The re-watch continues. Let's do this.
22.
Commander Riker is poisoned on an away mission and falls into a coma and relives various moments of his service aboard the Enterprise.
On one hand, it's an easy pick for the bottom spot. It's a clips-show. Nothing wrong with clips-shows, especially in production seasons of yesteryear, and especially this particular one. (The 2nd season of TNG, like everything else produced that year, got hit with a huge writer's strike right in the middle of it. Sidenote: did that strike result in getting whatever it was the striking writers wanted? Has it ever been walked back or rendered obsolete by any subsequent development? Just curious - maybe someone out there knows.)
On the other hand, as clips-show go, it's not actually that bad. Compare to your standard Golden Girls one, or whatever example you want (up to a certain point - once shows started doing fake-clips shows and other meta-stuff, all bets were off). At times it feels like the type of training video you'd see at a new job orientation or something, where you'd pause every so often and answer questions as a group.
Ultimately, it's a love letter to Riker's first two seasons on TNG, which is kind of a weird enough idea to be memorable. They should have done one for each of the cast members, each nodding off into a coma before an exasperated Pulaski, one after the other. I can't say it's anything other than what it was - filler to satisfy the at-least-22-episodes order for syndication - but it could've been worse. It'd have helped if all the clips themselves were better; Riker, like every member of the cast (except Pulaski, I guess), wasn't at his best in the first two seasons.
Since this turned out to be Pulaski's last episode, let's say they DID make it a whole-cast clips show, with all the comas, like I just said. It could have ended with her curing them all but heroically self-sacrificing herself in the process, then Picard could wrap up her time on the show with one of his nice memorials. It'd have been a better exit than the one she got.
21.
Scientist Dr. Ira Graves cheats death by uploading his memories and personality into Lt. Commander Data.
Most of this episode is fine enough, but once Graves possesses Data, Spiner gives such an exaggerated performance that it undermines the concept. Unless Graves - referred to again and again as a genius - is rather unintelligibly allowing himself to act as out of control and not-like-Data as possible, he sandbags his own plan by acting so conspicuously.
I think the aforementioned writer's strike is the culprit for so many Trek-repeat-motifs in this season. In this episode alone we have the girl raised in the remote outpost by the dying, angry scientists, the scientist's whole attitude re: technology and laws and other ornery old coot cliches, the takeover of a body, etc.
Guest performances: Graves is that Medal of Honor guy, right, ("Bad news, Patterson...") Also, many other things, and R.I.P. We'll see Suzie Plakson (Lt. Selar) appear again as K'Ehleyr, and the One Tree Hill (among other things) lady plays Kareen. I'm not going to do these sort of imdb links for everyone, this is just one of those episodes where I kept trying to figure out where I'd seen or heard people before, then looked them up and was like "Oh, duh."
20.
The Enterprise becomes trapped in a spatial phenomenon., where they are subjected to unusual experiments by the whim of a being unlike any they have encountered before.
That plot write-up isn't quite accurate. The Enterprise (both this one and previous one) has encountered beings like this before. Too many, in fact; it's part of that repeat-Trek-motif-fatigue I mentioned before. Although perhaps "fatigue" is too harsh, more like mildly tiresome. Still better than anything on the new Picard show. One wishes they'd maybe repeat a few Trek-motifs here and there on that one.
Still, considering the amount of times we've seen these things, these reactions, these escalations, these elements in play at episode's end, it might as well have been a clips show. Not terrible, though; really, season two is a lot better than I remembered.
19.
The Prime Directive is threatened when Data befriends the child of a pre-warp planet that is suffering from devastating volcanic activity.
I feel kind of bad not enjoying this episode very much, as it's got several genuinely sweet moments (though many more that are too saccharine or manipulative) but it's not a fave. Data might have been the wrong character to go so off-the-book like this. If the intent was to show how a lifeform like Data - always by the book, incapable of independently throwing the prime directive to one side to indulge a sentimental impulse, unless specifically rationalized in the script (as it was in Insurrection, for example) - could evolve or react this way, then okay, but that's never really explored or mentioned.
One of those Prime Directive "case law" episodes fated to never impact another episode's interpretation of the prime directive.
18.
Dr. Katherine Pulaski joins the Enterprise while Geordi prepares the Enterprise to transport dangerous plague specimens. Meanwhile, Counselor Troi spontaneously becomes pregnant and gives birth to a mysterious child.
Two things about this one: there's at least one other Trek episode like this (on Voyager) but I suspect it's something we've seen elsewhere, too. Is anyone emotionally affected by turns of events like these? I suspect not. Harmless enough, but a life event that is gone by the end of the episode has its impact as a life event instantly negated. This was of course the unstated goal of most television of the era: return things to the status quo by episode's end. Still.
There is one moment that knocks on the door of something greater than silly-plot-twist, when they're all assembled in the ready room discussing what might be done with the situation. Although it is in context of what to be done with a crew member infected with an alien unknown, it evokes a palpable sense of fear and inappropriateness of a bunch of men discussing what should happen to a woman's body, primarily through the performances of Sirtis and Muldaur and the way it is filmed with tight close-ups of an increasingly uncomfortable Troi . In a military situation, of course, such a thing would be chain of command, feelings/ optics aside. Starfleet is technically military, despite the many qualifications they give to that, but it was all handled thoughtfully, I felt.
Second, like many people I never cared for Pulaski. Or, at least, I thought I never did. I like Beverly and over the years just assumed it was that, preferring one to the other. Plus, her (Pulaski's) whole thing with Data never made sense to me. It seemed prejudicial. But, I cannot lay that at her (the character or the actress)'s door; this was a failure of the writers.
What I discovered on this re-watch (and I should thank Bryant Burnette for championing the good doctor over the years, which probably positively predisposed me to her) was she is both a compelling character, and Diana Muldaur does a great job bringing her to life.
17.
The Enterprise and USS Hathaway face off in simulated combat maneuvers. Data fails to beat a humanoid at a game of Strategema and exhibits self-doubt.
TNG was still trying to make the Ferengi happen here in s2. Someone was invested in the concept and wasn't letting go. If only for Armin Shimerman's sake, I'm happy they were so tenacious.
Kinda boring, but some nice scenes here and ther. I like a good 'let's this piece of junk ship-shape and show that poppinjay brass what we're made of' story, even if I've seen it a thousand times. All get-the-ship-ready scenes should be done via montage, a la One Crazy Summer. (Sorry no link - apparently it's been taken down.)
Writing Advice No One Ever Heeds But I Give Just the Same: "Attack pattern Delta" and "Kumeh maneuver" dialogue never works. I've complained elsewhere of how the only-one-man-could-pilot-this-starship-through-this-minefield schtick never works either, it's just not exciting in this format. Same deal here. Watching people run programs on their starship computers will never be dramatically exciting, at least when shouted out as dialogue.
16.
The Enterprise is caught up in the schemes of a flamboyant space rogue on the run, while Data explores humor with the help of Joe freaking Piscopo.
If you ever needed proof that TNG started life as an 80s show, the appearance of Joe Piscopo here provides it. And that's not a dis to Piscopo, just a slice of "Oh wow, yeah, this would have made sense in the 80s."
That title is terrible. It wouldn't have worked had they changed "outrageous" to ALL CAPS and added an exclamation point after Okona! But it would make it match the way my brain reads it.
The actor (William Campbell) was the original choice for Riker. What is it with Okona-type characters in Trek? There are a conspicuous amount of them. He reminds me of Jack Dalton from that one Cheers episode. He seems a little too retrograde for the 24th century. But so does Harry Mudd.
I like how Picard says "limited access to the ship" and then Okona goes to Engineering and then starts banging crew members. THAT'S limited access? Of course, there's Trek precedent for this. (See Lazarus's traipsing around the ship and stealing dilithium in "The Alternative Factor.") I prefer to think of the lack of security cameras everywhere or Soviet-style "escorting" as just part of the enlightened future world of Trek: too civilized to surveil everyone all the time, even on the flagship of the Federation, where you'd figure sensible security protocols would be followed.
Data's attempts to be funny are never funny. It's amazing the amount of screentime these sort of antics consumed. No one was around to tell them this was all a bad idea? Who did they think they were entertaining with all this? I take it back, Data's attempts to be funny DID result in filling out the "White and Nerdy" mash-up video, which keeps getting taken down so I won't link to it. You know the one I mean.
15.
A group of seemingly dimwitted aliens, the Pakleds, kidnap Lt. La Forge to "make their ship go". Picard accompanies Wesley to a starbase, Wesley to take his Starfleet exam, Picard to get his artificial heart tweaked.
The Wesley and Picard stuff is good for the episode it sets up. Have they made mention of Picard's artificial heart in Picard? In light of how he's now all artificial?
I don't really want to bring Picard up very much. not only because I don't like it, but because none of these episodes were made with nowadays in mind. It'd be one thing if Picard was done by anyone connected with the old show, outside of the cast (who all seem to be comfortably disconnected from their former selves).
Anyway, this wasn't bad. I should have more to say about it. It's harmless.
14.
The Enterprise hosts the young leader of Daled IV, Salia. Soon Wesley finds himself falling in love with her. However, Salia and her guardian are not what they appear: they are creatures of light who can assume many forms.
I sometimes take spectacularly unhelpful notes. The sum total for this one, for example is 'The Twin Peaks girl, what's her name. 'The WHOOSH-muppet.'"The first part is easy enough to figure out (Mädchen Amick has a guest appearance) but what did I mean for 'whoosh muppet'? I'm thinking maybe the sound fx/ hard cut from Amick to one of the creatures she transforms into? But serioulsy, that's it?
Salia's Guardian is played by Patti Edwards, who was in everything, including a Cheers episode, so the Cheers/ Trek mojo proceeds apace.
This is a pretty cool idea, and had it had a better actor in the lead (sorry, Wil) it'd have come across much better. As I watch these episodes again in 2020, I am coming to the conclusion that Wesley Crusher is not a bad character, but Wil Wheaton did not bring him to life very effectively. Undoubtedly the failure was not his alone; it's shared by the writers, directors, whomever. Still, it's a shame.
13.
After Data easily solves an ordinary Sherlock Holmes holodeck mystery, La Forge asks the computer to make a Holmes villain capable of defeating him. The resultant Professor Moriarty soon becomes far more powerful than expected.
This isn't the greatest episode - Data in particular is a little hard to take - but Daniel Davis kills it as Moriarty. I'm not the most completist of Holmesians, but I've seen my fair share and he's my favorite of the Moriartys I've seen. It's possible that I love the sequel to this so much that some of my affection colors my take on this. If so, who cares - it's a fine little episode, although without the sequel it's not as cool.
One interesting aspect of not just this episode but the Enterprise computer/ holodeck in general: if it's capable of creating a sentient being (sentience here defined at least the way Bruce Maddox defined it in "Measure of a Man" although this causes several problems; we'll get to that one thiough) is it not sentient itself? Can a 3-d printer, even a great one, create a human baby? Or even a toaster capable of defeating Data? Geordi mentions at one point that the whole problem was due to his misspeaking and telling the computer to give them an adversary that could defeat Data, not Holmes. But is this not slightly terrifying? One misspoken word and the holodeck cerates a supermassive black hole that swallows the ship from the holodeck out/ some uncurable disease?
This question (is the Enterprise computer somewhat sentient itself?) is revisited most satisfactorily in one of the last episodes of the series. ("Emergence")
12.
Captain Picard encounters his future self when the Enterprise becomes caught in a time loop.
I think what works for this episode also works against it: the other Picard's inability to communciate with our Picard/ crew. Even as they get towards the end and the timelines synch up (which is kind of a cool idea) there's no real meaningful interaction between them, except for phaser fire. In a way like I say, this is cool and a novel approach to the dimensional-double concept, but dramatically, you feel a bit let down. Or I did.
11.
The Enterprise receives a distress call from the USS Lantree, discovering its crew has apparently died of old age. The race is on to solve the mystery before scientists on a research colony suffer the same fate.
Like I mentioned way up there, my buddy Bryant managed to change my thinking on Pulaski. Prior to him, I'd never met a TNG fan who spoke well of her character before; it was always something of a touchstone NOT to like her. This isn't very fair, though, and I hope more people go back and watch this season with fresh eyes. I feel bad for having been so wrong on this for so long. When I changed my mind on Neelix, I feel like I talked myself into it - I can still see/ respect anyone who can't approve of the character whatsoever. Pulaski, though, I feel like maybe we were all (or most of us) just wrong and need to apologize.
I love Captain Teleka's last log entry. ("In the last few hours I've watched friends grow old and die, and I'm seeing it happen to me." Short and sweet - Kirk would've liked that one.) The night I watched this, I watched Finding Dory with the kids, where "quarantine" is said like fifteen thousand times. Between that and the infectious disease here, life and art were synching up a little too well. I felt a little creeped out. ("The children will survive, but the rest of us are just about out of time.")
Effective ending, but a little something was missing to push this into "great episode" territory.
10.
After Data refuses an order from Starfleet to be dismantled for research purposes, a hearing is convened to determine if he is a legal citizen or property of the Federation.
The "it" pronoun with Data never works, for one thing, but most importantly, isn't he a Starfleet officer? Pointedly defined as such in "Encounter at Farpoint," not some honorary we'll-see-how-this-works-out thing? Is Starfleet in the habit of commissioning staplers and toasters? The whole sentient thing is settled, which is why the drama never works whenever it's brought up. (I mean, sentient or not, does Starfleet physically own its officers? From organ harvesting to disassembling?) Data should never be fighting for his life/ agency like this except when cheap writing is employed.
Of course, you can tell from where I ranked it: I kind of like the episode so cheap or not,it moves well towards its conclusion, and Patrick Stewart does a fine job.
9.
The crew play host to a deaf, telepathic ambassador who mediates difficult peace negotiations with the assistance of his "chorus," a trio of telepathic interpreters. When the chorus is killed, the crew must assist him in the mediation.
Although it kind of feels like a therapy-exercise gone awry, I like this one. Its heart is in the right place, and I appreciate its having been made, as well as Howie Seago's performance. Don't mean to damn it with faint or distracted praise or notable only for its empathy. It's an interesting story. A deaf character adds a new dimension to any story, and a deaf character in the future of Starfleet even more.
Picard's grabbing Riva's head and screaming "YOU ARE NOT ALONE!" in his face is great. Perhaps not for the reasons intended, but one for the highlight reels. Someone should mash it together with Spock's telling Zarabeth (if memory serves, it might've been another episode) "I AM SUBSTANTIAL; YOU ARE NOT IMAGINING THIS." These are things that would be on repeat over the loudspeaker, perhaps every 15 minutes like westminster chimes, at the Bryan's Bad Trip Clinic and Ego Re-Adjustment Center, last seen in this review of TOS "Metamorphosis."
8.
Captain Picard must find a way to rescue two radically incompatible cultures, one a primitive Irish farming colony threatened by solar flares, and the other a colony of clones facing inevitable genetic degeneration.
I feel I'm probably overrating this one. Mostly my warm reaction to it this rewatch is on account of a few scenes: the pre-credits scene between Riker and Picard, the scene between Picard and Data in the Captain's ready room, and the scene between Worf and Pulaski. Those were all great character-to-character and performance moments for all involved. (I'll bring up Picard one last time: there was more warmth and interest between these characters in any of these scenes than between Picard and anyone in the new show. Including his old friends. Damn it.)
Another old Earth thing, though? This is the 3rd or 4th of the series so far. Things fall apart a little at the end for me.
Picard is a bit gruff in the face of all these Irish stereotypes. He's probably embarrassed/ offended, until he "bows to the absurd." Fun fact: they were all going to leave them in the cargo bay without showing them how to use the replicators. It's mentioned but done almost as an afterthought, and mainly because Riker discovers that stereotype or not, what's her face is totally bangable. ("Is there a special technique to this face-washing?" Oh, Star Trek.)
7.
Riker's estranged father Kyle visits to brief him on the new ship he's been offered, and Worf's friends discover he is about to miss an important Klingon rite of passage.
Here is one I never liked until now. Did I just age into appreciation of it? (Or age into my senses dulled enough to no longer be critical?) The space-jailai stuff at the end is silly, although it seemed, visually, to be a slight tribute to the Prisoner and that crazy trampoline-jousting game they play (although this is not mentioned in any of my Trek accessory books on TNG, so maybe it's just in my head.) I like Kyle's connection with Pulaski, and Mitchell Ryan in general. Mainly on account of Grosse Pointe Blank. ("You know me, Martin, still the same old sell-out, exploiting the oppressed.")
Worf's side of it (despite overly channeling "Amok Time" albeit with a different outcome) is what anchors the episode I think. Good stuff. John Tesh's appearance as one of the Klingons meant ET did this little TNG special, which I remember tuning it specifically for the night it aired. It's too bad Tesh's Klingon character couldn't have used some kind of keytar for his painstick.
6.
An old acquaintance of Worf's is torpedoed to the Enterprise to intercept a Klingon ship that has been in suspended animation since the days of the Klingon/ Federation war. Fearing they will awaken and make immediate war on any starbase in the vicinity and having lost the Orgainians number a long time ago - Worf and K'Ehleyr pose as the captains of the ship to defuse the situation.
Very good performance from Suzie Plakson as K'Ehleyr, who will of course be back.
Poor Worf - can we not all relate to that moment where our ideas of love and relationships come crashing against the rocky shores of reality? "But we have mated - GAAAAA!" Poor K'Ehleyr, too. The whole thing works pretty well.
Another old-sleeper-awakens story, this one a little better because it's from the Klingon side. That's a nice touch. But they really are revisiting this well much more than I remembered these first two seasons. Four or five episodes out of forty-whatever might not be much, but sheesh.
5.
Troi's mother Lwaxana is in the market for a new husband, and she has set her sights on Captain Picard.
I never had time for this episode prior to now. But this time around I found a lot to enjoy. As with "The Icarus Factor," not sure if that means I've lost a step or gained one. I say anytime a rewatch leads to enjoying something you once didn't enjoy, it's a win, if only for adding instead of subtracting to one's list of enjoyments.
The Dixon Hill escape is a lot more interesting to me now, too. It's also an interesting performer moment, as Stewart and Majel Barrett interact a lot in the holodeck (and much differently than they do outside of it, when she's playing Lwaxana) via Barrett's voicing the Enterprise computer.
The Antedians are cool. Worf's enthusiasm for them is great, and the twist at the end is unexpected. I forgot all about that part, actually. Up to that, Lwaxana is her usual grating self. (Would she really mac on her daughter's Imzadi? Seems kind of cruel for her. Her manipulations are usually over the top, but not that level of icky.)
"I'm as jumpy as Haircut Lepinski trying to land a fraction" someone says at one point. Had to look that one up, as the sentence made zero sense to me. I believe it's a reference to Jerry "Haircut" Lepinski, a racecar driver from the 60s and 70s, and I assume the fraction refers to race-time?
4.
Q flings the Enterprise 7000 light years beyond Federation space and introduces them to the deadly Borg.
Stop me if you've heard this before, but here's another one I was very much surprised by, even if I've always liked it. I remember the night I saw it, actually; I'd missed the Saturday airing on one UHF station and caught the Sunday night one on another. I can see it very vividly, actually: past-Bryan is eating a pepperoni hot pocket and drinking some iced tea and watching this in the dark save the illumination coming from the screen, clear as the proverbial unmuddied lake in my mind's eye.
That the episode succeeds in spite of Q (who just annoys me) speaks well of it. As an intro to the Borg, it's ominous and sets the table nicely. Watching both the Borg's and the crew's reaction TO the Borg is a lot of fun in the early-Borg episodes.
This whole thing with Guinan and Q, though, is dumb. "We've had dealings." It was enough to make Guinan aware of the Borg; making her some kind of mongoose to Q's cobra is several bridges too far.
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| FFS. |
I should be careful, though, with putting that idea into the universe; it could boomerang into being an actual Picard plot. (Okay, enough with Picard, I swear.)
3.
Riker, Worf, and Data investigate a structure on the surface of an icy gas giant, which appears to be a hotel from 20th-century Earth. When they try to leave, they are prevented from doing so, and must learn the hotel's secret.
Another one I have fond and vivid memories of watching for the first time. (No hot pocket that time, though; I watched this one in my parents bedroom since they were watching the living room TV, and no food allowed in there.) It's another one I seem to enjoy a lot more than other people. Mainly because I'm a sucker for that cast-interacts-with-bad-cliched-program angle. Knowingly-hackneyed-plot-twists and central-casting-characters, etc. with a crew trying to stay one step ahead of them before turning the tables. The away team's fish-out-of-water-ness is fun.
One thing, though. It doesn't bother me that Data doesn't know the contents of the book; even with his positronic brain he can't have everything up there, and we see he sometimes runs across an idiom that escapes him. No problem. But why does Picard et al. need to point out the ending to him, once he speed-reads it? It's not an especially intuitive leap to realize oh, we must be the foreign investors. Beyond this, though, why has he never heard of this astronaut or mission, though? The Enterprise computer was able to punch it up pretty quickly. That seems a historical detail that would have been captured in his positronic net, no?
That scene in the hotel room has a touch of the horrors to it. A lonely death but a certain sense of dignity, at least in the hanging NASA suit in the closet. Speaking of: the timeline set forth here doesn't quite match the United Earth timeline mentioned in "Encounter at Farpoint" and elsewhere, but these are not dealbreaker issues. Nothing about the Trek timeline makes much sense, ultimately.
2.
Commander Riker is assigned to a Klingon vessel via an officer exchange program. However, the Klingon Captain is full of mistrust and wants Riker to fire on the Enterprise.
I always liked this one and still do.
Christopher Collins (the Cobra Commander himself! Also, the Captain from "Samaritan Snare" up there) had a memorable voice, didn't he? Good to see him get a meaty role with the Klingon captain. He died pretty young (44 years old) which I remember seeing in the nascent Trek-internet of the mid-nineties.
Riker's "But he's your FATHER" disbelief is kind of interesting in light of what we learn about Riker's relationship with his own father in "The Icarus Facotr." But we often project; it's not uncommon. It'd be nice if such things were written into the script so we didn't have to go to the Basic Psycology well to explain the discrepancy, but they probably hadn't written "The Icarus Factor" yet at the time of this episode's production.
And finally:
1.
A dangerous alien computer virus runs rampant through the Enterprise after causing the destruction of her sister ship, the USS Yamato.
Not the Yamato!
I imagine this one is popular lately... How many folks googling the Soderbergh movie are getting this returned instead? I hope at least a few.
This is a fun mystery. I remember watching this the night it aired. The girl who got me seriously into Star Trek in the 6th grade (I saw plenty of it before that, growing up in a Trek-friendly household, but I trace my serious Trek fandom to my many conversations with her, and her introducing me to the Pocket Books and the comics) had come out to visit me. After that visit, for some reason, we never made any other contact. I'm pretty sure this was entirely my fault; I just never replied to her letters or some other adolescent misfire. Why the hell not? I've thought about this a lot over the years; she (her name was Liz Barela) was a good friend to me in this time of my life (1986 to 1988) and someone I trusted and admired a lot. What the heck happened?
I tried tracking her down in the facebook age but no luck. Well, if I can't find her on social media and directly apologize, decades later than such an apology should have been issued, at least I can do so here. Sorry, Liz Barela! You were way nicer to me than I deserved at this point in my life, but both your kindness and intelligent advice has lingered long after. I'd like to think I grew into whatever it was you saw in me then. None of this was romantic, by the way, in case anyone's getting uncomfortable. The Barelas lived down the block from us in Germany, and then Liz and I were pen pals once we rotated back to the states, leading up to her visiting my parents house the week this aired.
Back to the episode. The whole Icoconia mystery is handled better than the Aldea mystery was in season 1. And if like most of the above most of these plot elements have been seen in many other Treks, (and still more to come) it's at least handled better here than, say, it was in TOS "That Which Survives" or something.
More Trek/ Life Advice: the cloaking device should just never have been mentioned again after "The Enterprise Incident." To paraphrase Austen Powers, though, that train has long since warped out to the stars.
~
Now for some leftover screencaps to play us out:
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| "They see me rollin'..." |
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| Forget to mention Lycia Naff as Ensign Gomez. Seemed like they were trying to make her a foil/ recurring character in a couple of episodes in s2, but she never comes back to my knowledge. Too bad. |
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| Max Fischer's Dad. |
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| This lady in red is pretty memorable. She's on screen for a grand total of like two seconds. But somehow... |
Stay classy, Starfleet.
