Impromptu TNG Runthrough

squonk

The Survivors: The Enterprise comes across a destroyed planet save for one perfect house with two survivors of the alien attack that destroyed the planet. Troi gets a bout of music box sounding tinnitus. A great episode. I’d forgotten the storyline. I listened through a run through podcast, The Greatest Generation, where they made a big thing out of this episode but it seemed much more subtle on watching. An all powerful pacifist energy life form married an earth womam and relinquished his powers and both live very happy lives until a powerful alien race attack their planet. The pacifist could stop them but chooses not to but after his wife is killed in the attack he lashes out and wipes the entire attacking alien race from existence. I loved the story and the threat of an alien ship attacking the D was a ruse to have the man and his wife left alone. The wife being a recreation by this point. It left me thinking. Couldn’t the pacifist have just pushed the invading curve away one or two light years, like Q did in Q who and kept doing that? His premise was that he would not kill yet he ended up dooming the planet by angering the invaders with the deterrents he did try. A great episode that leaves you thinking which is as it should be with Trek.

Who Watches The Watchers: I’d like to talk to you about The Picard, our Lord and Saviour! Botched first contact. A team studying a pre industrial Vulcan like society get discovered and, like all botched prime directive things, chaos ensues. I think this was an episode I missed on first run and never remember so it was likely my first time seeing it. Very much an episode about the vagueries of religion and trying to guess what your god wants. The civilisation worships Picard after an injured member is beaned to sick bay and healed but the memory block fails. He remembers Picard from the experience and a religion begins to grow. Riker and Troi are sent down to diffuse the situation but can’t. The solution is to beam the leader, a sensible woman, aboard the enterprise’s show her that Picard is just a more evolved humanoid. Fantastic acting from Stewart I thought. I was left feeling the civilisation was damaged anyway by what they know. They’re far from being advanced enough for warp travel but know now advanced civilisations exist. Particularly the episode captured for me how, even at our technology level, how exciting I’d find it if I was taken aboard something like the enterprise and confronted by a benign more advanced being. Not likely having seen this episode before it was really exciting and could definitely feel some of the magic of first time watching, even at my age now.

The Bonding: After a crew member dies on an away mission the crew must comfort her orphaned son while also dealing with with an energy form trying to masquerade as the boys mother and take him to the planet where the accident happened. A great human episode. I think it’s one I wouldn’t have been too interested in on first watch but which resonates more now. I felt sorry for the young child and especially being pulled every way between the crew helping him and his mutters sudden appearance. Worf’s Klingon bonding ceremony appears to be the Klingon ritual of making a big deal of welcoming an orphan into your family and then never interacting with them again 😀 I don’t think we ever saw Jeremy Astor again after that presumably he moved back to earth with his uncle I’d have totally volunteered to go live on the planet with yummy mummy alien energy force though 😀

So far season 3 is great but I’m surprised actually prior to this I had it in my head that season 1 was crap, season 2 slightly less crap, season 3 amazeballs but the progression is actually much less dramatic and the earlier seasons are strong enough in spots.

breezy1985

The climax to The Survivors is dark. The actor was a good match for Stewart too and it makes for some good final scenes.

Rawr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123774900#Comment_123774900

On rewatch I sort of realized that Jeremy Astor joined The House of Mogh at probably the worst possible time.

He’s only a couple of months away from being declared a fellow traitor to the Klingon Empire and subject to Discommondation.

For some reason I imagine older Jeremy being punched by random Klingons on the street, and him being confused as to why they hate him so much :P

breezy1985

It's never a good time for a child to join the House of Mogh

squonk

Booby Trap: Booby trap for the Enterpryse but no boobies for Geordie! The Enterprise encounters a derelict vessel from a long finished war and is ensnared in the same minefield that doomed the ancient vessel. Geordi tries dating. Simple enough A plot here I thought. Picard has fun exploring the ancient ship but less fun when the enterprise gets stuck, unable to move by ancient mines. The solution seemed telegraphed early on. Any power they threw at the mines increased their effectiveness. It seemed way too obvious that the way forward was turning the enterprise off and turning it back on again. I did like the navigation through the minefield. In the B plot, Geordi is on a date on the holders when the show opens. Things are going ok til he rolls out a violin player in a hi-viz work site jacket. The date promptly ends. I blame the drinks. Maybe instead of coco-no-nos, if he’d been serving Coco-yes-yes’s things might have gone better. After the mines capture the ship he takes to the holodeck to reconfigure the engines, as you do. This is the first appearance of Leah Brahms where he recreates her on the holideck. It’s super cheesy and creepy which is how Geordi rolls with women throughout the series! In the end he didn’t need the simulation. You just know he came back later and the cleanup crew had a tough morning the following day! 😀

The Enemy: Team Building Day! After being left behind on a dark and stormy planet, Geordi must work with a Romulan to get back to the Enterprise. Some Romulans have crashed on a federation zone planet and destroyed their ship. Geordi falls down a hole into a cave and the away team must leave without him. The storms mean they can’t beam him up straight away but must wait for a window when they’ve died down. Geordie fashions some tools, climbs out and starts exploring. Meanwhile Wesley has reconfigured an emitter to provide a beacon Geordi will see. He does and is on his way to the beacon he’s waylaid by a romulan. Long story short, they’re both hostile to each other but must soon work together as the atmosphere is messing with their neural pathways and Geordi goes blind and the romulan is having blood pressure spikes. The romulan guides Geordi to the beacon, Geordi helps him reconfigure the beacon and they get home. Meanwhile G’Kar from Babylon 5 playing a Romulan shows up and threatens the ship but ultimately brings his crewman aboard. Literally a team building exercise for the federation and Romulus. A good episode though.

The Price: The Enterprise hosts an auction for a newly discovered wormhole. Bidders: the federation, The griselles led by a smarmy guy, sone other alien and the Ferengi. After the Ferengi nobble the federation negotiator Riker takes over the role. Meanwhile smarmy negotiator has met Troi and gets busy negotiating his way into her pants. Turns out the negotiator is 1/4 betazoid. This gives him an upper hand which he’s used to convince one party to pull out, done a side deal with the Ferengi to cause Riker to hit the bridge after the Ferengi fire on the wormhole and secures the deal for the Russell’s. Except the wormhole is unstable so it’s useless in the end. A fun episode and great to see Troi out of the silly wigs and being allowed to be the hot lady she is. It did feel a bit strange then making light of the Ferengi who were marooned Voyager style at the other end of the wormhole mind you.

The Vengeance Factor: Picard must mediate between a settled race and space “travellers” on a planet. The Gatherers left the planet 100 years earlier and scavenge any material they can find. Their leader looks like one of Alice Coopers band from the late 80s! Not much to this story I thought. Just negotiating the peace between them but hindered by assassinations by a sleeper agent who is young and pretty and naturally Riker tries it on with. She was specially modified to slow her aging so she could wipe out an entire family over time in response to a similar assassination from that family. The highlight is Worf refusing the equivalent of a blood transfusion to help the Romulans based on his own hatred after they killed his parents. Dark and he direct. I love that the writers stuck to there guns on this. Good episode but filler by the standards of this season.

The Defector: the enterprise encounters saves a romulan from a stricken ship while being chased by his own people. He notifies the enterprise that he wishes to defect. This creates the usual diplomatic hubbub. It turns out that what was a low level officer turns out to be an admiral which does seem even better. G’Kar is back as Tomalok looking for his defector back. As the Federation won’t return the defector it leads to a stand-off between the enterprise and the Romulus ship with a potential war at stake. Lots to unpack in this episode. I loved that the Klingons arrived as backup and to act as a deterrents and it wasn’t telegraphed. It really felt like the federation actually working together. The romulan warned of a fleet being amassed at a given location but when the enterprise go to investigate there is nothing save 2 warbirds which triggers the standoff. It turns out the defector was fed deliberately falsified information to test his loyalty. He defected so he could do the right thing for his children. After being duped he has nothing to live for and takes his own life in the final scene. This was such a dark ending and I loved it as it’s not the usual trope of the good guy coming out on top. It’s dark, miserable and quite sobering but also realistic.

JayRoc

The Defector was a brilliant episode. Trek at its best.

I hate The Price. Troi's love interest, the sleazy ambassador/negotiator (who I recognise from Police Academy 5 where he starred against a mob boss played by Rene Auberjonois) is such a **** drip it's insulting to Troi to suggest that she would give him the time of day

breezy1985

The Defector has become one of my absolute favourites. Went over my head as a kid but one of my favoute rewatches now.

Always loved Booby Trap just for that initial beam over. I love a good dead captain video.

squonk

Tge dead captain was great and done really well! The Defector went over my head at the time too. It’s an amazing epishde and I should have been raving about it but it took 35 years to appreciate it.

@JayRoc youre right about Troi. I felt it might have been implied by Riker being so cool about the whole thing, basically telling the guy a relationship with Troi might be the best thing that could happen to him but not thinking he’d realise it. I think he might have also been suggesting that Troi’s head might have been temporarily turned but she wouldn’t be serious about him long term. I think Riker had his number straight off. Mind you I’m not sure about how Riker and Troi’s relationship is written. They’re suggested to be deeply intertwined yet neither seems too bothered about the others other relationships of conquests.

JayRoc

I think they're both almost totally lacking in insecurity. Very fond of one another/love one another, they both know there's a good chance they'll end up together eventually, and if so what happens until then doesn't really matter.

squonk

The Hunted: That’ll do super soldier, that’ll do! While visiting a planet looking to join the Federation, the enterprise try and capture an escaped convict who eludes them for a long while. Later when he’s caught and in the brig Troi and Data develope a relationship with him and uncover that he’s an engineered super soldier now incarcerated because the society who created him don’t know how to manage his kind. I thought Babe was the first time I’d heard of Jane’s Cromwell and thought that that film was his breakout but here he is on TNG in 1990. Great ending to this episode with Picard leaving the government and super soldiers in a standoff and forcing them to compromise for their mutual benefit. Worf’s attempts to capture the soldier on board the enterprise looked amateurish. A few easily overpowered security officers sent to apprehend him. Worf not even breaking into a run to get to his location. Again anyone can wander into engineering and disable the crew. I don’t think saving face for Gauron was the reason for the downfall of the house of Mogh. I’d say some Klingons saw this episode and spread word about Worf’s abilities! 😀.

The High Ground: THAT episode. Ooh-ah Up the Sa! While visiting Planet Northern Ireland the Enterprise away team are surprised by a bomb which kills several people. While lending medical assistance, Crusher is kidnapped. The crew works with the planets ruling administration to get crusher back and more so after Picard is also captured. This is the epishde banned in the UK at the time. RTE showed it I believe as I’d swear I remember the reference to a United ireland by 2024. I found this problematic viewing. It seemed to be clearly on the side of the occupying power with a nod to the cause of those occupied. I felt it could have been done better. I’m not condoning any side in Northern Ireland and we all know too well how bad a period that was. If anything the aftermath of the explosion looked too clean and almost ordered. It’s a bad thing that we’ve seen first hand and repeatedly if you’re over 50 what it’s really like. It felt like a disservice to any country who won there independence by guerrilla warfare. Rather than addressing the point that the federation helping the occupying government with supplies aligned them and made them a legitimate target, it came across as the terrorists had just turned pure evil. Surprisingly I found myself siding with the Ensata. It was never mentioned why they were denied independence and what led to it. There’s a deeper story I’m sure. As a story overall it lacked subtlety and seemed a bit naive but they could only fit so much into 42 minutes but it really came across as might is right and the little guys don’t matter but are terrible if they onject. No side wins in these situations.

Deja Q: Human Q. Q loses his powers and is kicked out of the continuum and tries to join the enterprise’s as a crew member. This is my favourite Q outing to date. John DeLancie is great. Being human is very limiting and bothersome for someone used to omnipotent powers. Nevertheless he does manage to help the crew try to move a moon back into orbit and attempt to save a planet. However a race he taunted shows up to get revenge putting the enterprise in danger. Q decides to commit suicide by stealing a shuttle and placing himself at the mercy of the alien race. If he hadn’t they’d have destroyed the enterprise eventually to get him. That selfless act gets him his powers back. He reinstated the moon and shows up on the bridge with a mariachi band which is very funny. So really a bit of a throwaway fun episode but it’s very good. Stewart and DeLancie are now comfortable with their characters so there’s a lot to like really.

Rawr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123779872#Comment_123779872

Booby Trap always reminds me of this:

https://youtu.be/SeQ3ksvUWRc?si=8VCBUuJDROp03Az0

The Defector is just fantastic. Always worth a rewatch.

breezy1985

Just on James Cromwell it amazes me how much went over my head watching as a kid in terms of reused sets or recurring actors.

JayRoc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123781813#Comment_123781813

I think this or Dudley Smith in LA Confidential was the first time I saw him act. After that you saw him a LOT in Star Trek but that was normal enough, they saw an actor they liked and by jaysus they gave him some work

JayRoc

Re. The High Ground,

When I saw this episode (on RTE, absolutely 100%) at the time I thought it was incredidbly unsophisticated in terms of the "terrorists are bad ok" characterisation;

But you could tell they were bending over backward to avoid being accused of portraying sympathetic guerillas/terrorists/whatever.

It makes you wonder what was the point in doing the episode at all.

But then DS9 made it all better by making it clear that The Space Ra were the good guys :)

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123782177#Comment_123782177

A lot of actors steer clear of stuff with heavy makeup prosthetics… means a lot more hours on set, sometimes allergic reactions \ rashes. So with Cromwell they got lucky such a fine actor who that didn't seem to bother.

Virginia Hey who played “Zhaan” in the tv show Farscape had to quit the role because of the negative impact the make-up had on her.

Julie Caitlin Brown played Na'Toth on Babylon 5 but left after Season 1 for similar reasons.

John Rhys Davies on LOTR… it's why he didn't reprise his role in The Hobbit.

squonk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123782193#Comment_123782193

I had the exact same thought, why did they bother because it’s a matter of perspective whether terrorists are bad or not. It’s too contentious but to me it looked like reading the world from a US standpoint where you Coukd say that terrorists are bad. Problem is they’re also alienating a chunk of audience with that point of view. DS9 was much better at acknowledging and exploring these darker themes.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123782204#Comment_123782204

Discovery had to kill Ariam and make a human character for the actor because she was allergic to the prosthetics.

Pretty sure the full latex type used around the time of Disco season 1 were causing a lot of problems for shows.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123782342#Comment_123782342

Good example. I'd say it is a large consideration in the casting of roles and limits the available pool of actors e.g. to take Trek ones as example like Worf, Odo, Quark, Neelix, Phlox, Saru.

squonk

A Matter Of Perspective: Picard, Riker & Troi watch a bad soap opera on the holodeck. After Riker visits a research base the visit seems to end badly and the base explodes as he beams back aboard. A prosecutor comes aboard looking to extradite Riker for the murder of a research doctor. Tge holders is used to recreate scenarios based on the testimony of Riker, the doctors wife and a research assistant. Rikers version has the wife coming into him with him resisting, the wife’s is the opposite with Riker intent on raping her. In all the doctor catches the pair in the act. The research assistants vision has the doctor beating the crap out of Riker where as the others show less violence. Meanwhile the enterprise has instances of strange radiation burbs on various decks. An interesting story. You end up never quite sure of what the actual events are. Lawyer Picard must pick through the facts and decide to extradite Riker or not. The prosecutor made a lot of concessions to the federation. I felt it was questionable letting the hearing take place on the enterprise using federation technology. Good cameo by Mark Margolis. In the eve the fixture had discovered a radiation type he was planning to sell as a weapon further profit but duped the federation into supplying material to ramp up production. Thst paranoia where he thought Riker was onto him led him to try to kill Riker but by accident blew himself svd his station up. The interaction between Riker, the wine and the doctor felt like a bad daytime drama.

Yesterday’s Enterprise: Y’ar Back! An anomaly brings the enterprise C into the save time as the D but due to it being pulled out of time it couldn’t avert an attack on a Klingon base which led to the federation being in open war with the Klingons in this timeline. Use never died and is back. I lived this Decatur time. It’s still good but don’t seem to pack as much of a punch likely due to over watching. We’ve probably all rewatched it quite a bit.

Offspring: Data Baby Daddy. Data creates a copy of himself, Lal who chooses to adopt the identity of a girl. The episode follows her experiences learning about humans and fitting in while a Starfleet admiral looks to rage her away first study. I think this is the first epishde directed by Johnathan Frakes. It’s a really nice episode full of humanity. It gets you at the end when Lal dies. Great directorial debut. I loved the west wing walk and talk shots through the corridors. I also can’t help feeling Data should leave Starfleet ASAP. There seems to be a really dark side to the federation and how they deal with androids. It look like despite everything that is said, they regard them as property. Data’s independence seems to be wholly dependant on Picard’s strength and decency as a person. It feels like he’s the only bulwark against the federation coming for Data and that’s not good. Lal isn’t a member of Starfleet which makes matters worse. The admiral has no jurisdiction to order her to do anything. They averted the whole question by having Lal die but I’m left feeling quite unsettled by the episode.

JayRoc

Apart from anything else, you're throwing out some puns that would define the term "dad-joke" :)

Outstanding work.

Re. A Matter of Perspective...Rashomon in space?

Rawr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123782580#Comment_123782580

Yesterday’s Enterprise:

Not much to say that hasn’t already been said. No surprise that it routinely sits in Top 10 lists of best Trek episodes. It’s mindblowing to consider that this episode shares a season with the likes of Best of Both Worlds and other gold-standard episodes.

What I will add is how I love the way that they inserted a working-hatred between War Picard and War Riker. Without even adding that much to the script Steward, Frakes and the directing made it very clear that those 2 just hated each other. I bet you anything that War Picard wasn’t even that upset when War Riker is killed by Console-razors.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123783279#Comment_123783279

Much like Living Witness I remember really wishing the set and uniform style of the real show was more like these alternate episodes. Was way better than the bright look with silly extra seats for ships councillors.

Also love that Living Witness in particular done the mirror universe trope without doing the mirror universe.

squonk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123783279#Comment_123783279

I didn’t pick up on that. Thanks!!! I did think that the aim was to make Picard seem more authoritarian which I thought fitted in with an embattled captain in crisis mode. Culturally also I thought people coming through the academy might be encouraged to think fast and act without the luxury of bringing options to the table and time to discuss them that the non war universe enjoys.

Rawr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123783297#Comment_123783297

I especially liked the delta-emblazoned Phaser belts they wore. Felt like a TOS movie flare to the uniform.

squonk

Sins Of The Father: A Klingon officer coming on board the enterprise in a return cultural exchange after Rikers stone on the P’ah. It turns out he’s Worf’s brother and he urges Worf to defend family honour and price that Mogh wasn’t the traiturvwhongafevtge formulas shield codes which enabled the khittomat massacre. One of tge great episodes from Season 3 and I’m sure everyone has seen it. It’s the beginning of us realising that Worf has an idealistic sense of get it means to be Klingon. The opening gambit for what there into a great story arc.

Allegiance: Faux Picard. When Picard is captured with 3 other aliens a doppelgänger is left in his place on the enterprise. I kind of dozed off watching this to be honest. It seemed to be there to allow Patrick Stewart to play a more lighthearted version of Picard.

Captains Holiday: Dixon Hill in speedos on Rikers favourite sex planet. Picard is forced to rage a holiday on Risa, a holiday sex camp planet. There he immediately meets Vash, a conwoman archaeologist and gets caught up in a caper to uncover a weapon from the future while trying tonnage off a Ferengi also looking to acquire the weapon. Not far removed from a Dixon Hill plot really. It’s a fair episode which introduces Vash. Felt like even the writers gut bored of the “will they, won’t they” with Beverly, realised it’d go nowhere so introduced a character who doesn’t need much encouragement. Nice fun filler episode.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123785676#Comment_123785676

First 2 are great and its surprising how little Kurn was actually in Star Trek because he feels like a character we know loads about.

3rd one is poor except for Vash.

squonk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123786067#Comment_123786067

I agree. I thought turns while Kurt was one of the two Old Klingons who showed up on an epishde of DS9 much later. Great performance from the actor.

eadrom

Kurn was only in this one and the Redemption two-parter, then a single episode of DS9.

Fantastic performance from Tony Todd.

Evade

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123783279#Comment_123783279

I think that might more have been war veteran compartmentalisation and he noted it to deal with it later. Riker was probably far from the first crewmember that died in front of him in battle.

JayRoc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123785676#Comment_123785676

I was never mad about Vash tbh. I don't think either the character or the actress were really a great fit for Picard.

(Although Patrick Stewart felt differently; they hooked up while making this episode as I recall and it ended up knackering his marriage)