"What You Say With Irony, I Say With CONVICTION..."

[patlandness]

This of course if from "Hide & Q", but while this isn't one of TNG's finest hours, it does have that terrific scene which really encapsulates why Next Gen was successful and what came after, wasn't. Trek reviewer Mark A. Altman more than once stated that post-TNG Trek lacked a sense of optimism. But more than that to me, it seemed to lack conviction in said optimism. A sense of passion and fire in what they were saying. (Now whether that optimism is justified when put to the test of reality is an entirely different matter).

Watch the pilot "Encounter at Farpoint" and and see what I mean. I think a major portion of it was Patrick Stewart's performance. Picard stepping up to the plate for the human race which faces a potential death sentence, compare that to the rather sleepy, going-through-the-motions of Enterprise's "Broken Bow". Yeah, that's right, I think "EaF" is a more compelling episode than "BB" regardless of its clunkiness and camp because there's more fire to it.

And yes, Next Gen had a sizable portion of bad episodes, but there was a coherent philosophy and belief system to it.

In short, I'll take "Let's see what's out there..." to "Let's go...".

 

[cultcross]

patlandness said:
This of course if from "Hide & Q", but while this isn't one of TNG's finest hours, it does have that terrific scene which really encapsulates why Next Gen was successful and what came after, wasn't.

Coul we have a bit more scene reference? I dont have 'Hide and Q' quite as well memorised as I should...

Yeah, that's right, I think "EaF" is a more compelling episode than "BB" regardless of its clunkiness and camp because there's more fire to it.

I agree completely. Troi's role aside, EaF is actually quite an awesome piece of TV. I'd take it over any of the later pilots, particularly Broken Bow which was very, as you say, going through the motions of setting up the series, lightly tied around a completely superfluous story.

 

[Kegek]

^
It's the most famous moment from "Hide and Q" - Q and Picard quote Shakespeare at another. Picard says that line in preface to a Hamlet speech: "Oh what a piece of work is man."

Pretty much in agreement with this post.

 

[A beaker full of death]

That line wouldn't have been written after the second season. Shame, that.

 

[Christopher]

Picard's line was actually "What he [Hamlet] said with irony, I now say with conviction." The passage he quoted was from Act II, Scene ii:

What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form, in moving, how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world! The paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?

Although Picard's quote ended with "how like a god." And I think he said "man" rather than "a man" in the first line.

 

[Kegek]

^
There are numerous disrepancies between the folios, that might account for 'man' rather than 'a man.' I seem to recall an edition I own using the former.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Neil Armstrong's transmitter was interrupted by static.

 

[Sisu]

cultcross said:
Coul we have a bit more scene reference? I dont have 'Hide and Q' quite as well memorised as I should...

Just after Q says, "listen to this Picard, and reflect....all the galaxy's a stage....."

 

[WillsBabe]

Kegek said:
^
There are numerous disrepancies between the folios, that might account for 'man' rather than 'a man.' I seem to recall an edition I own using the former.

I wonder if there will be even more discrepancies in another 400 years.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Brutal Strudel said:
Neil Armstrong's transmitter was interrupted by static.

Not when he said "one small step for man", though. That part was clear.

Neil later said that he was actually planning on saying "one small step for a man" but it was just a minor verbal slip-up - done in the heat of the moment - when he actually did speak. Linky

 

[Kegek]

WillsBabe said:

Kegek said:
^
There are numerous disrepancies between the folios, that might account for 'man' rather than 'a man.' I seem to recall an edition I own using the former.

I wonder if there will be even more discrepancies in another 400 years.

Textbook from circa 2400:

'Some scholars consider Hamlet's "I, Robot" speech to be the most poignant in the text...'

 

[Christopher]

^^But only in the original Klingon.