Epic Star Trek Re-Watch - The Next Generation - Movie Week 2!

[Cheeky Devlin]

Conspiracy

After being excited in "Coming of Age" about a conspiracy, it was a little disappointing to find out what it was. Seriously?

What could have been an intriguing look into Starfleet politics and attempts to subvert it, just became weird alien bugs controlling minds. Not an awful episode to watch, just disappointing.

DS9 does this and does it so much better.

[Jenuall]

Catching up on last week:

Heart of Glory
I really like this, for me Worf has always been the MVP of The Next Generation and I find the Klingon focused stories to be reliably amongst my favourites. This is not as good as some of the stuff we get later but it's still a good exploration of Worf's situation and unique morals.

The Arsenal of Freedom
I actually quite like this episode! The stuff with Geordi taking command of the ship is great, and I always enjoy Crusher and Picard as a pairing so their attempts to survive when stuck down a small hole are fun to watch as well. The actual crap with the leftovers from the weapons selling planet is all a bit meh.

[Cheeky Devlin]

Symbiosis

Decent enough episode and probably one of the better Season 1 entries. Worth a watch just to see Picard wipe the smug grin of the face of the woman at the end.
Also Tasha's "The more you know" speech about drugs to Wesley is one of the most 80's things you'll ever see.

Skin of Evil
Objectively a poor episode but I quite like it's ridiculous TOS'ness. Armus is just an unapologetic troll, plus he kills Tasha which is always in the plus column.
Glad she's gone.
I can understand why Denise Crosby wanted to leave, given that she'd had next to no development till that point, but then neither had most of the cast. It something that almost certainly would have been different if she'd hung around another season or two.
As it is we'll never know if she would have been as fondly thought of as the others. Instead she's just that annoying one who got killed for no reason by the sludge troll.

We'll Always Have Paris
Meh. Not really much to say here. Not bad, but not particularly good either.

Conspiracy
Very silly, but I still enjoy this episode. The ridiculous, over the top death of Remick and the grotty special effects are fantastic. Love it.

The Neutral Zone
I do feel the Romulan threat aspect of the episode is somewhat undermined by the B-plot with the frozen people, but I still enjoy this one.
I love the design for the Romulan warbirds in TNG.
It's the first Trek appearance for Mark Alaimo as well. Can't wait till we get to DS9 so we can see him regularly.

Glad that Season 1 is now done. I don't hate it and there is stuff to like here, but it's a season that works better when you can blast through it like Moggy did, so you can get to the better stuff. We're still a full season away from consistently good TNG, but Season 2 has some real highs to look forward too.

[kerr9000]

[quote="Cheeky Devlin"]Symbiosis

Decent enough episode and probably one of the better Season 1 entries. Worth a watch just to see Picard wipe the smug grin of the face of the woman at the end.
Also Tasha's "The more you know" speech about drugs to Wesley is one of the most 80's things you'll ever see.

Yeah I tottally agree with you there it is very much of its time, but bless them for trying hey lol

Skin of Evil
Objectively a poor episode but I quite like it's ridiculous TOS'ness. Armus is just an unapologetic troll, plus he kills Tasha which is always in the plus column.
Glad she's gone.
I can understand why Denise Crosby wanted to leave, given that she'd had next to no development till that point, but then neither had most of the cast. It something that almost certainly would have been different if she'd hung around another season or two.
As it is we'll never know if she would have been as fondly thought of as the others. Instead she's just that annoying one who got killed for no reason by the sludge troll.

OK I am going to have to spoiler my response here

orignally watching this I was really really glad she died because it made me think, wowsers this is not going to be like Old Trek where only Red shirt nobodys can die, anyone could die any week on this show, this is going to be more realistic, of course I didn't know she was just unhappy etc

Conspiracy
Very silly, but I still enjoy this episode. The ridiculous, over the top death of Remick and the grotty special effects are fantastic. Love it.

I really really like this episode I remember some of the effects causing a stir and it being cut in some places and having warnings in others, it doesn't seem to fit with the tone of a lot of the rest of the show and ends up becoming a throw away episode when I think it could have been a lot more.

[Cheeky Devlin]

Season 2 begins!

Behold the glory that is Rikers Beard!
Marvel at Whoopie Goldberg and her massive hats!
Wonder what happened to Dr Crusher and why we're stuck with the annoying Dr Pulaski instead!
Fear new enemies!
Despair at the Irish sterotypes in "Up The Long Ladder"
Hail to the Chief with Colm Meaney finally getting regular appearances and a character name!

[Moggy]

The Child

Meh. Floating ball of energy turns out to be an alien. Wow, never seen that before.

The child plot itself was just daft. And I'm willing to bet that it's never mentioned again.

Where Silence Has Lease

What is it with Trek and daft episode titles?

Dreadful effects aside, I quite liked this one. The advanced alien testing humans thing is as overused as floating alien energy creatures, but there was decent tension here.

Elementary, Dear Data

The holodeck seems to be TNGs favourite thing. And strawberry float knows why, it always goes bloody wrong and nearly kills them all.

I don't like the new doctor, she seems to be mean to Data in a way that's far beyond banter.

As for the Sherlock Holmes stuff, I just don't find it funny or entertaining. Meh.

The Outrageous Okona

What if you crossed Harry Mudd with Han Solo but took away all the charm and campness? And then didn't have the balls to actually make him a rogue? Such a crap "twist" ending.

I genuinely don't know if Worf wanted to strawberry float him or fight him when he summoned him to see the captain.

Data's investigation into how to do comedy was crap as well. And not just him, that stand up was terrible.

Lois Lane though

[Jenuall]

Always feels like they were trying too hard to recreate a Bones type Dr with Pulaski - she's older, she's cranky, she doesn't like the "alien" character that's on board etc. But they missed the mark badly with her

[Lagamorph]

The Child is just....oof. What the hell were they thinking with that one?

Though just remember going into Season 2 that there's quite a bit of shonky writing in the early episodes because the Writers strike was in full swing. The Child was actually a recycled Star Trek Phase 2 script and there were some episodes that were basically first drafts of a script. The episode count of Season 2 got dropped from 26 to 22 and the start of production got pushed back, though the strike did end.


Season 2 was also going to include an episode with two openly homosexual crew members (Along with an Aids allegory plotline), but it ended up getting dropped due to studio and lawyer interference. The episode was written by the same writer who wrote "The Trouble with Tribbles" in the original series, but after the script was scrapped he left the show (And can't really blame him given how much he was messed around with a script that he was specifically asked to write with homosexual crew members).


Also, as we go through Season 2, be sure to keep both "Conspiracy" and "The Neutral Zone" from Season 1 in mind. They're going to be important later on for nerdy reasons


Oh, and Pulaski is absolutely the worst Star Trek Chief Medical Officer character.

Where Silence Has Lease

What is it with Trek and daft episode titles?

Dreadful effects aside, I quite liked this one. The advanced alien testing humans thing is as overused as floating alien energy creatures, but there was decent tension here.

In fairness it wasn't overused in 1989

[Moggy]

In fairness it wasn't overused in 1989

It had been used a few times up to that episode.

I'm quite far ahead now (those reviews were written weeks ago) and can confirm it happens again.

[Cheeky Devlin]

[Cheeky Devlin]

Wrapping up last weeks episodes and there's already a noticable lift in quality for the show. Though Crusher leaving and Pulaski coming in is not a great move. Diana Muldaur doesn't do a bad job with it, I just think the character isn't particularly likeable, especially in her interactions and attitude towards Data.

The Child
I quite like this and it's a nice, low-key start to the season.
I also like that there no big solution to the problem, instead it just decides to leave.
I do love that this bizarre alien entity joins with her and she names it "Ian".

Where Silence Has Lease
A fairly typical "ship is trapped" episode, but not a bad one.
Best parts are Worf and Riker on the "Yamato" and this gif.


Elementary, Dear Data
Holodeck episodes are never really my favourites, though I don't mind this one too much.
Geordie realising what he's done when asking it to make something that can beat Data was quite fun.
I also like there's no real resolution to it. There's no tech-macguffin to fix the problem, it's just "we'll save the game till we can help you".

The Outrageous Okona
Probably the most TOS-esque episode in these first 4.
It's just there really. I don't dislike it but it's not really one I ever look forward to.

[Moggy]

Loud as a Whisper

I found this really boring. Having a chorus of three people seemed a stupid idea and I found myself messing around on my phone for most of the episode. I was far more interested in Picard working out planetary orbits.

The Schizoid Man

That beard

That should have been gooseberry fool, but I really enjoyed it. The body swap thing has been done before, but at least this time it was a grumpy old man and not Shatner trying to act like a woman

Unnatural Selection

Colm Meaney looks weird young.

Not a great episode. The rapid ageing thing was done in TOS. And I'm pretty sure they fixed a similar problem in TOS by using the transporter. Why does anybody die/get injured if they can just use the memory saved in the transporter to fix things?


A Matter of Honour

Finally, an episode I really liked! This was much better than the vast majority of TNG so far. In fact, it's probably my favourite so far by a long way.

They are utter twats, but I love the Klingons. They've come a long way from the original series, rather than conniving weirdos that looked blacked up, they are a really interesting race of aliens.

Riker is hilarious as well. I have absolutely zero doubt that he strawberry floated both those Klingon ladies and that they both found him too much to take.

I'm confused on one thing though, this is set years after Star Trek 6, where the Klingons joined the federation and yet they seem to be a completely separate civilisation outside of the Federation. As early TNG was made before Star Trek 6, did the movie just ignore TNG, or did something happen that put the Klingons back outside of the Federation? Or am I mistaken and the Klingons never actually joined the Federation?

[Jenuall]

Sorry for my lack of contributions in here the last few weeks. I'm up to date with my watching but just haven't had a chance to write down my feelings on the episodes! Will try and get a mega post out covering the last few weeks today!

[Cheeky Devlin]

A Matter of Honour

Finally, an episode I really liked! This was much better than the vast majority of TNG so far. In fact, it's probably my favourite so far by a long way.

They are utter twats, but I love the Klingons. They've come a long way from the original series, rather than conniving weirdos that looked blacked up, they are a really interesting race of aliens.

Riker is hilarious as well. I have absolutely zero doubt that he strawberry floated both those Klingon ladies and that they both found him too much to take.

I'm confused on one thing though, this is set years after Star Trek 6, where the Klingons joined the federation and yet they seem to be a completely separate civilisation outside of the Federation. As early TNG was made before Star Trek 6, did the movie just ignore TNG, or did something happen that put the Klingons back outside of the Federation? Or am I mistaken and the Klingons never actually joined the Federation?

Glad you finally found one you really liked.

Dat Season 2 improvement

But yeah, they never actually joined the Federation. They remained separate, but technically "allies" with them.

[Jenuall]

A Matter of Honour

Finally, an episode I really liked! This was much better than the vast majority of TNG so far. In fact, it's probably my favourite so far by a long way.

They are utter twats, but I love the Klingons. They've come a long way from the original series, rather than conniving weirdos that looked blacked up, they are a really interesting race of aliens.

Riker is hilarious as well. I have absolutely zero doubt that he strawberry floated both those Klingon ladies and that they both found him too much to take.

I'm confused on one thing though, this is set years after Star Trek 6, where the Klingons joined the federation and yet they seem to be a completely separate civilisation outside of the Federation. As early TNG was made before Star Trek 6, did the movie just ignore TNG, or did something happen that put the Klingons back outside of the Federation? Or am I mistaken and the Klingons never actually joined the Federation?

Glad you finally found one you really liked.

Dat Season 2 improvement

But yeah, they never actually joined the Federation. They remained separate, but technically "allies" with them.

Yeah the alliance between the Klingons and Federation gets mentioned a few times

[Moggy]

Glad you finally found one you really liked.

Dat Season 2 improvement

But yeah, they never actually joined the Federation. They remained separate, but technically "allies" with them.

Don't get your hopes up, there aren't many in S2 that I loved.

I assumed in ST6 that the Kingon Empire was joining up, hence my confusion that they were still so seperate. It makes sense that it was just an alliance, I don't think the Klingons would ever play nicely inside a federation. They would end up as basically the UK in the EU.

[Lagamorph]

I think it's implied in other series that the Klingons do join the Federation eventually, likely sometime in the 25th or early 26th Centuries.

I'll be skipping Schizoid Man and Unnatural Selection from this week's batch, just because they're related to some anxiety triggers I've suffered with.


I actually quite like Loud as a Whisper just for the idea of the 3 person chorus, each one to represent a part of the guys personality, whilst still being distinct people themselves. The sign language thing with Data seemed to resolve it way too cleanly though. Turns out he just knew a common form of sign language all along that just a PADD could/should have been able to translate easily given that Data learned it from the computer.

Matter of Honour is a great episode though. It makes sense that the Klingons and Federation would be engaging in these kind of exchange programs (and we see it reciprocated the other way later) and Riker is a pretty ideal choice from the Enterprise crew.

[Cheeky Devlin]

Loud as a Whisper
The chorus is a dumb idea, but it was far more interesting than it would have been if he'd just been a regular guy who lost his ability to hear/speak.
Grisly looking gore effects when they got vaporised as well, which I'm always a fan of.

The Schizoid Man
Graves was a prick. Glad he died.

Unnatural Selection
Yawn. Anything Pulaski focused bores me to tears.
You're not Bones, stop trying to be.
Best part was O'Brien getting some decent screentime and a seat at the table.

A Matter of Honour
Best of this bunch by a decent margin.
Klingon episodes in general tend to be good.
This one is slightly different from the rest in that it's not specifically a Worf-centric episode, but Riker more than makes up for it.
Worf isn't exactly mr fun, so seeing Riker interact with the Klingon crew is a nice dynamic.
Worf being the intimidating manager to the Benzite Ensign was great as well.

[Cheeky Devlin]

[Lagamorph]

Measure of a Man is by far the best episode of TNG we've gotten so far in the run, and a great TNG episode in general.

Yes it definitely has some issues, like the whole concept of Data being treated as just some thing despite having been a Starfleet officer for so long, not to mention the idea that Riker would be forced to argue against Data despite the fact that they're both shipmates and friends creating a strawberry floating massive conflict of interest, but there's definitely some great acting and storytelling in there. One particular standout part is when Riker is researching Data and discovers the Off Switch. For a moment you can see him so excited at having found this crucial piece of evidence that could swing the whole case in his favour, only for the realisation of just what that will mean suddenly setting in and sending him crashing back down to reality.