**
Like "Space Seed" and "The 37s," "The Neutral Zone" features humans awakened from cryonic sleep being completely outmatched by the greater story around them. In this instance, it's the return of the Romulans and the first tangible evidence of the Borg.
It is a little odd that Star Trek kept doing the cryonic sleep trope, but there you are. I guess the batch in this episode are interesting enough, how they try to reconcile their memories with what they find in the future, but it's a first season episode of Next Generation, and as such it's always at the back of your mind that the series probably would have done this better and more memorably later.
The real story is the Romulans. Slightly less so than the Klingons, they were a featured element of the original series, and not just because they were basically the evil cousins of the Vulcans. Unlike the Klingons, however, Romulans were never a significant part of the first six films (or seven or eight or nine, but they totally dominate the tenth and eleventh!). Their appearance in "The Neutral Zone" is the first of many subsequent appearances in the franchise after this point. They would become a signature species of Next Generation, actually.
Unfortunately, this appearance isn't much more notable than being that first appearance. Most of the story is dominated by those cryonic folk. The Romulans don't have much more of a role than the suggestion of the Borg, who have been skirting Federation space along the way toward the conquest of assimilation memorably featured in "The Best of Both Worlds." It's basically, as one of the Romulans actually says, that they're back. It's a calling card.
But these twin calling cards are still enough to overshadow the main story. In fact, the title doesn't even refer to the main story, and that's pretty rare, but it's also one of the first times modern Star Trek doesn't attempt to use the same naming scheme as the original series, so there's that as well.
Just like that, however, the first season is finally over. Ending it on this kind of note is a sign of encouragement. While most of it is like the rest of the season, there's also the conscious effort to do something greater and more lasting, which like Data's brother Lore sticks in the later developments of the series, and while much of the season tried to establish a separate identity for this generation, returning to the Romulans and especially how the episode does it is a very good idea indeed.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Marc Alaimo
Memory Alpha summary.
The internet’s only comprehensive fan source for the complete film and television experience.
Showing posts with label Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1. Show all posts
Friday, January 11, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
The Next Generation 1x25 "Conspiracy"
****
If there's one episode that absolutely stands out and will forever stand out from the first season pack of Next Generation, it's "Conspiracy." "The Big Goodbye" can keep its Dixon Hill. "Conspiracy" has possessed Starfleet officers whose grub is actually grub, and a dude's head being blown up. That last part really doesn't happen too often in Star Trek.
Playing off "Coming of Age" (and featuring several of the same characters), Picard and Riker make the journey to Earth in order to finally get to the bottom of things. In a lot of ways, this is Next Generation's best ever example of an original series episode, yet it also pushes forth the serialized nature of the franchise that began in the movies and would be best featured in Deep Space Nine. The sad part is that we never get to find out what the alien parasites are actually up to, left unresolved at the end of "Conspiracy" and never revisited.
Yet visually and conceptually it remains fascinating. The wiggly worms that appear on the back of the neck for anyone initiated into the plot (after swallowing space beetles, naturally) are memorable enough, but the grub Riker gets to fake eating s right up there as well, as is the resolution of the problem (i.e. the exploding head). Maybe it was because I was young when I first saw "Conspiracy," but it remains the grossest hour of Star Trek I have ever seen, and one of the true horror stories in franchise lore.
If you were wondering, all of this is still carefully nestled in the instincts of the first season. If you're looking for Next Generation to have suddenly changed, it doesn't here. "Conspiracy" is infinitely memorable, but it's still the series before it really got to know itself.
It's a new Star Trek classic all the same!
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
If there's one episode that absolutely stands out and will forever stand out from the first season pack of Next Generation, it's "Conspiracy." "The Big Goodbye" can keep its Dixon Hill. "Conspiracy" has possessed Starfleet officers whose grub is actually grub, and a dude's head being blown up. That last part really doesn't happen too often in Star Trek.
Playing off "Coming of Age" (and featuring several of the same characters), Picard and Riker make the journey to Earth in order to finally get to the bottom of things. In a lot of ways, this is Next Generation's best ever example of an original series episode, yet it also pushes forth the serialized nature of the franchise that began in the movies and would be best featured in Deep Space Nine. The sad part is that we never get to find out what the alien parasites are actually up to, left unresolved at the end of "Conspiracy" and never revisited.
Yet visually and conceptually it remains fascinating. The wiggly worms that appear on the back of the neck for anyone initiated into the plot (after swallowing space beetles, naturally) are memorable enough, but the grub Riker gets to fake eating s right up there as well, as is the resolution of the problem (i.e. the exploding head). Maybe it was because I was young when I first saw "Conspiracy," but it remains the grossest hour of Star Trek I have ever seen, and one of the true horror stories in franchise lore.
If you were wondering, all of this is still carefully nestled in the instincts of the first season. If you're looking for Next Generation to have suddenly changed, it doesn't here. "Conspiracy" is infinitely memorable, but it's still the series before it really got to know itself.
It's a new Star Trek classic all the same!
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
The Next Generation 1x24 "We'll Always Have Paris"
*
People are always remarking (at least, fans of Deep Space Nine are always remarking) that it seemed to take several seasons before Benjamin Sisko actually became a functioning character. Well, one of the reasons that the first season of Next Generation can be so painful is that Jean-Luc Picard had the same problem.
Sure, he had backstory. He had a previous command, lost it in battle to the then-mysterious Ferengi. Conceptually, he was obviously supposed to be completely different from Kirk. He was older, more cerebral, and definitely could not be mistaken for American. (William Shatner, it might bear repeating, is actually Canadian, and so is definitely not from Iowa.) Though Patrick Stewart is very much British, Picard was meant to be French. It there in his name. In initial episodes, Picard even tries to be the French equivalent of Chekov's Super Russian. (It's not until Star Trek Nemesis were Picard technically being French is at all relevant again, besides his family interest in wine.)
"We'll Always Have Paris" is the first sign that Picard was maybe more like Kirk when he was younger than viewer might originally have suspected. (And actually, later developments all but prove that when he was younger he was actually worse than Kirk, but we'll cross that bridge when we reach it.) It's also an episode that again would have had a great deal more significance if the show hadn't changed or lasted quite so long. What I'm saying is that, like Kirk in Wrath of Khan, Picard runs into an old flame, and complications ensue.
So few romantic stories were ever developed for Picard that on that score alone "Paris" will forever been in some way memorable. It's a cheap knockoff of Casablanca (the Deep Space Nine episode "Profit and Loss" has a similar claim and is more memorable), and not very convincing as far as the Picard we know to this point, or really at any other point.
The problem is that this old flame has since very much moved on, in quite a different way than Picard. She's gotten married, and is here because of one of those Federation science projects that in a very typical way for this series goes horribly awry (the only thing that's memorable about it is when there's a bunch of Datas standing around in the same room, but "A Fistful of Datas" make a more memorable image of even that).
In the end it comes off as another attempt to pass the obviously British Picard off as French. His brother Robert is the closest we ever come to finding out how Picard ended up the way he did. "We'll Always Have Paris" becomes a novelty before long, an experiment that does not quite succeed. You think you know Picard? Well, not yet.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
People are always remarking (at least, fans of Deep Space Nine are always remarking) that it seemed to take several seasons before Benjamin Sisko actually became a functioning character. Well, one of the reasons that the first season of Next Generation can be so painful is that Jean-Luc Picard had the same problem.
Sure, he had backstory. He had a previous command, lost it in battle to the then-mysterious Ferengi. Conceptually, he was obviously supposed to be completely different from Kirk. He was older, more cerebral, and definitely could not be mistaken for American. (William Shatner, it might bear repeating, is actually Canadian, and so is definitely not from Iowa.) Though Patrick Stewart is very much British, Picard was meant to be French. It there in his name. In initial episodes, Picard even tries to be the French equivalent of Chekov's Super Russian. (It's not until Star Trek Nemesis were Picard technically being French is at all relevant again, besides his family interest in wine.)
"We'll Always Have Paris" is the first sign that Picard was maybe more like Kirk when he was younger than viewer might originally have suspected. (And actually, later developments all but prove that when he was younger he was actually worse than Kirk, but we'll cross that bridge when we reach it.) It's also an episode that again would have had a great deal more significance if the show hadn't changed or lasted quite so long. What I'm saying is that, like Kirk in Wrath of Khan, Picard runs into an old flame, and complications ensue.
So few romantic stories were ever developed for Picard that on that score alone "Paris" will forever been in some way memorable. It's a cheap knockoff of Casablanca (the Deep Space Nine episode "Profit and Loss" has a similar claim and is more memorable), and not very convincing as far as the Picard we know to this point, or really at any other point.
The problem is that this old flame has since very much moved on, in quite a different way than Picard. She's gotten married, and is here because of one of those Federation science projects that in a very typical way for this series goes horribly awry (the only thing that's memorable about it is when there's a bunch of Datas standing around in the same room, but "A Fistful of Datas" make a more memorable image of even that).
In the end it comes off as another attempt to pass the obviously British Picard off as French. His brother Robert is the closest we ever come to finding out how Picard ended up the way he did. "We'll Always Have Paris" becomes a novelty before long, an experiment that does not quite succeed. You think you know Picard? Well, not yet.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
The Next Generation 1x23 "Skin of Evil"
****
I'm not giving this episode my full recommendation just because it's the first time since the second pilot that Star Trek saw a series regular leave (of course, famously, Spock is the only holdover from "The Cage," whereas Tasha Yar is the only regular to leave via death until Jadzia Dax), but that's certainly a good place to start.
Let's just sit with that thought for a moment. The cast of Next Generation seemed pretty fixed by the time it reached the movies, but in truth as the final episode helped fans recall there was at the very least the notable absence of Yar, who was a huge part of the growing pains from the first season. Denise Crosby grew dissatisfied with the lack of challenging material, although she might have recognized before anyone that the series had already outgrown her. As certain characters (La Forge, Worf) struggled to find their useful functions, Yar was already slipping out of hers, well before her departure via Giant Oil Creature of Doom.
She's the star of one of the season's worst episodes, after all, "Code of Honor," which may have given her the unfair distinction of having been one of the reasons for its failure, although it really has nothing to do with Yar. If it had been Riker or Picard or Crusher (a character so nebulous throughout the season that she was removed for the entire second season), maybe it would be a different story, but Riker couldn't salvage "Angel One," either, although he shined in "11001001" and got to play god in "Hide and Q." Yar's lasting impact was a fairly throwaway moment in "The Naked Now" that became much more significant when she dies in "Skin of Evil" as Data remembers her unique contribution to his development.
Her role in this episode is just as negligible as throughout most of the rest of the season. Though she wears yellow, Yar is all but a classic red shirt. The episode, surprisingly, belongs to Troi.
That's the real surprise, if you haven't watched "Skin of Evil" in a while. The title refers directly to the Giant Oil Creature of Doom, the castoff remains of all the negative elements of a long ago civilization. Not a hugely dignified murderer of Tasha Yar, but it's Troi's interactions with it that bring true significance to this aspect of the episode.
Troi in many ways was the reverse Tasha (in fact, Marina Sirtis and Crosby were originally cast in the opposite roles). Although she had "Haven" as a spotlight, Troi was all but absent and virtually insignificant throughout the season, even though she was the other half of Gene Roddenberry's surrogates from The Motion Picture along with Riker. She's pegged as the most obvious element of 1980s mentality in Next Generation, the counselor on the bridge of the Enterprise, but at the start had very little to do, and her empathic abilities might be said to be pretty pathetic.
Except, finally, in "Skin of Evil" Troi pretty much gets her "Devil in the Dark" moment, very much reminiscent of the moment in the original series where Spock's Vulcan mind meld became important for the first time. She engages in an extended conversation with the creature and is responsible for disabling it, thereby rescuing not only herself (she's trapped in a shuttlecraft the whole time) but the rest of the away team. It's the start of the possible realization that Troi is a hidden treasure of the series, which perhaps only Voyager really appreciates later on, bringing her back in a few of the Barclay episodes. (She's also one of the Next Generation alumni to appear in the infamous final episode of Enterprise).
There you have it, then, my explanation for how "Skin of Evil" is a new Star Trek classic.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
I'm not giving this episode my full recommendation just because it's the first time since the second pilot that Star Trek saw a series regular leave (of course, famously, Spock is the only holdover from "The Cage," whereas Tasha Yar is the only regular to leave via death until Jadzia Dax), but that's certainly a good place to start.
Let's just sit with that thought for a moment. The cast of Next Generation seemed pretty fixed by the time it reached the movies, but in truth as the final episode helped fans recall there was at the very least the notable absence of Yar, who was a huge part of the growing pains from the first season. Denise Crosby grew dissatisfied with the lack of challenging material, although she might have recognized before anyone that the series had already outgrown her. As certain characters (La Forge, Worf) struggled to find their useful functions, Yar was already slipping out of hers, well before her departure via Giant Oil Creature of Doom.
She's the star of one of the season's worst episodes, after all, "Code of Honor," which may have given her the unfair distinction of having been one of the reasons for its failure, although it really has nothing to do with Yar. If it had been Riker or Picard or Crusher (a character so nebulous throughout the season that she was removed for the entire second season), maybe it would be a different story, but Riker couldn't salvage "Angel One," either, although he shined in "11001001" and got to play god in "Hide and Q." Yar's lasting impact was a fairly throwaway moment in "The Naked Now" that became much more significant when she dies in "Skin of Evil" as Data remembers her unique contribution to his development.
Her role in this episode is just as negligible as throughout most of the rest of the season. Though she wears yellow, Yar is all but a classic red shirt. The episode, surprisingly, belongs to Troi.
That's the real surprise, if you haven't watched "Skin of Evil" in a while. The title refers directly to the Giant Oil Creature of Doom, the castoff remains of all the negative elements of a long ago civilization. Not a hugely dignified murderer of Tasha Yar, but it's Troi's interactions with it that bring true significance to this aspect of the episode.
Troi in many ways was the reverse Tasha (in fact, Marina Sirtis and Crosby were originally cast in the opposite roles). Although she had "Haven" as a spotlight, Troi was all but absent and virtually insignificant throughout the season, even though she was the other half of Gene Roddenberry's surrogates from The Motion Picture along with Riker. She's pegged as the most obvious element of 1980s mentality in Next Generation, the counselor on the bridge of the Enterprise, but at the start had very little to do, and her empathic abilities might be said to be pretty pathetic.
Except, finally, in "Skin of Evil" Troi pretty much gets her "Devil in the Dark" moment, very much reminiscent of the moment in the original series where Spock's Vulcan mind meld became important for the first time. She engages in an extended conversation with the creature and is responsible for disabling it, thereby rescuing not only herself (she's trapped in a shuttlecraft the whole time) but the rest of the away team. It's the start of the possible realization that Troi is a hidden treasure of the series, which perhaps only Voyager really appreciates later on, bringing her back in a few of the Barclay episodes. (She's also one of the Next Generation alumni to appear in the infamous final episode of Enterprise).
There you have it, then, my explanation for how "Skin of Evil" is a new Star Trek classic.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
Monday, January 7, 2013
The Next Generation 1x22 "Symbiosis"
*
I will make no bones that the basis of my recommendation for "Symbiosis" is that it features Merritt Butrick.
Who is Merritt Butrick and why should you care? He played Kirk's son David Marcus in The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock, and as such is one of the more notable actors in the original series movies. Part of the reason I like that he also appeared in Next Generation (though in a totally unrelated role) is that it still seems to me that the fact that Kirk had a son is still pretty unappreciated by Star Trek fans. Butrick himself was not hugely featured in either of his movie appearances, playing at most second fiddle both times, even though he was a capable enough actor. "Symbiosis" then becomes that much more significant, a spotlight of a different kind, not nearly as important, but featuring more breathing space for the actor, who died in 1989 from AIDS.
Otherwise this was the series at one of its early attempts at a "message" episode, something the original series helped form its reputation around and in fact became a tradition throughout the franchise. The message in "Symbiosis" is that drugs are bad. I tend to agree, but the message is delivered with about as much subtlety as painting an alien half white and half black, and his persecutor the same way but in reverse (that happened in "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"). Although it does give Yar a rare chance to be memorable as she discusses the subject with Wesley (and thus all young viewers).
Speaking of Yar, this is her last appearance, technically. It was shot after the episode that follows, "Skin of Evil," which features her death. Denise Crosby appears in the background waving goodbye at one point!
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Merritt Butrick
Judson Scott
Memory Alpha summary.
I will make no bones that the basis of my recommendation for "Symbiosis" is that it features Merritt Butrick.
Who is Merritt Butrick and why should you care? He played Kirk's son David Marcus in The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock, and as such is one of the more notable actors in the original series movies. Part of the reason I like that he also appeared in Next Generation (though in a totally unrelated role) is that it still seems to me that the fact that Kirk had a son is still pretty unappreciated by Star Trek fans. Butrick himself was not hugely featured in either of his movie appearances, playing at most second fiddle both times, even though he was a capable enough actor. "Symbiosis" then becomes that much more significant, a spotlight of a different kind, not nearly as important, but featuring more breathing space for the actor, who died in 1989 from AIDS.
Otherwise this was the series at one of its early attempts at a "message" episode, something the original series helped form its reputation around and in fact became a tradition throughout the franchise. The message in "Symbiosis" is that drugs are bad. I tend to agree, but the message is delivered with about as much subtlety as painting an alien half white and half black, and his persecutor the same way but in reverse (that happened in "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"). Although it does give Yar a rare chance to be memorable as she discusses the subject with Wesley (and thus all young viewers).
Speaking of Yar, this is her last appearance, technically. It was shot after the episode that follows, "Skin of Evil," which features her death. Denise Crosby appears in the background waving goodbye at one point!
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Merritt Butrick
Judson Scott
Memory Alpha summary.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
The Next Generation 1x21 "The Arsenal of Freedom"
*
"Arsenal of Freedom" is like a lot of Star Trek episodes, completely episodic in nature, with our crew stumbling into a problem on an alien planet and subsequently trying to figure out how to make things right. In this instance, as the title suggests, it's all about a defense system that ran horribly awry, killing the original inhabitants of the planet and imperiling the unwitting Starfleet officers who reactivate it. Like a lot of stories in the franchise, the episode in essence demonstrates a deep ambivalence to weapons of war.
Thankfully, it's an episode that you can easily enjoy, just so long as you know exactly that it still represents the first season of Next Generation, generally inferior to the rest of the series (and franchise). "Arsenal" is generally enjoyable, so it's not hard to recommend, at least at a basic level.
The selling points beyond this general interest involve a few of the budding leads. La Forge has a non-character specific spotlight when he's forced to take command when every superior officer is trapped in the quagmire on the planet's surface. LeVar Burton, who was one of the few known commodities at the start of the series thanks to Roots, takes full advantage of the opportunity, and it's a treat to watch him dominate for a change.
Otherwise it's the abortive relationship between Picard and Crusher that helps distinguish the episode. Always a vague element of their backstory as well as their present (they previously served together, until Crusher's husband was killed on an away mission, which strangely never really gave Picard a definitive sense of responsibility over Wesley Crusher) is the romance that never quite happened. In fact, "Arsenal" was pegged to address this more directly, but apparently Gene Roddenberry nixed that idea in the bud. But they still have that shared history, something that already gave Next Generation more continuity than its predecessor, which preferred to keep most personal details strictly private for its characters. To varying levels, this new series featured characters incredibly rich with pasts, especially its captain, notably older than Kirk at the start of our acquaintance with him.
Of course, the entire second season completely ignores Picard and Crusher's relationship, because Crusher has been temporarily replaced, and this can't help but feel like Roddenberry's further attempt to distance Next Generation from what it was already becoming, and what further incarnations enthusiastically embraced. Then again, even having an entirely new set of characters in the Star Trek universe already gave the budding franchise something it didn't have before, a defined history. "Next generation," after all, wasn't just a title, but an indication that Picard followed Kirk and therefore they definitely exist in the same universe.
Anyway, that's what "Arsenal of Freedom" both does and doesn't do. It also features another of this Enterprise's random chief engineers, which makes it pretty ironic that La Forge has one of his most prominent moments to this point in the series, because he would soon enough assume that title. It's still strange to think that he was ever anything but Scotty's successor.
Also of note is Riker's famous quip when he realizes he's talking to a doppelganger, about serving aboard what he calls the USS Lollipop: "It's a good ship." Such sly humor from Number One...
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
"Arsenal of Freedom" is like a lot of Star Trek episodes, completely episodic in nature, with our crew stumbling into a problem on an alien planet and subsequently trying to figure out how to make things right. In this instance, as the title suggests, it's all about a defense system that ran horribly awry, killing the original inhabitants of the planet and imperiling the unwitting Starfleet officers who reactivate it. Like a lot of stories in the franchise, the episode in essence demonstrates a deep ambivalence to weapons of war.
Thankfully, it's an episode that you can easily enjoy, just so long as you know exactly that it still represents the first season of Next Generation, generally inferior to the rest of the series (and franchise). "Arsenal" is generally enjoyable, so it's not hard to recommend, at least at a basic level.
The selling points beyond this general interest involve a few of the budding leads. La Forge has a non-character specific spotlight when he's forced to take command when every superior officer is trapped in the quagmire on the planet's surface. LeVar Burton, who was one of the few known commodities at the start of the series thanks to Roots, takes full advantage of the opportunity, and it's a treat to watch him dominate for a change.
Otherwise it's the abortive relationship between Picard and Crusher that helps distinguish the episode. Always a vague element of their backstory as well as their present (they previously served together, until Crusher's husband was killed on an away mission, which strangely never really gave Picard a definitive sense of responsibility over Wesley Crusher) is the romance that never quite happened. In fact, "Arsenal" was pegged to address this more directly, but apparently Gene Roddenberry nixed that idea in the bud. But they still have that shared history, something that already gave Next Generation more continuity than its predecessor, which preferred to keep most personal details strictly private for its characters. To varying levels, this new series featured characters incredibly rich with pasts, especially its captain, notably older than Kirk at the start of our acquaintance with him.
Of course, the entire second season completely ignores Picard and Crusher's relationship, because Crusher has been temporarily replaced, and this can't help but feel like Roddenberry's further attempt to distance Next Generation from what it was already becoming, and what further incarnations enthusiastically embraced. Then again, even having an entirely new set of characters in the Star Trek universe already gave the budding franchise something it didn't have before, a defined history. "Next generation," after all, wasn't just a title, but an indication that Picard followed Kirk and therefore they definitely exist in the same universe.
Anyway, that's what "Arsenal of Freedom" both does and doesn't do. It also features another of this Enterprise's random chief engineers, which makes it pretty ironic that La Forge has one of his most prominent moments to this point in the series, because he would soon enough assume that title. It's still strange to think that he was ever anything but Scotty's successor.
Also of note is Riker's famous quip when he realizes he's talking to a doppelganger, about serving aboard what he calls the USS Lollipop: "It's a good ship." Such sly humor from Number One...
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
The Next Generation 1x20 "Heart of Glory"
*
This is another classic bit of the Next Generation first season producing what could have been a lasting standout, if the series hadn't drastically improved.
Even though a Klingon (Worf) had been standing on the bridge since the first episode, "Heart of Glory" is the first time the show heavily features this famous Star Trek species. It's also the first episode to use Klingons and allow them to be, act, and end up like Klingons (unlike the two original series appearances where a forced peace occurred at the end, and the one where their mortal enemy turned out to be Tribbles). In short, it's probably the first true franchise episode of the series, and in a roundabout way is the genesis of Deep Space Nine, the only series to rely almost exclusively on details the audience already knows (with the notable exception of the Dominion).
This is no doubt a legacy of the movies. The movies gave a lot more to the franchise than fans sometimes realize. Not only did the Klingons gain their distinctive forehead ridges (thereby giving birth to all the forehead aliens in Star Trek), but they became recurring elements with lasting consequences, including the reason Kirk got his happy demotion back to captain.
Worf's backstory is the real lasting achievement from the episode. It's still surprising that Yar didn't receive something similar at some point (perhaps it would have happened had Denise Crosby not left, perhaps with far more dignity than the later "Legacy"). Sure, it was probably part of the series bible, and so "Heart of Glory" or not would have eventually been brought up, and that's part of the reason I give only minimal support to the episode.
It's still memorable. The Klingon death howl is introduced, and for the moment is a hugely significant feature of the society that is just being built around these aliens who are slowly becoming more than just a constant thorn in the side of the Federation. There are more memorable Klingon episodes later in the series, and Enterprise would later feature this kind of kid gloves approach to the Empire (heck, the Bajorans in DS9 are very similar to the Klingons here). At the time this was a very big moment. And it remains one, but its impact has been muted over the years.
Certainly watch it, either as a fan of Worf or Klingons in general. Just know there's better material on the horizon, as with the rest of the season.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Vaughn Armstrong
Dennis Madalone
Memory Alpha summary.
This is another classic bit of the Next Generation first season producing what could have been a lasting standout, if the series hadn't drastically improved.
Even though a Klingon (Worf) had been standing on the bridge since the first episode, "Heart of Glory" is the first time the show heavily features this famous Star Trek species. It's also the first episode to use Klingons and allow them to be, act, and end up like Klingons (unlike the two original series appearances where a forced peace occurred at the end, and the one where their mortal enemy turned out to be Tribbles). In short, it's probably the first true franchise episode of the series, and in a roundabout way is the genesis of Deep Space Nine, the only series to rely almost exclusively on details the audience already knows (with the notable exception of the Dominion).
This is no doubt a legacy of the movies. The movies gave a lot more to the franchise than fans sometimes realize. Not only did the Klingons gain their distinctive forehead ridges (thereby giving birth to all the forehead aliens in Star Trek), but they became recurring elements with lasting consequences, including the reason Kirk got his happy demotion back to captain.
Worf's backstory is the real lasting achievement from the episode. It's still surprising that Yar didn't receive something similar at some point (perhaps it would have happened had Denise Crosby not left, perhaps with far more dignity than the later "Legacy"). Sure, it was probably part of the series bible, and so "Heart of Glory" or not would have eventually been brought up, and that's part of the reason I give only minimal support to the episode.
It's still memorable. The Klingon death howl is introduced, and for the moment is a hugely significant feature of the society that is just being built around these aliens who are slowly becoming more than just a constant thorn in the side of the Federation. There are more memorable Klingon episodes later in the series, and Enterprise would later feature this kind of kid gloves approach to the Empire (heck, the Bajorans in DS9 are very similar to the Klingons here). At the time this was a very big moment. And it remains one, but its impact has been muted over the years.
Certainly watch it, either as a fan of Worf or Klingons in general. Just know there's better material on the horizon, as with the rest of the season.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Vaughn Armstrong
Dennis Madalone
Memory Alpha summary.
Friday, January 4, 2013
The Next Generation 1x19 "Coming of Age"
**
"Coming of Age" is definitely another artifact from the first season of Next Generation, but it's one of the first signs that this era of Star Trek would ultimately be definitively different from the original series.
It's also a pretty odd one. There are two halves of this episode to consider. I'm making this statement about one of them. The lead story concerns Wesley taking the Starfleet Academy entrance exam. When I say "odd," I mean that Wesley has to worry about competing against other potential cadets, which is "odd" because he's been presented as the boy wonder since the start of the series, an uncommonly brilliant mind that has often upstaged veteran officers. Why should this kid, other than to keep him around a while longer, have to sweat an exam, let alone worry about competition from others? We're meant to understand this dilemma better when Picard admits he failed his first attempt, too, but this is juggling apples and oranges. Regardless of what you feel about Picard at this point in the series, Wesley has already been demonstrated to be nothing like him.
Maybe some of this is an early indication, along with the Traveler from "Where No One Has Gone Before," that Wesley will not ultimately find his destiny in Starfleet. Although, again, the presentation of this character is easily the most botched aspect of the entire series (with all due apologies to Denise Crosby, who probably still thinks Yar was), and "Coming of Age," although it can be interpreted otherwise, is both one of the worst depictions and perhaps one of the best. It's "odd."
It does, however, allow us one of our best looks at the Benzites, who were clearly intended to be a signature alien species in this series, although they quickly disappear and never resurface, even in any of the other series. Their blue awesomeness was clearly stolen by the Bolians. And then back from the originals, the Andorians.
(Why so many awesome blue aliens, Star Trek? And why do none of yours sing cosmic opera?)
The other half of this episode is a prequel to "Conspiracy," which is unarguably one of the best episodes of the first season. That alone pulls "Coming of Age" above the stock of the first season, makes it notable viewing no matter where you stand on the general quality of the series to this point. "Conspiracy" doesn't ultimately lead to anything else, so the developments seen here might be seen retroactively as perhaps the most fascinating development of the storyline, in which paranoid Starfleet officers (or rather, members of the conspiracy we'll explain later) start harassing each other. A few of the characters in this episode actually reappear in "Conspiracy," making this whole episode far more serialized than just about the whole of the original series. In short, it suddenly pays to be watching Next Generation on a regular basis, both so you care about Wesley's future and why those visiting Starfleet officers matter so much.
It's not a great episode by any means, but it's another sign that the series is really figuring itself out.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Daniel Riordan
Memory Alpha summary.
"Coming of Age" is definitely another artifact from the first season of Next Generation, but it's one of the first signs that this era of Star Trek would ultimately be definitively different from the original series.
It's also a pretty odd one. There are two halves of this episode to consider. I'm making this statement about one of them. The lead story concerns Wesley taking the Starfleet Academy entrance exam. When I say "odd," I mean that Wesley has to worry about competing against other potential cadets, which is "odd" because he's been presented as the boy wonder since the start of the series, an uncommonly brilliant mind that has often upstaged veteran officers. Why should this kid, other than to keep him around a while longer, have to sweat an exam, let alone worry about competition from others? We're meant to understand this dilemma better when Picard admits he failed his first attempt, too, but this is juggling apples and oranges. Regardless of what you feel about Picard at this point in the series, Wesley has already been demonstrated to be nothing like him.
Maybe some of this is an early indication, along with the Traveler from "Where No One Has Gone Before," that Wesley will not ultimately find his destiny in Starfleet. Although, again, the presentation of this character is easily the most botched aspect of the entire series (with all due apologies to Denise Crosby, who probably still thinks Yar was), and "Coming of Age," although it can be interpreted otherwise, is both one of the worst depictions and perhaps one of the best. It's "odd."
It does, however, allow us one of our best looks at the Benzites, who were clearly intended to be a signature alien species in this series, although they quickly disappear and never resurface, even in any of the other series. Their blue awesomeness was clearly stolen by the Bolians. And then back from the originals, the Andorians.
(Why so many awesome blue aliens, Star Trek? And why do none of yours sing cosmic opera?)
The other half of this episode is a prequel to "Conspiracy," which is unarguably one of the best episodes of the first season. That alone pulls "Coming of Age" above the stock of the first season, makes it notable viewing no matter where you stand on the general quality of the series to this point. "Conspiracy" doesn't ultimately lead to anything else, so the developments seen here might be seen retroactively as perhaps the most fascinating development of the storyline, in which paranoid Starfleet officers (or rather, members of the conspiracy we'll explain later) start harassing each other. A few of the characters in this episode actually reappear in "Conspiracy," making this whole episode far more serialized than just about the whole of the original series. In short, it suddenly pays to be watching Next Generation on a regular basis, both so you care about Wesley's future and why those visiting Starfleet officers matter so much.
It's not a great episode by any means, but it's another sign that the series is really figuring itself out.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Daniel Riordan
Memory Alpha summary.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
The Next Generation 1x18 "Home Soil"
The good news is that this is the last episode from the season that you can skip if you're so inclined. The better news is that it's another skippable episode that is not horrible.
That's quite an accomplishment for the season, actually. When it was bad, it was horrendous. Mostly "Home Soil" is not essential to any particular interest because it's still very much a first season episode, and because the series changed so much later on, you always have that option, and this particular episode is so obliging it's almost a joke.
"Home Soil" concerns one of those Federation scientist teams that Next Generation featured more often than the original series (where such activity is best represented in "Devil in the Dark") stumbling into the emergence of artificial intelligence. This happened more often than you'd think in the series, and its zenith is "Evolution" from the third season (everything's better in the third season).
Like Voyager's obsession with holograms (because of its holographic doctor, whose name is Doctor), Next Generation had an obsession with artificial intelligence, because of course Data was an android. This is the first time the series indulges that instinct, so if you want to watch it for that alone, you certainly can. I say you don't have to watch this one, but again it's all about prerogative. I'm merely stating that there is no truly compelling reason to watch. But it is also an episode that indicates the series is figuring itself out, and that's a pretty good distinction if you ask me.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
That's quite an accomplishment for the season, actually. When it was bad, it was horrendous. Mostly "Home Soil" is not essential to any particular interest because it's still very much a first season episode, and because the series changed so much later on, you always have that option, and this particular episode is so obliging it's almost a joke.
"Home Soil" concerns one of those Federation scientist teams that Next Generation featured more often than the original series (where such activity is best represented in "Devil in the Dark") stumbling into the emergence of artificial intelligence. This happened more often than you'd think in the series, and its zenith is "Evolution" from the third season (everything's better in the third season).
Like Voyager's obsession with holograms (because of its holographic doctor, whose name is Doctor), Next Generation had an obsession with artificial intelligence, because of course Data was an android. This is the first time the series indulges that instinct, so if you want to watch it for that alone, you certainly can. I say you don't have to watch this one, but again it's all about prerogative. I'm merely stating that there is no truly compelling reason to watch. But it is also an episode that indicates the series is figuring itself out, and that's a pretty good distinction if you ask me.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
The Next Generation 1x17 "When the Bough Breaks"
This is the kind of episode that gets lost in the shuffle when a series vastly improves. It's another first season offering that isn't terrible but also doesn't have much to recommend itself to anyone watching Next Generation past, say, the first season. It's also another of those vaguely original series episodes, a society that is trying to steal kids to replace their inability to conceive.
If you read that last line accurately, you may now have an idea what episode we're talking about today. It's got what was no doubt and in fact remains a very memorable title, but it's also dangerously generic, one of those phrases that probably sounded suitably poetic at a time when the series was still trying to do that, because the original series did it all the time. But now "When the Bough Breaks" is about as noteworthy a title as it is an episode.
Anyway, the thing to take away from that closing line in the first paragraph is that it telegraphs this being a Wesley episode. Now, this one is not a bad Wesley episode, like "Justice," but it is nonetheless a first season Wesley episode. The boy genius is once again truncated to just the boy, and is the primary reason why anyone cares that this crazy society is doing its particular craziness. It's also a reminder that Wesley is aboard the Enterprise because he's part of the considerable family contingent, a concept that some people still have a hard time figuring out, because they still assume that Starfleet must be a military organization just because it can and will get into scraps and sometimes outright wars.
Anyway, you can move along now. Nothing much to see here.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Jerry Hardin
Memory Alpha summary.
If you read that last line accurately, you may now have an idea what episode we're talking about today. It's got what was no doubt and in fact remains a very memorable title, but it's also dangerously generic, one of those phrases that probably sounded suitably poetic at a time when the series was still trying to do that, because the original series did it all the time. But now "When the Bough Breaks" is about as noteworthy a title as it is an episode.
Anyway, the thing to take away from that closing line in the first paragraph is that it telegraphs this being a Wesley episode. Now, this one is not a bad Wesley episode, like "Justice," but it is nonetheless a first season Wesley episode. The boy genius is once again truncated to just the boy, and is the primary reason why anyone cares that this crazy society is doing its particular craziness. It's also a reminder that Wesley is aboard the Enterprise because he's part of the considerable family contingent, a concept that some people still have a hard time figuring out, because they still assume that Starfleet must be a military organization just because it can and will get into scraps and sometimes outright wars.
Anyway, you can move along now. Nothing much to see here.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Jerry Hardin
Memory Alpha summary.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
The Next Generation 1x16 "Too Short a Season"
*
There's a kind of morbid curiosity to watching "Too Short a Season," which is like a reverse of the classic "Deadly Years," only it features a new character who never gains the viewer's sympathy.
An aging admiral visits on the way to one last glorious mission, returning to a world he once negotiated peace for, and like a repudiation of the accomplishes of the past (i.e. the original series), he still gets it glaringly wrong, and only our righteous new crew can set things right.
Of course, the reverse "Deadly Years" means that our aging admiral grows younger, like Benjamin Button, because he's taken special medication. Only he's taken too much of it and just keeps getting younger. His wife is horrified. He's perfectly pleased, especially when he gets to leave his special wheelchair and walk again. But he just keeps getting younger. The crew becomes alarmed when it becomes obvious, and even the guy he's preparing to meet scoffs at the development.
The real problem is that the aging makeup is terrible. I mean terrible. It was bad enough on McCoy in "Encounter at Farpoint," but no attempt has been made in the intervening time to improve on it. And the effect is absolutely crucial to the episode.
I don't care if you think "Too Short a Season" makes light of older generations. I don't care if you're perfectly fine with the makeup. The fact is that it's still not a good episode, and is dominated too thoroughly by a character of the week.
Watch it as a morbid curiosity. It's the only one I'll give you from this season. Just remember that I warned you, and that it gets better.
The other thing you might keep in mind about it is that "Season" establishes Next Generation's abysmal relationship with Starfleet admirals. If you want to mark that.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
There's a kind of morbid curiosity to watching "Too Short a Season," which is like a reverse of the classic "Deadly Years," only it features a new character who never gains the viewer's sympathy.
An aging admiral visits on the way to one last glorious mission, returning to a world he once negotiated peace for, and like a repudiation of the accomplishes of the past (i.e. the original series), he still gets it glaringly wrong, and only our righteous new crew can set things right.
Of course, the reverse "Deadly Years" means that our aging admiral grows younger, like Benjamin Button, because he's taken special medication. Only he's taken too much of it and just keeps getting younger. His wife is horrified. He's perfectly pleased, especially when he gets to leave his special wheelchair and walk again. But he just keeps getting younger. The crew becomes alarmed when it becomes obvious, and even the guy he's preparing to meet scoffs at the development.
The real problem is that the aging makeup is terrible. I mean terrible. It was bad enough on McCoy in "Encounter at Farpoint," but no attempt has been made in the intervening time to improve on it. And the effect is absolutely crucial to the episode.
I don't care if you think "Too Short a Season" makes light of older generations. I don't care if you're perfectly fine with the makeup. The fact is that it's still not a good episode, and is dominated too thoroughly by a character of the week.
Watch it as a morbid curiosity. It's the only one I'll give you from this season. Just remember that I warned you, and that it gets better.
The other thing you might keep in mind about it is that "Season" establishes Next Generation's abysmal relationship with Starfleet admirals. If you want to mark that.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
The Next Generation 1x15 "11001001"
**
The episode with the binary title is a step in the right direction for the young Next Generation, and aside from anything immediately relevant to the story itself features strong character work for Riker.
Like Kirk before him, Picard's first officer was pegged as a ladies man, which grew complicated initially when it was deemed that he'd also serve as a surrogate for Gene Roddenberry's holdover character sketches from The Motion Picture and be paired romantically, at least as a matter of backstory, with Troi.
In "11001001" Riker gets around that by romancing a hologram, the first of many to be more than just a hologram in this series (setting the stage for an even more distinctive hologram in Voyager), thanks to the shenanigans of the aliens both servicing the Enterprise and trying to take advantage of the crew that has vacated it for the occasion (sadly, not the only time that would happen, so you can watch this for precedent if you'd like, even for the similar Enterprise episode "The Catwalk").
But this is another one I don't want to inflate too much. As for the character work, there's also Data's budding career as an artist, which became a much bigger deal in later seasons, which kind of makes this an origin story.
Still, watch it for Riker first and best of all, and for the charming Minuet, one of very few memorable romantic interests from this series.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
The episode with the binary title is a step in the right direction for the young Next Generation, and aside from anything immediately relevant to the story itself features strong character work for Riker.
Like Kirk before him, Picard's first officer was pegged as a ladies man, which grew complicated initially when it was deemed that he'd also serve as a surrogate for Gene Roddenberry's holdover character sketches from The Motion Picture and be paired romantically, at least as a matter of backstory, with Troi.
In "11001001" Riker gets around that by romancing a hologram, the first of many to be more than just a hologram in this series (setting the stage for an even more distinctive hologram in Voyager), thanks to the shenanigans of the aliens both servicing the Enterprise and trying to take advantage of the crew that has vacated it for the occasion (sadly, not the only time that would happen, so you can watch this for precedent if you'd like, even for the similar Enterprise episode "The Catwalk").
But this is another one I don't want to inflate too much. As for the character work, there's also Data's budding career as an artist, which became a much bigger deal in later seasons, which kind of makes this an origin story.
Still, watch it for Riker first and best of all, and for the charming Minuet, one of very few memorable romantic interests from this series.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
The Next Generation 1x14 "Angel One"
While this one breaks some ground for the young series, including a redefinition of the Prime Directive and the first mention of Romulans, "Angel One" you can safely skip.
It's not horrible like the previous episodes from the season that you should skip ("Justice," "Code of Honor,"), but it features another hamfisted society, this time a matriarchal one that has basically turn its male half into metrosexuals, which proves incredibly awkward for the very much male Riker. As if that weren't enough, the crew passes a cold around, which seems mostly an excuse to see Crusher in action, plus get a few characters to do different things, for instance La Forge briefly assuming command. Because it's not as if he has anything better to do just at the moment, not being chief engineer yet.
Yet it's all thoroughly unremarkable, another sign in a long line of them to indicate that Next Generation had not yet achieved its distinctive flavor. In fact, if anything "Angel One" plays like a bad version of an original series episode, not any in particular, just a painfully generic one.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
It's not horrible like the previous episodes from the season that you should skip ("Justice," "Code of Honor,"), but it features another hamfisted society, this time a matriarchal one that has basically turn its male half into metrosexuals, which proves incredibly awkward for the very much male Riker. As if that weren't enough, the crew passes a cold around, which seems mostly an excuse to see Crusher in action, plus get a few characters to do different things, for instance La Forge briefly assuming command. Because it's not as if he has anything better to do just at the moment, not being chief engineer yet.
Yet it's all thoroughly unremarkable, another sign in a long line of them to indicate that Next Generation had not yet achieved its distinctive flavor. In fact, if anything "Angel One" plays like a bad version of an original series episode, not any in particular, just a painfully generic one.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
The Next Generation 1x13 "Datalore"
***
You'd best settle in with "Datalore," since it's the last episode you really need to see from the first season of Next Generation until the last few.
It's a good way to go, though! In case the title doesn't give you any ideas, let me cut it a little short: Lore. Lore, as in Data's evil brother.
Now, in the off chance that you're not at all familiar with Next Generation, Data, or much less Lore, let me just say that if it had only been the one episode, "evil brother" could very well have been an unfortunate gimmick, even if the rest of the episode remains pretty fascinating, because there's more that you need to gleam from "Datalore" besides Lore.
(And I'm not even referring to "Shut up, Wesley!")
The episode also establishes the Crystalline Entity. This is one of the more ambitious and mysterious alien lifeforms ever conceived in Star Trek (and would be seen again to greater effect in "Silicone Avatar"), a faceless being of apparent sheer destruction, perhaps like rogue probes in "Changeling" as well as The Motion Picture and The Voyage Home, and perhaps the best example of what Q was hoping Picard would figure out in Next Generation following the trial begun in the pilot and ended in the finale.
Note to anyone who cares: if you were interested in retelling the story of Data, it would be absolutely essential to include the Crystalline Entity.
There's plenty of Data's story in "Datalore," including his specific origins. The funny thing about Data was that even though there were androids running around the original series, including dubious "followers" of the nefarious Harry Mudd (imagine if they made a movie out of him!), Starfleet treats Data as pretty unique thanks to his intricate programming and abilities. Also because until "Datalore" he's believed to be unique. Turns out there was at least one other model executed by his creator, one that didn't suffer from the same social setbacks and therefore proven very meddlesome (and that's before Lore unleashes the Crystalline Entity that wiped out all life on the colony where Data was later rediscovered).
There's plenty of fascinating material to be found here, but I hesitate to give it the full rating because, well, it's basically a pretty clear offering from the first, imperfect season. Thank the creators that it exists and possibly move along. Yes, Wesley is the only one who seems to notice that Lore tries to replace Data, and hears "Shut up!" twice during the episode for his efforts, which is yet another indication that the writers are either themselves aware that the character has already proven more annoying than they'd intended, or they keep inadvertently feeding the audience the reaction they eventually get.
And yes, it's an "evil twin" episode. Still, by all accounts a quite noteworthy one.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Brent Spiner
Memory Alpha summary.
You'd best settle in with "Datalore," since it's the last episode you really need to see from the first season of Next Generation until the last few.
It's a good way to go, though! In case the title doesn't give you any ideas, let me cut it a little short: Lore. Lore, as in Data's evil brother.
Now, in the off chance that you're not at all familiar with Next Generation, Data, or much less Lore, let me just say that if it had only been the one episode, "evil brother" could very well have been an unfortunate gimmick, even if the rest of the episode remains pretty fascinating, because there's more that you need to gleam from "Datalore" besides Lore.
(And I'm not even referring to "Shut up, Wesley!")
The episode also establishes the Crystalline Entity. This is one of the more ambitious and mysterious alien lifeforms ever conceived in Star Trek (and would be seen again to greater effect in "Silicone Avatar"), a faceless being of apparent sheer destruction, perhaps like rogue probes in "Changeling" as well as The Motion Picture and The Voyage Home, and perhaps the best example of what Q was hoping Picard would figure out in Next Generation following the trial begun in the pilot and ended in the finale.
Note to anyone who cares: if you were interested in retelling the story of Data, it would be absolutely essential to include the Crystalline Entity.
There's plenty of Data's story in "Datalore," including his specific origins. The funny thing about Data was that even though there were androids running around the original series, including dubious "followers" of the nefarious Harry Mudd (imagine if they made a movie out of him!), Starfleet treats Data as pretty unique thanks to his intricate programming and abilities. Also because until "Datalore" he's believed to be unique. Turns out there was at least one other model executed by his creator, one that didn't suffer from the same social setbacks and therefore proven very meddlesome (and that's before Lore unleashes the Crystalline Entity that wiped out all life on the colony where Data was later rediscovered).
There's plenty of fascinating material to be found here, but I hesitate to give it the full rating because, well, it's basically a pretty clear offering from the first, imperfect season. Thank the creators that it exists and possibly move along. Yes, Wesley is the only one who seems to notice that Lore tries to replace Data, and hears "Shut up!" twice during the episode for his efforts, which is yet another indication that the writers are either themselves aware that the character has already proven more annoying than they'd intended, or they keep inadvertently feeding the audience the reaction they eventually get.
And yes, it's an "evil twin" episode. Still, by all accounts a quite noteworthy one.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Brent Spiner
Memory Alpha summary.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
The Next Generation 1x12 "The Big Goodbye"
****
Like "A Piece of the Action" before it, "The Big Goodbye" is Star Trek doing a completely different genre and coming up gangbusters. Whether or not you hold against it that it's also the source of holodeck-run-amok episodes is up to you.
One of the unlikeliest but most enduring (famously featured in Star Trek: First Contact) features of Picard's character was his fascination with the pulp fiction detective Dixon Hill. On the surface, this is the Dixon Hill episode. It's also the first notable pairing of Picard and Data, who would go on to dominate the Next Generation movies
It's also good fun, and that was extremely rare, both before and after, in this series. Deep Space Nine, which a lot of fans pegged as the darkest Star Trek, had a lot more levity. Aside from visits by Q, Next Generation tended to be pretty sober, taking the lead of Picard, so it's that much more notable that "The Big Goodbye" actually features him in the lead.
Another element worth mentioning is the Federation historian featured in the episode. Although between this and "Space Seed," it may not be the greatest career path in the future.
Sit back and enjoy!
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Lawrence Tierney
Memory Alpha summary.
Like "A Piece of the Action" before it, "The Big Goodbye" is Star Trek doing a completely different genre and coming up gangbusters. Whether or not you hold against it that it's also the source of holodeck-run-amok episodes is up to you.
One of the unlikeliest but most enduring (famously featured in Star Trek: First Contact) features of Picard's character was his fascination with the pulp fiction detective Dixon Hill. On the surface, this is the Dixon Hill episode. It's also the first notable pairing of Picard and Data, who would go on to dominate the Next Generation movies
It's also good fun, and that was extremely rare, both before and after, in this series. Deep Space Nine, which a lot of fans pegged as the darkest Star Trek, had a lot more levity. Aside from visits by Q, Next Generation tended to be pretty sober, taking the lead of Picard, so it's that much more notable that "The Big Goodbye" actually features him in the lead.
Another element worth mentioning is the Federation historian featured in the episode. Although between this and "Space Seed," it may not be the greatest career path in the future.
Sit back and enjoy!
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Lawrence Tierney
Memory Alpha summary.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
The Next Generation 1x11 "Haven"
*
"Haven" is the episode Gene Roddenberry was probably waiting for since the start of Next Generation, in which he finally gets to reclaim a subplot from The Motion Picture. Riker and Troi's relationship gets shoved to the front, the element of the series borrowed from Decker and Ilia. Thankfully the second incarnation has a more humanly happy resolution.
If there's an obvious flaw to "Haven" for long-term fans, it's most of what is established about Betazoids in the episode really doesn't end up mattering, other than a few cultural points (and the term "imzadi," which becomes the title of a book by Peter David about Riker and Troi's relationship, popular enough to warrant a rare sequel). The series doesn't really "get" Betazoids until Troi's cloying mum, Lwaxana, begins to dominate later on. Lwaxana does debut here, in the guise of Roddenberry's widow Majel Barrett, but if you have any memories of "Haven," perhaps it's of a young Robert Knepper (later to achieve notoriety in Prison Break) or Armin Shimerman making another early franchise appearance as the face on the side of a gift box (seriously!).
Either way, keep your focus on Next Generation's premier on-again-off-again couple (better at it than Picard and Crusher, who do get the series finale as a spotlight consolation prize), Riker and Troi, particularly Troi. "Haven" is a little like "Amok Time" in that it features Knepper as Troi's intended suitor who doesn't end up working out (much like Worf, but that's another reference to the seventh season, which is a long way off, although if Worf were the suitor, or in Troi's line of sight here, you can bet we'd have another memorable fight on our hands).
More importantly, the episode positions Troi as more significant to the series than the first season tends to suggest. She also steals "Skin of Evil" from the death of Tasha Yar, by the way. In that way, it may be another sign that the writers needed to concentrate on things other than what they were bothering with at the time in order to figure itself out. This is ironic, because here it's something Gene Roddenberry wanted. By the third season it's basically other stuff.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Majel Barrett
Robert Knepper
Armin Shimerman
Carel Struycken (Mr. Homn)
Memory Alpha summary.
"Haven" is the episode Gene Roddenberry was probably waiting for since the start of Next Generation, in which he finally gets to reclaim a subplot from The Motion Picture. Riker and Troi's relationship gets shoved to the front, the element of the series borrowed from Decker and Ilia. Thankfully the second incarnation has a more humanly happy resolution.
If there's an obvious flaw to "Haven" for long-term fans, it's most of what is established about Betazoids in the episode really doesn't end up mattering, other than a few cultural points (and the term "imzadi," which becomes the title of a book by Peter David about Riker and Troi's relationship, popular enough to warrant a rare sequel). The series doesn't really "get" Betazoids until Troi's cloying mum, Lwaxana, begins to dominate later on. Lwaxana does debut here, in the guise of Roddenberry's widow Majel Barrett, but if you have any memories of "Haven," perhaps it's of a young Robert Knepper (later to achieve notoriety in Prison Break) or Armin Shimerman making another early franchise appearance as the face on the side of a gift box (seriously!).
Either way, keep your focus on Next Generation's premier on-again-off-again couple (better at it than Picard and Crusher, who do get the series finale as a spotlight consolation prize), Riker and Troi, particularly Troi. "Haven" is a little like "Amok Time" in that it features Knepper as Troi's intended suitor who doesn't end up working out (much like Worf, but that's another reference to the seventh season, which is a long way off, although if Worf were the suitor, or in Troi's line of sight here, you can bet we'd have another memorable fight on our hands).
More importantly, the episode positions Troi as more significant to the series than the first season tends to suggest. She also steals "Skin of Evil" from the death of Tasha Yar, by the way. In that way, it may be another sign that the writers needed to concentrate on things other than what they were bothering with at the time in order to figure itself out. This is ironic, because here it's something Gene Roddenberry wanted. By the third season it's basically other stuff.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Majel Barrett
Robert Knepper
Armin Shimerman
Carel Struycken (Mr. Homn)
Memory Alpha summary.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
The Next Generation 1x10 "Hide and Q"
**
Q returns! It's odd and appropriate for that to have happened so quickly, considering he was an afterthought inclusion for "Encounter at Farpoint," created to fill out Paramount's desire to expand the first episode into two hours. "Hide and Q," then, may represent one of the first moments where The Next Generation started reshaping itself into something better.
I should note, however, that while it does feature Q and by definition is must-see, it's also almost painfully like much of the early episodes of the series, trying to do character development by pointing out what makes the characters unique rather than writing the characters themselves.
Basically, Q comes back to pester Picard (the general synopsis for basically every appearance), but instead ends up choosing Riker to join the Q Continuum, and in a weird sort of way attempts to drag Q into the very original series mold he shattered in his first appearance. From Gary Mitchell to Charlie X, that's what a lot of those characters did when they encountered godlike power, as Riker struggles to retain his humanity while examining the possibilities of his newfound power.
The oddest but most notable instance of Riker doing this is aging Wesley to adulthood, which just goes to show that even the writers knew that the boy wonder was probably annoying as he was.
One of the things I remember best about "Hide and Q" is the awkward moment where Worf refers to a band of alien soldiers Q has just conjured as "vicious animal things." Yet another instance where the supposed enlightenment of Starfleet perhaps not being all that it appears to be.
The best part of Q's visit this time is allowing Picard, and Patrick Stewart, to begin voicing his enthusiasm for Shakespeare, which also helps shape the dynamic between our good captain and his true rival (sorry, Bok).
Other than all that? It's up to you to determine how good this episode actually is. Because pretty much every other appearance by Q, in any series, is better. This one still smacks of the deficiencies inherent to most of Next Generation's first season.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
John de Lancie
Memory Alpha summary.
Q returns! It's odd and appropriate for that to have happened so quickly, considering he was an afterthought inclusion for "Encounter at Farpoint," created to fill out Paramount's desire to expand the first episode into two hours. "Hide and Q," then, may represent one of the first moments where The Next Generation started reshaping itself into something better.
I should note, however, that while it does feature Q and by definition is must-see, it's also almost painfully like much of the early episodes of the series, trying to do character development by pointing out what makes the characters unique rather than writing the characters themselves.
Basically, Q comes back to pester Picard (the general synopsis for basically every appearance), but instead ends up choosing Riker to join the Q Continuum, and in a weird sort of way attempts to drag Q into the very original series mold he shattered in his first appearance. From Gary Mitchell to Charlie X, that's what a lot of those characters did when they encountered godlike power, as Riker struggles to retain his humanity while examining the possibilities of his newfound power.
The oddest but most notable instance of Riker doing this is aging Wesley to adulthood, which just goes to show that even the writers knew that the boy wonder was probably annoying as he was.
One of the things I remember best about "Hide and Q" is the awkward moment where Worf refers to a band of alien soldiers Q has just conjured as "vicious animal things." Yet another instance where the supposed enlightenment of Starfleet perhaps not being all that it appears to be.
The best part of Q's visit this time is allowing Picard, and Patrick Stewart, to begin voicing his enthusiasm for Shakespeare, which also helps shape the dynamic between our good captain and his true rival (sorry, Bok).
Other than all that? It's up to you to determine how good this episode actually is. Because pretty much every other appearance by Q, in any series, is better. This one still smacks of the deficiencies inherent to most of Next Generation's first season.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
John de Lancie
Memory Alpha summary.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
The Next Generation 1x9 "The Battle"
*
"The Battle" is another of those episodes that holds a pretty curious legacy in Next Generation lore. On the one hand, it's unquestionably better and more relevant than a lot of its first season brethren. But it also exists, within the context of most of the rest of the series (aside from the seventh season sequel "Bloodlines"), curiously out of step, other than the fact that it redeems the Ferengi after their first appearance and sets them on their way to what we would know of them later.
There, you see how convoluted it is? Let's start untangling.
In this episode we explore crucial aspects of Picard's backstory, notably his first command, the Stargazer. This is another thing that sets Picard apart from his famous predecessor Kirk, not only the fact that he's older and more cerebral (and bald!), but that he was captain of a starship not named Enterprise. By 1987, when Next Generation debuted, Kirk had just received command of the Enterprise-A in 1986's The Voyage Home. He'd destroyed the refit version of the original in Search for Spock, of course, but still zipped around space in more or less continuous command of a ship called Enterprise for twenty-five years (through The Undiscovered Country).
So that means Picard had a starship before Enterprise. That's what this boils down to. That's what "The Battle" is all about. The curious thing is that after "The Battle," this is pretty much forgotten (in the books, not as such). The curious fact of his artificial heart becomes far more important later on, the subject of a far more memorable episode ("Tapestry").
Stargazer is lost thanks to Starfleet's first military encounter with the Ferengi, though it's a victory for Picard that ends up like a defeat. He loses his ship (though not before executing the nifty Picard Maneuver) and unwittingly gains a mortal enemy, Daimon Bok. Bok appears here and again in "Bloodlines," but I'm not sure anyone really thinks of this rivalry when considering Picard, the Ferengi, or Next Generation. Bok's obsession even in this episode is portrayed as counterintuitive to typical Ferengi (financial) interests, by the way.
For the record, even though "The Battle" is a far better Ferengi appearance than "The Last Outpost," it's still pretty awkward as far as establishing them. Bok is more the menace that the Ferengi were supposed to be (the new Klingons, conceptually), but Ferengi greed (like 1980s greed in general) is hard-pressed to be understood in his context. In fact, it's so hard to reconcile that another series entirely (Deep Space Nine) is forced to make up the difference, and arguably so many fans have already had their Ferengi explained via Next Generation that it may have already been too late.
So it's best to view "The Battle" as a Picard episode, an artifact from a time before the series moved into a different gear that still manages to differentiate one captain from his famous predecessor.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
"The Battle" is another of those episodes that holds a pretty curious legacy in Next Generation lore. On the one hand, it's unquestionably better and more relevant than a lot of its first season brethren. But it also exists, within the context of most of the rest of the series (aside from the seventh season sequel "Bloodlines"), curiously out of step, other than the fact that it redeems the Ferengi after their first appearance and sets them on their way to what we would know of them later.
There, you see how convoluted it is? Let's start untangling.
In this episode we explore crucial aspects of Picard's backstory, notably his first command, the Stargazer. This is another thing that sets Picard apart from his famous predecessor Kirk, not only the fact that he's older and more cerebral (and bald!), but that he was captain of a starship not named Enterprise. By 1987, when Next Generation debuted, Kirk had just received command of the Enterprise-A in 1986's The Voyage Home. He'd destroyed the refit version of the original in Search for Spock, of course, but still zipped around space in more or less continuous command of a ship called Enterprise for twenty-five years (through The Undiscovered Country).
So that means Picard had a starship before Enterprise. That's what this boils down to. That's what "The Battle" is all about. The curious thing is that after "The Battle," this is pretty much forgotten (in the books, not as such). The curious fact of his artificial heart becomes far more important later on, the subject of a far more memorable episode ("Tapestry").
Stargazer is lost thanks to Starfleet's first military encounter with the Ferengi, though it's a victory for Picard that ends up like a defeat. He loses his ship (though not before executing the nifty Picard Maneuver) and unwittingly gains a mortal enemy, Daimon Bok. Bok appears here and again in "Bloodlines," but I'm not sure anyone really thinks of this rivalry when considering Picard, the Ferengi, or Next Generation. Bok's obsession even in this episode is portrayed as counterintuitive to typical Ferengi (financial) interests, by the way.
For the record, even though "The Battle" is a far better Ferengi appearance than "The Last Outpost," it's still pretty awkward as far as establishing them. Bok is more the menace that the Ferengi were supposed to be (the new Klingons, conceptually), but Ferengi greed (like 1980s greed in general) is hard-pressed to be understood in his context. In fact, it's so hard to reconcile that another series entirely (Deep Space Nine) is forced to make up the difference, and arguably so many fans have already had their Ferengi explained via Next Generation that it may have already been too late.
So it's best to view "The Battle" as a Picard episode, an artifact from a time before the series moved into a different gear that still manages to differentiate one captain from his famous predecessor.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
The Next Generation 1x8 "Justice"
"Justice" is another of those first season episodes that are better off stricken from the record. If you wanted to torture yourself, you might watch it because it resembles "The Apple" from the original series. You can also jab a pencil in your thigh.
This is the one where the crew visits what appears to be a pretty idyllic planet, filled with people who dress in the characteristic alternative Star Trek fashion (which is to say very little), and for a moment you think everything might be just fine. Worf has a chance to be Worf, for instance. Then Wesley has a Wesleyism and is sentenced to death.
When I say "Wesleyism," I mean Wesley Crusher from the first season, a character that seems really excellent on paper (and no offense to Wil Wheaton), but you absolutely loathe because he's the most annoying character ever, and here he's helped by a stupid plot device by another native culture forced into stupid behavior that is only required so that our crew can seem morally superior, even though Star Trek typically suggests an ideology of tolerance (erm, what's up with that?).
So the rest of the episode is about the crew scrambling to find a loophole that will save a character the audience (aside from those who really enjoyed "Where No One Has Gone Before") wishes would die. (It's no surprise that the catchphrase "Shut up, Wesley," developed by Picard in "Datalore" five episodes later, became an anthem for the fans.)
Suffice to say, while not technically as horrible as "Code of Honor," "Justice" is an episode that emphasizes all the wrong things, and is a perfect example of what The Next Generation needed to outgrow in order to earn its place in Star Trek lore.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Josh Clark
Memory Alpha summary.
This is the one where the crew visits what appears to be a pretty idyllic planet, filled with people who dress in the characteristic alternative Star Trek fashion (which is to say very little), and for a moment you think everything might be just fine. Worf has a chance to be Worf, for instance. Then Wesley has a Wesleyism and is sentenced to death.
When I say "Wesleyism," I mean Wesley Crusher from the first season, a character that seems really excellent on paper (and no offense to Wil Wheaton), but you absolutely loathe because he's the most annoying character ever, and here he's helped by a stupid plot device by another native culture forced into stupid behavior that is only required so that our crew can seem morally superior, even though Star Trek typically suggests an ideology of tolerance (erm, what's up with that?).
So the rest of the episode is about the crew scrambling to find a loophole that will save a character the audience (aside from those who really enjoyed "Where No One Has Gone Before") wishes would die. (It's no surprise that the catchphrase "Shut up, Wesley," developed by Picard in "Datalore" five episodes later, became an anthem for the fans.)
Suffice to say, while not technically as horrible as "Code of Honor," "Justice" is an episode that emphasizes all the wrong things, and is a perfect example of what The Next Generation needed to outgrow in order to earn its place in Star Trek lore.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Josh Clark
Memory Alpha summary.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
The Next Generation 1x7 "Lonely Among Us"
*
"Lonely Among Us" is an episode that's watchable but also forgettable. It's very much the portrait of a series in development.
The title alone probably won't give you any memories of the episode, and that's pretty much indicative of the whole thing. It's a Next Generation version of the elaborately poetic titles the original series favored, and just one of many examples of the new series trying to do what the old series did but eventually outgrowing it. If the series hadn't developed, much less lasted more than a few seasons, "Lonely" could very well be considered memorable. Yet it merely stands out as a not-horrible and not-memorable entry from the first season, which is to say that it does not stand out at all.
It does feature, however, Data at the start of his obsession with Sherlock Holmes, so that's something that lasts far beyond the end credits. In a lot of ways, it's an episode that tries to do far too much, and that's what ultimately hurts it. There's a little of "Journey to Babel" in there, a little of noncorporeal-entities-wrecking-havoc (a franchise staple), and a little of the cast development that went into a lot of these early episodes. It is distinctly Next Generation material, which at this point is something worth celebrating, something that fans following the new series would recognize, and fans who have continued to follow the franchise will find familiar as well. It's a template, a messy one, but a template all the same. Little by little, the series learns to distinguish itself.
The dress uniforms of the modern era (at least until the new uniforms and their own dress uniforms appear starting in 1996) are introduced, though they remain somewhat baffling (originally looking very much like...dresses, even on the men). Kirk was always getting into new uniforms in his day, so it's nice to see that tradition continued. Picard would later add to his own collection of variations, but not for several seasons.
I originally earmarked this episode as skippable, but changed my mind (that happens a lot as I work on writing each episode up). You could skip "Loney Among Us," but there are things worth seeing. It's not horrible, like the truly skippable episodes (and there are plenty from this season). You could watch it as a fan of the formative develop of the series, or even just as a fan of the franchise. But just don't put too much weight on its value. Unless you want to.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Colm Meaney
Marc Alaimo
Memory Alpha summary.
"Lonely Among Us" is an episode that's watchable but also forgettable. It's very much the portrait of a series in development.
The title alone probably won't give you any memories of the episode, and that's pretty much indicative of the whole thing. It's a Next Generation version of the elaborately poetic titles the original series favored, and just one of many examples of the new series trying to do what the old series did but eventually outgrowing it. If the series hadn't developed, much less lasted more than a few seasons, "Lonely" could very well be considered memorable. Yet it merely stands out as a not-horrible and not-memorable entry from the first season, which is to say that it does not stand out at all.
It does feature, however, Data at the start of his obsession with Sherlock Holmes, so that's something that lasts far beyond the end credits. In a lot of ways, it's an episode that tries to do far too much, and that's what ultimately hurts it. There's a little of "Journey to Babel" in there, a little of noncorporeal-entities-wrecking-havoc (a franchise staple), and a little of the cast development that went into a lot of these early episodes. It is distinctly Next Generation material, which at this point is something worth celebrating, something that fans following the new series would recognize, and fans who have continued to follow the franchise will find familiar as well. It's a template, a messy one, but a template all the same. Little by little, the series learns to distinguish itself.
The dress uniforms of the modern era (at least until the new uniforms and their own dress uniforms appear starting in 1996) are introduced, though they remain somewhat baffling (originally looking very much like...dresses, even on the men). Kirk was always getting into new uniforms in his day, so it's nice to see that tradition continued. Picard would later add to his own collection of variations, but not for several seasons.
I originally earmarked this episode as skippable, but changed my mind (that happens a lot as I work on writing each episode up). You could skip "Loney Among Us," but there are things worth seeing. It's not horrible, like the truly skippable episodes (and there are plenty from this season). You could watch it as a fan of the formative develop of the series, or even just as a fan of the franchise. But just don't put too much weight on its value. Unless you want to.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Colm Meaney
Marc Alaimo
Memory Alpha summary.
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