The Next Generation 7x25/7x26 "All Good Things..."

rating: ****

the story: Q offers Picard a chance in the past, present, and future to prove that humanity has evolved.

what it's all about: It's hard to conceive of a better way to end Next Generation than with Q, returning to the same trial begun in the very first episode, "Encounter at Farpoint," and exploring three separate timelines along the way. 

This was a series that had a rough start.  Providing new material set in the tumultuous first season is kind of the best gift "All Good Things..." could've given fans.  I mean, you could interpret the title of the episode a number of ways because of it: 1) as the incomplete phrase that concludes "must come to an end," and 2) this is the best version of the series, as in, all the good things about it.  (Heh.)

Those who later thought the four movies that followed misrepresented the series will no doubt agree, even though there has been plenty of debate over the years about the science of the way the spatial phenomenon works backwards through time (the argument being, if it starts in the past, the future characters should always have seen it, for instance).  Putting that aside, because if you worry about such things in fictional storytelling you have too much time on your hand, it's kind of hard to view the final episode as anything but what it is, which is the most satisfying and accessible final episode of the franchise.  (You really have to be a Deep Space Nine fans to appreciate "What You Leave Behind.") 

The camaraderie of this crew, whether the timelines agree as to how it functions, if it functions, is in full effect, right down to the classic final scene, in which Picard finally sits down at the poker table with his senior staff.  There's classic Data ("to ignite the midnight petroleum"), the Riker/Troi/Worf triangle, and old friends popping up (Yar, O'Brien). 

Oh, and Q!  Since he didn't appear in the movies, there are conceivably fans who have no idea what this character is all about.  In truth, sometimes he could be too silly for his own good, and there might be an argument that he was hard to take seriously as a result.  But the cleverness of his role in "All Good Things..." proves beyond all doubt that Q was always more than he seemed. 

The point of putting humanity on trial for being too barbaric is a clever way of suggesting that the work of reaching its full potential doesn't end by perfecting life on Earth, that in fact the whole idea behind Star Trek was to push our definition of the possible to its limits ("to seek out new life" and all that).  Too often the franchise, and its fans, lose sight of that goal.  To have a character like Q embody this challenge, in the first and last episodes of the series, is a way of keeping everyone honest. 

So in some ways, how you regard "All Good Things...," and its science, is a kind of litmus test for how you view Star Trek in general.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Good for this.
• series - Good for this.
• character - Good for this.
• essential - Yeah, four for four.

notable guest-stars:
John de Lancie (Q)
Denise Crosby (Yar)
Colm Meaney (O'Brien)
Patti Yasutake (Ogawa)
Andreas Katsulas (Tomalak)

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 Next Generation 6x2 "Realm of Fear"

rating: ***

the story: Barclay finds unusual passengers in his transporter beam.

similar to: "Vanishing Point" (Enterprise)

my thoughts: Star Trek characters having a transporter phobia is a franchise trope all to itself (see: McCoy, Pulaski, the characters of Enterprise).  The fact that Reginald Barclay is a part of that list should surprise no one.  This guy was created to be the most neurotic character ever, and "Realm of Fear" is the second best episode to depict him in this mode (amazingly, he would eventually be allowed a little more nuance in Voyager).

Aside from his introduction and social anxiety in "Hollow Pursuits," Barclay actually walks away from his problems fairly well, and it's "Realm of Fear" that helps him along.  The whole episode is kind of like a guilty response to "Pursuits," which presented a one-dimensional portrait, whereas "Realm" acknowledges that sometimes there really are good reasons (other than, you know, psychological ones that really aren't appropriate fodder for jokes, thank you very much Big Bang Theory, which I kid because I love) for a person's behavior, like evil monsters hiding in the transporter beam.  Which in turn are revealed to be lost people trapped in the matter stream. 

All of it is a much bigger thought process than mere technobabble normally allows Star Trek, giving us insight into the workings of the famous Star Trek transporter (although it's kind of frightening to think that a piece of functional technology is such a cause for concern for all these characters, like if TV shows set during our contemporary times had a lot of characters fixated on the horrors of mobile phone usage), and giving Barclay his due ("The Nth Degree" doesn't really count) in his last major appearance of the series. 

Also, it kind of sets up "Relics" a few episodes later, if you think about it...

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential

notable guest-stars:
Dwight Schultz (Barclay)
Colm Meaney (O'Brien)
Patti Yasutake (Ogawa)

The Next Generation 5x15 "Power Play"

rating: **

the story: Alien assume control of Troi, Data, and O'Brien, and attempt to free the rest of their colleagues from their prison on a remote planet.

similar to: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

my thoughts: The best thing to be taken away from this episode, I think, is Marina Sirtis's commanding performance as the possessed Troi, a far more confident poise than she been allowed to take previously.  It's later built on by "Face of the Enemy" and Captain Jellico's famous edict that she dress like everyone else, which finally breaks the sexual overtones that dominated her for years thanks to her ever-present cleavage and reliance on emotions (regardless of her role as ship's councilor).

Other than that, it's a pretty standard possession episode, a franchise trope to be sure, from Kirk's experiences in "Turnabout Intruder" to Enterprise's "Observer Effect."  More interesting is the penal colony the crew turns out to have discovered, aping The Final Frontier's revelation that "God" is there on Sybok's world for similar reasons.

(I hate the name "Bryce Shumar," by the way.  Just hate it.  It's the name of the Starfleet captain the lead villain claims to be.  The last name is already unusual enough.  But pairing it with an equally unusual first name just makes the whole thing sound horribly artificial, and terrible.  But it doesn't ruin the episode for me.  Probably should.  But it doesn't.)

Anyway, aside from all that, there's Ensign Ro being used in a fairly routine capacity again.  I guess it's fine, because that was kind of the point of "Ensign Ro" to begin with, and the majority of her appearances are Ro being, basically, just another member of the crew (again, Voyager haters, Ro is a far more flagrant offender of character integrity than anyone in Janeway's crew).  Well, besides her, there's O'Brien being a part of the possessed party, just so he can menace Keiko.  I mean, literally, that's all he's there to do.  Data, meanwhile, is there to add muscle.  There's an inconsistency to how easy it is to do this sort of thing to him.  One minute ("The Schizoid Man") it's incredibly easy, the next ("Silicon Avatar") it's incredibly hard, because his positronic net can easily handle multiple personalities...Add in "Masks" and...

So this is an episode you can enjoy much more if you don't think about some of its limitations, because on the whole it's really not that bad.  In a very strong season otherwise, it's obviously filler, but it could be worse.

(Glowing endorsement: "It could be worse!")

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential

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

The Next Generation 5x6 "The Game"

rating: **

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

similar to: "Genesis" (Next Generation)

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

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

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

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

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

But rest assured, it really is possible.

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential

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

The Next Generation 5x5 "Disaster"

rating: **

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

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

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

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

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

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential

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

The Next Generation 5x2 "Darmok"

rating: ****

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Next Generation 5x1 "Redemption, Part 2"

rating: ****

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Next Generation 4x25 "In Theory"

rating: **

the story: Data attempts to have a romantic relationship.

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

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

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

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

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

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

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential

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

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

rating: *

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential

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

The Next Generation 4x22 "Half a Life"

rating: ****

the story: Lwaxana Troi serves as the voice of reason as she argues for an elderly man's right to live.

similar to: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

my thoughts: Just as "The Nth Degree" a few episodes earlier used Barclay, "Half a Life" ingeniously uses Lwaxana Troi in strict contradiction to her established character diameters.  Previously known at best as a comedic presence and at worst a pest, Lwaxana would not have been considered worth taking seriously at any rate.  (For another such instance, witness Deep Space Nine's "The Forsaken.")

Just as Kirk felt old and pointless in the first and second movies, this episode tackles the matter of what aging members of society can still contribute.  As is usual for the franchise, it presents an extreme example, literally an alien culture that condemns the elderly to death (a few years ahead of the Jack Kevorkian debate in the real world), and is one of the best examples of topical subject matter in the franchise, one of the more positive tropes and frequently the source of its best material.

And for a change, the voice of the opposition, the poor man at the center of the story's own daughter, doesn't come off as stilted, possibly because it's Michelle Forbes' first franchise appearance.  She'd inhabit the more familiar guise of Ro Laren next season.

But it's really Lwaxana's moment to shine, and it's so unexpected and it works so unexpectedly well, that it's easy to take for granted, but it deserves to be remembered as a classic. 

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

notable guest-stars:
Majel Roddenberry (Lwaxana)
Michelle Forbes
David Ogden Stiers
Colm Meaney (O'Brien)
Carel Struycken (Mr. Homn)

The Next Generation 4x17 "Night Terrors"

rating: (no stars)

the story: Troi attempts to figure out why no one can achieve REM sleep.

similar to: We'll skip this one.

my thoughts: When talk about bad episodes, they normally focus on concepts that just didn't work for them, such as someone stealing "Spock's Brain," or Next Generation characters appearing in Enterprise's final episode ("These Are the Voyages...").  They rarely bring up clunkers like "Night Terrors."  I have no idea why.

This is the kind of episode that can be summed up in one sequence: Troi floating in space, crying "Where aaaaare youuuuu?"

And I will let that set in for a moment.

Apparently it was a nightmare to shoot.  When the nightmare in shooting completely translates to the screen, you know there's a problem.  Those same fans often bring up Star Trek V: The Final Frontier as the worst film in part because they have little faith in it creatively (William Shatner directs, is plague by the perennial Star Trek movie problem of not having enough time to finish his vision; see also: Star Trek: The Motion Picture, another favorite among chatter about the worst of the franchise).  Yet to actually watch Final Frontier, you can quibble about special effects not being impressive enough or creative choices, but nothing you see on the screen is nearly as bad as the image described above from "Night Terrors."

So to me, that's what defines bad Star Trek.

The episode in general is horribly uninspired, the franchise on autopilot, as riddled with tropes and devoid of real character content as you can get.  I don't pin this on the character of Troi, but Next Generation's habit of forgetting that, generally, it did characters far better than the original series.  No, I'm not talking the affinity and familiarity of Kirk, Bones, or Spock.  But about depth of characterization.  And there's just no depth here at all.  Poor Miles and Keiko O'Brien are so soon reduced to story fodder it's like the episode was trying to take a huge step back for the series.  Worf contemplating suicide?  For any other time he was feeling low, this is just a mockery of his character.

It's that bad.  And worse, it doesn't even try to play along with established character traits.  Troi is half-Betazed.  The guy who technically leads her to the terrible sequence is a full Betazed.  Yet he spends the entire time comatose, and the best way he can communicate is enigmatically?  It's just bad storytelling.

Next Generation unquestionably features a certain level of quality storytelling over all.  And yet, sometimes it was far too comfortable in taking it easy.  Fans bellowed that later series (Voyager, Enterprise) coasted on good will (and sputtered because they both used it up quickly), but that very level of quality was evident well before they ever made the air.  And the second season of this series at its creative peak (generally agreed to have begun in the third season) releasing material of this poor caliber is just insulting.

Yet the fans...You get the point.  "Night Terrors" is kind of like the barometer of bad in Star Trek.  If you can somehow stomach it, if you find it easy to gloss over, then your ability to judge the franchise objectively is completely compromised.  It's the kind of episode you would rather the uninitiated not sample as their first taste of Star Trek.  Because it will forever bias them, too, unquestionably.

If you want to know what kind of fan I am, just read this review.  Typically, I don't react to episodes like this.  There are some fans who made it a habit to react to whole series this way.  That's just ridiculous.  But there are episodes truly deserving that ire.  Such as this one.

(For those wondering if the season as a whole completely degenerates, it doesn't.  There are some really good episodes coming up!)

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential

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

The Next Generation 4x14 "Clues"

rating: **

the story: The crew begins to suspect something's wrong with Data when things don't add up and he looks increasingly guilty.

similar to: "The Menagerie" (Original Series), "The Omega Directive" (Voyager)

my thoughts: For most of the episode, "Clues" feels like a fairly generic mystery, with the crew trying to figure out why they seem to have lost time.  I prefer to think about it less in terms of the way most of the episode unfolds, and more about its ultimate implications.  It's best considered as a Data episode.

Just as Spock made himself look bad (in "The Menagerie") and Janeway had to withhold information from her crew (in "The Omega Directive"), what might have been an ultimately hackneyed story about Data being controlled by aliens (it's a Star Trek trope with spotty history, believe me) instead turns into another exploration of what sets the android apart.  I think ultimately the way the story approached limited its impact, actually.  A more straightforward story would have been more useful in that regard.  To salvage "Clues," you can of have to ignore most of it.

The series routinely attempted to feature Data in circumstances that exploited his unique nature as a nonhumanoid.  Most of the time it did so from oblique angles (Voyager was far less bashful with the Doctor, and even Enterprise with Phlox), as if making Data stand out too much would, well, make him stand out too much.  His ability to experience the alien culture mostly teased in the episode, and then have to lie about it, could have been far more interesting (would he really be incapable of tying up all the loose ends in the effort?). 

But, the episode is poised as a mystery, so you must accept that Data inevitably has his own limitations.  So to watch him try is as much as you'll get, and it's at least worth it just for that.  Theoretically he would experience moments like this all the time, maybe not to such a dramatic extent, but at least things he can't properly convey, or moments that he can't properly share, like how Geordi sees everything differently because of his VISOR, or Worf because he is a Klingon.  Which makes this a somewhat clumsy but still fascinating way to explore another aspect of what sets him apart and yet still a welcome member of the crew.

In the end, then, "Clues" is a better riddle about Data himself than the aliens he's attempted to help shield from the outside world.

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential

notable guest-stars:
Colm Meaney (O'Brien)
Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan)
Patti Yasutake (Ogawa)

The Next Generation 4x12 "The Wounded"

rating: ****

the story: A rogue captain declares war on the Cardassians.

similar to: "The Doomsday Machine" (Original Series), "Defiant" (Deep Space Nine), "Equinox" (Voyager)

my thoughts: It's not at all uncommon for Star Trek to bring in a Starfleet guest character who's gone off the rails.  It's one of the franchise's most notable tropes.  What sets "Wounded" apart, other than the debut of the Cardassians, is how it ends up focusing on Miles O'Brien instead of someone from the main cast.

In contrast to his wedding in the preceding "Data's Day," O'Brien's appearance here gives him his first real chance at carrying a story, letting the viewer know just what kind of man he really is.  It's the perfect way for a Next Generation fan, besides, to find a way into Deep Space Nine, because that's exactly the version of the character they're going to find.  Almost two years to the day this episode originally aired, in fact, and it looks like a deliberate set-up to the third live action series, with O'Brien beginning a new career confronting Cardassians on a regular basis.

Whereas Picard was always known as the calmer counterpart to the more rash Kirk, even he seems pretty wild to the O'Brien we meet here.  For someone who had been making the odd appearance in the series since "Encounter at Farpoint," the very first episode, it took a long time to find out who he was.  Until now, he could just as easily have been another of the original series type of supporting character, familiar but still nowhere near as memorable as the main characters.

And he does it by being completely vulnerable, even admitting that he was wrong.  That's just something you don't see in Star Trek all the time.  Here is the franchise really breaking the mold, with the one character most capable of selling it.

The Cardassians you'll see here are almost exactly as they'd later appear, with some odd exceptions, including the uniforms.  The series had tried so hard with the Ferengi to create a distinctive new threat, and here it appears almost effortless.  The difference is astonishing.

As for the ostensible main plot of the episode, you can almost put it aside, as it so easily gives way to better elements.  "The Wounded" is one of the more unique classics in franchise lore.  It deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as "Balance of Terror."  It's all but an answer to it.

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

notable guest-stars:
Colm Meaney (O'Brien)
Marc Alaimo
Rosalind Chao (Keiko)
Bob Gunton

The Next Generation 4x11 "Data's Day"

rating: ***

the story: Data records a letter detailing, among other things, the wedding of Miles and Keiko O'Brien.

similar to: "In Theory" (Next Generation), "Explorers" (Deep Space Nine), "Dear Doctor" (Enterprise)

my thoughts: Groundbreaking without being overly significant, "Data's Day" is one of those episodes you can heartily recommend to fans of the series.  It's a true slice-of-life experience.

"In Theory" later in the season revisits observing what being Data means on a routine basis, and on the whole it's fairly mundane, though not in a particularly trivial way.  Data's wonder at life around him, and his attempts to make sense of it, has a wide range of implications.  He's the only character who could get away with having nothing to do with someone else's marriage and yet still be relevant to its occasion.

It's not particularly a surprise, however, that this isn't an experience the franchise rushed to duplicate, and thankfully when it did there was usually a better point to be made, some personal achievement (the Siskos bonding in "Explorers") or perspective worth noting (Phlox's opposition to Archer's actions in "Dear Doctor").

What's puzzling is that Data is composing a letter to Maddox, a character we originally meet in "The Measure of a Man," and he's supposed to be addressing matters of his own unique nature.  If the recipient had been anyone else, or merely his recording a common log entry, it would have made more sense.

As much as you might enjoy Data in the episode, it's much more important as an O'Brien story, the culmination to that point in his whole development, and his further adventures in Deep Space Nine, solidifying him as important in his own right, and not just as a familiar face.

It's always nice to have a change of pace, and aside from everything else, this is an episode that proves once and for all that Next Generation is comfortable in its own skin.

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential

notable guest-stars:
Colm Meaney (O'Brien)
Rosalind Chao (Keiko)
Alan Scarfe

The Next Generation 4x6 "Legacy"

rating: *

Memory Alpha summary

via Trekcore
Data is dubious about this
early debut of T'Pol's catsuit...

The most awkward thing that ever happened to Tasha Yar was that they finally made a Yar-relevant episode...three seasons too late.  Because Denise Crosby left in the first season, and so the character was dead, leaving "Legacy" to feature her sister.  And the result is generally terrible.

Well, like I said: awkward.

The timing is even more awkward.  Flush with the creative reboot that was the third season and the chance to build on that with the fourth, Next Generation became more interested in exploring its cast of characters.  But "Legacy" is less about Yar's legacy and more a generic con job that sucks in Data for a while (because of the bond he developed with Yar) without ultimately saying much about Data or the late Yar, and a whole lot of nothing at all about her sister, whose legacy quickly comes to just that.

And do you really want to know the most awkward thing about the episode?  The bad fashion on display.  The horrible, horrible fashion...

Still, the effort was made.  But this is a classic instance of too little, too late.  Thankfully, this is nearly the worst stumble of the season (see, or really, don't: "Night Terrors"), so the rest of it delivers much better material, everything that the show runners hoped to accomplish, and everything the fans could really appreciate.

four quarter analysis

franchise * series * essential * character

notable guest-stars:

Colm Meaney

The Next Generation 4x5 "Remember Me"

rating: ****

Memory Alpha summary

via Planet Shannon
"Do the Crusher," alas,
fails to catch on either
as a pop song or a dance,
the latter being far crueler
to our dear light-footed doctor

Arguably the best Dr. Crusher episode and one of the best concept stories of the franchise, reminding everyone that Star Trek is science fiction not just because it's set in the future, but because it can execute some cool ideas when it wants to as well.

As a Crusher episode, "Remember Me" is crucial to the character's legacy.  Easily the weakest of the Next Generation ensemble, dropped for an entire season (the second), Crusher was eventually a near-complete non-factor in the movies, and in the series was mostly interesting either as a mother (to Wesley) or sometimes-lover (Picard).  As a doctor she could be shrill ("Ethics") and even surprisingly close-minded ("The Host"), putting her at the bottom of the profession in the franchise as a whole, too.

All of that meant that she was a hard character to write for, receiving the minimum of spotlight episodes throughout Next Generation's run.  So to make her shine, considerable effort had to be made, and on this occasion, the writers truly went above and beyond.  This is the episode that includes the classic line: "If there's nothing wrong with me, maybe there's something wrong with the universe!"

Think of it as kind of the inverse of Deep Space Nine's "The Visitor," which was an episode about Jake Sisko dealing with the loss of his father to a freak anomaly.  Here it's Crusher attempting to reconcile the loss of, progressively, everyone!

The big payoff for the whole experience is that it becomes part of the Traveler cycle, which was kind of like Next Generation's version of the later Enterprise Temporal Cold War, something neat that popped up every now and then but never really got the focus it needed to leave the lasting franchise impact it deserved.  Which also means that this is the only time Crusher is relevant in her son's biggest arc.

The only other time Crusher has an episode nearly as compelling is "Suspicions," which in fact seems designed to try and recapture the magic of "Remember Me."

four quarter analysis
franchise * series * essential * character

notable guest-stars:
Eric Menyuk
Colm Meaney

The Next Generation 4x3 "Brothers"

rating: ***

Memory Alpha summary

via Star Trek - Sci Fi Blog
I me my I me my I me my!

Picking up where the first season episode "Datalore" left off, "Brothers" features Data along with his "twin" Lore as well as their creator Noonian Soong in what is essentially the Jacob and Esau story from the Bible, introducing the concept of the emotion chip that would become a vital aspect of Data's further exploits both with Lore ("Descent") and without (the movies).

It is also Next Generation's chance to redo "Datalore" in a more mature form (even though "Datalore" itself was one of the better, which is to say less embarrassing, first season episodes).

And one of several instances where Brent Spiner plays multiple individuals or personalities ("Fistful of Datas," "Masks"), not just Lore but Soong as well (the latter unfortunately depicted in bad old age prosthetics).

The awesome potential for Data to defeat the entire crew is a highlight.  Less so the melodramatic circumstances in which Data does so, one of those instances where a perfectly good story is undercut with needless additional drama involving a young boy in dire need of special medical attention that is prevented by Data's family reunion.  Deep Space Nine's "Change of Heart" is generally a better example of interrupted priorities.

Mixed bag, but does what it needs to when it counts.

four quarter analysis
franchise * series * essential * character

notable guest-stars:
Brent Spiner
Colm Meaney

The Next Generation 4x2 "Family"

rating: ****

Memory Alpha summary

via Ode to Jo & Katniss
Picard's happy thoughts include
his brother being cloned by Pakleds.
"We need wine.  Wine is good."

The only episode that could possibly have topped "The Best of Both Worlds Part 2" as a follow-up to the dramatic third season finale in fact followed it, making that three classics in succession, surely the best of times.

Unless you're Picard and your efforts at recuperating from the Borg ordeal somehow find you at great odds with your brother all over again, just like the old days, very much another thing best left in the past.  Except the experience becomes wonderfully cathartic.  (By the way, if you've never seen "Family" but have seen Star Trek Generations, watching the episode helps make sense of Picard's emotional troubles there.)

Other than Picard, the big winner of the episode is Worf, whose human foster parents we finally meet, and they're just about what you'd expect for how he turned out.  It's every bit a strong continuation of Worf's ascension to the forefront, along with Picard, of the series.  If you're wondering where Data, the third member of Next Generation's big three, is during the episode, because he's the only member of the cast left out, you'll have to wait until the next episode, "Brothers."

The legacy of "Family" is keen.  Enterprise reprises the concept in "Home," following the events of the Xindi third season (it's another classic, by the way).  In a lot of ways, it's also a template of how Deep Space Nine would operate throughout its run, taking a more thoughtful approach to the lives of its characters, something Voyager did in a much more insular fashion (by necessity), while Enterprise was a mix of both.  In a sense, it's the birth of what the franchise would become, a flowering and broadening of the storytelling capabilities so that the main characters weren't so often lost in the shuffle of a given episode, needing to rely less on gimmicks for dramatic heft.  Who better to kick it off than Patrick Stewart?

four quarter analysis
franchise * series * essential * character

notable guest-stars:
Colm Meaney
Whoopi Goldberg

The Next Generatio 4x1 "The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2"

rating: ****

Memory Alpha summary

Star Trek TNG Episode Guide
"I am thinking of calling it
Picard.  What do you think?"

The most famous story from The Next Generation concludes, featuring the famous Battle of Wolf 359 (to that point and arguably remaining the most famous starship battle of the franchise, depicted again and serving as the basis for Sisko's origin in the Deep Space Nine pilot "Emissary") as Locutus (the assimilated Picard) and the Borg are defeated.

Where the first part focused on Riker's unwillingness to assume his own command, the second part is a full depiction of what it would look like.  Naturally he's completely competent.  He's willing to take advice from anyone, even Guinan, who offers the chilling thought that maybe Picard really is gone for good.  Except that's not good enough for Riker, who quickly undertakes a bold plan to kidnap him back, using the Borg's own passivity against unperceived threats against them.

From there it becomes what even the creators of the episode sometimes fretted as an anticlimactic way to end the epic: inside Data's lab.  Except it's a perfectly Next Generation thing to do, perfectly characterizing the more cerebral aspects of the series and allowing its logic to play out in ways that maybe were never quite pulled off with the same aplomb again.  Picard offering, at a subconscious level, the Borg command that is in effect synonymous with the computer virus of Independence Day (there's really nothing wrong with either means of victory), is a clever way to avoid a merely physical conclusion, thought instead of fought.

Then the episode ends in a way that would later become a trademark of Deep Space Nine, and sometimes featured in Enterprise: with the emotional damage of the preceding events felt.  Next Generation itself would only do it once more, at the end of "Chain of Command."  Both times are brilliantly realized in their complete understatement.  Picard emerges as more and more relatable because of moments like these, as he expresses rare vulnerability in a leading man.

This is how you tell big stories in Star Trek.

four quarter analysis
franchise * series * essential * character

notable guest-stars:
Elizabeth Dennehy
Whoopi Goldberg
Colm Meaney
George Murdock