The Next Generation 7x24 "Preemptive Strike"

rating: ****

the story: Ro goes rogue, joins the Maquis.

what it's all about: It's really astonishing that fans later totally misunderstood the Maquis in Voyager when the whole concept was plainly laid out here in "Preemptive Strike" (as well as the less successful two-part "The Maquis" in Deep Space Nine), with a beloved character like Ro Laren helping explain it.

Ro was one of the best characters in Next Generation, but aside from her equally brilliant debut ("Ensign Ro"), the series more often than not totally blew her potential, so it's not surprising that Michelle Forbes gradually lost interest the character, and flat-out refused to continue playing her in Deep Space Nine (Major Kira was created to replace her, which actually worked out really well).  "Preemptive Strike" brings Ro full-circle, as she finally decides Starfleet really isn't for her anymore, but the distinction between how her career ends and where we first saw it is a crucial one. 

It's all a matter of choice.  Originally, it wasn't Ro's choice at all.  She agreed to play ball with Starfleet, working covertly to assist initiatives aimed at relieving the stresses her native people, the Bajorans, still felt after years of occupation by the Cardassians.  Her relationship with Picard eased a troubled career, and mind, making it possible for her to find peace. 

That in a nutshell, by the way, is what Picard was all about, throughout the series.  He gave Worf and Data, for instance, safe places in which to explore their potential, allowed Riker to see what a functioning leadership team looked like, patched things up with Crusher, gave himself redemption, and let Troi see that family history doesn't have to be a burden (probably).  Of course he did the same for Ro.  In fact, Ro's the only character where this kind of relationship was spelled out.  (I mean, he had the same thing with Guinan.  That was the whole point, what "Time's Arrowed" finally explained about them.) 

So when Ro finds a new purpose, the one thing she regrets is having to tell Picard she's moved on.  That's the Maquis for you: not so much troubled or disgruntled Starfleet officers (though Chakotay and B'Elanna Torres certainly represent those aspects in Voyager), but individuals who have moved beyond Starfleet careers and found new purpose, which just so happens to be fighting for the same ideals, against the Cardassians. 

"Preemptive Strike" is actually a pivotal episode of the franchise beyond its Maquis groundwork.  Ever since Gene Roddenberry declared humanity's future as perfect, conflict had become a difficult thing to introduce into the narrative, at least without alien antagonists.  And yet, differing philosophies will always exist, in one form or another.  It's hard to watch Ro in the episode and think she's made a bad decision, just as it would be equally unlikely to suggest that because she's made a good decision, the people she's leaving behind have made a bad one.  Ideals are always worth fighting for.  The season had earlier botched that kind of storytelling in "Force of Nature."  Here the execution is pitch-perfect, in part because we're invested in the messenger and the message doesn't clash horribly with Star Trek's ideals. 

It's a certified classic.  When Ro says goodbye to Picard, through Riker, you can't help but feel you've seen the franchise in one of its finest moments.  The most striking thing about the scene is that Riker is hardly presented with his most flattering look ever.  It doesn't matter.  It's Picard you should be paying attention to, and the character whose absence suddenly envelops the whole series.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Embodies the contradiction at the heart of Star Trek.
• series - Fleshes out the character of the character dynamics in this series.
• character - Works for Ro, for Picard.
• essential - Explains the Maquis perfectly.

notable guest-stars:
Michelle Forbes (Ro)
Richard Poe (Gul Evek)
Natalija Nogulich (Nechayev)

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 5x24 "The Next Phase"

rating: **

the story: Geordi and Ro are presumed dead after a transporter accident.

similar to: "The Tholian Web" (original series), "Whispers" (Deep Space Nine), "Vanishing Point" (Enterprise)

my thoughts: This is another appearance from Ro, who like Alexander quickly became a victim to fairly pointless guest-star status after a newsworthy introduction.  As a member of the supporting cast, Ro became a fairly bland presence though certainly a notable one, especially in appearances like "The Next Phase," where her role could literally have been filled by anyone.

The story itself also squanders the Romulans once again.  For whatever reason, the series continually shifted from meaningful to pointless with them, too.  Here they, too, could have been replaced by any other species.

It is interesting, though, as Geordi and Ro attempt to prove to their crewmen that they're still alive.  Like Enterprise's later "Vanishing Point," it's far more interesting to follow the desperation of the missing characters than to see the reaction of their crewmates.  Data evoked far more sympathy in his various existential crises than these two manage, but maybe that's simply because the audience is in on it the whole time (Hoshi has a somewhat different experience, akin to O'Brien's in the Deep Space Nine episode "Whispers;" both of them are wondering if it's everyone else who has the problem).  It's certainly not like Spock and McCoy battling over command in "The Tholian Web," alas.

Still, you end up rooting for their cleverness as they figure out how to communicate.  It's a minor triumph, next exactly worthy fifth season material, but you can forgive the show for something like this.  It fits with the lesser efforts from the season, at least.

criteria analysis: franchise - series - character - essential

notable guest-stars:
Michelle Forbes (Ro Laren)
Susanna Thompson
Thomas Kopache

The Next Generation 5x18 "Cause and Effect"

rating: ****

the story: Time keeps repeating itself as the ship is destroyed, until the crew figures out how to prevent it from happening.

similar to: "Year of Hell" (Voyager), "Future Tense" (Enterprise)

my thoughts: Star Trek is many things.  One of them is a receptacle of classic science fiction tropes, sometimes so thoroughly embraced that they not only become Star Trek tropes as well, but fodder for some truly classic material.  Such is the case with "Cause and Effect."

The idea of the repeating day is old hat in modern movie culture, whether you think of Groundhog Day, Source Code, or Edge of Tomorrow (all excellent films, by the way; see also: the TV series Day Break).  At its heart it's a time travel story, which is definitely a Star Trek trope, well-worn.  But "Cause and Effect" takes its basic plot from the kind of storytelling the franchise, and Next Generation itself, loves equally, which is a crisis that forces the crew to mobilize its best minds to figure out what the heck is happening.

So in the end, it boils down to whether you listen to Riker, or listen to Data.  The answer is one of the pleasant surprises of the episode.  Everything and everyone fires on all cylinders to pull it off, and because, in the fine recent tradition of "Conundrum," the story trusts itself enough to avoid unnecessary shenanigans (many an episode is spoiled by such things), we avoid one of the worst Star Trek tropes, other Starfleet ships as cannon fodder, and end up with the best surprise of all when we meet the captain of the other ship caught in the same dilemma, who turns out to be Kelsey Grammer, in one of the better franchise cameos ever.

That's a classic.

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

notable guest-stars:
Kelsey Grammer
Michelle Forbes (Ro Laren)
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 5x14 "Conundrum"

rating: ****

the story: The crew's memory is wiped, and there's an additional officer in the mix as they try to figure out what happened.

similar to: "Distant Voices" (Deep Space Nine)

my thoughts: I love this episode.  I love how it explores the crew without any of them knowing who they are.  I love how the answer to their mystery is sitting right in front of the viewer all along, "Commander MacDuff."  And I love how it manages to take a plot that has nothing to do with Ensign Ro and still make into one of her best episodes.

It's a classic mystery.  You could see an echo of the series' own "Clues," in which Data alone remembers what happened during a trip through a wormhole.  But it's more than that.  "Conundrum" makes the whole crew part of the act.  In fact, it's all the more amusing because Data is part of it for a change (unlike, say, "The Game"), when everyone kind of assumes he's just the bartender, because that's where he happened to be when the scenario begins.

Best of all, though, again, is Ro.  Instead of pitting her against Picard, it's Riker who's plays off of Ro, as they both play for and against type as they sift through their mental fog.  It's one of Riker's better romantic moments, because normally he's so guarded, dedicated to that idea of his career that previously sabotaged his relationship with Troi.  This is a perfect episode, because it works with all the interpersonal dynamics that would otherwise need something more dramatic to make it possible.  No, "Conundrum" works because it's so apparently mundane.  It's the series finally learning to integrate that slice-of-life instinct from the fourth season into its regular plots.  And as such, a step into the future of the franchise, and TV in general.

And yes, it's a classic.

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

notable guest-stars:
Michelle Forbes (Ro Laren)
Liz Vassey

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 5x3 "Ensign Ro"

rating: ****

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Next Generation 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)