The Next Generation 3x9 "The Vengeance Factor"

*

This would be one of those generic Next Generation episodes that proves that although the third season was basically the start of the series as fans know it, it's not the best of all possible seasons.  It can sometimes be all but forgettable.

"The Vengeance Factor" is one of many, many episodes from the series where our crew is asked to mediate a conflict between warring factions.  There were so many of these, it's surprising that none of the movies were really about it, but perhaps not surprising that its only nominal spin-off, Deep Space Nine based a part of its premise on the concept.

Unfortunately, there's not a lot to distinguish this one from the rest of them.  There are even episodes from other series that are exactly like it but more memorable, "Battle Lines" from DS9 for instance, and that's just because it features the unexpected death of a recurring character.

Actually, if there's anything to talk about with this variation, it's that "Vengeance Factor" is one of Next Generation's periodic attempts to represent Riker as a Kirk kind of guy, who becomes involved with the female guest just because he's male and she's female.  Of course, most of Riker's such relationships turn out miserable, even worse than Tucker's in Enterprise (and that's saying something!), and this one is no exception.  But it's not even prominent enough to make too much of.  It does tie into the resolution, but it leaves no real lasting impression, just another part of the unhappy ending.

That may be what you can best take away from the episode, its ambiguity.  Star Trek can sometimes be stereotyped as fairly black-and-white.  Heroes are pretty obviously heroes and villains are pretty obviously villains.  DS9, again, was an exception to this rule, but Next Generation helped set that tone more than fans might sometimes admit.  If nothing else, "Vengeance Factor" is one such experience to prove such an assertion.

So there you have it.  You can probably skip this one, but it wouldn't hurt to have a look.

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Memory Alpha summary.

The Next Generation 3x8 "The Price"

***

Fans got an unexpected sequel to "The Price" in Voyager's "False Prophets," but the real common denominator is The Next Generation finally figuring out a better way to present the Ferengi after their all-but-disastrous debut in the first season, not quite to the nuanced portrayal in Deep Space Nine, but respectable.

The occasion (and reason why Voyager could revisit the Ferengi featured here) is discussions concerning an artificial wormhole, the appearance itself helping years in advance to set up another defining feature of DS9.  Representatives of various species gather aboard the Enterprise for the rights to the wormhole.

Interestingly, the episode apart from its enduring legacy is a fairly standard Next Generation affair, featuring the crew deep in negotiations as happens frequently elsewhere in the series (previously Kirk did a lot of his negotiations not with his mouth but fists).  Troi gets the nominal lead when one of the participants turns out to be part-Betazoid, but he's hidden this aspect of himself so he can exploit his empathic abilities.  Riker gets to step up as well during the course of the episode.

Yet it's the weaselly Ferengi, always in search of profit and willing to do anything to get it, that steal the episode.  They end up making the trip through the ultimately unstable wormhole, ending up in the Delta Quadrant where "False Prophets" later catches up with them.  Before that, although not particularly likable they're more memorable than even the Ferengi who was at one point considered Picard's mortal enemy.  This is exactly how you picture Ferengi in the field, twitchy and duplicitous but probably ineffective, because they work best in far better-defined financial territory.  Watching them flounder in "The Price" is enough to establish a firm new context for the species, and it's one that endures.

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Notable guest-stars:
Colm Meaney

Memory Alpha summary.

The Next Generation 3x7 "The Enemy"

**

"The Enemy" is incredibly similar to a number of episodes in franchise lore, all of them basically inspired by the movie Enemy Mine.  One of ours ended up having to survive on a planet with one of theirs, a "good guy" and "bad guy" working together.  It has another subplot that's also been used multiple times, a medical dilemma concerning one character not willing to help as another is dying simply because their species are or have been blood enemies.  Also, it's basically "Balance of Terror" from the original series as well.

So there's a lot going on, and most of it ends up with Three Stooges Syndrome, stuck in the doorway because none of the three wants to give way to the others.

But what you may take as a unifying element is that it's a Romulan episode, and Next Generation is generally good for these.  This one's just disturbingly generic about it.  The franchise itself probably realized that when it kept trying to redo some of its elements in later series.  Sometimes it's because a story is good.  Sometimes it's because the story could be better.

The hero of the first element is La Forge, and this is mostly relevant because the Romulan he's trapped with ends up noting that his kind would have ended La Forge's life after it was discovered that he was blind.  Being blind tends to dominate La Forge's character, when necessary.  It's seen as a handicap, except when it isn't.  In this same episode his VISOR is an asset, a great piece of technology that allows innovative solutions to problems.

Worf is the subject of the next element.  His parents were murdered by Romulans.  He refuses to donate blood that would save one in the present.  It's Worf being controversial, much as he would be in the Deep Space Nine episode "Change of Heart," making a decision that could adversely affect his career.  This time he gets off much easier.  Next time he's told he will never advance in rank again.  Half of this is Worf being Worf, but you can't help feeling that it's because he's Klingon and the writers think it's easier for an alien to get away with this and not seem like a monster (although in DS9 he's saving his wife Jadzia), regardless of Klingon honor.  I don't know.  It's an odd episode to reconcile on that score alone.

"The Enemy" also features the debut of Tomalak, a faintly recurring Romulan played by Andreas Katsulas, later to become famous as G'Kar in Babylon 5.  Part of me wishes that the episode had downplayed the other elements and played more like an updated "Balance of Terror," a duel between Tomalak and Picard.  Would fans have been upset?  I doubt it.  Well, probably.  Star Trek fans are rabid.  (Though I personally don't bite.)

All of this means that "The Enemy" is an episode well worth watching, but how much you care to remember it depends on how much you care about these particular characters having these moments that happen again to others.

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Notable guest-stars:
Andreas Katsulas
Colm Meaney

Memory Alpha summary.

The Next Generation 3x6 "Booby Trap"

**

Geordi La Forge had the unfortunate task of following in the footsteps of a miracle-worker.  When he finally became chief engineer of the Enterprise, La Forge could only be compared to Scotty, who made keeping starships together seem like the biggest emergencies that could only be solved by his quick wits and dedication.  What could La Forge possibly offer in response?

Well, for starters he would always be one of the most visually unique characters in Star Trek.  For some reason Next Generation was full of that.  The bald captain.  The gold android.  The dude with the ridged forehead.  And then there was Geordi, who wore a banana clip over his eyes, giving the blind man the ability to see.  It wasn't until the last three movies that he finally lost his distinctive VISOR, but moreso than being chief engineer, it was this element that made La Forge stand out.

Eventually he formed a tight friendship with Data, but La Forge was better known for his unusual alienation.  It's not that he was a loner, but that his physical handicap, no matter how expertly it was eventually corrected, made La Forge less comfortable with other people than is usual for Star Trek.  The area where this was most obvious, and the episode that makes it stand out the most, was Geordi's relationship with women, as defined by "Booby Trap."

Unlike Scotty, La Forge was a more hands-on engineer.  He helped make it seem more down-to-earth.  Yet he couldn't work miracles.  He needed help.  So he turns to a holographic representation of a brilliant Starfleet engineer, and falls in love with it.  He certainly believes that it's the engineer herself, but it's really the version of her that he's helped create.  It's not quite Reg Barclay, but it's Geordi La Forge in a nutshell.  He's the guy who loves people and technology, but perhaps best when they're in the same form.  He and Data were the original platonic bromance, after all.

Most of the story is pretty generic Star Trek, coming across a derelict ship with a problem our crew must figure out.  It's how the characters, especially La Forge, are brought to their best instincts around it that distinguishes "Booby Trap."  It's another way of acknowledging that Next Generation is more cerebral than its predecessor, and that its characters have more depth.  On this occasion the beneficiary is La Forge.  Also worth noting are some key character tidbits for supporting characters Guinan and O'Brien.  It's funny, because each of these three characters have the elements of this episode revisited in some form or another.  Guinan talks about being saved by a "bald man" (referring to Picard, and to "Time's Arrow"), while O'Brien building ships in bottles is referenced amusingly in the final episode.  This whole episode is revisited for La Forge in "Galaxy's Child."  Little bits of continuity, probably, but still lightyears ahead of what the original series used to do.

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Notable guest-stars:
Susan Gibney
Colm Meaney
Whoopi Goldberg

Memory Alpha summary.

The Next Generation 3x5 "The Bonding"

*

"The Bonding" has a somewhat awkward legacy constantly working against it.  It's not the only time a Next Generation main character bonds with a young boy who's just experienced the loss of his family. Here I'm not even thinking of Alexander.  I thinking, rather of "Hero Worship" from the fifth season, in which another boy bonds with (and imitates) Data.  In this instance, you can absolutely not compete with Data.  Sorry, Worf.

Actually, there's a nice redemptive element, regardless of whether or not you end up unfavorably comparing it to another episode.  Various members of the main cast get to reflect on losses they themselves have experienced.  Wesley is one of them.  Sometimes it can be easy to forget that his father Jack plays an important part of Next Generation mythology, because he's dead by the start of the series, and Wesley himself is usually defined by just about every other element of his character.  Tasha Yar is brought up, perhaps in anticipation of her unexpected return later in the season.  And of course Worf, who lost his parents when he, too, was a boy.  That's what the episode ultimately pivots around, Picard asking Worf to watch over the boy, which Worf takes to mean basically inducting him into Klingon culture and his own family.  Worf's relationship with all things Klingon (it being alien to Starfleet, and him being alien to his own people, even though like Spock before him he became an iconic representation of the people who rejected him) could sometimes seem a little forced, and "The Bonding" is one such example.  It didn't have to have anything to do with being Klingon, but then, it's also an episode that fans can point to in the development of Klingon culture (not surprising, because this is Ronald D. Moore's breakthrough, and his work in Star Trek became known for his Klingon material), so if you like that and don't necessarily care how it happens, you'll probably enjoy "The Bonding" for that alone.

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Notable guest-stars:
Colm Meaney

Memory Alpha summary.

The Next Generation 3x4 "Who Watches the Watchers?"

**

This is a definite Prime Directive episode.  Like Insurrection, "Who Watches the Watchers?" features a Federation survey team that goofs and the exposure of its existence causes a huge problem.

Although visually perhaps the most notable thing about the episode is that it features primitive Vulcans (although the forehead ridges makes them seem like primitive Romulans, which is pretty much the same thing, but still).  Although nothing relevant is made of this fact, it's still nice to see a little bit of continuity, the wider shadow of one of Star Trek's best known alien races once again being cast.

This is the one where Picard is mistaken for a god (it happens!) and to prove otherwise he allows himself to be shot by an arrow, an event that still stands as one of the more memorable pieces of action from the series.  Yes, it's incredibly simple, but that's just the kind of show Next Generation was.  For his efforts, Picard receives a tapestry that remains draped on the back of the chair in his ready room for the rest of the series.

Although not a true standout otherwise, "Who Watches" remains for me a signature episode from the early part of the third season.  It can be a little annoying, because any time Star Trek features primitive aliens it tends to overdo it, especially when attempting to deal with matters like gods and advanced technology.  The primitive aliens tend to cower, or react violently.  It's always the same.  Maybe that's how people really are.  Maybe Star Trek just likes to simplify it.  Still, fun to watch.  The Vulcan (or Romulan) haircut is maintained by these guys, as if it somehow grows that way, although it's not neatly trimmed (because they're primitive!).

In this instance, no matter what you think of Insurrection (which is also similar to the seventh season episode "Homeward"), it's the better of the two to be considered here.

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Notable guest-stars:
Ray Wise

Memory Alpha summary.

The Next Generation 3x3 "The Survivors"

**

To my mind, this is where the third season really begins.  On the surface it doesn't have much more creative worth than its two predecessors.  I would never argue that it's a classic per say, but it's just more fun to watch, and Next Generation simply became more fan to watch once it finally figured itself out, which is what the third season is all about.

Like an episode of the original series, our crew encounters a situation that isn't what it seems, a couple of odd individuals who don't much care for visitors, and yet the more our crew pushes them, the closer they get to the startling truth.  It's a formula that works so well plenty of other episodes from across the franchise liberally borrow from it in the years to come.

"The Survivors" also features (if you don't particularly mind a spoiler) another original series staple, a god-like being with its own ideas of morality, which turns an good story into an interesting one.  As is usual, Next Generation does an established franchise trope with more nuance.

If you click the "Star Trek A-to-Z" link above, you'll also see that I've got a tiny obsession with the character Kevin Uxbridge's wardrobe, with is another reason why the episode remains memorable for me despite not having any particular relevance to the series or its cast (which are usually the ways to my heart).

On the one hand, I'm trying to be subjective about "The Survivors" and on the other, I know this is a personal favorite.  I'll give the theoretically uninitiated the benefit of the doubt and assume that you won't necessarily share the exact interests I have.  It's still a good one to at least sample for existing and budding fans of the series.

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Memory Alpha summary.