The Next Generation 5x9 "A Matter of Time"

rating: **

the story: A man claiming to be a time traveler visits the ship.

similar to: "Cold Front" (Enterprise)

my thoughts: I just described "Disaster" as the last slice-of-life episode inspired by the run of similar stories from the fourth season, but all in all, that's what "A Matter of Time" is, too.  Aside from the con artist (which is itself a Star Trek trope, covering everything from Harry Mudd to "Devil's Due") aspect, most of the episode is really about a fairly routine rescue operation that we track without it being the main source of the drama, and yet we follow the crew as it goes about its efforts to prevent the catastrophe.  Then again, it's also another in a series of episodes where the most extraordinary member of the crew is kidnapped (covering everything from "Spock's Brain" in the original series to "Think Tank" in Voyager and even "The Most Toys," where it's previously happened to Data) (spoiler alert).

Yet it's also, and first and foremost, a time travel episode, which obviously one of the most popular franchise tropes, and a clever entry at that, featuring someone who claims he's visiting the crew because something historic is about to happen.  That is, in fact, nearly exactly what the Temporal Cold War subplot in Enterprise is all about, as (to my mind) most memorably explored in "Cold Front."

So it's an interesting episode, going over what was already and would become even more familiar territory, and because of its odd mixes of tropes, remains interesting despite ultimately adding very little to any of them.  It's just a fun episode to watch, and let's go ahead and leave it at that.

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential

notable guest-stars:
Matt Frewer

The Next Generation 5x8 "Unification, Part 2"

rating: ****

the story: Sela attempts to sabotage Spock's efforts to reunite Romulus with Vulcan.

similar to: "Balance of Terror" (original series), "Blood Oath" (Deep Space Nine), "Redemption" (Next Generation)

my thoughts: While lightly juxtaposing, as it should have, Spock with his spiritual descendent Data, "Unification" concludes by giving Sela the big moment she needed (in order to be justified at all) and finally defines the character of the Romulans in the franchise in a satisfactory way.

It also features "a fat Ferengi," not so much a milestone moment so much as one that's always amused me.  It's Riker at his most confident!

To speak of Spock's significance is something I already discussed in the first part of the story, even though the franchise icon's role is mostly explored, and featured, in this follow-up.  It's one of the most important moments of the series, concluding the emotional arc begun in "Sarek" and further contrasting Next Generation from the original series.  Yet Next Generation seizes the moment in a most unexpected way, also concluding the story from "Redemption" in explaining what it is that motivates Sela, the Romulan daughter the alternate Tasha Yar from "Yesterday's Enterprise."

In so doing, not only is Spock able to give further character to Vulcan interests, but Sela explains how basic Romulan frustration at the state of galactic affairs is what motivates the whole species.  Though featured in the franchise fairly regularly since their debut in "Balance of Terror," the Romulans had frequently played catch-up with Klingons for overall significance, much less psychological exploration.  While "The Defector" makes it clear that politics are of utmost importance to them, "Unification" makes it perfectly clear, even chilling, making way for the antagonists of Nemesis and Star Trek, Shinzon and Nero respectively, to further expand on their existential neuroses. 

Strangely, although Next Generation had long made a project of the Romulans, it quickly made far greater progress with the upstart Cardassians, who went on to have even greater exploration in Deep Space Nine.  It's in "Unification" where all the work comes together.

All of this makes for essential viewing.

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)

notable guest-stars:
Leonard Nimoy (Spock)
Denise Crosby (Sela)
Malachi Throne
Daniel Roebuck
Stephen Root

The Next Generation 5x7 "Unification, Part 1"

rating: ****

the story: The crew goes in search of the missing Spock.

similar to: "Blood Oath" (Deep Space Nine)

my thoughts: "Unification" as a whole is about as important a Next Generation story as there ever was.  At once acknowledging the ongoing significance of the recent "Redemption" crisis, it's the next great serialized chapter of the series, further signaling the approach Deep Space Nine would take and what viewers in general would come to demand of their favorite TV shows, even ones formerly most comfortable in and indeed known for their episodic format like Star Trek.

It's the first great Next Generation Romulan story since "The Defector," and, like another third season episode, bridges the gap between the series and its classic predecessor in a meaningful way.  Speaking of which "Unification, Part 1" features the death of Sarek, who previously appeared in the series in the namesake episode, a moment that had original series fans take Next Generation seriously for the first time, and in an even bigger moment, Spock expanding his presence in the franchise.

Ever since McCoy's cameo in "Encounter at Farpoint," crossover characters became a franchise staple.  Scotty would later appear in "Relics," and of course there's Star Trek Generations, which saw Picard meet Kirk, plus a plethora of others from throughout succeeding series (most controversially, Riker and Troi in Enterprise's final episode, "These Are the Voyages...").  Yet Spock is a seismic member of this club, duplicating his "Unification" impact in Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness as he helps launch a new version of the franchise.

Outside of "Unification," however, only Deep Space Nine's "Blood Oath," in which three actors who portrayed Klingons in the original series return to reprise their roles, features a scenario that feels organic, suitably dramatic, and true to character.

As for the episode itself, besides the Klingon references, there's also Riker investigating a Zackdorn shipyard.  The Zackdorn are a Next Generation alien species previously featured in "Peak Performance."  They fall below the Benzites as early attempts to create distinctive new aliens with any kind of staying power, mostly because "Performance" presents a thoroughly unappealing version of the species.  The effort in "Unification" is better, with a better-defined bureaucratic nature that puts them in unique, distinctive footing.  Even if this is still the Zackdorns' last appearance, it leaves plenty of room for further exploration.

The episode features a cornucopia of notable guest-stars, which I point out in advance of the usual feature, just to give you a head's up.  It's a whopper of an episode, but everything's better in the second part...

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)

notable guest-stars:
Leonard Nimoy (Spock)
Mark Lenard (Sarek)
Stephen Root
Erick Avari
Malachi Throne
Daniel Roebuck

The Next Generation 5x6 "The Game"

rating: **

the story: Wesley returns on break from Starfleet Academy to discover something's wrong with the crew.

similar to: "Genesis" (Next Generation)

my thoughts: It's fascinating that Wesley's very first episode back since his departure as a regular in the previous season, is quite possibly the perfect example of everything the series needed to correct about the character and needed to redeem in the first place.  Wes was the typical boy wonder, the kid genius who quickly became annoying to a considerable proportion of fans.  "The Game" is literally about a crisis only he can overcome.

Yet it works, and is arguably one of his best episodes, if not his most memorable episode, not just because Ashley Judd was particularly adorable as his love interest, but because the whole setup is cleverly thought out, so that you don't even need to think of it as an analogy for the rising evils of video games in 1991 America.

By quickly eliminating the need to focus on, well, anyone else but Wes and Judd's Robin Lefler, the viewer is allowed to focus both on how cute they are together, and the mounting dread of the inexplicable conspiracy (better than the actual episode "Conspiracy," arguably) that has sucked everyone else into it.

...But yes, you have to ignore the convenience of everyone, even Picard, falling for the gaming scam.  If you can ignore that, you will enjoy "The Game" a great deal! 

So that leaves Data, and the further convenience of someone being cognizant enough to take him out in order for everything to work.  Really, it's to the level of everyone but Kirk succumbing to Sybok's charms in The Final Frontier.  You don't have to be bothered by such niggling details, but they exist, and how much they bother you will probably color what you think of the rest of it, much like fans don't care how much Kirk bonds with Spock and McCoy around campfires.

But rest assured, it really is possible.

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential

notable guest-stars:
Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher)
Ashley Judd
Colm Meaney (O'Brien)
Patti Yasutake (Ogawa)

The Next Generation 5x5 "Disaster"

rating: **

the story: Various members of the crew share experiences as they attempt to recover from a ship-wide emergency.

similar to: "Civil Defense" (Deep Space Nine)

my thoughts: Perhaps the last effort from the fourth season push to find more slice-of-life stories to tell ("Data's Day," "Family," "In Theory"), "Disaster" is another fine experience in that sequence (even once again involving a major event for Miles and Keiko O'Brien, as their daughter Molly is born, just as they were originally wed in "Data's Day"), but the episode lacks the overall significance of the finest moments from it (Picard's emotional recovery being the crux of "Family," for instance).

The best, or at least most memorable sequence from the episode involves Picard once again grappling with his unease at spending time with children.  Possibly a nod to Wesley's impending return ("The Game," "The First Duty"), it's also another chance for the series to redeem its frequent, and frequently mediocre, attempts to craft a reasonable episode around kids (seriously, the last such effort, "Rascals" from the sixth season, is possibly the most questionable effort of all).  Yet Picard's interactions with the three kids he's forced to shepherd circumvent the worst aspects of other efforts by presenting everyone in a useful, rather than labored, even endearing, manner.  The scenes become less about the kids and more about how comfortable Patrick Stewart is portraying Picard at this point, regardless of the circumstances. 

Less successful is the first chance Ro has, since her debut in "Ensign Ro," to prove that the series will have further interesting things for her to do.  If fans really want to complain that Voyager blew it with the Maquis members of Janeway's crew, they may want to remember how clumsily Next Generation presented Ro's further exploits.  Clearly unwilling to give her an immediate second spotlight, the series instead plays it far too safe, almost cuddly, in attempting to demonstrate that she still has to work out how to interact with people not named Picard on a favorable basis, in just one of several plot threads, easily forgotten.  Well, anyway, "Conundrum" is a much better use of her potential, and that's nine episodes away...

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential

notable guest-stars:
Michelle Forbes (Ro Laren)
Colm Meaney (O'Brien)
Rosalind Chao (Keiko)

The Next Generation 5x4 "Silicon Avatar"

rating: ****

the story: The Crystalline Entity is back, and somebody is out for revenge against it.

similar to: "The Doomsday Machine" (original series), Star Trek: The Motion Picture

my thoughts: Ever since "Datalore," the first season episode that introduced Data's twin brother Lore, another figure lurked, waiting to return: the Crystalline Entity.  One of the more interesting aspects of Data's backstory is the existence of this incomprehensible being, used by Lore to destroy the colony where Data was created.  And yet, what is there to say about the Entity itself?

Plenty, as it turns out.  Very much like a Next Generation answer to "The Doomsday Machine," but kind of reverse-engineered to feature a far more powerless character tricking their way toward revenge, the mother of a colonist who died, dedicating her life to studying it, until the moment she can finally strike back...

But it's hardly that simple.  The wounded scientist is hardly the best selling point of "Silicon Avatar."  She's presented about as thinly as possible, as contrast to a crew that has, in the last two episodes ("Darmok" and "Ensign Ro"), proven itself to be infinitely capable of figuring things out, making peace with a galaxy that still seems untamed and barely understood (these are the episodes Picard should reference in his final trial with Q, it should be noted).  In all its horror, the final moments of "Avatar" see the crew fail spectacularly to prevent the Entity's demise. 

In so many other episodes, similar beings are revealed to be far more than they seem ("Encounter at Farpoint," "Tin Man," for instance), and yet the Entity, as originally presented, really does look like the menace it appears to be, a little like V'ger in The Motion Picture, plowing its way to Earth (and like the probe, too, in The Voyage Home).  We never get an answer, only a hint that the crew might have found something to replace its destructive feeding habit.

In the end, Data suggests that science that fails to trust itself but rather behaves emotionally is the true enemy, and it's a bold statement.  And "Avatar" is a classic for making it.  At its most reductive, Star Trek can be pretty preachy in its messages, so simplistic it can actually come off as insulting.  In "Avatar," a new bar is set.

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)

The Next Generation 5x3 "Ensign Ro"

rating: ****

the story: Ro Laren joins the crew and butts heads with everyone.

similar to: "The Galileo Seven" (original series), "Hollow Pursuits" (Next Generation), "Emissary" (Deep Space Nine), "Caretaker" (Voyager)

my thoughts: This is about as explosive a character introduction as you can get, and the first sign that Gene Roddenberry's edict of a perfect future was not going to outlive Roddenberry himself (this episode in fact aired three days before his death).  Although never taken quite as literally as the legend suggests, Star Trek's creator envisioned a time when humanity had moved on from petty differences.  Except the character of Spock frequently came up against it, experiencing bigotry in such episodes as "The Galileo Seven."  Next Generation had previously examined the misfit in the character of Barclay in "Hollow Pursuits," someone who doesn't get along with his fellow officers for whatever reason.  And yet Ro Laren was a clear escalation of this theme, a bold departure for a series that has frequently been labeled with having the most vanilla characters in the whole franchise, everyone far too chummy chummy.  Even McCoy frequently, and famously, needled Spock.

In many ways, "Ensign Ro" was the first episode of the rest of the franchise, from Deep Space Nine to Voyager and even Enterprise (a planet of xenophobes is explored in "Demons"/Terra Prime," two of its best hours).  Never mind that it introduces Bajorans, too, and thus completes the Next Generation guide to Deep Space Nine (after "The Wounded," introducing Cardassians, and "The Host," introducing the Trill, and not to mention the crucial battle of Wolf 359 in "The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2" which serves as the secret origin of Sisko).  Ro is the character who can break the rules, and thus introduces characters who are pointedly looking for redemption, which is what the casts of Deep Space Nine and Voyager are looking for in spades.  (Never mind, too, that late in the season we get a preview of Voyager's Tom Paris in "The First Duty.")

There's a whole story around Ro, in which she's being used as a pawn by a misguided Starfleet admiral in a game of chess with the Cardassians (who in just a few episodes become more interesting than the Romulans are throughout the series, arguably), but the character herself is so compelling, it's easily worth focusing on her alone, the impact this one blazing appearance leaves behind.  And yes, she makes a few other appearances, but few of them are as compelling as this one (except its companion, "Preemptive Strike").

The episode also works as a spotlight for Picard in much the same way as "Darmok" before it, and serves to further build toward Guinan's biggest moment in the forthcoming "Time's Arrow," so it's got a lot going for it.  Easily to earn classic status.

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)

notable guest-stars:
Michelle Forbes (Ro Laren)
Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan)

The Next Generation 5x2 "Darmok"

rating: ****

the story: Picard must learn to communicate with an alien who seems to speak in gibberish.

similar to: "Arena" (original series), "The Enemy" (Next Generation) "A Night in Sickbay," "Dawn" (Enterprise)

my thoughts: Being marooned on a planet with someone who appears to be an enemy and being forced to help each other survive...Yeah, that's a Star Trek as well as sci-fi in general (Enemy Mine)trope, from the debut of the Gorn in "Arena" to Geordi bunking down with a Romulan in "The Enemy."  Yet it's "Darmok" that's the undisputable classic.

It's not so hard to see why.  Unlike the divisive "Night in Sickbay" from Enterprise (though another classic), "Darmok" is actually the story of Starfleet finally making a breakthrough with an alien culture that previously proved too difficult to penetrate, and as such serves as another feather in the cap of Picard and his crew, surely the most intellectual from throughout the whole franchise.  This is arguably the best example of that, as the strange language of the Tamarians is deciphered, simultaneously, both in researching their culture through databases and by the experiences Picard has with his counterpart.

It's the rare opportunity to see a situation explained to have no ill-will, no matter how the circumstances look, and while it would certainly have looked better for all involved if there had been no trickery involved, for the Tamarians this was a last-ditch effort, a desperation play, and it's only Picard with his infinite patience and powers of comprehension who can make the breakthrough.

It's a textbook Next Generation episode, perhaps the one to show anyone skeptical about it, whether original series partisans or those who have never watched Star Trek at all.  You don't need to know anything about the series itself to enjoy it, and as such is also an excellent argument for the episodic nature the franchise was once allowed to embrace, because this really is about as good as it gets.

It's also worth singling out Paul Winfield's performance as the alien captain.  Previously featured in Wrath of Khan, Winfield boldly appeared completely unrecognizable, speaking lines that hardly flatter an actor's natural instincts.  And is a large part of why the episode works so well.

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)

notable guest-stars:
Paul Winfield
Ashley Judd (Robin Lefler)
Colm Meaney (O'Brien)

The Next Generation 5x1 "Redemption, Part 2"

rating: ****

the story: The end of the Klingon civil war sees scrambling on all sides to effect their best possible result.

similar to: "The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2" (Next Generation), "The Search" (Deep Space Nine), "Kir'Shara" (Enterprise)

my thoughts: A true Next Generation classic concludes, perhaps the defining story of the series, as various strands come together, some touched on in the preceding entry, others newly introduced.

The operatic nature of Klingon politics kind of speaks for itself at this point.  More compelling are the matters of Sela and Data in command of a starship.  In Sela is a peculiar legacy of the series, the re-introduction of Denise Crosby into series lore after her departure in the first season and subsequent return in the landmark "Yesterday's Enterprise," the events of which are herein recounted to notable skepticism until Guinan steps in to try and make sense of them.  The results are almost more compelling for the character of Guinan than Sela.  Sela returns in "Unification," while Guinan's past is finally explored in "Time's Arrow," both within this season, so clearly "Redemption" necessarily set up as well as concluded storylines for the series, another mark of its crucial nature.

And yet, the big confrontation between Picard and Sela is almost academic.  Less so is Data's arc in the episode, in which he requests field command in the task force assigned to curb the fighting.  It's a direct reflection of how Starfleet is still coming back from the devastation of the Borg crisis in "Best of Both Worlds," and a unique further examination of how Starfleet as a whole views Data.  Those unfamiliar with him, it seems, still underestimate him.  His rebellious first officer believes Data, an android, to view everything in cold terms, neglecting the human element, the sacrifices that may result from his strategies.  Never mind that in other episodes we're reminded that this is precisely makes command material.  In Data it's seen as a flaw.  So he must once again demonstrate his brilliance in order to be accepted.  Although one aspect of the episode, it's worth remembering in its impact on Data as a whole.

Of course, there's also the matter of how Worf finally resolves his relationships with the Klingons and Starfleet.  That's the essence of "Redemption," how it all reflects around this character.  Both Data and Sela only serve to reflect what happens to Worf, after all.  And the end of the episode is a direct answer to "Sins of the Father," in which he made a difficult decision that led to "Redemption" in the first place.

It's one of the most significant moments in the series, and in the franchise, and largely defines what makes Star Trek what it is, more interested in the personal moments than in the greater ramifications, the ability to turn away from the drama rather than be defined by it.  If this had been Star Wars, Worf would never have even considered rejoining Starfleet, much less letting slip his opportunity for revenge.  If you ever wanted to explain the differences between the two franchises to someone, "Redemption" is exactly the story to use as your example.  Star Trek features space exploration, but it's about the exploration of self first and foremost.  Even if the self is an alien from a warrior culture who ended up joining a different family entirely.

And yet, of course, the Klingon saga in Star Trek only grew larger.  That's the beauty of "Redemption."

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character -essential (all criteria meta)

notable guest-stars:
Denise Crosby (Sela)
Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan)
Tony Todd (Kurn)
Robert O'Reilly (Gowron)
Barbara March (Lursa)
Gwynyth Walsh (B'Etor)
Colm Meaney (O'Brien)

Bryan Fuller joins the Series VII team

The news of Bryan Fuller joining the new TV show's team has been making the rounds, and I thought I'd chip in some thoughts.

Fuller's recent work includes an upcoming TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman's American Gods, plus Hannibal.  He also worked on Mockingbird Lane, an updated Munsters, and among other credits is known for the cult TV favorites Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me, and Wonderfalls.  He wrote some of the better-received episodes of Heroes, including "Company Man" and "Cold Snap."

And he's worked on Star Trek before.  Contributing the psychologically-charged "Empok Nor" and "The Darkness and the Light" to Deep Space Nine, he then went on an extended run with Voyager, where again he contributed to deepening the mythology of the series.  Here are the episodes he worked on:

"The Raven" (exploring Seven's backstory)
"Mortal Coil" (Neelix suffers a near-death experience)
"Retrospect"
"Living Witness" (one of the show's most clever episodes)
"Drone" (a rare Voyager Borg fan favorite)
"Bride of Chaotica!" (the series at its comedic best)
"Gravity"
"Dark Frontier, Part 1" (returning to Seven's past)
"Course: Oblivion" (one of the best fake-outs in franchise history)
"Juggernaut"
"Relativity" (one of the key later time travel episodes in franchise lore)
"Barge of the Dead" (one of the best Klingon episodes in the franchise)
"Alice"
"One Small Step" (one of several franchise odes to today's space program)
"Spirit Folk"
"Fury" (controversial final appearance of Kes)
"The Haunting of Deck 12"
"Flesh & Blood, Parts 1 & 2" (finishing out the Hirogen in the series)
"Workforce, Parts 1 & 2"
"Friendship One"

These were all episodes that spoke to either the characters or the concepts at the heart of the series, in ways that made it easier for fans who liked what Voyager was doing like it even more.  They represent a full gamut, besides, of what the franchise was capable of, from classic sci-fi adventures to innovative stories that pushed the series to new depths.  The biggest complaint about Voyager was that it wasted its premise for more of the same, and yet in these episodes one can see how unique the series really was, and how easily it fit the storytelling instincts of a creator other pockets of fandom found incredibly endearing.

In short, this is the guy to pull off the new series. 

Joining him are some other guys I have a tremendous amount of faith in.  Alex Kurtzman's Star Trek credentials have been established in the last two films.  He's also been involved with Sleepy Hollow, Limitless, Hawaii Five-O, and Scorpion, and I have a particular soft spot for the guy thanks to his work on Alias and Fringe.

And with Fuller and Kurtzman will be Michael Green, who has done work on such diverse shows as Smallville, Everwood, Jack & Bobby, Kings, and The River (which featured Bruce Greenwood, by the way).  He also worked on Heroes, like Fuller, and the Green Lantern movie, which is a personal favorite of mine.

I have every faith that this will be a rewarding experience, and a fine return to television for Star Trek.

The Next Generation 4x26 "Redemption"

rating: ****

the story: Klingon civil war breaks out thanks in no small part to Romulan instigation, leading Worf to make a difficult decision.

similar to: "Way of the Warrior" (Deep Space Nine), "The Expanse" (Enterprise)

my thoughts: In many ways, "Redemption" is far more important to Next Generation's legacy than "The Best of Both Worlds."  Where the latter is plenty iconic, "Redemption" defined in large part the show's legacy, which can be felt in each subsequent Star Trek series and in television generally.  It's the point where serialized storytelling became more important than serialization, not because of soap opera qualities or some general goal, but because the mythology of a concept became the most important aspect of the storytelling.

I'm incredibly tempted to write a whole article on the predecessors and successors to "Redemption," from Next Generation itself, from other series, other movies.  It's a legacy that quickly eclipses "Best of Both Worlds."  It's really that important. 

For starters, it introduces the Duras Sisters, Lursa and B'Etor, who end up impacting the franchise in ways the far more limited and utilitarian Duras himself ever could.  They appear throughout the remainder of the series, in Deep Space Nine, and join Khan and the Borg as familiar figures to appear in the movies when they meet their demise in Generations, always scheming but in increasingly unpredictable ways.  In a lot of ways, they're the true legacy of Harry Mudd, and they're a lot harder to forget.

If you start only from "Sins of the Father" and "Reunion," in which Worf enters the Klingon fray more directly than at any other point in his life, "Redemption" expands those developments and builds on them.  In Star Trek lore, Klingons have opera.  In the episodes themselves, this is the Klingon opera, a crescendo of all the best work the series had done to this point, and in a lot of ways, the rest of it was kind of a letdown, never really trying something this ambitious again (there's the realm of Deep Space Nine).

This is the meat and potatoes of the franchise mandate, coming to terms with an alien culture, in ways the original series and Spock could only play at, even in the movies.  Worf's conflicts are indeed epic.  Although he does return to Starfleet, the fact that he leaves at the end of this episode and season is completely unprecedented, and prove the depth of his character and the series around him.

This is a culmination, besides, of the rich character work that was the season at the peak of its creativity, and it successfully and artfully weaves high drama around a main character and significant guest stars around him, something that had heretofore eluded both the season and series so far, so often with one or the other dominating, but never both at the same time.

And the story only gets better...

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)

notable guest-stars:
Robert O'Reilly (Gowron)
Tony Todd (Kurn)
Barbara March (Lursa)
Gwynyth Walsh (B'Etor)
Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan)
Denise Crosby (Sela)

The Next Generation 4x25 "In Theory"

rating: **

the story: Data attempts to have a romantic relationship.

similar to: "Family," "Data's Day"

my thoughts: I've had something of a conflicted relationship with this episode over the years.  On the one hand, it's a valuable experience of what it's like to interact with Data on an intimate basis, and on the other, it really doesn't give him enough credit.

"In Theory" joins a suite of episodes from the fourth season that take a slice-of-life approach to the series, including "Family" at the start of it and "Data's Day" near the middle.  "Theory" is the most simple of them, and therefore the easiest to take for granted.  Yet it may be the most valuable.  It's one thing to accept Data as a member of the crew, and another to accept that the crew accepts him.  Often enough, we're remembered that other people haven't always been as accepting, but "Theory" presents what it's like to actually accept him, warts and all, including all the idiosyncrasies that are so easy to take for granted.

Fans hate it when they're introduced to characters who are relevant for one episode, but are otherwise represented as relevant on a continued basis to the ones we otherwise have followed all along.  As with the rest of the season, "Theory" is interested in someone for their unique perspective, and so use them as a catapult to help the story along.  The woman who falls in love with Data, however, is kind f beside the point.  Unlike O'Brien in "The Wounded" or Barclay in "The Nth Degree," it wouldn't have benefited anyway (say, Nurse Ogawa) to have been used, from the available pool, and so let's just move on to Data himself.

The most telling scene is when Data explains everything he was processing at a given moment, and it's the rare moment where we're allowed to view him as the complex mechanism he really is.  His girlfriend is pretty annoyed that she's just a part of his thought process, but it's exactly what Data should be doing.  It's painful when he programs himself for love (Voyager's Doctor had better examples of such attempts, such as "Real Life" or "Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy"), but again, that just goes to show he inexperienced he really is, despite his many years of service with humans.

"Theory" is hardly to the caliber or significance of "Measure of a Man," but it's still a valuable insight into Data and his greater role in the society of the crew.  And besides, just as Wesley discovered before him, it's dangerous but incredibly amusing to ask crewmates about love!

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential

notable guest-stars:
Colm Meaney (O'Brien)
Rosalind Chao (Keiko)
Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan)

The Next Generation 4x24 "The Mind's Eye"

rating: *

the story: Geordi is programmed by the Romulans to become an unwitting assassin.

similar to: "Babel One," "United," "The Aenar" (Enterprise)

my thoughts: This is such a roundabout way to lead into "Redemption" that it's almost not even worth commenting on in that regard, but it's probably the best way to talk about it at all.

And by the way, this is also the introduction of Sela, the Romulan daughter of the Tasha Yar from "Yesterday's Enterprise," and even in that it's kind of a needless tease for how little mileage the character ends up getting.  Denise Crosby famously exited the series in its first season because she didn't think she got enough to do.  These are the episodes where she gets to prove whether or not it was a horrible mistake on her part, because they're by far her most important.  Yet she never quite breaks the mold of being an actor who was arguably better suited to play Deanna Troi, as originally cast (Marina Sirtis makes a far better argument about deserving a shot at Yar in episodes like "Power Play" and "Face of the Enemy").

But since she's hardly in it, and not even officially so, let's not spend this review talking about Sela.  It's not even worth talking about Geordi, which makes this another episode featuring a character but not really using them as bedeviled the midpoint of the season.  Until the closing moments of the episode, in which Troi helps Geordi realize what's happened to him, he literally has nothing interesting to do except walk around on autopilot.  Based on the classic movie(s) The Manchurian Candidate, I'd say "Mind's Eye" was a horrible misfire in that regard, far more so than the Deep Space Nine episode evoking Casablanca, "Profit and Loss."

Anyway, again, this whole story is really just an excuse to set up "Redemption" two episodes later as a season finale.  It doesn't feature Worf, for whatever reason, but does have Romulans and Klingons awkwardly clashing.  It's important in a very minor way, almost like the series realized such a moment was necessary, but had no better way to provide it.  It's a place-filler of an episode.

Besides, the whole thing was done better in a three-part Enterprise episode concerning Romulans manipulating events behind the scenes.

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential

notable guest-stars:
Denise Crosby (Sela)
Colm Meaney (O'Brien)
John Fleck