Why The Devil Due

[Hober Mallow]

My problem with the episode is that it's totally unbelieveable. What was Demon Girl's plan after cloaking the Enterprise? Was she going to take on a fleet of Federation ships coming to look for the Enterprise? Really stupid move. She proved herself to be completely nuts, not much of an adversary at all.

Have to admit, though, I wouldn't have minded seeing her again, maybe engaged in some other idiotic plan.

 

[RAMA]

Devil's Due was a neat STNG take on The Devil and Daniel Webster. It originally had a story summary as far back as Gene Roddenberry's 1960s TOS pitch, so it pre-dates Phase II. It was a big success, they found an actress that could be menacing and sexy, and the episode was light hearted but didn't devolve into silliness, and apparently people noticed...it was the highest rated episode since EaF! Underrated, fun episode that still has messages that responsible people can clean up their planet, as well as get along without superstition.

RAMA

 

[RAMA]

My problem with the episode is that it's totally unbelieveable. What was Demon Girl's plan after cloaking the Enterprise? Was she going to take on a fleet of Federation ships coming to look for the Enterprise? Really stupid move. She proved herself to be completely nuts, not much of an adversary at all.

Have to admit, though, I wouldn't have minded seeing her again, maybe engaged in some other idiotic plan.

She was a hit-and-run con artist, you think she was sticking around?? The plan would have worked because of re-awakened superstitions if it hadn't been for Picard.

RAMA

 

[RAMA]

It's just Clarke's Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology...

Fittingly, the scientist on the planet was named Dr Clarke.

 

[davejames]

Devil's Due was a neat STNG take on The Devil and Daniel Webster. It originally had a story summary as far back as Gene Roddenberry's 1960s TOS pitch, so it pre-dates Phase II. It was a big success, they found an actress that could be menacing and sexy, and the episode was light hearted but didn't devolve into silliness, and apparently people noticed...it was the highest rated episode since EaF! Underrated, fun episode that still has messages that responsible people can clean up their planet, as well as get along without superstition.

RAMA

Yeah I thought that was the strongest aspect of the story-- when the planet's leader is forced to acknowledge that every advance and improvement in their world was done by their own hand, and not by some supernatural entity.

Shame they couldn't have gotten someone with a more powerful presence who could better sell the devil act though. It was just way too obvious early on that she was a con artist.

 

[Forbin]

I'm just pissed they had to mess up Marta DuBois' utterly gorgeous face with yet another Rubber Forehead Of The Week.

 

[Photon]

I'm just pissed they had to mess up Marta DuBois' utterly gorgeous face with yet another Rubber Forehead Of The Week.

Win

 

[Holdfast]

My problem with the episode is that it's totally unbelieveable. What was Demon Girl's plan after cloaking the Enterprise? Was she going to take on a fleet of Federation ships coming to look for the Enterprise? Really stupid move. She proved herself to be completely nuts, not much of an adversary at all.

I think RAMA's point about it being more of a Faustian fairy tale than anything else is about right. TNG did a few of these quasi-allegorical episodes; I quite enjoy them though they're almost more like they belong in an anthology series rather than necessarily straight-down-the-line typical Star Trek.

 

[Hober Mallow]

She was a hit-and-run con artist, you think she was sticking around?? The plan would have worked because of re-awakened superstitions if it hadn't been for Picard.

RAMA

That's my point, though. If she had any brains she wouldn't have started screwing with Picard and the Enterprise. She should have done everything she could have to get Picard and Co. to leave the planet. She had the support of the planet's government. She should have used that leverage to get Picard to leave, not mess around with the only power standing in her way like a kid using a stick to play with a hornet's nest. The things she was doing were guaranteed to make Picard, the Enterprise, and possibly more Starfleet vessels involved. Talk about dumb.

Don't get me wrong, it was a fun episode. The villain was just an idiot. An attractive idiot, to be sure, but still a smeg-for-brains.

 

[indolover]

Not a bad episode, but too goofy.

The best part IMO is seeing Picard in full glory. The strength of Picard is his ability to suss out and reason situations to a tee. When Worf thought Ardra was the Klingon Hell Guardian, he knew it was an imposter/con-artist lol...

 

[davejames]

Yeah, it's kind of a stretch to think that she could actually fool a bunch of super smart and highly skilled Starfleet Officers with her magic tricks.

 

[davejames]

Not a bad episode, but too goofy.

The best part IMO is seeing Picard in full glory. The strength of Picard is his ability to suss out and reason situations to a tee. When Worf thought Ardra was the Klingon Hell Guardian, he knew it was an imposter/con-artist lol...

Agreed. I just love that he sees right through her from the start, and doesn't waste anytime at all calling her on it.

"I have encountered many, who are more credibly to be called "the Devil", than you."

 

[Hober Mallow]

Not a bad episode, but too goofy.

The best part IMO is seeing Picard in full glory. The strength of Picard is his ability to suss out and reason situations to a tee. When Worf thought Ardra was the Klingon Hell Guardian, he knew it was an imposter/con-artist lol...

That says more about Worf's intelligence than Picard's.

 

[MikeS]

Don't get me wrong, it was a fun episode. The villain was just an idiot. An attractive idiot, to be sure, but still a smeg-for-brains.

And that is unbelievable? In my line of work I have had the misfortune of meeting many real-life villains that are "smeg-for-brains". If anything it makes her character more believable!

 

[RAMA]

Devil's Due was a neat STNG take on The Devil and Daniel Webster. It originally had a story summary as far back as Gene Roddenberry's 1960s TOS pitch, so it pre-dates Phase II. It was a big success, they found an actress that could be menacing and sexy, and the episode was light hearted but didn't devolve into silliness, and apparently people noticed...it was the highest rated episode since EaF! Underrated, fun episode that still has messages that responsible people can clean up their planet, as well as get along without superstition.

RAMA

Yeah I thought that was the strongest aspect of the story-- when the planet's leader is forced to acknowledge that every advance and improvement in their world was done by their own hand, and not by some supernatural entity.

Shame they couldn't have gotten someone with a more powerful presence who could better sell the devil act though. It was just way too obvious early on that she was a con artist.

Yes that really hit me when I first watched the episode...this planet, possibly spurred by superstition, but actively taking a role in it's own recovery really got past their own destructive period, just as we must in our progression to a more conscious society about the world around us.

I think the interest in the episode is the trial, where Picard has to prove that his suspicions of something obvious are tangible to a newly superstitious again populous. This is also where a lot of the humor comes to play. Again, I think it was very successful.

RAMA

 

[Forbin]

I'm just pissed they had to mess up Marta DuBois' utterly gorgeous face with yet another Rubber Forehead Of The Week.

Win

Just to illustrate my point:

 

[RAMA]

I dont think it ruined anything...

 

[GalaxyX]

I loved the episode. The only thing I would have liked to see is Ardra have more screen time as the human version of the devil.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Angel One was based on a Phase II...I thought there was at least one more, but I can't think right now! To Google!

Let us know (I'm too lazy to look). I only knew of Devil's Due & The Child.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Angel One was based on a Phase II...I thought there was at least one more, but I can't think right now! To Google!

Let us know (I'm too lazy to look). I only knew of Devil's Due & The Child.

Yes, I believe only "Devil's Due" and "The Child" were actual Phase Two scripts.