outwards and affect other ships in the area (although I took the estimate of "thousands of lightyears" a bit hard to swallow).
Picard meeting an old flame... well that's a rather Captain Kirk thing to happen, a bit of a cliché. But we get to know Picard a little better. We also get to see a 24th century recreation of Paris, care of the holodeck, which is kinda cool. Naturally, you can see the Eifel Tower from everywhere in Paris.
The scene in the turbolift where Riker and co see themselves in the corridor is very well done. I would have liked to see more weird time effects but the budget probably didn't allow for it. What was the other 'dimension' that Professor Manheim opened a doorway to? We will never know.
Some antimatter and and android save the day, sealing the hole in spacetime, and Picard gets to say goodbye properly.
Noteworthy things:
- Do people in the future not carry with them means of communication? Meeting at a set time at a café seems so old-fashioned now.
- Tasha Yar's name is still in the title sequence. Not worth changing it for the sake of three episodes, obviously!
- Data says "it's me!" at the end of the episode, not "it is me". Whoops!
Going by the blueprints, about 42 type sixes, a handful of little shuttlepods, and none of the bulbous kinds or runabouts. The count obviously is not exact, but the ship definitely has room for several dozen.
Why, thank you. 
It's actually quite difficult to remember what's happened in an episode, after an episode. In fact I may stop doing these write-ups after season 1. It's restricting how quickly I watch them.
Conspiracy
This should have been the season 1 finale. It's an episode that was foreshadowed with Coming Of Age and serves to end the season on a sort of climactic but still unsettling tone. Sadly, it isn't the finale; there's another episode afterwards. C'est la vie!
There's so much good about this episode that it's a shame they had to squeeze it into just one showing. I love the complete change of tone. Strange things are happening, secret meetings, ships blowing up. It's unsettling but done really well. We don't know exactly what the 'threat' is at first, which increases the tension. As Data delves through Starfleet records, things become more sinister.
And so the Enterprise returns home! It's nice to acknowledge that it doesn't happen very often, although they seem to make it back quite quickly. HQ is severely underpopulated, something that could be passed of as a production limitation, but it actually adds to the mood.
Then there's the 'creatures' themselves. Sure, the special effects are some of the most obvious the series has had, but I respect the effort. We don't see non-humanoids every day and they're an interesting idea, controlling the bodies of humanoids through their brain stem, air hole poking out the back. Riker's bluff was a great twist - he almost ate those maggots!
And then there's the queen bug itself, inside poor Remmick.
A rather disgusting death befell him, as he's ripped apart by phaser fire. Ick!
We never did see the aliens' own kind invade in full force. Perhaps they're still on their way...
Noteworthy things:
- When Riker orders a speed increase to warp 6, LaForge responds with "aye sir, full impulse."
- One of the captains Picard meets with appears to be a Bolean, the first one we see therefore, although his skin colour is more grey and less blue than they later appear (could have been the lighting on the planet, however).
- Picard is served 'Andonian tea'. No relation to Andorian tea, then? Shame.
It's actually quite difficult to remember what's happened in an episode, after an episode. In fact I may stop doing these write-ups after season 1. It's restricting how quickly I watch them.
Conspiracy
This should have been the season 1 finale. It's an episode that was foreshadowed with Coming Of Age and serves to end the season on a sort of climactic but still unsettling tone. Sadly, it isn't the finale; there's another episode afterwards. C'est la vie!
There's so much good about this episode that it's a shame they had to squeeze it into just one showing. I love the complete change of tone. Strange things are happening, secret meetings, ships blowing up. It's unsettling but done really well. We don't know exactly what the 'threat' is at first, which increases the tension. As Data delves through Starfleet records, things become more sinister.
And so the Enterprise returns home! It's nice to acknowledge that it doesn't happen very often, although they seem to make it back quite quickly. HQ is severely underpopulated, something that could be passed of as a production limitation, but it actually adds to the mood.
Then there's the 'creatures' themselves. Sure, the special effects are some of the most obvious the series has had, but I respect the effort. We don't see non-humanoids every day and they're an interesting idea, controlling the bodies of humanoids through their brain stem, air hole poking out the back. Riker's bluff was a great twist - he almost ate those maggots!
And then there's the queen bug itself, inside poor Remmick.
A rather disgusting death befell him, as he's ripped apart by phaser fire. Ick!We never did see the aliens' own kind invade in full force. Perhaps they're still on their way...
Noteworthy things:
- When Riker orders a speed increase to warp 6, LaForge responds with "aye sir, full impulse."
- One of the captains Picard meets with appears to be a Bolean, the first one we see therefore, although his skin colour is more grey and less blue than they later appear (could have been the lighting on the planet, however).
- Picard is served 'Andonian tea'. No relation to Andorian tea, then? Shame.
Why, thank you.
It's actually quite difficult to remember what's happened in an episode, after an episode. In fact I may stop doing these write-ups after season 1. It's restricting how quickly I watch them.
Understandable. Maybe just comment on the odd thing that catches your eye, then. I've enjoyed reading them, whatever you decide to do.
I'm going to assume that this is sarcasm because I'd hate to have to accuse you of a double standard. It's just not my thing.
The Neutral Zone
I always like the "fish out of water" stories, the humorous juxtoposition of contempory characters in the futuristic world, or vice versa. That's one of the reasons The Voyage Home is my favourite Star Trek movie, so I give this episode an easier time, despite its faults. No time travel is involved here, instead it opts for cryogenics. A bit like Space Seed, only somehow more pointless.
There's a really feeble attempt to connect the two story threads here and it doesn't really work. I can only assume this was supposed to be two entirely separate episodes and they got locked together due to production problems or last minute rewrites. Twentieth century 'Mr. Offenhouse' gets to influence the Romulan plot precisely once, barging onto the bridge, failing to be removed by the worst security guards in Starfleet and ultimately telling the captain something he already knows ("the Romulans don't know who attacked the outposts either!").
The Romulans themselves are two-dimensional cackling villains (now with bumpy foreheads), but we get to see their ship for the first time, and they are incredible ships. You can totally believe they'd be a match for the Enterprise in a fight. Their ominous "we are back" loses much of its impact when you consider how little involvement they actually have in the next series and beyond, and even more when you consider the truly significant threat foreshadowed in this episode: yes, the Borg. They're not mentioned by name yet, but the 'scooping' up of the outposts is definitely their work, which officially makes this the first ever Borg episode. Woo and, indeed, hoo!
It's possibly also the first episode to really allude to the 24th century economy, humanity's drive for improvement, growing out of the need for possessions and material wealth. It's unrealistic perhaps, but shows us what a different setting this show really takes place in. Riker and Picard attempting to accomodate their new guests' wishes is quite amusing. "I need to phone my bank immediately!" - #blank stare#.
Noteworthy things:
- The derelict ship that Worf and Data beam aboard has artificial gravity. This always bothered me, since the ship is from the 20th century. Aside from admitting the simple budgetary limitations, I rationalise this by assuming the Enterprise extended some sort of gravity field around the vessel before they beamed over. Works for me.
- One of the Romulans is played by Marc Alaimo (of Gul Dukat fame).
- 'Sonny' declares his martini to be the best he's ever had, yet don't replicators only produce synthohol? Therefore wouldn't his martini actually taste a bit artificial? I think it's a season 1 trait to make 24th century technology out to be flawless, whereas a later season would refer to it as inferior to the "real thing" (see Mark Twain's opinion of replicated cigars or Scotty's reaction to synthetic drinks).
I always like the "fish out of water" stories, the humorous juxtoposition of contempory characters in the futuristic world, or vice versa. That's one of the reasons The Voyage Home is my favourite Star Trek movie, so I give this episode an easier time, despite its faults. No time travel is involved here, instead it opts for cryogenics. A bit like Space Seed, only somehow more pointless.
There's a really feeble attempt to connect the two story threads here and it doesn't really work. I can only assume this was supposed to be two entirely separate episodes and they got locked together due to production problems or last minute rewrites. Twentieth century 'Mr. Offenhouse' gets to influence the Romulan plot precisely once, barging onto the bridge, failing to be removed by the worst security guards in Starfleet and ultimately telling the captain something he already knows ("the Romulans don't know who attacked the outposts either!").
The Romulans themselves are two-dimensional cackling villains (now with bumpy foreheads), but we get to see their ship for the first time, and they are incredible ships. You can totally believe they'd be a match for the Enterprise in a fight. Their ominous "we are back" loses much of its impact when you consider how little involvement they actually have in the next series and beyond, and even more when you consider the truly significant threat foreshadowed in this episode: yes, the Borg. They're not mentioned by name yet, but the 'scooping' up of the outposts is definitely their work, which officially makes this the first ever Borg episode. Woo and, indeed, hoo!
It's possibly also the first episode to really allude to the 24th century economy, humanity's drive for improvement, growing out of the need for possessions and material wealth. It's unrealistic perhaps, but shows us what a different setting this show really takes place in. Riker and Picard attempting to accomodate their new guests' wishes is quite amusing. "I need to phone my bank immediately!" - #blank stare#.
Noteworthy things:
- The derelict ship that Worf and Data beam aboard has artificial gravity. This always bothered me, since the ship is from the 20th century. Aside from admitting the simple budgetary limitations, I rationalise this by assuming the Enterprise extended some sort of gravity field around the vessel before they beamed over. Works for me.
- One of the Romulans is played by Marc Alaimo (of Gul Dukat fame).
- 'Sonny' declares his martini to be the best he's ever had, yet don't replicators only produce synthohol? Therefore wouldn't his martini actually taste a bit artificial? I think it's a season 1 trait to make 24th century technology out to be flawless, whereas a later season would refer to it as inferior to the "real thing" (see Mark Twain's opinion of replicated cigars or Scotty's reaction to synthetic drinks).
When I went through all the series and rated each episode, I also tried taking little notes while watching. That didn't last long, as it was just too distracting to try and stop and write down every little interesting thing. I have a pretty bad memory, so I know what you mean. I ended up abandoning the idea of adding notes to my ratings. You've done a lot better than I did as far as remembering little interesting things. Keep it up.
Have you thought about giving each episode a rating? I found it fun. The scale I worked out looked like this:
1. Awful. Should have never been made.
2. Bad.
3. Pretty bad.
4. Maybe a couple or so good moments, but overall not very good.
5. OK. Not bad, but not particularly good either.
6. Pretty good.
7. Good.
8. Really good, solid episode.
9. Great.
10. Pretty much a perfect episode of Trek. Classic.
Maybe you could come up with something similar. I like comparing ratings either other fans. Regardless, I love reading your takes on the episodes.
My score for The Neutral Zone was 9.5/10
I assume yours would be considerably lower.
I had thought about it, but decided against it. I can see the good and bad in a lot of episodes and my tolerance for either depends on my mood, so any scores would fluctuate too much to precisely measure my opinion of the episode. I would hope the tone of my writing is sufficient enough to gauge my overall opinion of it.
As for the notes, yep, I know what you mean, it is a little bit distracting mentally 'logging' events as they happen (I've taken one or two glances at Memory Alpha to confirm names and things, but that's about it), and may even be spoiling my viewing somewhat, so I'm going to stop now.
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Here's my season 1 round-up.
The best episodes:
- Encounter At Farpoint
Characters meeting for the first time is something that only happens once, so this episode is unique. It's also pretty good sci-fi and manages to introduce almost everything in the series in one episode.
- Where No One Has Gone Before
A simple "off into the unknown" story with allusions to human evolution, time, space and thought. The visual effects and music are a bit special. The "good thoughts" ending is uplifting. There's nothing else quite like this in the whole series.
- 11001001
Brilliant production design and creature effects, and a change of scene for the crew. The Bynars are very interesting aliens.
- Coming Of Age
A Wesley episode that isn't terrible! The sub-plot with Remmick and Quinn is the best bit, and all the crew get to do something, defending their captain, and referencing previous episodes. The foreshadowing of Conspiracy is excellent.
- Conspiracy
Basically Star Trek turned on its head. Creepy, suspenseful, and a little bit gross. This should have been the season 1 finale, with a more lingering shot of space at the end and the sound of the homing signal. Not that anything ever came of it.
The worst episodes:
- The Naked Now
The inept crew of the Federation flagship allow an infection to spread throughout the ship, thereby making them even more inept. Good job Captain Kirk already saved the day a century earlier!
- Code Of Honor
The setup is contrived, the fight is boring, and the depiction of the Ligonian culture is poorly judged at best.
- Justice.
Just... no.
- Angel One
Another one-dimensional culture, an episode that has a problem with depicting scale, with unbearably cringeworthy costumes, and the genesis of the dreaded Angel One matte painting. Kill it with fire!
Final Thought:
As I said at the start, it's good to be back into this series after a five year or so absence, so even the poor episodes have a comfortable familiarity to them. Season 1 is often considered the worst, and although that may be the case, it's not aged as badly as I feared it might have. Sure, the production design wasn't always that great and the image quality of the transfer is really suffering in 2010, but a lot of the stories hold up well, and even those that don't, at least have some interesting sub-plot or a brief character piece or humour that gets them through.
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Moving forward, I will not be writing about every episode now, but I will comment on anything interesting or special that I notice. I will do a round-up at the end of season 2, listing my favourites, etc.. Thanks for reading.
On that scale, my rating of The Neutral Zone would be 4.
When I went through all the series and rated each episode, I also tried taking little notes while watching. That didn't last long, as it was just too distracting to try and stop and write down every little interesting thing. I have a pretty bad memory, so I know what you mean. I ended up abandoning the idea of adding notes to my ratings. You've done a lot better than I did as far as remembering little interesting things. Keep it up.
Have you thought about giving each episode a rating? I found it fun. The scale I worked out looked like this:
1. Awful. Should have never been made.
2. Bad.
3. Pretty bad.
4. Maybe a couple or so good moments, but overall not very good.
5. OK. Not bad, but not particularly good either.
6. Pretty good.
7. Good.
8. Really good, solid episode.
9. Great.
10. Pretty much a perfect episode of Trek. Classic.
Maybe you could come up with something similar. I like comparing ratings either other fans. Regardless, I love reading your takes on the episodes.
My score for The Neutral Zone was 9.5/10
I rewatched it recently and it struck me just how dated it seems in almost every aspect, and the whole "humans of the 20th century was such primitive idiots" overriding theme is so in-your-face and annoying (although the woman, as far as I remember, was not so bad, the two men were both one-dimensional caricatures), and actually has the opposite effect of making Picard and the crew of ENT clueless about history, at best, if not arrogant and prejudiced. You'd think they'd be more curious about finding people from 400 years in the past, and more sensitive and compassionate about the plight of people who thrown into another time and have just had a huge cultural shock, and have just found out that everything and everyone they knew has disappeared long time ago.
Any biased personal plus points I might have given it for featuring Marc Alaimo, if only for a minute or so, are nullified by the negative points for introducing the ugly and illogical Romulan forehead bumps that would plague the franchise for the next 15 years.
Damn, with those ridges, even my drool factor is reduced (unlike in, say, Time's Arrow). 
This is very true, and I thought about that. I'm actually going back and rating them all again (without looking at the previous scores) to see how much the scores fluctuate.
I actually started with Season 3 of Enterprise, because I just couldn't believe how high it scored. After the first 4 episodes, it was at -4.5 points. By the end though, it ended up to within 1 point. I was pleased at that, but I know that it won't always be that close. When it's all said and done, I'm going to take the average between the 2 scores.
Your best of season 1:
Encounter At Farpoint (5/10)
Where No One Has Gone Before (8/10)
11001001 (9/10)
Coming Of Age (8/10)
Conspiracy(6/10)
My favorite episode of season 1 is The Big Goodbye. I loved Farpoint back in the day, but for some reason it has gotten really dated to me.
Your worst of season 1:
The Naked Now (6/10)
Code Of Honor (3/10)
Justice (6.5/10)
Angel One (7.5/10)
My least favorites were Code of Honor, Haven, Too Short a Season, When The Bough Breaks, and Skin of Evil.
So we're not exactly on the same page, but that's what makes it interesting!
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I can understand that. For me it's a sentimental favorite. Being an Atlanta native, my friends and I got a big kick out of Sonny Clemmons, the hilarious southern stereotype. We loved how he wanted to check up on the Braves to see if they are "still finding ways to lose". We just loved watching that ep over and over. I guess that's why it's held up so well for me.
Overall, I think a LOT of seasons 1 and 2 are dated now. Especially the ones that use that really super cheesy synthesizer music in the soundtrack. Ugh.
Keep 'em coming Wreck.
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Yes! Yes! You have summed up my own opinions with more eloquence than I could have managed.
So I'll just throw in a generalized whine about that whole stupid "We don't use money" stuff and call it a day.
One thing that did irk me a little bit was Picard's unwillingness to take those people on board in the first place. He actually uses the argument "they were already dead" as a reason to not revive them, when it was fully in their capabilities to do so.
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