rating: ****
the story: The Borg return, and Data gains emotions.
similar to: "The Search" (Deep Space Nine), "Darkling" (Voyager)
my thoughts: After the monumental "Best of Both Worlds" that served as the blockbuster introduction (for many, although they debuted in "Q Who?") to the Borg, and the much more contemplative follow-up "I, Borg," how the Collective showed up again was a crucial and probably doomed to be controversial affair, especially when later appearances (Star Trek: First Contact, Voyager) seemed to contradict the conclusions to be found in "Descent."
(For those who want explanation, it could be argued that the Borg who appear here are the remnant of the invasion force from "Best of Both Worlds," where the rest of the Collective remains as it always was in the Delta Quadrant. Remember that the Borg were already at the fringes of Federation space as early as the end of the first season, probably a scout force that may or may not be related to the cube from "Best of Both Worlds.")
Putting aside Borg developments, the key component of this half of the story (it concludes in the seventh season premiere) is Data's struggles with emotions, how they become addictive and uncontrollable (in ways completely different, and darker, than depicted in Star Trek Generations). Simply put, this is Data like you've never seen him before, and it makes for riveting drama.
Voyager's Doctor experiences a whole different artificial existence. He would often manipulate his own programming, with wide-ranging results, some of them as nasty as what Data experiences here (see: "Darkling"). Data usually experienced that sort of thing due to the manipulation of his android brother, Lore, who is of course once again responsible (the plot thickens in the second part on that score).
"Descent" is foreshadowing for the kind of storytelling Deep Space Nine would tell on a regular basis, starting with the full reveal of the Dominion in the two-part "The Search," which opened its third season. Aside from the Klingon saga (last touched on in "Rightful Heir" a few episodes ago), Next Generation was still a relatively episodic adventure, where big events were mostly self-contained. Although the following seventh and final season continued this trend, it's easy to imagine that if the series had continued, it might have eventually embraced further serialization, and "Descent" is an example of what that might have looked like. Lore had been around since the first season. This is the story where his saga concludes, in impressive grandiose fashion. But again, more on that next episode.
The first part of "Descent," meanwhile, is fascinating in its own right. Like "Birthright" before it, the episode is an ambitious attempt to tell two separate, and yet related, stories. This half is all about Data's initial journey, and it can't help but feel more vital than its follow-up, as we're in the familiar context of his fellow officers the whole time.
For the boldness of its vision, it's another of the unusual classics, but a classic all the same.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
Brent Spiner (Lore)
Stephen Hawking
John Neville
Natalia Nogulich (Nechayev)
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Showing posts with label Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 6. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 6. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
The Next Generation 6x25 "Timescape"
rating: *
the story: The crew experiences time distortions, including a Romulan ship that seems to have been completely frozen.
similar to: "Wink of an Eye" (original series), "Condundrum," "Cause and Effect" (Next Generation), "Blink of an Eye" (Voyager)
my thoughts: I'm once again fudging my criteria acknowledgments with "Timescape," as by my standards, it could easily be given both franchise- and series-relevant labels. In the franchise, the original series episode "Wink of an Eye" is about a species that visits the ship at a different speed (think a whole species of superheroes like the Flash or Quicksilver) while in Voyager, the similarly-named "Blink of an Eye" features a whole world whose revolutions are quicker than average, and so civilization advances rapidly while Janeway's ship is lodged in orbit (the crew experiences time normally).
At any rate, real science fiction-heavy episodes like this are somewhat a dime a dozen, and as such are kind of the bread-and-butter of the franchise. For my tastes, "Timescape" rings most true to Next Generation's fifth season contributions to this trend, "Conundrum" and "Cause and Effect," both of which I labeled classics. As a late entry in the follow-up season, "Timescape" betrays a creative staff that's once again dragging its feet, which was something that plagued the staff at the beginning of the season, too.
Which is to say, "Timescape" shares none of the brilliant spark of its predecessors. It's a by-the-numbers affair, with the crew busy experiencing odd things (this is old hat for the series: see "Where No One Has Gone Before" from the first season, for instance). By the time we get aboard the Romulan ship, and see that crew frozen in time, and play a cat-and-mouse game with the bad guy (unlike in "Conundrum," we don't get to hang out with him the whole episode), things pick up considerably, but by then it's too late. Come to think of it, the odd chronal mechanics from Enterprise's "Future Tense" is a better example of this sort of story, too.
You can certainly enjoy "Timescape," but it's a distinctly minor affair.
criteria analysis:franchise - series - character - essential
the story: The crew experiences time distortions, including a Romulan ship that seems to have been completely frozen.
similar to: "Wink of an Eye" (original series), "Condundrum," "Cause and Effect" (Next Generation), "Blink of an Eye" (Voyager)
my thoughts: I'm once again fudging my criteria acknowledgments with "Timescape," as by my standards, it could easily be given both franchise- and series-relevant labels. In the franchise, the original series episode "Wink of an Eye" is about a species that visits the ship at a different speed (think a whole species of superheroes like the Flash or Quicksilver) while in Voyager, the similarly-named "Blink of an Eye" features a whole world whose revolutions are quicker than average, and so civilization advances rapidly while Janeway's ship is lodged in orbit (the crew experiences time normally).
At any rate, real science fiction-heavy episodes like this are somewhat a dime a dozen, and as such are kind of the bread-and-butter of the franchise. For my tastes, "Timescape" rings most true to Next Generation's fifth season contributions to this trend, "Conundrum" and "Cause and Effect," both of which I labeled classics. As a late entry in the follow-up season, "Timescape" betrays a creative staff that's once again dragging its feet, which was something that plagued the staff at the beginning of the season, too.
Which is to say, "Timescape" shares none of the brilliant spark of its predecessors. It's a by-the-numbers affair, with the crew busy experiencing odd things (this is old hat for the series: see "Where No One Has Gone Before" from the first season, for instance). By the time we get aboard the Romulan ship, and see that crew frozen in time, and play a cat-and-mouse game with the bad guy (unlike in "Conundrum," we don't get to hang out with him the whole episode), things pick up considerably, but by then it's too late. Come to think of it, the odd chronal mechanics from Enterprise's "Future Tense" is a better example of this sort of story, too.
You can certainly enjoy "Timescape," but it's a distinctly minor affair.
criteria analysis:
Friday, July 22, 2016
The Next Generation 6x24 "Second Chances"
rating: ***
the story: Riker discovers his transporter duplicate.
similar to: "Defiant" (Deep Space Nine)
my thoughts: As opposed to episodes where a character is split apart (the original series' "The Enemy Within" or Voyager's "Faces") or simply melded together (Voyager's "Tuvix"), "Second Chances" has the distinction of introducing a permanent alternate version (not counting the Mirror Universe, naturally) of a main character.
Transporters accidents are a classic franchise trope, and on that score "Chances" may be the prototypical example, in some ways the nightmare scenario even worse than somehow dying from one (although that happened in The Motion Picture, too). But most significantly, not only does Thomas Riker come into existence, he actually returns later, too (Deep Space Nine's "Defiant"). That means everything this episode concludes had an additional layer of resonance.
"Chances" might be considered a what-may-have-been story (Voyager is chalk-full of those!), from the unique perspective of it actually playing out. Thomas Riker (the transporter duplicate) was created before Will Riker became the man we're familiar with (in some ways, "Tapestry" without the reset), which means, among other things, the famous Riker/Troi romance that was one of the worst teases of the series gets to be revisited, and in some ways addressed directly for the first time.
Although the episode somewhat glosses over how Thomas was able to survive on his own for as long as he did (unlike those pesky Soong androids, no reassembly required!), it's a nifty reminder that nearly everyone in this series has a similar origin story, where they were literally scooped up from the ruins of a shattered life, and had to somehow make good and start anew. You can actually enjoy "Chances" for that peek into all the stories we mostly only really heard about over the years.
Because I don't think "Second Chances" is a classic, I'm going to classify, besides its distinction as an essential character piece for Riker, as a series recommendation over a franchise one, although this is kind of splitting hairs. Bottom line, it's a 3-star affair.
criteria analysis:franchise - series - character - essential
notable guest-stars:
Jonathan Frakes (Thomas Riker)
Mae Jemison
the story: Riker discovers his transporter duplicate.
similar to: "Defiant" (Deep Space Nine)
my thoughts: As opposed to episodes where a character is split apart (the original series' "The Enemy Within" or Voyager's "Faces") or simply melded together (Voyager's "Tuvix"), "Second Chances" has the distinction of introducing a permanent alternate version (not counting the Mirror Universe, naturally) of a main character.
Transporters accidents are a classic franchise trope, and on that score "Chances" may be the prototypical example, in some ways the nightmare scenario even worse than somehow dying from one (although that happened in The Motion Picture, too). But most significantly, not only does Thomas Riker come into existence, he actually returns later, too (Deep Space Nine's "Defiant"). That means everything this episode concludes had an additional layer of resonance.
"Chances" might be considered a what-may-have-been story (Voyager is chalk-full of those!), from the unique perspective of it actually playing out. Thomas Riker (the transporter duplicate) was created before Will Riker became the man we're familiar with (in some ways, "Tapestry" without the reset), which means, among other things, the famous Riker/Troi romance that was one of the worst teases of the series gets to be revisited, and in some ways addressed directly for the first time.
Although the episode somewhat glosses over how Thomas was able to survive on his own for as long as he did (unlike those pesky Soong androids, no reassembly required!), it's a nifty reminder that nearly everyone in this series has a similar origin story, where they were literally scooped up from the ruins of a shattered life, and had to somehow make good and start anew. You can actually enjoy "Chances" for that peek into all the stories we mostly only really heard about over the years.
Because I don't think "Second Chances" is a classic, I'm going to classify, besides its distinction as an essential character piece for Riker, as a series recommendation over a franchise one, although this is kind of splitting hairs. Bottom line, it's a 3-star affair.
criteria analysis:
notable guest-stars:
Jonathan Frakes (Thomas Riker)
Mae Jemison
Thursday, July 21, 2016
The Next Generation 6x23 "Rightful Heir"
rating: ****
the story: The clone of the legendary Klingon warrior Kahless causes considerable political turmoil among his people.
similar to: "Way of the Warrior" (Deep Space Nine), "Barge of the Dead" (Voyager)
my thoughts: After the intensity of the series Klingon arc begun in "Sins of the Father" three seasons earlier, the "Redemption" climax made it look like not only had it become difficult to continue ("Rightful Heir" arrives nearly two seasons later), anything that tried to had to do something truly out of the ordinary to justify itself.
"Rightful Heir" does exactly that. The legendary Kahless is second only to Vulcan's Surak as a great historical figure in Star Trek's aliens mythology, said to have, like Surak, set his people on their present course. Both of them debuted in the original series episode "The Savage Curtain" (Surak would have to wait ten more years, in an Enterprise three-part episode, to have his return engagement). The idea of cloning comes up surprisingly sparsely in franchise lore (Deep Space Nine's Vorta are big proponents; Next Generation's "Up the Long Ladder" makes the Dominion's Vorta program look virtuous by comparison), but that's how Kahless ends up in this episode. Cloning itself isn't even the issue (somewhat surprisingly), but what to do with Kahless now that he's, for all intents and purposes, back.
As a standalone Klingon episode (unlike every other Next Generation effort, following "Sins"), "Rightful Heir" thusly has a unique position. If you somehow don't have the time to sift through the whole preceding arc, in which we eventually meet Gowron and see how he becomes Chancellor of the High Council, you can still enjoy his predicament in a different kind of power struggle (the Dominion War in Deep Space Nine eventually gives him another, don't worry!). Caught in the middle, as always, is Worf.
This is another Next Generation preview of Deep Space Nine, in a way. The importance of spiritual beliefs would become an increasingly important part of Deep Space Nine mythology. Worf's struggles here are similar to the ones Kira and Sisko continually face. Again, if you somehow don't have time to parse through a whole series, "Rightful Heir" fits the bill for that, too.
As far as exploring Klingon mythology goes, Voyager later features the Klingon afterlife in "Barge of the Dead." Worf is caught in an equally tricky situation, in a crossroads of his career, in his Deep Space Nine debut, "Way of the Warrior."
But I don't mean to bog you down in a lot of references you either will or won't track down. "Rightful Heir" works in its own right, which is mainly why I'm classifying it as a classic. The bottom line is, this is a story about the messiness of actually confronting a legend, and whether or not they can live up to their reputation. It does the idea justice.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
Robert O'Reilly (Gowron)
the story: The clone of the legendary Klingon warrior Kahless causes considerable political turmoil among his people.
similar to: "Way of the Warrior" (Deep Space Nine), "Barge of the Dead" (Voyager)
my thoughts: After the intensity of the series Klingon arc begun in "Sins of the Father" three seasons earlier, the "Redemption" climax made it look like not only had it become difficult to continue ("Rightful Heir" arrives nearly two seasons later), anything that tried to had to do something truly out of the ordinary to justify itself.
"Rightful Heir" does exactly that. The legendary Kahless is second only to Vulcan's Surak as a great historical figure in Star Trek's aliens mythology, said to have, like Surak, set his people on their present course. Both of them debuted in the original series episode "The Savage Curtain" (Surak would have to wait ten more years, in an Enterprise three-part episode, to have his return engagement). The idea of cloning comes up surprisingly sparsely in franchise lore (Deep Space Nine's Vorta are big proponents; Next Generation's "Up the Long Ladder" makes the Dominion's Vorta program look virtuous by comparison), but that's how Kahless ends up in this episode. Cloning itself isn't even the issue (somewhat surprisingly), but what to do with Kahless now that he's, for all intents and purposes, back.
As a standalone Klingon episode (unlike every other Next Generation effort, following "Sins"), "Rightful Heir" thusly has a unique position. If you somehow don't have the time to sift through the whole preceding arc, in which we eventually meet Gowron and see how he becomes Chancellor of the High Council, you can still enjoy his predicament in a different kind of power struggle (the Dominion War in Deep Space Nine eventually gives him another, don't worry!). Caught in the middle, as always, is Worf.
This is another Next Generation preview of Deep Space Nine, in a way. The importance of spiritual beliefs would become an increasingly important part of Deep Space Nine mythology. Worf's struggles here are similar to the ones Kira and Sisko continually face. Again, if you somehow don't have time to parse through a whole series, "Rightful Heir" fits the bill for that, too.
As far as exploring Klingon mythology goes, Voyager later features the Klingon afterlife in "Barge of the Dead." Worf is caught in an equally tricky situation, in a crossroads of his career, in his Deep Space Nine debut, "Way of the Warrior."
But I don't mean to bog you down in a lot of references you either will or won't track down. "Rightful Heir" works in its own right, which is mainly why I'm classifying it as a classic. The bottom line is, this is a story about the messiness of actually confronting a legend, and whether or not they can live up to their reputation. It does the idea justice.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
Robert O'Reilly (Gowron)
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
The Next Generation 6x22 "Suspicions"
rating: ****
the story: Crusher's investigation into the death of a Ferengi scientist puts her career into jeopardy.
similar to: "Remember Me," "Ethics"
my thoughts: The question about The Next Generation is how Crusher was so easy to drop after the first season, and what was gained when she returned again in the third, because she remained a notoriously difficult character to crack. Most of the time, it seemed as if the failure was on the part of the actress portraying her, Gates McFadden, but the fact that nearly every episode that focused on Crusher featured a single theme might also be telling.
Simply put, Crusher tended to box herself into corners. In "Ethics" it was, as the title of the episode implies, her ethical stance against a colleague who otherwise epitomizes the Star Trek custom to feature mavericks of their respective fields (if they're a main character, this is a good thing, and if they're not, it's not). Next Generation, in the choice not even to have a main character portray the chief engineer in the first season, seemed to shy away from the idea of exceptionalism, with the cautious Picard leading the way.
There's also "Remember Me," in which Crusher is as literally isolated as you can get (although this sort of thing happened to other Star Trek regulars, too), with everyone disappearing around her, and no one believing Crusher when she attempts to explain what's happening. Taken together, "Remember Me" and "Ethics" present a pretty convincing portrait of who and what Crusher was in the series ("Sub Rosa" can be included as well, but to no one's credit).
What does this have to do with "Suspicions"? This is the episode where this portrait of the character comes together. This is one of those episodes with a framing narrative where we meet the character after the worst of it has already happened (Deep Space Nine's "Whispers" is a similar achievement, while that show's "In the Pale Moonlight" is the best one, and Voyager's "Thirty Days" is a step or two below), but more than that, it's about explaining why Crusher is so easy to isolate, because she's a character who isolates herself, and it takes extreme circumstances to prove it.
"Ethics" made it look like she was merely the good guy, and "Remember Me" was merely a fun experience. "Suspicions" paints Crusher into such a corner that she feels the only way to get out is to actually remove herself entirely from the equation, risk everything to prove she was right about her investigation.
In the best way, "Suspicions" challenges everything the viewer thinks it knows about Star Trek. Like Enterprise's "Judgment," which introduced a Klingon who wasn't happy to be defined as a warrior, the presence and significance of a Ferengi scientist blows open the classic stereotype that even a prejudice-free concept like Star Trek can let creep in when introducing alien cultures. Even as Deep Space Nine was introducing Ferengi who weren't merely villains or comic relief (although they could still be both), and hadn't yet introduced further wrinkles into the culture (the second and third seasons would do that), Next Generation finally suggesting that itself, for having produced all the stereotypes to begin with, was a bold move, one seemingly buried in a story that focuses on Crusher instead of the scientist. It's not merely about producing sympathetic characters in a species otherwise considered the enemy (the series did that with Romulans all the time). No, to go out of its way and find that ill-fated little Ferengi scientist...it was kind of a metaphor for Crusher, too.
Look below the surface. It took six seasons, but Crusher was finally figured out. And she helps bring further depth to the series, and franchise, along the way. Yeah, I've been guilty of making Crusher look bad. Sometimes it's all too easy. But she has a way of bringing out the most surprising material, too, in a very good way.
"Suspicions" is a classic in ways few other classic episodes are. Like Crusher herself, it may be easy to overlook, but it shouldn't be.
This one's also notable as the last time Guinan appears in a TV episode.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan)
Patti Yasutake (Ogawa)
James Horan
the story: Crusher's investigation into the death of a Ferengi scientist puts her career into jeopardy.
similar to: "Remember Me," "Ethics"
my thoughts: The question about The Next Generation is how Crusher was so easy to drop after the first season, and what was gained when she returned again in the third, because she remained a notoriously difficult character to crack. Most of the time, it seemed as if the failure was on the part of the actress portraying her, Gates McFadden, but the fact that nearly every episode that focused on Crusher featured a single theme might also be telling.
Simply put, Crusher tended to box herself into corners. In "Ethics" it was, as the title of the episode implies, her ethical stance against a colleague who otherwise epitomizes the Star Trek custom to feature mavericks of their respective fields (if they're a main character, this is a good thing, and if they're not, it's not). Next Generation, in the choice not even to have a main character portray the chief engineer in the first season, seemed to shy away from the idea of exceptionalism, with the cautious Picard leading the way.
There's also "Remember Me," in which Crusher is as literally isolated as you can get (although this sort of thing happened to other Star Trek regulars, too), with everyone disappearing around her, and no one believing Crusher when she attempts to explain what's happening. Taken together, "Remember Me" and "Ethics" present a pretty convincing portrait of who and what Crusher was in the series ("Sub Rosa" can be included as well, but to no one's credit).
What does this have to do with "Suspicions"? This is the episode where this portrait of the character comes together. This is one of those episodes with a framing narrative where we meet the character after the worst of it has already happened (Deep Space Nine's "Whispers" is a similar achievement, while that show's "In the Pale Moonlight" is the best one, and Voyager's "Thirty Days" is a step or two below), but more than that, it's about explaining why Crusher is so easy to isolate, because she's a character who isolates herself, and it takes extreme circumstances to prove it.
"Ethics" made it look like she was merely the good guy, and "Remember Me" was merely a fun experience. "Suspicions" paints Crusher into such a corner that she feels the only way to get out is to actually remove herself entirely from the equation, risk everything to prove she was right about her investigation.
In the best way, "Suspicions" challenges everything the viewer thinks it knows about Star Trek. Like Enterprise's "Judgment," which introduced a Klingon who wasn't happy to be defined as a warrior, the presence and significance of a Ferengi scientist blows open the classic stereotype that even a prejudice-free concept like Star Trek can let creep in when introducing alien cultures. Even as Deep Space Nine was introducing Ferengi who weren't merely villains or comic relief (although they could still be both), and hadn't yet introduced further wrinkles into the culture (the second and third seasons would do that), Next Generation finally suggesting that itself, for having produced all the stereotypes to begin with, was a bold move, one seemingly buried in a story that focuses on Crusher instead of the scientist. It's not merely about producing sympathetic characters in a species otherwise considered the enemy (the series did that with Romulans all the time). No, to go out of its way and find that ill-fated little Ferengi scientist...it was kind of a metaphor for Crusher, too.
Look below the surface. It took six seasons, but Crusher was finally figured out. And she helps bring further depth to the series, and franchise, along the way. Yeah, I've been guilty of making Crusher look bad. Sometimes it's all too easy. But she has a way of bringing out the most surprising material, too, in a very good way.
"Suspicions" is a classic in ways few other classic episodes are. Like Crusher herself, it may be easy to overlook, but it shouldn't be.
This one's also notable as the last time Guinan appears in a TV episode.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan)
Patti Yasutake (Ogawa)
James Horan
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
The Next Generation 6x21 "Frame of Mind"
rating: **
the story: Riker tries to figure out why he's been committed to an asylum.
similar to: "Phantasms"
my thoughts: This is a fun Riker episode, one of his most memorable (things kind of got sparse for Number One after the second season, when he was still in the running to replace Picard as the most interesting commanding officer of Next Generation; strangely enough, this was the exact fate of Chakotay in Voyager, too), in which numerous perspectives are juggled, including his memories of performing in one of Crusher's plays, his being locked in an asylum, and deciding if he's really crazy or someone's just trying to make him think he is...
So, I repeat: fun! Although, like the later "Phantasms," the basic idea seems to have been inspired by Data's dreaming in "Birthright, Part 1" (I guess I'm not the only one who felt unsatisfied by how that played out).
Bottom line, without too much analysis required, is that you can lose yourself in this one without worrying too much about its significance. That's the mark of a good, not great, episode.
criteria analysis:franchise - series - character - essential
notable guest-stars:
Susanna Thompson
the story: Riker tries to figure out why he's been committed to an asylum.
similar to: "Phantasms"
my thoughts: This is a fun Riker episode, one of his most memorable (things kind of got sparse for Number One after the second season, when he was still in the running to replace Picard as the most interesting commanding officer of Next Generation; strangely enough, this was the exact fate of Chakotay in Voyager, too), in which numerous perspectives are juggled, including his memories of performing in one of Crusher's plays, his being locked in an asylum, and deciding if he's really crazy or someone's just trying to make him think he is...
So, I repeat: fun! Although, like the later "Phantasms," the basic idea seems to have been inspired by Data's dreaming in "Birthright, Part 1" (I guess I'm not the only one who felt unsatisfied by how that played out).
Bottom line, without too much analysis required, is that you can lose yourself in this one without worrying too much about its significance. That's the mark of a good, not great, episode.
criteria analysis:
notable guest-stars:
Susanna Thompson
Monday, July 18, 2016
The Next Generation 6x20 "The Chase"
rating: **
the story: Picard becomes involved in the search for the intergalactic ancestor species.
similar to: "The Jihad" (Animated Series)
my thoughts: The last Picard-heavy episode of the season (seriously! count among them: "Time's Arrow, Part 2," "Chain of Command, Part 2," "Tapestry," "Starship Mine," and "Lessons," which covers about as broad a portrait of a Star Trek character in any season, any series, as you'll ever see) features the good captain indulging his love of archeology when his mentor dies, passing along his greatest discovery to his most famous pupil.
(If you're looking for ways the mature Picard developed, other than "Tapestry," you can count the influence of Professor Galen along with Groundskeeper Boothby's.)
This is like the franchise equivalent of Raiders of the Lost Ark, or The Da Vinci Code, the big mystery thriller that's about as Next Generation as it can get, bogged down in inter-species relations that never really degenerate past cultural differences, and everyone gets to share in the discovery, where Star Trek meets Salome Jens (the Female Founder in Deep Space Nine) for the first time, and gets to hear how her species populated the galaxy. It's a very '90s explanation, one Ridley Scott later picked up for his Aliens prequel, Prometheus. Really, given all the ancient artifacts that populate the franchise, it's about as likely an explanation as Star Trek will ever give.
Aliens working together was also the theme of The Animated Series' "The Jihad" (not to mention the bedrock of the United Federation of Planets). If ever Next Generation came close to resolving all the conflicts of the Star Trek world, this was it. But of course, as Deep Space made clear, that didn't really happen. You could also consider "The Chase" the episodic equivalent of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
But it's kind of soft-shoe for the deeper stories from the season, and series in general, so I wouldn't get too worked up about it.
criteria analysis: franchise -series - character - essential
notable guest-stars:
Salome Jens
the story: Picard becomes involved in the search for the intergalactic ancestor species.
similar to: "The Jihad" (Animated Series)
my thoughts: The last Picard-heavy episode of the season (seriously! count among them: "Time's Arrow, Part 2," "Chain of Command, Part 2," "Tapestry," "Starship Mine," and "Lessons," which covers about as broad a portrait of a Star Trek character in any season, any series, as you'll ever see) features the good captain indulging his love of archeology when his mentor dies, passing along his greatest discovery to his most famous pupil.
(If you're looking for ways the mature Picard developed, other than "Tapestry," you can count the influence of Professor Galen along with Groundskeeper Boothby's.)
This is like the franchise equivalent of Raiders of the Lost Ark, or The Da Vinci Code, the big mystery thriller that's about as Next Generation as it can get, bogged down in inter-species relations that never really degenerate past cultural differences, and everyone gets to share in the discovery, where Star Trek meets Salome Jens (the Female Founder in Deep Space Nine) for the first time, and gets to hear how her species populated the galaxy. It's a very '90s explanation, one Ridley Scott later picked up for his Aliens prequel, Prometheus. Really, given all the ancient artifacts that populate the franchise, it's about as likely an explanation as Star Trek will ever give.
Aliens working together was also the theme of The Animated Series' "The Jihad" (not to mention the bedrock of the United Federation of Planets). If ever Next Generation came close to resolving all the conflicts of the Star Trek world, this was it. But of course, as Deep Space made clear, that didn't really happen. You could also consider "The Chase" the episodic equivalent of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
But it's kind of soft-shoe for the deeper stories from the season, and series in general, so I wouldn't get too worked up about it.
criteria analysis: franchise -
notable guest-stars:
Salome Jens
Sunday, July 17, 2016
The Next Generation 6x19 "Lessons"
rating: **
the story: Picard finds himself falling for a member of his crew.
similar to: "Fair Haven" (Voyager)
my thoughts: "Lessons" is at once an unexpected follow-up to "The Inner Light" (Picard plays the flute again!) and the object-lesson in why romance is so difficult for starship captains (unless you're Kirk, although I guess that kind of goes double for him). It's both odd and appropriate that this particular lesson is learned by Picard, who stretched out a romance with Crusher across a whole series, four movies, their backstories, and never found any actual resolution...
In Voyager's "Fair Haven," Janeway is so hard-up for love she considers romance with a hologram. That's how tough it can be. Sisko had it easy! All he had to do was get past his suspicions that his girl was a Maquis rebel. (She wasn't.) For Picard, it means walking through the perils of supervising (every workplace warns you about this) your love interest, his being in the unfortunate position of determining whether or not she goes on dangerous away missions, and fretting the whole time if she does go on one (and of course she does).
For me, and maybe a lot of other viewers, "Lessons" is best remembered for the literal music Picard makes with his lover. Music has always been a part of the franchise, whether Uhura's singing or Riker's trombone playing. When Picard experienced someone else's lifetime ("The Inner Light"), he unexpectedly acquired a new skill, which was playing the flute. "Lessons" is where he discovers he still has plenty left to learn about it, and his improvisations ("Frere Jacques" never sounded so good!) are every bit worth watching the episode to hear.
That's about it. "Lessons" is an episode worth watching as a fan, but I'm pretty sure the uninitiated will get it, too.
criteria analysis: franchise -series - character - essential
the story: Picard finds himself falling for a member of his crew.
similar to: "Fair Haven" (Voyager)
my thoughts: "Lessons" is at once an unexpected follow-up to "The Inner Light" (Picard plays the flute again!) and the object-lesson in why romance is so difficult for starship captains (unless you're Kirk, although I guess that kind of goes double for him). It's both odd and appropriate that this particular lesson is learned by Picard, who stretched out a romance with Crusher across a whole series, four movies, their backstories, and never found any actual resolution...
In Voyager's "Fair Haven," Janeway is so hard-up for love she considers romance with a hologram. That's how tough it can be. Sisko had it easy! All he had to do was get past his suspicions that his girl was a Maquis rebel. (She wasn't.) For Picard, it means walking through the perils of supervising (every workplace warns you about this) your love interest, his being in the unfortunate position of determining whether or not she goes on dangerous away missions, and fretting the whole time if she does go on one (and of course she does).
For me, and maybe a lot of other viewers, "Lessons" is best remembered for the literal music Picard makes with his lover. Music has always been a part of the franchise, whether Uhura's singing or Riker's trombone playing. When Picard experienced someone else's lifetime ("The Inner Light"), he unexpectedly acquired a new skill, which was playing the flute. "Lessons" is where he discovers he still has plenty left to learn about it, and his improvisations ("Frere Jacques" never sounded so good!) are every bit worth watching the episode to hear.
That's about it. "Lessons" is an episode worth watching as a fan, but I'm pretty sure the uninitiated will get it, too.
criteria analysis: franchise -
Saturday, July 16, 2016
The Next Generation 6x18 "Starship Mine"
rating: *
the story: Picard must defend the ship against a gang of pirates.
similar to: "Macrocosm" (Voyager), "Acquisition" (Enterprise)
my thoughts: Picard's Die Hard moment and audition for his action-heavy appearances in the films is a fun little romp (say hello to Tim Russ's franchise debut; see you in a few years, Voyager!), repeated a couple of times (Janeway's commando turn in Voyager's "Macrocosm;" Enterprise's Ferengi episode, "Acquisition") for good effect (hey, it makes for good entertainment!), and features some fun character moments, both for Picard (remember that he's a horse-riding fan, because it'll come up again in the movies; also, he's most certainly not the barber!), and Data (his fascination with the tedious Hutchinson!).
Otherwise, this really is the throwaway little romp it appears to be. It's not a bad episode. It's also not hugely important. For Next Generation, you kind of wish they'd done something a little more substantial, especially with the cerebral Picard front and center. But apparently this is exactly what Patrick Stewart wanted. You don't say no to Picard, the real or the fake one. The baddies found out the hard way...
criteria analysis: franchise -series - character - essential
notable guest-stars:
Tim Russ
Patricia Tallman
the story: Picard must defend the ship against a gang of pirates.
similar to: "Macrocosm" (Voyager), "Acquisition" (Enterprise)
my thoughts: Picard's Die Hard moment and audition for his action-heavy appearances in the films is a fun little romp (say hello to Tim Russ's franchise debut; see you in a few years, Voyager!), repeated a couple of times (Janeway's commando turn in Voyager's "Macrocosm;" Enterprise's Ferengi episode, "Acquisition") for good effect (hey, it makes for good entertainment!), and features some fun character moments, both for Picard (remember that he's a horse-riding fan, because it'll come up again in the movies; also, he's most certainly not the barber!), and Data (his fascination with the tedious Hutchinson!).
Otherwise, this really is the throwaway little romp it appears to be. It's not a bad episode. It's also not hugely important. For Next Generation, you kind of wish they'd done something a little more substantial, especially with the cerebral Picard front and center. But apparently this is exactly what Patrick Stewart wanted. You don't say no to Picard, the real or the fake one. The baddies found out the hard way...
criteria analysis: franchise -
notable guest-stars:
Tim Russ
Patricia Tallman
Friday, July 15, 2016
The Next Generation 6x17 "Birthright, Part 2"
rating: ****
the story: Worf discovers a colony where Klingons and Romulans live side-by-side.
similar to: "The Enemy" (Next Generation), "Chimera" (Deep Space Nine)
my thoughts: I have long struggled over this episode, and yet now I am recommending it as a Star Trek classic. So let me explain...
What used to make me so uncomfortable is how fallible Worf comes off, and how unwinnable a situation he comes across in the strange village housing both his people, the Klingons, and their frenemies the Romulans. "The Enemy" had already demonstrated the depth of his enmity toward Romulans (refusing to help save the life of one), and later in Deep Space Nine's "Change of Heart," his refusal to see the greater picture (which would have sacrificed Dax in the process), all of this amounts to a unique franchise character, one who doesn't conform to the perfect standards Gene Roddenberry envisioned for the future. It's not that he's Klingon and therefore absolved from the human vision, but that, as perhaps best depicted in "Birthright, Part 2," he has a hard time overcoming the prejudices and attitudes he has formed over a lifetime, and yes, inherited, too.
Which makes him unique, a continuing character study of everything Star Trek sought to demonstrate as having been overcome in the future. This doesn't mean Worf, ultimately, is a villain. Far from it. His struggles make him, if anything, more heroic. "Birthright, Part 2," again, is where it all comes together.
Lured on the promise of reuniting with his dead father, Worf instead comes face-to-face with something his people won't overcome, despite Klingons finally having made peace with one implacable foe, the Federation, with Worf himself being the living embodiment of that progress. That doesn't make confronting his shortcomings any less ugly or uncomfortable to watch. To him, his actions are all about Klingon pride, but the underpinning is his basic intolerance of Romulans, and his unwillingness to reconsider his views. He may, with every justification, question Romulan motives (Deep Space Nine did a similar story, "Cardassians," about a war orphan forced to choose where to pledge his loyalties, which itself was similar to Next Generation's own "Suddenly Human"), but that doesn't excuse his disgust as he finds out his lovely Klingon beauty also has Romulan blood in her.
Again, there's a Deep Space Nine episode ("Chimera") where Odo is forced once and all to decide where he stands on the matter of prejudice against his kind (changelings), and this matter can't be discussed without bringing up Data ("The Measure of a Man") or The Doctor (Voyager's "Latent Image"), but just as with the bigotry even Spock faced ("Balance of Terror," for instance) and Enterprise's xenophobes ("Demons"/"Terra Prime"), this is a matter very much relevant to the real world, and Star Trek's exploration of it, in all its forms (Deep Space Nine's "Far Beyond the Stars"), ultimately tends to let the good guys off. Not this time. And this is very, very important, because it acknowledges how unsettling this problem really is. Because it's not just something that happens to the other guy.
"Birthright, Part 1" featured Data daydreaming, which was a metaphoric acknowledgement that the android needed to continue growing. I think "Birthright, Part 2" is about Worf struggling to understand that, too. Something to think about, anyway.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
Alan Scarfe
Jennifer Gatti
Richard Herd
Cristine Rose
James Cromwell
the story: Worf discovers a colony where Klingons and Romulans live side-by-side.
similar to: "The Enemy" (Next Generation), "Chimera" (Deep Space Nine)
my thoughts: I have long struggled over this episode, and yet now I am recommending it as a Star Trek classic. So let me explain...
What used to make me so uncomfortable is how fallible Worf comes off, and how unwinnable a situation he comes across in the strange village housing both his people, the Klingons, and their frenemies the Romulans. "The Enemy" had already demonstrated the depth of his enmity toward Romulans (refusing to help save the life of one), and later in Deep Space Nine's "Change of Heart," his refusal to see the greater picture (which would have sacrificed Dax in the process), all of this amounts to a unique franchise character, one who doesn't conform to the perfect standards Gene Roddenberry envisioned for the future. It's not that he's Klingon and therefore absolved from the human vision, but that, as perhaps best depicted in "Birthright, Part 2," he has a hard time overcoming the prejudices and attitudes he has formed over a lifetime, and yes, inherited, too.
Which makes him unique, a continuing character study of everything Star Trek sought to demonstrate as having been overcome in the future. This doesn't mean Worf, ultimately, is a villain. Far from it. His struggles make him, if anything, more heroic. "Birthright, Part 2," again, is where it all comes together.
Lured on the promise of reuniting with his dead father, Worf instead comes face-to-face with something his people won't overcome, despite Klingons finally having made peace with one implacable foe, the Federation, with Worf himself being the living embodiment of that progress. That doesn't make confronting his shortcomings any less ugly or uncomfortable to watch. To him, his actions are all about Klingon pride, but the underpinning is his basic intolerance of Romulans, and his unwillingness to reconsider his views. He may, with every justification, question Romulan motives (Deep Space Nine did a similar story, "Cardassians," about a war orphan forced to choose where to pledge his loyalties, which itself was similar to Next Generation's own "Suddenly Human"), but that doesn't excuse his disgust as he finds out his lovely Klingon beauty also has Romulan blood in her.
Again, there's a Deep Space Nine episode ("Chimera") where Odo is forced once and all to decide where he stands on the matter of prejudice against his kind (changelings), and this matter can't be discussed without bringing up Data ("The Measure of a Man") or The Doctor (Voyager's "Latent Image"), but just as with the bigotry even Spock faced ("Balance of Terror," for instance) and Enterprise's xenophobes ("Demons"/"Terra Prime"), this is a matter very much relevant to the real world, and Star Trek's exploration of it, in all its forms (Deep Space Nine's "Far Beyond the Stars"), ultimately tends to let the good guys off. Not this time. And this is very, very important, because it acknowledges how unsettling this problem really is. Because it's not just something that happens to the other guy.
"Birthright, Part 1" featured Data daydreaming, which was a metaphoric acknowledgement that the android needed to continue growing. I think "Birthright, Part 2" is about Worf struggling to understand that, too. Something to think about, anyway.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
Alan Scarfe
Jennifer Gatti
Richard Herd
Cristine Rose
James Cromwell
Thursday, July 14, 2016
The Next Generation 6x16 "Birthright, Part 1"
rating: ***
the story: Data triggers a dream subroutine as Dr. Bashir examines him, while Worf discovers that his father may still be alive.
similar to: "Projections," "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (Voyager)
my thoughts: For the longest time, I found it hard to appreciate Deep Space Nine's appearance in "Birthright." That may be because for the longest time, I didn't appreciate Deep Space Nine's first season, having become a fan during its second and only discovering the first later. Bashir started out as a brash young upstart, whose enthusiasm usually got him into trouble. (He matured relatively quickly, rest assured!) It's equally strange, too, because when I did begin exploring that first season, I had no problem with the frequent Next Generation tie-in, the appearances from the Duras Sisters, Q, and even Lwaxana Troi (who would go on to become a Deep Space Nine staple, and arguably make her best appearances in that series). No, my problem was Bashir, because he was entirely out of place in Next Generation. His kind, young Wesley Crusher, had long been absent when he appeared.
But you know what, in hindsight this is an almost magical moment. There were so many crossover appearances in Star Trek over the years, most of them, originally, characters from the original series, until it became possible to do something else. Picard made an appearance in Deep Space Nine's first episode. This was an age, remember, before multiple series running concurrently in a franchise was a thing, before it was even possible, really. Star Trek got the ball started. (Never you mind Detective Munch!) "Birthright, Part 1" is actually historic, when you think about it, without really calling any attention to it, I mean the fans, in the more than twenty years since it first aired.
And Worf visits Deep Space Nine for the first time! Later, he'd become a regular in Deep Space Nine, and "Birthright, Part 1" marks the first time he ever goes there, before anyone could guess what his future would hold.
Okay, enough geeking out. In that nonchalant franchise guest-starring act, "Birthright" has that in common with Voyager's "Projections," which was the first time Barclay shows up in that series, with no one particularly pointing out how awesome and serendipitous that is, when he later becomes a recurring character in the series.
Ah! I said enough with the geeking! The actual story features Data dreaming, a subtle build on his character (later revisited in "Phantasms," featuring the famous Troi cake), and one of the niftier appearances of his creator Dr. Soong. (Daydreaming got Voyager's Doctor in a whole lot more trouble in "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy," alas!) And it features Worf getting the oddly unsettling news that his father Mogh may actually still be alive. The whole of these parts is less than it should be. Given that the second part of this story focuses exclusively on Worf, one wonders why Data's was even in the first, but perhaps it's some subtle metaphor I hadn't really considered previously, given how traumatic the second part turns out to be (more in that review), for all involved.
The embarrassment of riches in guest-stars is incredible to look at, and is enough for me to want to watch the episode all over again, not just for Bashir, but to see James Cromwell (buried in alien makeup this time), Cristine Rose (long before she becomes Mama Petrelli in Heroes), Richard Herd (before he becomes Tom Paris's father in Voyager), and even Jennifer Gatti (who later appears in more attractive form as Harry Kim's girlfriend, also in Voyager).
The story continues...
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character -essential
notable guest-stars:
Alexander Siddig (Bashir)
James Cromwell
Cristine Rose
Richard Herd
Jennifer Gatti
the story: Data triggers a dream subroutine as Dr. Bashir examines him, while Worf discovers that his father may still be alive.
similar to: "Projections," "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" (Voyager)
my thoughts: For the longest time, I found it hard to appreciate Deep Space Nine's appearance in "Birthright." That may be because for the longest time, I didn't appreciate Deep Space Nine's first season, having become a fan during its second and only discovering the first later. Bashir started out as a brash young upstart, whose enthusiasm usually got him into trouble. (He matured relatively quickly, rest assured!) It's equally strange, too, because when I did begin exploring that first season, I had no problem with the frequent Next Generation tie-in, the appearances from the Duras Sisters, Q, and even Lwaxana Troi (who would go on to become a Deep Space Nine staple, and arguably make her best appearances in that series). No, my problem was Bashir, because he was entirely out of place in Next Generation. His kind, young Wesley Crusher, had long been absent when he appeared.
But you know what, in hindsight this is an almost magical moment. There were so many crossover appearances in Star Trek over the years, most of them, originally, characters from the original series, until it became possible to do something else. Picard made an appearance in Deep Space Nine's first episode. This was an age, remember, before multiple series running concurrently in a franchise was a thing, before it was even possible, really. Star Trek got the ball started. (Never you mind Detective Munch!) "Birthright, Part 1" is actually historic, when you think about it, without really calling any attention to it, I mean the fans, in the more than twenty years since it first aired.
And Worf visits Deep Space Nine for the first time! Later, he'd become a regular in Deep Space Nine, and "Birthright, Part 1" marks the first time he ever goes there, before anyone could guess what his future would hold.
Okay, enough geeking out. In that nonchalant franchise guest-starring act, "Birthright" has that in common with Voyager's "Projections," which was the first time Barclay shows up in that series, with no one particularly pointing out how awesome and serendipitous that is, when he later becomes a recurring character in the series.
Ah! I said enough with the geeking! The actual story features Data dreaming, a subtle build on his character (later revisited in "Phantasms," featuring the famous Troi cake), and one of the niftier appearances of his creator Dr. Soong. (Daydreaming got Voyager's Doctor in a whole lot more trouble in "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy," alas!) And it features Worf getting the oddly unsettling news that his father Mogh may actually still be alive. The whole of these parts is less than it should be. Given that the second part of this story focuses exclusively on Worf, one wonders why Data's was even in the first, but perhaps it's some subtle metaphor I hadn't really considered previously, given how traumatic the second part turns out to be (more in that review), for all involved.
The embarrassment of riches in guest-stars is incredible to look at, and is enough for me to want to watch the episode all over again, not just for Bashir, but to see James Cromwell (buried in alien makeup this time), Cristine Rose (long before she becomes Mama Petrelli in Heroes), Richard Herd (before he becomes Tom Paris's father in Voyager), and even Jennifer Gatti (who later appears in more attractive form as Harry Kim's girlfriend, also in Voyager).
The story continues...
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character -
notable guest-stars:
Alexander Siddig (Bashir)
James Cromwell
Cristine Rose
Richard Herd
Jennifer Gatti
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
The Next Generation 6x15 "Tapestry"
rating: ****
the story: Is Picard dead? And is Q waiting there in his afterlife? God help us all!
similar to: Yeah, I think this one's pretty unique.
my thoughts: Arguably the best Q episode, and arguably the best Picard episode (seriously, this sixth season had some really good material), "Tapestry" is the uniquely Star Trek answer to It's a Wonderful Life, in which Picard is granted a second chance at a crucial moment in his life, only to discover things really couldn't have worked out better for him, and that even his mistakes were crucial in making it all happen. It's a profound statement on the human condition, maybe one most easily appreciated by fans, but if ever there was a continuity statement made in this franchise, this was the mother of them.
As touched on in the second season's "Samaritan Snare," the young Picard was a lot more like Kirk than his present incarnation would indicate. What makes this so interesting is that Picard was literally created to be the opposite of Kirk, cool and calculating where the other was famously brash and impulsive. What's more, by the time Next Generation debuted, we'd already seen the later career of the aging Kirk, and knew that he never turned into Picard. So what was the difference? Well, he learned a costly lesson in a youthful bar fight, and paid with his heart, so that ever after he would have to depend on an artificial one, that could sometimes prove less than dependable. It's not so much that he shrank back from his early self, but that he started to look at the world differently, began to think about his actions before making them.
Yet, had he done so without learning the lesson, in his youth, Picard would never have become the brilliant officer and commanding officer we came to know and love. And it's not that his lowly position in that alternate reality, where Riker diagnoses his career as spoiled potential, is a sad one, even pointless, but that he would never have blossomed, never learned the value of taking risks. Because even the older Picard takes risks, just not the way Kirk did it.
Really, it's fascinating character analysis, and at the same time, it shows how he can interact with Q on equal footing, which no other episode ever dared to present, not even the time Q was briefly human. They always made a delightful odd couple, but Q actively helping Picard makes such a difference (see how the effect is nearly duplicated, pointedly, in the final episode, "All Good Things...," Q's next appearance (after a flurry of them this season, including the episode of Deep Space Nine broadcast a week earlier, "Q-Less," his only appearance in that series, and "True Q").
It provides some wonderful comedic moments, as Q needles Picard at every opportunity, playful jabs like butchering the pronunciation of his name, or even the opening conceit of making Picard think this really is the afterlife (provoking Picard to his best barb: "The universe is not so badly designed."), which for argument's sake is clearly not. (Right?)
It's also fun seeing Picard in a Kirk's-crew movie era uniform (we'd also get to see Voyager's Tuvok in one, thanks to "Flashback"). Remember that the young Picard pictured in Star Trek Nemesis (as depicted by Tom Hardy, presumably at a time Picard was merely shaving his head bald) sports that, too, and realize Shinzon wasn't so far off the mark. I mean, that whole movie makes much more sense when you remember "Tapestry." It actually takes on greater resonance, and poignancy.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
John de Lancie
the story: Is Picard dead? And is Q waiting there in his afterlife? God help us all!
similar to: Yeah, I think this one's pretty unique.
my thoughts: Arguably the best Q episode, and arguably the best Picard episode (seriously, this sixth season had some really good material), "Tapestry" is the uniquely Star Trek answer to It's a Wonderful Life, in which Picard is granted a second chance at a crucial moment in his life, only to discover things really couldn't have worked out better for him, and that even his mistakes were crucial in making it all happen. It's a profound statement on the human condition, maybe one most easily appreciated by fans, but if ever there was a continuity statement made in this franchise, this was the mother of them.
As touched on in the second season's "Samaritan Snare," the young Picard was a lot more like Kirk than his present incarnation would indicate. What makes this so interesting is that Picard was literally created to be the opposite of Kirk, cool and calculating where the other was famously brash and impulsive. What's more, by the time Next Generation debuted, we'd already seen the later career of the aging Kirk, and knew that he never turned into Picard. So what was the difference? Well, he learned a costly lesson in a youthful bar fight, and paid with his heart, so that ever after he would have to depend on an artificial one, that could sometimes prove less than dependable. It's not so much that he shrank back from his early self, but that he started to look at the world differently, began to think about his actions before making them.
Yet, had he done so without learning the lesson, in his youth, Picard would never have become the brilliant officer and commanding officer we came to know and love. And it's not that his lowly position in that alternate reality, where Riker diagnoses his career as spoiled potential, is a sad one, even pointless, but that he would never have blossomed, never learned the value of taking risks. Because even the older Picard takes risks, just not the way Kirk did it.
Really, it's fascinating character analysis, and at the same time, it shows how he can interact with Q on equal footing, which no other episode ever dared to present, not even the time Q was briefly human. They always made a delightful odd couple, but Q actively helping Picard makes such a difference (see how the effect is nearly duplicated, pointedly, in the final episode, "All Good Things...," Q's next appearance (after a flurry of them this season, including the episode of Deep Space Nine broadcast a week earlier, "Q-Less," his only appearance in that series, and "True Q").
It provides some wonderful comedic moments, as Q needles Picard at every opportunity, playful jabs like butchering the pronunciation of his name, or even the opening conceit of making Picard think this really is the afterlife (provoking Picard to his best barb: "The universe is not so badly designed."), which for argument's sake is clearly not. (Right?)
It's also fun seeing Picard in a Kirk's-crew movie era uniform (we'd also get to see Voyager's Tuvok in one, thanks to "Flashback"). Remember that the young Picard pictured in Star Trek Nemesis (as depicted by Tom Hardy, presumably at a time Picard was merely shaving his head bald) sports that, too, and realize Shinzon wasn't so far off the mark. I mean, that whole movie makes much more sense when you remember "Tapestry." It actually takes on greater resonance, and poignancy.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
John de Lancie
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
The Next Generation 6x14 "Face of the Enemy"
rating: ****
the story: Troi is conscripted by Romulan agents to help dissidents escape.
similar to: "Second Skin" (Deep Space Nine)
my thoughts: This is, arguably, the best Troi episode of the series, a culmination of the "Chain of Command" and earlier efforts to have the character taken seriously as something other than the empathic counselor as originally conceived.
This is one of those episodes where a main character temporarily becomes a member of an alien species. Most of the time it's voluntary (such as when Picard and Data are disguised as Romulans in "Unification," incidentally the start of the story continued in "Face of the Enemy") or through some quirk-of-the-week (exemplified by "The Inner Light"). Every once and a while, it's done for different impact entirely (Deep Space Nine's "Second Skin" is another good example), such as when Troi wakes up as a Romulan, and is forced to adjust on the fly as she learns what's really going on.
The Romulans were always such a hard species to feature in the franchise. Inherently taciturn, like their Vulcan cousins, they were also decidedly more calculating, which cast them as enemies of the Federation and thus frequent opponents of crews in Starfleet uniforms. Since this is an inherently difficult position to represent, it's not surprising that of all the major Star Trek aliens, Romulans alone have never been represented in an ongoing or even recurring basis (other than the relatively minor Tomalak).
"Face of the Enemy" makes the novel solution of turning a main character into a Romulan, and thus we're given our one direct look into how a Romulan crew functions. Like the Klingons, turmoil reigns, which is no surprise. Like a preview of the Deep Space Nine Cardassians, paranoia is the order of the day as the Romulan CIA, the Tal Shiar, makes Troi's mission exceedingly difficult, although she proves up to the task thanks to the selfless support of her Romulan counterpart.
Helping smooth the story is the fact that two familiar guest-stars are supporting Marina Sirtis: Scott MacDonald, who was a go-to guy for Star Trek aliens, either as a good or bad guy (he really did do both, whether in Deep Space Nine's "Captive Pursuit" or the chief Xindi villain in Enterprise's third season) and Carolyn Seymour. Both contribute their distinctive voices to give life to the frequently enigmatic Romulan species.
While it was hardly unusual for Star Trek to find a sympathetic Romulan (from the original appearance in "Balance of Terror" to Next Generation's best Romulan episode, "The Defector;" both Romulans and Klingons were inspired by the Cold War's Soviet Union, and in their unique ways it shows), "Face of the Enemy" presents a truly unique opportunity, which it nails.
It doesn't hurt that Marina Sirtis absolutely, as she did earlier in the season with "A Fistful of Datas," rises to the occasion. Anyone who wants to figure out how she managed her breakout performance in Star Trek: First Contact ought to look no further to see how it happened.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
Scott MacDonald
Carolyn Seymour
the story: Troi is conscripted by Romulan agents to help dissidents escape.
similar to: "Second Skin" (Deep Space Nine)
my thoughts: This is, arguably, the best Troi episode of the series, a culmination of the "Chain of Command" and earlier efforts to have the character taken seriously as something other than the empathic counselor as originally conceived.
This is one of those episodes where a main character temporarily becomes a member of an alien species. Most of the time it's voluntary (such as when Picard and Data are disguised as Romulans in "Unification," incidentally the start of the story continued in "Face of the Enemy") or through some quirk-of-the-week (exemplified by "The Inner Light"). Every once and a while, it's done for different impact entirely (Deep Space Nine's "Second Skin" is another good example), such as when Troi wakes up as a Romulan, and is forced to adjust on the fly as she learns what's really going on.
The Romulans were always such a hard species to feature in the franchise. Inherently taciturn, like their Vulcan cousins, they were also decidedly more calculating, which cast them as enemies of the Federation and thus frequent opponents of crews in Starfleet uniforms. Since this is an inherently difficult position to represent, it's not surprising that of all the major Star Trek aliens, Romulans alone have never been represented in an ongoing or even recurring basis (other than the relatively minor Tomalak).
"Face of the Enemy" makes the novel solution of turning a main character into a Romulan, and thus we're given our one direct look into how a Romulan crew functions. Like the Klingons, turmoil reigns, which is no surprise. Like a preview of the Deep Space Nine Cardassians, paranoia is the order of the day as the Romulan CIA, the Tal Shiar, makes Troi's mission exceedingly difficult, although she proves up to the task thanks to the selfless support of her Romulan counterpart.
Helping smooth the story is the fact that two familiar guest-stars are supporting Marina Sirtis: Scott MacDonald, who was a go-to guy for Star Trek aliens, either as a good or bad guy (he really did do both, whether in Deep Space Nine's "Captive Pursuit" or the chief Xindi villain in Enterprise's third season) and Carolyn Seymour. Both contribute their distinctive voices to give life to the frequently enigmatic Romulan species.
While it was hardly unusual for Star Trek to find a sympathetic Romulan (from the original appearance in "Balance of Terror" to Next Generation's best Romulan episode, "The Defector;" both Romulans and Klingons were inspired by the Cold War's Soviet Union, and in their unique ways it shows), "Face of the Enemy" presents a truly unique opportunity, which it nails.
It doesn't hurt that Marina Sirtis absolutely, as she did earlier in the season with "A Fistful of Datas," rises to the occasion. Anyone who wants to figure out how she managed her breakout performance in Star Trek: First Contact ought to look no further to see how it happened.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
Scott MacDonald
Carolyn Seymour
Thursday, June 23, 2016
The Next Generation 6x13 "Aquiel"
rating: **
the story: Geordi falls in love with a murder suspect.
similar to: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, "The Drumhead" (Next Generation), "Demon," "Course: Oblivion" (Voyager)
my thoughts: This latest hapless Geordi love story (the only other character as similarly hapless in franchise would be Voyager's Harry Kim, so of course he figures in the episode connections above) gets surprisingly complicated. A lot of people will base their opinions of the episode on the performance of the actress playing the title character (which may not be for everyone, but it's not really that bad).
The first association you'll see listed is Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which I make because it shares a Klingon murder mystery with "Aquiel." The second also features a Klingon, but that's not the reason I link Next Generation's own "The Drumhead" to "Aquiel," but rather because both feature a more complicated investigation than it at first seems (there are other such episodes, but it's just funny to me that the series was willing to piggyback on such a singular episode with one that didn't really have near the ambition, which is fine, all things considered; at this point the season had more than amped up the quality score that was lagging early on, so it was due for some lighter material).
The third and forth come from Voyager, and by the time you reach the end of "Aquiel" you should know very well why the biomimetic shenanigans of "Demon" and "Course: Oblivion" are relevant. All of this combines, if you managed the rather lengthy parenthetical comments above, for a fairly decent episode. For Geordi romance it's fairly straightforward, sadly enough! If you include, say, "The Game" with Wesley and Ashley Judd, you'll see that romances do tend to end rather abruptly in this series, where careers (*cough* Riker) are so important (so it's equally unsurprising that the older, commanding officer Picard has been a bachelor all his life).
For all that, it's a good mystery. The series was surprisingly good for those. And the little dog, too! I'll keep it at recommendations for franchise and series fans, just to be on the safe side, which translate to a two-star review, a middle-of-the-road-but-still-worth-watching affair. Sounds exactly like all Geordi's dates...
criteria analysis: franchise - series -character - essential
the story: Geordi falls in love with a murder suspect.
similar to: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, "The Drumhead" (Next Generation), "Demon," "Course: Oblivion" (Voyager)
my thoughts: This latest hapless Geordi love story (the only other character as similarly hapless in franchise would be Voyager's Harry Kim, so of course he figures in the episode connections above) gets surprisingly complicated. A lot of people will base their opinions of the episode on the performance of the actress playing the title character (which may not be for everyone, but it's not really that bad).
The first association you'll see listed is Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which I make because it shares a Klingon murder mystery with "Aquiel." The second also features a Klingon, but that's not the reason I link Next Generation's own "The Drumhead" to "Aquiel," but rather because both feature a more complicated investigation than it at first seems (there are other such episodes, but it's just funny to me that the series was willing to piggyback on such a singular episode with one that didn't really have near the ambition, which is fine, all things considered; at this point the season had more than amped up the quality score that was lagging early on, so it was due for some lighter material).
The third and forth come from Voyager, and by the time you reach the end of "Aquiel" you should know very well why the biomimetic shenanigans of "Demon" and "Course: Oblivion" are relevant. All of this combines, if you managed the rather lengthy parenthetical comments above, for a fairly decent episode. For Geordi romance it's fairly straightforward, sadly enough! If you include, say, "The Game" with Wesley and Ashley Judd, you'll see that romances do tend to end rather abruptly in this series, where careers (*cough* Riker) are so important (so it's equally unsurprising that the older, commanding officer Picard has been a bachelor all his life).
For all that, it's a good mystery. The series was surprisingly good for those. And the little dog, too! I'll keep it at recommendations for franchise and series fans, just to be on the safe side, which translate to a two-star review, a middle-of-the-road-but-still-worth-watching affair. Sounds exactly like all Geordi's dates...
criteria analysis: franchise - series -
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
The Next Generation 6x12 "Ship in a Bottle"
rating: ****
the story: The holographic Professor Moriarty is inadvertently reawakened, and plots to have his revenge and freedom, too.
similar to: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, "Latent Image," "Flesh & Blood, Parts I & II" (Voyager)
my thoughts: This unexpected follow-up to the second season episode "Elementary, Dear Data," in which Geordi and Dr. Pulaski inadvertently created the sentient Professor Moriarty hologram to compete with Data, is arguably one of the finest hidden gems of the franchise. Where fans will be familiar with the name Khan and to a lesser extent Harry Mudd, the twice-appearing Moriarty, while on the surface seeming to be a less distinctive creation for having been based, at least originally, on the famous Sherlock Holmes villain, may in fact prove to be among the most sophisticated antagonists ever to appear in Star Trek.
After all, when one think of Next Generation, it's as the most sophisticated series in the franchise, right? Fans typically think of the series' answer to Wrath of Khan as either Star Trek: First Contact or Star Trek Nemesis, and sometimes find it easy to dismiss one or the other for that very reason. Yet, "Ship in a Bottle" is the Next Generation version of Khan. It's just that simple. Foe you thought you'd dealt with returns. Where I've always found Khan's intellect lacking, the same can't be said of Moriarty's. This was a character literally created to be brilliant, and so the writers are forced to produce something brilliant for him.
Which is to revisit, once again, the idea of artificial intelligence. Putting aside Data, who was the usual recipient of such explorations in this series, it's worth noting that there's another Star Trek regular who spent a good deal of time getting examined in this way. By far the most nuanced such occasion for Voyager's holographic Doctor was "Latent Image." It's ironic to note that the Doctor eventually gained the very autonomy Moriarty craved, and that it still didn't mean a happy ending for him (all the way to "Author, Author," we find him struggling still).
Also from Voyager is the two-part "Flesh and Blood," which similarly examined what actually happened to what seemed like a clever solution, from the earlier two-part "Killing Game," in which the crew gives the Hirogen holographic, rather than organic, prey, in hopes of reducing their bloodthirst. While "Flesh and Blood" isn't the achievement of "Ship in a Bottle," it's a reminder that things don't always work out as smoothly as you'd think.
Even "Ship" ends ambiguously, when you think about it. "Elementary, Dear Data" ended the Moriarty question with the proposal that the crew would further examine his plight, in much the way "Space Seed" in the original series saw Kirk leave Khan behind on a planet of his own. Moriarty returns and reveals that he has experienced every excruciating moment of the interminable wait. Did the crew purposely forget about him? And what of the conclusion of "Ship," where they trick him into a simulation?
One imagines that he eventually figures it out. Would this have been something worth actually seeing? But one equally must assume this, all things considered, reflectful Moriarty wouldn't repeat the mistakes of Khan before him. Essentially, "Ship" concludes his story in the original mold of "Space Seed," with Moriarty in exile, but an exile he can be happy with.
This is what happens when Star Trek doesn't rush to judgment for the sake of making the good guy look good. If the good guy is good, then it isn't necessary. If the bad guy isn't bad, then once again, it isn't necessary. "Ship in a Bottle" is exactly that, a ship in a bottle, the message of Next Generation, where a Klingon serves in Starfleet for the first time, in a nutshell. That makes it a classic. It's the franchise's most concise explanation of what constitutes existence, without making too fine a point on it.
Philosophical, cerebral, intelligent: that's everything you want from this crew.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
Daniel Davis (Moriarty)
Dwight Schultz (Barclay)
the story: The holographic Professor Moriarty is inadvertently reawakened, and plots to have his revenge and freedom, too.
similar to: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, "Latent Image," "Flesh & Blood, Parts I & II" (Voyager)
my thoughts: This unexpected follow-up to the second season episode "Elementary, Dear Data," in which Geordi and Dr. Pulaski inadvertently created the sentient Professor Moriarty hologram to compete with Data, is arguably one of the finest hidden gems of the franchise. Where fans will be familiar with the name Khan and to a lesser extent Harry Mudd, the twice-appearing Moriarty, while on the surface seeming to be a less distinctive creation for having been based, at least originally, on the famous Sherlock Holmes villain, may in fact prove to be among the most sophisticated antagonists ever to appear in Star Trek.
After all, when one think of Next Generation, it's as the most sophisticated series in the franchise, right? Fans typically think of the series' answer to Wrath of Khan as either Star Trek: First Contact or Star Trek Nemesis, and sometimes find it easy to dismiss one or the other for that very reason. Yet, "Ship in a Bottle" is the Next Generation version of Khan. It's just that simple. Foe you thought you'd dealt with returns. Where I've always found Khan's intellect lacking, the same can't be said of Moriarty's. This was a character literally created to be brilliant, and so the writers are forced to produce something brilliant for him.
Which is to revisit, once again, the idea of artificial intelligence. Putting aside Data, who was the usual recipient of such explorations in this series, it's worth noting that there's another Star Trek regular who spent a good deal of time getting examined in this way. By far the most nuanced such occasion for Voyager's holographic Doctor was "Latent Image." It's ironic to note that the Doctor eventually gained the very autonomy Moriarty craved, and that it still didn't mean a happy ending for him (all the way to "Author, Author," we find him struggling still).
Also from Voyager is the two-part "Flesh and Blood," which similarly examined what actually happened to what seemed like a clever solution, from the earlier two-part "Killing Game," in which the crew gives the Hirogen holographic, rather than organic, prey, in hopes of reducing their bloodthirst. While "Flesh and Blood" isn't the achievement of "Ship in a Bottle," it's a reminder that things don't always work out as smoothly as you'd think.
Even "Ship" ends ambiguously, when you think about it. "Elementary, Dear Data" ended the Moriarty question with the proposal that the crew would further examine his plight, in much the way "Space Seed" in the original series saw Kirk leave Khan behind on a planet of his own. Moriarty returns and reveals that he has experienced every excruciating moment of the interminable wait. Did the crew purposely forget about him? And what of the conclusion of "Ship," where they trick him into a simulation?
One imagines that he eventually figures it out. Would this have been something worth actually seeing? But one equally must assume this, all things considered, reflectful Moriarty wouldn't repeat the mistakes of Khan before him. Essentially, "Ship" concludes his story in the original mold of "Space Seed," with Moriarty in exile, but an exile he can be happy with.
This is what happens when Star Trek doesn't rush to judgment for the sake of making the good guy look good. If the good guy is good, then it isn't necessary. If the bad guy isn't bad, then once again, it isn't necessary. "Ship in a Bottle" is exactly that, a ship in a bottle, the message of Next Generation, where a Klingon serves in Starfleet for the first time, in a nutshell. That makes it a classic. It's the franchise's most concise explanation of what constitutes existence, without making too fine a point on it.
Philosophical, cerebral, intelligent: that's everything you want from this crew.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
Daniel Davis (Moriarty)
Dwight Schultz (Barclay)
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
The Next Generation 6x11 "Chain of Command, Part 2"
rating: ****
the story: Picard is tortured for information by a sadistic Cardassian.
similar to: "Balance of Terror" (original series), "The Die is Cast" (Deep Space Nine), "Kir'Shara" (Enterprise)
my thoughts: Well, ask any fan, and they'll tell you all about how this episode is a classic. David Warner, a repeated guest presence in the franchise, is in his finest role as the Cardassian torturer Gul Madred, who matches wits with Picard in a way no other character could. In its own way, "Chain of Command, Part 2" is Next Generation's version of the Kirk/Khan showdown from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
I'll put it another way: "There are four lights!" Those are Picard's defiant final words to Madred, uttered in a hoarse voice, which he later retracts, actually, in a humbling conversation with Troi, admitting he was on the verge of breaking. Like Data shooting at Kivas Fajo in "The Most Toys," it's the moment fans have to keep in mind when they struggle to reconcile the Picard of Star Trek: First Contact with the more composed Picard to be found virtually in every other adventure. This is a man of deep passion and conviction, who under ordinary circumstances ("Sarek" is another example) is in scrupulous control of himself. That's what this episode is all about, seeing how far that really goes. It's the ultimate test of the character. At times he's recklessly defiant (goading Madred about allowing his daughter to see him at work), and at others, almost mocking (jabbing Madred about the helpless little boy the Cardassian once was), but make no mistake, this is Picard stretched to capacity. It's absolutely riveting, of course.
The whole thing is a game of chess, including Captain Jellico's second go in command of the Enterprise, as Next Generation produces its ultimate Cardassian episode, paving the way for the brilliant Deep Space Nine material that would follow. In a way, it's the "Balance of Terror" of the series, in the way the Romulans proved to be nuanced adversaries in the original series, Madred's torture inadvertently giving Picard, and the audience, a glimpse into Cardassian culture, which turns out to be more rich than we'd seen from any other Star Trek alien species.
It'd be wrong to assume this experience couldn't be duplicated, in some ways just as brilliantly, because Garak torturing Odo ("The Die is Cast," Deep Space Nine) and Shran torturing Soval ("Kir'Shara," Enterprise) are equally impactful moments in franchise lore, if less well-known. It's just, when you give Patrick Stewart a chance to shine, it's hard to be as memorable. Everyone expects Stewart to be brilliant, but he has so few moments where he really has material he can sink his teeth into. If nothing else, "Chain of Command, Part 2" is one such moment.
I think that's easy to agree with.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
Ronny Cox (Jellico)
David Warner (Gul Madred)
the story: Picard is tortured for information by a sadistic Cardassian.
similar to: "Balance of Terror" (original series), "The Die is Cast" (Deep Space Nine), "Kir'Shara" (Enterprise)
my thoughts: Well, ask any fan, and they'll tell you all about how this episode is a classic. David Warner, a repeated guest presence in the franchise, is in his finest role as the Cardassian torturer Gul Madred, who matches wits with Picard in a way no other character could. In its own way, "Chain of Command, Part 2" is Next Generation's version of the Kirk/Khan showdown from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
I'll put it another way: "There are four lights!" Those are Picard's defiant final words to Madred, uttered in a hoarse voice, which he later retracts, actually, in a humbling conversation with Troi, admitting he was on the verge of breaking. Like Data shooting at Kivas Fajo in "The Most Toys," it's the moment fans have to keep in mind when they struggle to reconcile the Picard of Star Trek: First Contact with the more composed Picard to be found virtually in every other adventure. This is a man of deep passion and conviction, who under ordinary circumstances ("Sarek" is another example) is in scrupulous control of himself. That's what this episode is all about, seeing how far that really goes. It's the ultimate test of the character. At times he's recklessly defiant (goading Madred about allowing his daughter to see him at work), and at others, almost mocking (jabbing Madred about the helpless little boy the Cardassian once was), but make no mistake, this is Picard stretched to capacity. It's absolutely riveting, of course.
The whole thing is a game of chess, including Captain Jellico's second go in command of the Enterprise, as Next Generation produces its ultimate Cardassian episode, paving the way for the brilliant Deep Space Nine material that would follow. In a way, it's the "Balance of Terror" of the series, in the way the Romulans proved to be nuanced adversaries in the original series, Madred's torture inadvertently giving Picard, and the audience, a glimpse into Cardassian culture, which turns out to be more rich than we'd seen from any other Star Trek alien species.
It'd be wrong to assume this experience couldn't be duplicated, in some ways just as brilliantly, because Garak torturing Odo ("The Die is Cast," Deep Space Nine) and Shran torturing Soval ("Kir'Shara," Enterprise) are equally impactful moments in franchise lore, if less well-known. It's just, when you give Patrick Stewart a chance to shine, it's hard to be as memorable. Everyone expects Stewart to be brilliant, but he has so few moments where he really has material he can sink his teeth into. If nothing else, "Chain of Command, Part 2" is one such moment.
I think that's easy to agree with.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
Ronny Cox (Jellico)
David Warner (Gul Madred)
Friday, May 27, 2016
The Next Generation 6x10 "Chain of Command, Part 1"
rating: ****
the story: Tensions rise between the Federation and the Cardassian Empire, leading to a covert assignment for Picard and a new captain for the Enterprise.
similar to: "The Search" (Deep Space Nine)
my thoughts: Talk about ending the first half of the season with a bang...It's almost as if the sixth season didn't really matter to the producers until "Chain of Command," which features the kind of slam-bang impactful storytelling that typified the series at its very best, the Cardassian version of the grand Klingon saga that shaped so many of the best moments from Next Generation.
This first half is best known for the introduction of Captain Jellico, whereas the second half, which I will discuss separately, for the torture of Captain Picard. These are equally significant developments in the story, and for the series.
Adjusting to a different style of command is as difficult for Riker as was the presence of Shelby in "The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1." Jellico makes the early, stiff Picard seem like a wimp. He immediately sets about one of the most-needed revisions of the series: putting Troi in a regulation Starfleet uniform. Fans tend to overlook, when criticizing the form-fitting outfits of Seven and T'Pol in Voyager and Enterprise, respectively, that Troi's cleavage was easily the most provocative element of the franchise (outside of all the skimpy clothes guest characters tended to wear on alien worlds). It also didn't serve much of a narrative purpose except to single her out as a different kind of officer. yet she was, first and foremost, a Starfleet officer, like anyone else, so it was high time she looked the part, too. It was all part of the maturing of Troi's presence in the series, which seemed like a project for the whole season (see also: "Face of the Enemy").
Jellico sticks out more than Shelby because he rankles not just Riker, but the whole crew. He proves how warm a presence Picard has become over the years, and what a difference it makes when someone else is in charge. It's also the old Star Trek trick of finding interpersonal conflict when, technically, this is the bright happy future where we all get along, which dates back to the original series. Besides Jellico, there's also the debut of the quintessential "bad admiral" Nechayev, who would make a few more appearances in the franchise.
So "Chain of Command, Part 1" is a status marker for the whole series, right when the franchise was about to expand to include another (Deep Space Nine). And a darn good one.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
David Warner (Gul Madred)
Natalia Nogulich (Admiral Nechayev)
Ronny Cox (Jellico)
the story: Tensions rise between the Federation and the Cardassian Empire, leading to a covert assignment for Picard and a new captain for the Enterprise.
similar to: "The Search" (Deep Space Nine)
my thoughts: Talk about ending the first half of the season with a bang...It's almost as if the sixth season didn't really matter to the producers until "Chain of Command," which features the kind of slam-bang impactful storytelling that typified the series at its very best, the Cardassian version of the grand Klingon saga that shaped so many of the best moments from Next Generation.
This first half is best known for the introduction of Captain Jellico, whereas the second half, which I will discuss separately, for the torture of Captain Picard. These are equally significant developments in the story, and for the series.
Adjusting to a different style of command is as difficult for Riker as was the presence of Shelby in "The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1." Jellico makes the early, stiff Picard seem like a wimp. He immediately sets about one of the most-needed revisions of the series: putting Troi in a regulation Starfleet uniform. Fans tend to overlook, when criticizing the form-fitting outfits of Seven and T'Pol in Voyager and Enterprise, respectively, that Troi's cleavage was easily the most provocative element of the franchise (outside of all the skimpy clothes guest characters tended to wear on alien worlds). It also didn't serve much of a narrative purpose except to single her out as a different kind of officer. yet she was, first and foremost, a Starfleet officer, like anyone else, so it was high time she looked the part, too. It was all part of the maturing of Troi's presence in the series, which seemed like a project for the whole season (see also: "Face of the Enemy").
Jellico sticks out more than Shelby because he rankles not just Riker, but the whole crew. He proves how warm a presence Picard has become over the years, and what a difference it makes when someone else is in charge. It's also the old Star Trek trick of finding interpersonal conflict when, technically, this is the bright happy future where we all get along, which dates back to the original series. Besides Jellico, there's also the debut of the quintessential "bad admiral" Nechayev, who would make a few more appearances in the franchise.
So "Chain of Command, Part 1" is a status marker for the whole series, right when the franchise was about to expand to include another (Deep Space Nine). And a darn good one.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
David Warner (Gul Madred)
Natalia Nogulich (Admiral Nechayev)
Ronny Cox (Jellico)
Thursday, May 26, 2016
The Next Generation 6x9 "The Quality of Life"
rating: **
the story: Data comes to the defense of mining equipment that has gained sentience.
similar to: "Home Soil," "Evolution," "Emergence" (Next Generation)
my thoughts: Like Voyager's obsession with holographic life, Next Generation had a fixation on artificial life. Voyager's was because of the Emergency Medical Hologram. Next Generation's was because of Data. Both times, it only figured.
"Quality of Life" still seems unnecessarily redundant, though in revisiting familiar territory, it forces the two streams, episodes that didn't necessarily revolve around Data (see the list above) and those that did ("The Measure of a Man," "The Offspring"), to come together, as he puts himself at risk to be the mining equipment's advocate, and asks Picard to understand based on that history.
There's really not much to say about it otherwise.
criteria analysis:franchise - series - character - essential
the story: Data comes to the defense of mining equipment that has gained sentience.
similar to: "Home Soil," "Evolution," "Emergence" (Next Generation)
my thoughts: Like Voyager's obsession with holographic life, Next Generation had a fixation on artificial life. Voyager's was because of the Emergency Medical Hologram. Next Generation's was because of Data. Both times, it only figured.
"Quality of Life" still seems unnecessarily redundant, though in revisiting familiar territory, it forces the two streams, episodes that didn't necessarily revolve around Data (see the list above) and those that did ("The Measure of a Man," "The Offspring"), to come together, as he puts himself at risk to be the mining equipment's advocate, and asks Picard to understand based on that history.
There's really not much to say about it otherwise.
criteria analysis:
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
The Next Generation 6x8 "A Fistful of Datas"
rating: ****
the story: A computer malfunction leaves Worf, Troi, and Alexander dealing with, well, a fistful of Datas.
similar to: "A Piece of the Action" (original series), "Bride of Chaotica!" (Voyager)
my thoughts: Finally! Worf and Alexander spend quality time together, manage not to fight at all, and it's not only an enjoyable experience, but it's a Star Trek classic, in the tradition of the screwball "A Piece of the Action" (the planet of gangsters!) and "Bride of Chaotica!" (the Paris/Kim production gone horribly awry). Thanks in large part to a healthy dose of Brent Spiner playing, in the end, every character on the holodeck except the Klingons and Durango, I mean Troi.
Putting Brent Spiner aside for a moment, "Fistful" is a wonderful opportunity for Marina Sirtis to stretch as well. Her turn as the mysterious gunslinger, who sidles into Alexander's program well after he and Worf have, completely in-character, is her best turn outside of the later "Face of the Enemy" and First Contact, a welcome sign that she's a far better actor than most of her material lets her be (seriously, Troi has some of the worst material in the whole franchise, her and Crusher; this was not the series to argue female empowerment in the franchise). It's the kind of turn that comes out of nowhere, except Troi's proximity to Worf's family, which by the end of the series reaches its climax (and then vanishes). It's one of the most enjoyable performances of the series.
But there's also Spiner to consider. Like the later "Masks," having him perform multiple guises is a recipe for instant gold. His later, limited film work in character roles (chiefly, Independence Day and Out to Sea) stems directly from these episodes.
Usually, when the franchise dips into different genres, the results justify it (see also: "Heroes and Demons" from Voyager and "Our Man Bashir" from Deep Space Nine). "Fistful" is one of the more straightforward of these. Forget the technobabble nonsense that makes it possible. The rest of the episode makes that pretty easy, especially when Data begins exhibiting his Wild West reflexes in his ship-board duties. Sit back and enjoy.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
Brian Bonsall (Alexander)
the story: A computer malfunction leaves Worf, Troi, and Alexander dealing with, well, a fistful of Datas.
similar to: "A Piece of the Action" (original series), "Bride of Chaotica!" (Voyager)
my thoughts: Finally! Worf and Alexander spend quality time together, manage not to fight at all, and it's not only an enjoyable experience, but it's a Star Trek classic, in the tradition of the screwball "A Piece of the Action" (the planet of gangsters!) and "Bride of Chaotica!" (the Paris/Kim production gone horribly awry). Thanks in large part to a healthy dose of Brent Spiner playing, in the end, every character on the holodeck except the Klingons and Durango, I mean Troi.
Putting Brent Spiner aside for a moment, "Fistful" is a wonderful opportunity for Marina Sirtis to stretch as well. Her turn as the mysterious gunslinger, who sidles into Alexander's program well after he and Worf have, completely in-character, is her best turn outside of the later "Face of the Enemy" and First Contact, a welcome sign that she's a far better actor than most of her material lets her be (seriously, Troi has some of the worst material in the whole franchise, her and Crusher; this was not the series to argue female empowerment in the franchise). It's the kind of turn that comes out of nowhere, except Troi's proximity to Worf's family, which by the end of the series reaches its climax (and then vanishes). It's one of the most enjoyable performances of the series.
But there's also Spiner to consider. Like the later "Masks," having him perform multiple guises is a recipe for instant gold. His later, limited film work in character roles (chiefly, Independence Day and Out to Sea) stems directly from these episodes.
Usually, when the franchise dips into different genres, the results justify it (see also: "Heroes and Demons" from Voyager and "Our Man Bashir" from Deep Space Nine). "Fistful" is one of the more straightforward of these. Forget the technobabble nonsense that makes it possible. The rest of the episode makes that pretty easy, especially when Data begins exhibiting his Wild West reflexes in his ship-board duties. Sit back and enjoy.
criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential (all criteria met)
notable guest-stars:
Brian Bonsall (Alexander)
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
The Next Generation 6x7 "Rascals"
rating: *
the story: Picard, Guinan, Ro, and Keiko are de-aged.
similar to: "One Little Ship" (Deep Space Nine), "The Counter-Clock Incident" (The Animated Series), "Before and After" (Voyager), "Too Short a Season" (Next Generation)
my thoughts: This is one of those episodes I have a real conflict with. On the one hand, it's the rare episode that reverses one of the franchise's favorite tropes (characters aging). On the other, it's akin to episodes like "Genesis" (Next Generation; characters devolving), "Threshold" (characters evolving), and "One Little Ship" (characters shrinking). On the other hand, it's actually got its own tradition ("Counter-Clock Incident" from The Animated Series, "Before and After" from Voyager, and "Too Short a Season" from Next Generation itself).
But "Rascals" remains pretty unique, in that it literally features young actors taking the place of established ones. To me, it's as tough a concept as "Threshold" has always been ("Threshold" is routinely listed as one of the worst episodes in the whole franchise). I can easily stomach "Threshold." "Threshold" is, ultimately, less of a gimmick episode and more of a concept episode (what happens when you pass Warp 10?). "Rascals" has to live and die, ultimately, on its own merits.
The young actors as a whole are pretty terrible. This was the last era in which casting directors could get away with this sort of thing. By the end of the millennium (Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense), they'd starting looking for real talent. The actor playing the young Picard is particularly egregious.
What makes this worse is that it's such a pivotal character episode. It's the last regular appearances of Ro and both O'Briens in the series, and one of Guinan's last (before two appearances in the movies, Generations and Nemesis). It's insane that this moment is all but ruined by having child actors perform the roles for the majority of the episode.
And yet, and yet...It's good for Ro's character, and good for Keiko's. It positions the O'Briens for how they would interact throughout Deep Space Nine, and is the first time we see Ro as meaning anything as an individual since, basically, "Ensign Ro."
And we get that nice little scene where the young Picard pretends to be Riker's son.
So as you can see, I have a conflicted relationship with "Rascals." I group it most with "One Little Ship" because it's an absurd gimmick of an episode that really shouldn't work, and yet it kind of does. The worst, in the end, that can be said about it is that Alexander, in a whole episode filled with other kids, is once again reduced to being relatively pointless in an episode where he should have been one of the most important characters. Anyway...Let's just move on.
criteria analysis: franchise -series - character - essential
notable guest-stars:
Colm Meaney (O'Brien)
Rosalind Chao (Keiko)
Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan)
Michelle Forbes (Ro)
Brian Bonsall (Alexander)
Hana Hatae (Molly)
the story: Picard, Guinan, Ro, and Keiko are de-aged.
similar to: "One Little Ship" (Deep Space Nine), "The Counter-Clock Incident" (The Animated Series), "Before and After" (Voyager), "Too Short a Season" (Next Generation)
my thoughts: This is one of those episodes I have a real conflict with. On the one hand, it's the rare episode that reverses one of the franchise's favorite tropes (characters aging). On the other, it's akin to episodes like "Genesis" (Next Generation; characters devolving), "Threshold" (characters evolving), and "One Little Ship" (characters shrinking). On the other hand, it's actually got its own tradition ("Counter-Clock Incident" from The Animated Series, "Before and After" from Voyager, and "Too Short a Season" from Next Generation itself).
But "Rascals" remains pretty unique, in that it literally features young actors taking the place of established ones. To me, it's as tough a concept as "Threshold" has always been ("Threshold" is routinely listed as one of the worst episodes in the whole franchise). I can easily stomach "Threshold." "Threshold" is, ultimately, less of a gimmick episode and more of a concept episode (what happens when you pass Warp 10?). "Rascals" has to live and die, ultimately, on its own merits.
The young actors as a whole are pretty terrible. This was the last era in which casting directors could get away with this sort of thing. By the end of the millennium (Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense), they'd starting looking for real talent. The actor playing the young Picard is particularly egregious.
What makes this worse is that it's such a pivotal character episode. It's the last regular appearances of Ro and both O'Briens in the series, and one of Guinan's last (before two appearances in the movies, Generations and Nemesis). It's insane that this moment is all but ruined by having child actors perform the roles for the majority of the episode.
And yet, and yet...It's good for Ro's character, and good for Keiko's. It positions the O'Briens for how they would interact throughout Deep Space Nine, and is the first time we see Ro as meaning anything as an individual since, basically, "Ensign Ro."
And we get that nice little scene where the young Picard pretends to be Riker's son.
So as you can see, I have a conflicted relationship with "Rascals." I group it most with "One Little Ship" because it's an absurd gimmick of an episode that really shouldn't work, and yet it kind of does. The worst, in the end, that can be said about it is that Alexander, in a whole episode filled with other kids, is once again reduced to being relatively pointless in an episode where he should have been one of the most important characters. Anyway...Let's just move on.
criteria analysis: franchise -
notable guest-stars:
Colm Meaney (O'Brien)
Rosalind Chao (Keiko)
Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan)
Michelle Forbes (Ro)
Brian Bonsall (Alexander)
Hana Hatae (Molly)
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