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Star Trek TNG - 7x05 - Gambit, Part II

Originally Aired: 1993-10-18

Synopsis:
Picard and Riker masquerade as mercenaries. [DVD]

My Rating - 8

Fan Rating Average - 6.22

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 24 1 9 1 12 3 8 20 33 36 14

Problems
None

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- Riker hitting Picard back. Go Riker!
- Data's chat with Worf.
- Picard: "Oh what a tangled web we weave. I have difficulty remembering whose side I'm on!"
- Picard: "Will, you always seem to be after my job."
- The "revelation" that the Romulan was a Vulcan.
- Worf's "health and safety inspections" idea.
- Beverly nervously introducing herself to the pilot of the Klingon shuttle and conducting her search.
- I love the behavior of the Klingon pilot.
- Picard taking over the smuggler ship.
- Picard carefully testing his "Vulcan" friend.
- Picard's solution to the resonator.
- Picard jokingly ordering Data to escort Riker to the brig and Data following his orders very thoroughly. Hilarious!

My Review
The second half of this episode retains the same level of excitement and intelligence. It goes slightly sour with the psyonic resonator, a super god weapon, suddenly real. I love the ending though. The weapon is useless against a disciplined mind! Overall this is one of the most memorable episodes of TNG.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From JRPoole on 2008-10-14 at 9:53pm:
    This one just isn't working for me. The melodrama at the beginning of the first part with Riker and Troi hashing it out over Picard's death is badly acted and written. The psyonic resonator turns out to be exceptionally lame. The pain/control devices have been done to death. James Worthy's klingon character is just lame.

    That said, there is some memorable stuff here. Data's interaction with Worf is well-done. And there is some good intrigue on a plot level.
  • From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2008-11-25 at 3:22pm:
    They did all this work, in two episodes, to assemble the artifact, only to find a "gun" that takes 10 seconds to fire. I felt let down.
  • From tigertooth on 2011-01-05 at 8:55am:
    So what would have been the downside if Data had just ordered that the Enterprise fire on the pirate ship and disable it? I think I have to side with Worf on this one.
  • From Robert Koenn on 2011-06-22 at 8:29am:
    I was somewhat let down by the second half of this episode. The first 3/4s of it were fine and continued with the first halfs exciting plot and fair amount of action. However the ending was a big let down for me. As was stated in another review, the "ultimate" weapon was a real let down and the Vulcan peace versus war morality from Picard just came out as extremely lame. The Vulcan woman's reaction was totally out of place and I almost expected to see her go into a childish rant about it throwing it on the ground and stomping on it. Again, the plot line devices are just too convenient and everyone beaming into the cavern at the end seemed too convenient. So this one only gets a 6 rating from me.
  • From dronkit on 2014-03-12 at 11:41pm:
    "my name is actually T'pol and I'm a member of the [vulcan security]"

    o.O They were taking lots of names from these episodes, lol
  • From Axel on 2015-03-07 at 9:41pm:
    The only thing I don't understand about this two-parter is why Picard would end up in the hands of these mercenaries in the first place. You'd think that tracking mercenaries who are stealing "Romulan" artifacts would be dangerous enough that he'd ask for some backup, or at least let someone know what he's doing. The rogue nature of this episode's premise is a little out of character for Picard.

    That aside, it's one of the more enjoyable two-parters. There are a lot of twists and turns, and plenty of intrigue once Riker shows up on the mercenary ship. I really liked watching Riker and Picard try to play different sides of Baran, and also liked the Data-Worf subplot. Adventurous and compelling...nicely done.
  • From jeffenator98 on 2019-08-01 at 1:21pm:
    Robin Curtis from Star Trek 3 is in this one.
  • From Jack S on 2024-03-02 at 2:27pm:
    A fun, adventurous episode for sure. The ending was a little odd. While Talera was focusing the resonator on Riker or Worf, couldn't Picard have tried to grab it from her instead of standing there watching while she tried to kill them? It seems like the resonator has to be focused on a particular person to work, so Picard could have done something to neutralize her.

    Former L.A. Laker "Big Game James" Worthy playing the Klingon Koral was great. Most athletes don't do well in acting gigs, but this was a perfect character for him: few lines, and mostly intimidating behavior. I love when he pours the bloodwine on the floor!

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Star Trek TNG - 7x15 - Lower Decks

Originally Aired: 1994-2-7

Synopsis:
Four junior officers are involved in a top-secret mission. [DVD]

My Rating - 8

Fan Rating Average - 8.18

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 9 5 2 4 5 5 6 12 42 54 94

Problems
- In the junior officer Poker game, Ben has a King, a Jack, a Ten and an Eight. Lavelle has two Sixes and two Sevens. It is impossible for Ben to win no matter what his other card is! Why does Lavelle fold even though his victory is a certainty?

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- Lavelle complaining about Taurik as his room mate.
- Lavelle attempting to be social with Riker.
- Picard chewing out Sito.
- Geordi bluffing about "testing the hull" of the shuttle and Taurik seeing straight through it.
- The two Poker games running simultaneously.
- Worf teaching Sito to stand up for herself.
- Sito standing up for herself to Picard.
- Sito attending the senior staff meeting and voluneering for the mission.
- Sito's tragic death.

My Review
This one's a classic. One thing I liked was one of the inclusion of Nurse Ogawa in the lower decks posse, reusing an existing character along with the three new characters. Besides the excellent acting by all characters, the main plot is enticing. A Cardassian, who's a spy for the Federation, needs to get back to Cardassian space. The two plot threads about the Cardassian and the junior officers are wonderfully integrated with one another and the ending is quite tragic and touching. My only regret regarding this episode is that we never see these characters again, with the obvious exception of Ogawa, as I especially liked Levelle and Taurik and it's a shame they're wasted. Though it should be obvious by now that Star Trek throws away good guests of the week all the time.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From FH on 2009-02-04 at 4:45am:
    Sito is not a new character. She was in Wesley's team at the academy in "The First Duty".
  • From askthepizzaguy on 2010-08-10 at 1:56pm:
    I thought that the actor that played Taurik went on to play a vulcan on Voyager, Vorik.

    Vorik is basically a Taurik clone. Similar to Tom Paris and Locarno being a clone.
  • From MJ on 2011-04-25 at 6:04pm:
    This is one of the best episodes of the seventh season of TNG, and is probably one of my top 10 for the whole series.

    First, the concept itself is unorthodox. Not many television shows put their main casts in a side role and make the story revolve around a bunch of characters, some of which haven't been introduced before. It works, too, because the actors and actresses pull it off and we still see enough of the main cast-it's just that we see them through the eyes of junior officers. The writing is perfect because we instantly get a sense of the characters and their relationships with each other.

    I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, including Picard's testing of this young ensign in order to prepare her for a dangerous mission, with the added benefit of having some nice continuity from TNG: The First Duty. Worf was well written in this episode too. His bonding with Sito was both believable and a nice fit to the overall story.

    This one gets a 10 from me.
  • From L on 2013-05-02 at 12:02am:
    Genuinely moving at the end, and great to see the view from other members of the crew. I like how we were kept in the dark as much as the characters were, which is how it must be for 98% of the crew every time a red alert or an emergency is happening.
    Incidental personnel aren't usually privilege to exposition, unless Picard does a weekly 'This week on the Enterprise' public announcement wrap-up.
    Sad to know we won't see any more of the perky Cardassian. Loved the way Whorf and the Captain helped to build her up.
  • From L on 2013-05-02 at 2:34am:
    Oh crap. I meant 'perky Bajoran'. Embarrassed apologies.
  • From Quando on 2014-01-27 at 4:55pm:
    I just watched this episode again, and I think it is my favorite of the whole TNG series. I love that we get to see a "crisis of the week" in a way that the crew would actually experience it -- learning bits and pieces here and there but never really knowing exactly what is going on, even when it is over. I also loved the somewhat parallel but different dynamics between each of the senior officers and their corresponding junior officer counterparts (Riker/Lavell, Beverly/Ogawa, Geordie/Taurik, Worf/Sito). Lavell being terrified of Riker, but trying to kiss up to him, and Riker eventually realizing that he was being too hard on Lavell, possibly because he saw some of his own young self in him. Worf personally vouching for Sito and trying to give her more confidence and an opportunity to succeed, only to see her killed and feel like it was partly his fault (note how he protectively stands next to her when she is sitting in the observation lounge meeting the Cardassian). Geordie getting over his pride and annoyance with a show-off newbie and Taurik learning a little about how to interact with humans without coming across as a jerk. Letting the senior officers interact with new characters in the crew who are somewhat more developed than the usual "redshirt" extras lets us see old, familiar characters in a new light. Also, the ending of the episode is sad but perfect. The crew has to presume that Sito is dead based on some pretty strong circumstantial evidence, but in the end nobody really knows for sure what happened - and we the viewer don't even get to see it from our usual third person omniscient point of view. We get to see no more that the crew does, and even the senior officers don't know (indeed, there are no shots outside of the ship in the whole episode). Very true to life. My only complaint is that with the exception of Ogawa (IMO the least interesting of the four), we don't get to see any of these interesting characters ever again. I would have even liked to see a whole episode about Ben, and how he ended up tending bar on a starship. But this was the last TNG season, so I guess time had kind of run out. Even so, this is a really great story about the people on the ship and how they act and react to each other, and for that reason I give it a "10" and my vote as the best episode of TNG.
  • From dronkit on 2014-03-14 at 2:58am:
    Another favorite episode for me, when I saw it the first time years ago I loved it, seeing new characters developed, a civilian and lower rank officers, and I loved the new reformed Zito and her destiny was so sad.

    Anyway I came to say: Troi playing poker?!? She should be banned!

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Star Trek TNG - 7x20 - Journey's End

Originally Aired: 1994-3-28

Synopsis:
Wesley re-examines his future. [DVD]

My Rating - 8

Fan Rating Average - 4.75

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 33 13 7 10 8 16 21 16 33 10 6

Problems
- Beverly claims that the Traveller is from Tau Ceti. But he's actually from Tau Alpha C according to TNG: Where No One Has Gone Before and TNG: Remember Me.

Factoids
- This episode marks the beginnings of the Maquis.

Remarkable Scenes
- Wesley reuniting with the crew.
- Picard arguing with the admiral, pointing out the disturbing historical parallels with forcibly removing Native Americans.
- I love the way Picard handled the admiral. He was very diplomatic.
- Wesley's "attitude" in engineering.
- Anthwara citing that Picard's ancestor participated in an atrocity against the Native American people.
- Wesley making a complete ass of himself spoiling Worf's covert transporter plans.
- Time stopping before Wesley's eyes.
- The peaceful ending.

My Review
A much needed episode to conclude Wesley's story. Offscreen, he was written out of the show due to some retarded TV show politics, but thankfully the writers gave him a nice send-off here. Additionally, this episode features a fantastic bit of irony. Picard is ordered to forcibly displace some Native Americans from their new home. Besides the great historical parallels, this episode has great implications. These events are what spark the Maquis rebellion against the Federation. The peaceful ending in this episode is awesome. But misleading. Watch the next DS9 episode to find the beginnings of the Maquis! A stellar episode.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From Goblin on 2009-01-29 at 8:44am:
    I thought this episode was really boring actually. I don't think that this deserves anwhere near as high as an 8.
  • From schn on 2010-11-12 at 6:49pm:
    I get that this episode was meant to show someone walking away from Starfleet, but that is very easy to do when you have super powers.
  • From MJ on 2011-01-05 at 12:37pm:
    I hated this episode.

    What bothers me is the politically correct, New Agey brand of spirituality the episode gives the Native Americans. While trying to make them look like the good guys here, this “magical, mystical Indian” portrayal is just as racist, and just as inaccurate, as the “barbarian-savage” portrayal you got from early white sources in the Americas. The American Indian belief systems varied widely from tribe to tribe, and also the way the Indians interacted with nature was just as varied across the Americas. The notion that they were like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before the white man’s arrival is patently ridiculous. And, now enter one of TNG’s strangest characters, the Traveler, and his vague explanations for how he taps into the raw energy of the universe to do what he does, all of which is apparently on par with what the Indians believe, and all as part of some journey of self-discovery for Wesley? Where is the usual TNG in all of this?

    Well, it’s there, actually. It’s just interwoven with all this PC stuff. It could be a really good episode that tackles a meaningful, real-world problem: whether it’s right for a government to force people from their homes for the “greater good” of a peace settlement. But that takes a backseat to the Wesley plot. I thought "The Ensigns of Command" did a much better job with this problem.

    I can appreciate what the episode was trying to do. It’s the Seventh Season, and TNG needs to tie up all the loose ends. Last we saw of Wesley, he had gotten in trouble at Starfleet Academy for participating an illegal dare-devil stunt, and was subsequently held back a year. Not exactly a good finale for a character who played a major role in several seasons of the show. And, I do like how Wesley has a bit of a chip on his shoulder here, not bouncing back all fresh and perky after a miserable year at the Academy being shunned by his classmates. I even like the idea of him becoming disillusioned with Starfleet and wanting something different. It just didn’t seem this was a good sendoff for the character.

    Maybe what bothers me the most is that Wesley will actually be exploring the Galaxy in a far more significant way than Picard and crew, which takes something away from their mission and storyline. Their ship, with all its technology and its highly trained crew, won’t get nearly as far as this boy wonder hopping around higher existence with the Traveler and possibly some Indians. It’s ultimately unsettling because at the end of “All Good Things” we’re told that amazing new discoveries are what await Picard; seems Wesley’s the one actually having all the fun. I never liked the Traveler to begin with. As superior life forms go, the Q Continuum was TNG’s stroke of genius. This Traveler just gets in the way of the whole plot and adds a “feel-good” element that TNG would be better off leaving alone. Science fiction is not science, but one of the things I’ve always appreciated about TNG is that at least they have plausible explanations for some of what goes on.
  • From Trekstar on 2011-01-31 at 12:31am:
    This episode makes me cringe. I never actually hated Wesley Crusher, but every so often he would say or do something so lame and so cheesy. I think the character wasn't fully developed because the writers didn't know what the hell they wanted from him. Not only do they give him the dumbest lines in this ep., but they give everyone else dumb lines when they are around him. Like the eye rolling crap that Data says when he sees Wesley for the first time. I personally wish they would have made Wes angrier and angrier in each ep he did, then have him(with the help of his time traveler friend) become a Darth Vader type bad guy. Sweet lil Anakin becomes Darth Vader; sweet nerdy Wesley Crusher becomes...something! Oh well, they instead wrote this masterpiece. One last thing, the traveler really bugs me. I guess they are going for a mystical feel to this guy, but to me he seems too creepy, like a pedophile who's been lurking in the shadows, watching Wesley grow into a man so they can skip off into other realities together. The point: I hate this episode, and I hate the way they said good bye to Wesley Crusher!!!
  • From John on 2011-02-06 at 6:30pm:
    I have to agree with others that this episode definitely exploits a stereotype to tell its story. One thing I hate about this episode (and this extends to Voyager episodes about Chakotay) is the cheesy flute music. Why has this one musical form been used as a meme for all Native Americans? Are we supposed to believe that all the people who first populated the Americas listened to one style of crappy music? It's utter nonsense, and basely false.

    Another thing for which the writers ought to be ashamed is referring to the settlers as "Indians". This happens repeatedly, and each time it makes me cringe. This is the 24th century -- by all other indications, humanity has moved beyond these dated and racist terms. Why not just call them "settlers"? That is, after all, what they are.

    I really don't like this episode. The only thing that redeems it at all for me is that Wesley finally goes away.
  • From Dorvan on 2013-08-11 at 8:59pm:
    This episode was written as my 13th birthday present by Ron Moore. Most of it was based on a conversation my mother had with him about Star Trek failure to include Native American characters. For the most part I liked it and it was a good send-off for Wesley...However I did have a huge problem with the cliche Native American stereotype. Picking on Picard because of something his ancestor did. I am sure that with any good research you can link anyone to a bloodthirsty ancestor. Dumb. That flute is annoying…vision quest is the answer to everything…we speak to the bear...all they need was a catch phrase like Hackuchimoya…

    This episode would have been better off with some actual research into Native culture.
  • From Keefaz on 2017-02-21 at 5:15am:
    A pretty feeble episode. Amazingly ham-fisted treatment of Native American culture. I thought we'd agreed not to refer to them as 'Indians' decades ago, so how this slipped into the script is beyond me. And the episode works on two different levels of bullsht in that the quasi-Native American rubbish about spirit animals (incidentally, how could a Klingon or Vulcan be a spirit animal, no different to a parrot, as claimed here?) turns out to be a fabrication by The Traveller.

    Best scene: a fight breaks out which could, potentially, reignite a Federation-Cardassia war and Wes and The Traveller just stroll off, beatifically, into the sunset.
  • From Mike on 2017-07-29 at 7:08pm:
    After Nechayev's first meeting with Picard, she walks out of the observation lounge, stops, and thanks Picard for making her feel welcome. I was kind of hoping she'd slink back to the table, grab some Valarian canopies, say, "just going to take a few of these for the road" and then leave. I mean she didn't eat a single one after Picard went to all that trouble!

    Wesley's douchebaggery is a little hard to stomach in this episode because at times it felt very overdone. But, it's fitting for his character after we last saw him get reprimanded for a daredevil stunt at the Academy. The scenes with him and the Traveler were also a little tough to get through, and the one where they casually stroll away from the battle in the village was just awkward. As mentioned above, it feels like the Enterprise's experiences will pale in comparison to Wesley and the Traveler.

    That aside, the rest of this episode was well done and explored a relevant issue. In the 1990's, with the production of "Dances With Wolves", mainstream U.S. society was starting to take a look at the country's history of dealings with American Indians. The historical undertones of this episode reflect that effort and give us yet another example of Star Trek's forward thinking on these issues.

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Star Trek TNG - 7x25 - All Good Things... Part I

Originally Aired: 1994-5-23

Synopsis:
Picard tries to prevent the destruction of humanity. [DVD]

My Rating - 8

Fan Rating Average - 8.71

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 11 3 0 1 3 1 3 9 18 28 133

Problems
- This episode recreates the past so well that they even copied one of the technical problems of the first episode. Data and O'Brien's positions appear to be reversed.

Factoids
- This episode (both parts) won the 1995 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.

Remarkable Scenes
- Picard beginning to drift through time.
- Picard appearing during the time of the first episode.
- Yar appearance!
- Data's maid regarding Data's grey streak: "Looks like a bloody skunk!"
- Picard's odd behavior during the first episode.
- Data's objections to "burning the midnight oil" turning out (almost) exactly as before.
- The USS Pasteur. Captain Beverly Picard!
- Q's game of yes/no questions.

My Review
Troi's relationship with Worf finally reaches its apex, but the series ends and we never see them together again! One thing I liked about this episode was the remarkable detail the put into Picard's past experiences. The uniforms of the 7-years-ago Enterprise D were exact. Looked just like the first season! And Tasha's return was nicely done. The cliffhanger is exciting, one of the most exciting of the series, though not as much so as TNG: The Best of Both Worlds, Part I. I was nevertheless impressed with this episode.

No fan commentary yet.

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Star Trek TNG - 1x01 - Encounter At Farpoint, Part I

Originally Aired: 1987-9-28

Synopsis:
The new U.S.S. Enterprise and its crew set out "to boldly go where no one has gone before." [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 5.21

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 60 15 11 21 16 49 52 77 49 19 21

Filler Quotient: 0, not filler, do not skip this episode.
- Introduces numerous characters and plot threads that continue throughout Star Trek going forward.

Problems
- Picard orders yellow alert twice in this episode.

Factoids
- According to Data, in the year 2036 the "New United Nations" declared that no Earth citizen could be made to answer for the crimes of his race or forebearers.
- In the year 2079 all "United Earth Nonsense" was abolished, according to Q. Presumably during the third world war.
- The drug dispensers that the World War III soldiers wore as part of their uniforms are labeled "Army R2D3PO-D," a reference to R2-D2 and C-3PO from Star Wars.
- The nickname "Number One" Picard uses to refer to Riker is a reference to Captain Pike referring to his first officer by the same nickname from TOS: The Cage.
- McCoy is established to be 137 years old in this episode.
- This episode (both parts) was nominated for the 1988 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.

Remarkable Scenes
- The first sight of the Enterprise-D.
- Data listing the synonyms for snooping.
- Data reciting dialog in Picard's and Q's voices.
- Picard: "I'm not a family man, Riker, and yet Starfleet has given me a ship with children aboard. And I don't feel comfortable with children. But since a captain needs an image of geniality, you're to see that's what I project."
- Geordi regarding his visor: "It's a remarkable piece of bio-electronic engineering by which I quote 'see' much of the EM spectrum ranging from simple heat and infrared through radio waves, etc, etc and forgive me if I've sat and listened to this a thousand times before."
- McCoy's visit to the Enterprise-D and his interaction with Data.

My Review
Set in the 24th century, almost a century after TOS, Star Trek: The Next Generation looks quite different and more modern than TOS. This much-needed update to the aesthetics not only looks fantastic, it was also transitioned to remarkably smoothly. The transition from TOS, to the films, to TNG was a slow, step-by-step evolution of the 23rd century TOS aesthetic into the new 24th century aesthetic. While the new TNG look is certainly quite different, you can trace its visual design lineage back to TOS in a number ways. In this way, TNG is not a reboot, but a respectful continuation of a now epic story; a sentiment that couldn't have been expressed better than to have an aged McCoy pass the torch to a member of the new Enterprise's crew. Quite a touching moment.

In addition to new aesthetics, this new century comes with a changed Starfleet. Gone are the days when the flagship was commanded by the brash, impulsive, even reckless at times Captain Kirk. The Federation has matured now. Exploration of space has become more rigorous and routine. Captain Picard reflects this new culture with his stern, rigid personality. Life aboard the Enterprise-D is a buttoned-down affair and even children like Wesley Crusher can't help but subdue their otherwise unbridled whimsy to stand in respectful awe of the professionalism and grandeur of the operation. Perhaps the most remarkable sign of societal progress as compared to TOS is that there's even a Klingon officer serving in Starfleet now, something that would be hard to imagine during Kirk's era.

But what fun would it be to watch the glorious Galaxy-class flagship sail through the ocean of space exploring the universe in the orderly, leisurely fashion that Captain Picard would have us do? That's where Q comes in. This delightful antagonist—as he is not quite a villain—is the avatar of everything Picard is not. Q injects chaos into Picard's perfect order and ugly nuances into Picard's rosy assessment of the progressive society that the Federation has built. Certainly Q is serving as mostly a troll under the bridge, and we can't quite know what motivates his trolling, but his arguments about humanity are not without their merits. And watching the fantastic actors Patrick Stewart (Picard) and John de Lancie (Q) duel each other in a battle of words is a great deal of fun.

Unfortunately the "god-like alien toys with the heroes" plot device has become quite the cliche on Star Trek by now, as TOS did this to death. However, Encounter at Farpoint still manages to be one of the best invocations of this cliche so far and Picard's steadfast resistance to Q's low opinion of humanity is certainly in the spirit of Star Trek.

Another wrinkle in the story is how the new fictional history of Earth interacts with established canon from TOS. We learn here that sometime after the eugenics war in the 1990s established on TOS, there was in fact another war referred to as the third world war which took place decades later. This would seem to contradict Spock's line in TOS: Space Seed that the 1990s eugenics war was Earth's "last world war." An unfortunately sloppy error in what is an otherwise reasonably strong, if somewhat slow-paced start to this new series.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From DSOmo on 2007-05-22 at 4:23am:
    Some overall comments about a couple of things I noticed while watching TNG (and continued on to the next Star Trek series):
    1) The inconsistent use of the communicators. Sometimes they touch the combadge to begin a conversation, sometimes they touch the combadge to end a conversation, and other times the communicators are never touched.
    2) The "don't give a straight answer" syndrome. Picard will ask a direct question and the most common response will be, "I think you better get down here and see for yourself." This syndrome isn't limited to the TNG, I've seen it in the other Star Trek series and even other TV shows.

    At the beginning, Picard calls Deneb IV a planet at the edge of "the great unexplored mass of the galaxy." The station there is named Farpoint Station. In other words, it's located out in the middle of nowhere. Yet the Enterprise picks up several of its officers there AND the USS Hood brings an aging Admiral McCoy to visit the Enterprise. So it's common practice for Starfleet to send officers all the way to "the boonies" just to visit another ship? It's not like the Enterprise picked up its officers at a midpoint somewhere. Farpoint Station isn't on the way to anywhere!
  • From Bernard on 2007-09-16 at 3:28pm:
    May I say firstly that this site is excellent, your thorough attention to all star trek series' shows how much time you have put into this, kudos!

    I remember the first time I watched Encounter at Farpoint, I was 7 or 8 years old and I was fresh from seeing Star Trek III for the first time. I had seen little bits of the original series on re-runs so only had a general feel for that series not an in depth knowledge. But I was excited about this new series

    I was engrossed in The Next Generation from the first five minutes of Encounter at Farpoint, the excitement and newness seems so tangible in my memory even now. Of course I have watched it again many times as a kid, adolescent and now adult and I realise that it isn't the greatest episode of star trek ever made but it will always be special remembered through the eyes of a child

    As a side note, John de Lancie is remarkable as Q and I'm glad he became a recurring character throughout TNG, DS9 and Voyager

  • From Michael B on 2009-12-20 at 9:12am:
    As you say, the acting by Patrick Stewart and John de Lancie is indeed very good, and I also thought both Beverly and Will Wheaton to be believable, but the rest of the cast come off as amateurs. Eric Bana, in an interview about the latest Star Trek film, talked about how good the acting was in that film, and that they accomplished it by not letting the weight of their responsibility of upholding the canon rest on their shoulders. He said that when an actor does that, they freeze up. There are many "reaction shots" in this episode, and most of the actors look like a deer caught in headlights when asked for a reaction. I think is is mostly the job of the director to give the actors room to be comfortable, and I think it is one of the flaws of a television show such as this that the actors have no time to bond with a director, and develop a relationship of trust, since the director changes every episode. The acting certainly gets better as the series progresses, but I wonder if it would have gotten better faster, if they were given good, consistent, direction.
  • From CAlexander on 2011-03-26 at 1:06pm:
    I'm finding it difficult to review the first half separately from the second half, but I do have an issue for the problems section.
    - The timing of Q chasing the Enterprise is odd. The Enterprise flees, and Q almost immediately follows. Several seconds later they announce that he is gaining on them, and he continues gaining for quite a long while. It is hard to believe he hasn't already caught them by now. Then they fire photon torpedoes, and it seems Q is way behind them. Eventually they separate the ship and turn to face Q, and the Enterprise waits for some time before Q arrives. Where has he been? Did he hit a stop light?
  • From Amiable-Akuma on 2017-06-01 at 8:03am:
    It's not hard to convince me to give this 2-parter a 10 out of 10 review due to it being "the first", something that led to a major resurgence of sci-fi of it's ilk, nostalgia, and more.

    I love how flamboyant to the point of being near-insane that Q, Picard, and even Tasha Yar are with their line delivery sometimes. Yar's moment of "This so-called court should get down on its KNEES...!" is super memorable. It all adds up to strong random entertainment value and campy fun.

    I agree that the saucer separation/reconnect stuff is more boring but I wouldn't cut it either. That stuff looks great on blu-ray to the point it reminds how cool a well-done live-action "multi-section mecha-robot in space" series might one day work.

    All the shots introducing the bridge, engine-room, and aspects of ship overall are uniquely interesting as is our basic introductions to these characters period.

    -at first I didn't understand Picard's complaint about a ship full of children, I thought he meant figuratively, that his adult crew are still "children" in his mind due to being untested on a new voyage/etc. That that is what he wanted Riker's help with, lol. Now I kinda dig it though, that they wrote that in, 'cause I get sick of kids too in real life, hah.

    -check out how well-built Worf is during the "blast a hole through the viewscreen" scene, the whole cast seems in great shape in this particular ep.

    -I love how Q's visage says "You are dilatory", just a cool, intriguing moment/diction
  • From Encounter at Obamberg on 2023-04-15 at 11:57am:
    When Data is in that tree on the holodeck, he acts like Lore!

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Star Trek TNG - 1x15 - 11001001

Originally Aired: 1988-2-1

Synopsis:
The Bynars take control of Enterprise. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 6.69

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 13 1 2 4 14 10 15 31 39 18 24

Problems
- This problem is common in many TNG episodes, but I hate how the red alert sound doesn't match the red alert lighting.
- The auto destruct sequence seems overly rigid to be practical. And 5 minutes is too short. Especially when you have to start it from engineering and stop it from the bridge. Fortunately, the system is later changed.
- Why is the computer voice inconsistent in this episode? The Bynars?

Factoids
- The title of this episode when converted from binary to decimal is actually 201.
- This is the first episode to mention Parises Squares.
- This episode establishes some great and kind of interesting continuity with starfleet rank. The starbase's highest ranking officer is a commander. Picard outranks him as a captain. This is continuous with the DS9 series and other TNG episodes.
- This episode was originally intended to come before The Big Goodbye, which would have been far more appropriate. But oh well. This is acceptable.
- When Data orders the ship to be auto piloted out of the star base, a lot of other reviewers bitched about how they could save half the ship by detaching the saucer. But in less than 4 minutes? I don't think so.
- This episode won an Emmy for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series.

Remarkable Scenes
- The Bynars working aboard the Enterprise.
- Worf taking the Parises Squares game so seriously.
- Riker: "Keep notes. This may be valuable to scholars in the future." Geordi: "Really?" Riker: "Well think about it. A blind man teaching an android how to paint? That's got to be worth something in somebody's book."
- Riker playing with the settings of the woman on the holodeck.
- Minuet and Picard talking in French.
- Data "awaiting inspiration."
- Picard and Riker valiantly trying to save the ship.

My Review
Riker's jazz indulgences along with Picard and Riker being seduced by the holodeck was a bit overused in this episode. And I'd have preferred it if we learned more about the Bynars. Still, this episode is a real action packed and highly interesting thriller. The technobabble at the end is annoying, but the episode is still largely entertaining and, well, just good. The greatness of the episode largely overwhelms its minor flaws.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From DSOmo on 2007-06-02 at 12:04pm:
    Worf: "If winning is not important, then, Commander, why keep score?" :)

    - The Bynars were planning on abducting Riker, not Picard. Minuet says to Picard at one point, "your being here was just a fortunate happenstance." But when Riker started downloading the information, he couldn't do it alone. It took both him and Picard to get the transfer started. It took two people to reactivate their computer, and the Bynars only arranged for Riker to stay?? If Picard hadn't "happened" along, everyone on their home world would have died.
    - The autodestruct clock is composed of LEDs. It looks "out of place" on the Enterprise.
    - When Picard and Riker try to board a turbolift, a sign flashes, "Access Denied." But the computer voice says, "Bridge Access Denied." How does the computer know that they wanted to go to the bridge?
  • From djb on 2007-12-13 at 4:11pm:
    Continuity error: In this episode, when Picard and Riker initiate the auto-destruct sequence, they agree that there is only one option for time: five minutes. In episode 2x02, they both initiate the auto-destruct sequence again, and are given an option of how long before it detonates, and choose 20 minutes. Was this feature upgraded at some point?
  • From CAlexander on 2011-03-03 at 4:38pm:
    I really like this episode.
    - When I first watched the episode, I thought it was a cool concept that the Bynars somehow made Minuet transcend the normal holodeck limitations and become something Picard and Riker had never experienced before.
    - This is the most believable "take over the Enterprise" plan I can remember seeing; it wasn't one of those plans that a 10-year old child could see through and defeat.
    - I generally liked the execution of the evacuation and the retaking of the bridge; they didn't feel overplayed or underplayed.
    - I especially liked how they didn't feel compelled to use the cliche of having the self destruct dramatically count down until the last possible second before being switched off.
  • From g@g on 2012-02-07 at 8:30am:
    Altogether great episode. The whole docking triumphantly at the starbase thing sets up some great contrast for the ship later being hijacked and warping away, while the crew watches on helplessly, and its captain and commanding officer begin to awaken from an elaborate ruse.

    Also, I noticed some excellent subtleties, which I have to assume were intentional. At about 31 minutes, Riker and Picard walk *in perfect lockstep* to the weapons room (I mean that literally), to discuss their "absolute agreement" about setting the self-destruct sequence. That's just excellent.

    A few minutes later, at 34:50, as they're about to beam onto the bridge they simultaneously take a deep breath and lower their shoulders. Again, a nice touch (this one may or may not have actually been choreographed) that emphasizes the synchronized two-man command/crew/fighting machine they've now become.

    And, of course, it takes both of them working simultaneously, as a pair, to access the Bynars filesystem. I hadn't quite realized just how neatly all of that fits together...

    So, good episode.

    PS Minuet is fascinating - a hint at future highly sophisticated holographic life (the Doctor and other "photonics" in Voyager, or that whole holographic village in DS9).

    PPS Riker is enjoyably irreverent and sort of piggish in the beginning (calling Jeordi blind, telling the computer Blondes and Jazz don't mix, and instructing it to make the girl "more sultry,"). I think I like this rough-edged Riker of the early seasons...

    Good stuff all 'round.
  • From John on 2012-03-04 at 9:42pm:
    While the second half of this episode is quite good, the first half, nearly all of which consists of introducing Minuet, is incredibly boring.

    On re-watching it, I found myself skipping the first half entirely.

    4/5, because only half of it is worth watching, and the half that is is good but not great.
  • From Rick on 2014-07-27 at 12:02am:
    To DSomo:

    Your first problem is not entirely accurate. You state that Minuet's comment that Picard being a fortunate happenstance means that the Bynars didnt contemplate the fact that they needed Picard and Riker. You misinterpret Minuet's comment though. The Bynars noticed Riker taking an interest in Minuet so they used her as a distraction to keep Riker. The Bynars would have then looked for a different way to distract Picard but it was "fortunate" (as Minuet said) that Picard fell prey to the same distraction. I hope this clears up your confusion.

  • From lordcheeto on 2017-07-11 at 12:43am:
    11001001 is binary for the ASCII letter 'I'.

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Star Trek TNG - 1x21 - The Arsenal of Freedom

Originally Aired: 1988-4-11

Synopsis:
The crew investigates the disappearance of the U.S.S. Drake. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 6.01

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 14 1 7 10 7 11 20 28 29 16 10

Problems
- What was holding commander Riker in place? Something had to be actively generating that energy field. Yet they never tried to find the power source.
- Just after Data frees Riker and they're looking for the rest of the away team, another weapon attacks. When Data throws Yar out of danger, Brent Spiner has quite obviously been replaced by a stunt double.
- First Logan bitches about staying, then he bitches about leaving? WTF? OK maybe this isn't a "problem" because lots of people in real life act this hypocritical but it is still however annoying. Why didn't Geordi point out his hypocrisy? Because he was afraid of Logan's superior rank? Who cares about that Geordi, you were in command! Make him look like a fool!
- We have to assume that the Drake was lost with all hands because they never tell us what happens. Not a problem, but definitely a loose thread which the episode should have tied up.

Factoids
- This is the first of many episodes in which Riker refuses a command (or talks about a refused command) and that refusal incidentally saves his life. Hmm!

Remarkable Scenes
- Riker: "No. The name of my ship is the Lollipop." Paul: "I have no knowledge of that ship." Riker: "It's just been commissioned. It's a good ship." The entire scene is remarkable.
- Notice how the second Riker is incapacitated, Picard takes the opportunity to plunge himself into immediate danger on the planet? Something Riker would certainly object to? The counselor objects, but PIcard doesn't seem to care.
- I liked the scenes with Geordi and Chief Engineer Logan. At first it seemed shallow but it grew on me.
- The scenes with the Doctor coaching Picard on on-the-fly medicine were extremely well done.
- Geordi and Troi's scene together is also well done.
- Riker regarding Data jumping: "Data, it's over ten meters!" Data: "11.75, commander." Yar: "Data, you may be sturdy, but not indestructible!"
- Geordi: "Relinquishing command, captain." Picard: "As you were, lieutenant." Geordi: "Sir?" Picard: "Mr. LaForge, when I left this ship it was in one piece. I would appreciate your returning it to me in the same condition. Do you concur number one?" Riker: "Absolutely, sir."

My Review
Excellent character development of Beverly and Geordi. Excellent performances by everyone. Every character had a good showing and a worthwhile purpose. Even the guests were great except for maybe Chief Engineer Logan. But he was only slightly annoying. (See problems.) One of the best of the first season. I don't like the premise nor the plot so much as I like the execution. This episode is a great example of how a mediocre idea can be made great by a good implementation. A pity that other episodes of this season with great premises couldn't have been better implemented and so exciting.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From DSOmo on 2007-06-04 at 1:36am:
    - After Data removes Riker from the force field, Data mentions that they need to find Picard and Crusher. Since he was encased in the force field, Riker didn't even know Picard was on the planet, let alone lost. Given his belief that captains should stay on their ships, shouldn't Riker be really ticked off when he learns that Picard is on the surface?
    - Picard saves the day when he agrees to buy the weapons system. The demonstration ends and the fourth pod evaporates. So why is La Forge still fighting the pod in orbit? Shouldn't it have evaporated as soon as the demonstration ended?
    - Immediately after destroying the pod, La Forge drops the shields so they can beam the away team back. Isn't the star drive section still flying through the atmosphere? Aren't the shields the only thing keeping the ship from burning up?
  • From djb on 2008-03-17 at 3:14pm:
    I really enjoyed the battle sequence towards the end of this episode. The combination of the action with the music is very effective, and the tension is further increased by Geordi's mixed feelings about commanding the ship. Even though the actual "battle" was not very complicated, it was still quite expertly done, and made for one of the more memorable episodes from Season 1.
  • From CAlexander on 2011-03-08 at 8:39pm:
    Picard's decision to go to the planet is very odd. Normally I don't mind when the captain leads the away time, it is just one of those things you accept about Star Trek. But here my suspension of disbelief was really tested. Picard is told that the situation down on the planet is actively dangerous, and nothing seems to require his personal presence. If there is any time he should stay on the ship, this is it. Yet he beams down without even a security team. The worst part is that Troi reminds us he isn't supposed to be doing this! Yet we never even get an explanation for his actions. Maybe he had a precognitive vision that he needed to beam down and fall in a hole in order to complete the mission.

    Something about the general plotting of the episode wasn't very appealing to me. But you are right, many of the individual scenes are well executed. I love the Lollipop dialogue.
  • From Jeff Browning on 2011-09-20 at 10:08am:
    The weapons were hilariously hokey and poorly done. The shooting was so obviously contrived to hide the booms that were moving them. Realizing this is before CGI, but still. Some of TNG special effects were quite innovative and effective. This episode does not show that, unfortunately. The other issue was that Geordi tolerates far too much from Logan. Its irritating. I have been around the military for much of my life. Logan's behavior was contemptible and would not have been tolerated.
  • From mattymjp on 2013-07-16 at 9:18am:
    First of all, great website! Am really enjoying reading your reviews, I've decided to start watching TNG from the beginning and your site is helping me to decide which dud episodes to miss (of which there are a few in the first couple of seasons especially)

    Rewatching the first season has been a bit painful so far, it has dated and I'm looking forward to getting onto Season 3 onwards. Some of the acting is awful, although Patrick Steward is ALWAYS good, with Levar Burton and Brent Spiner the other stand-out actors in my opinion. Johnny Frakes does improve as time goes by though.

    I wasn't a fan of this particular episode. Thought it was cheesy and left too many unanswered questions at the end. And they used the exact same shots for the saucer section separating as in Encounter at Farpoint. But it was a good Geordi episode.
  • From the obampresident on 2021-07-13 at 12:19pm:
    Anyone notice that the drones look just like the floating eye robots in the videogames Fallout 1 and 2? Some dev was inspired there.

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Star Trek TNG - 2x05 - Loud as a Whisper

Originally Aired: 1989-1-9

Synopsis:
A deaf mediator communicates through a Chorus. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 4.48

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 60 5 8 13 23 21 23 23 18 30 6

Problems
- Why can't Riva talk? Many deaf lip readers, who are exactly like Riva, have no problem with it.
- Why was Data signing to Riva? Riva lip reads! Also in a few spots, Data was only signing some of the time.

Factoids
- Before Riva, there was no Klingon word for "peacemaker."
- The female on Riva's chorus (Marnie Mosiman) is the wife of John de Lancie, who plays Q.

Remarkable Scenes
- Picard so easily dismisses Riker's objections with Picard leading the away team now. :)
- Riva's overconfident behavior.
- The death of Riva's chorus. Some neat special effects.
- The murderer of Riva's chorus being killed by his superior officer.
- The away team beaming back up to the Enterprise in desperation, leaving the superior officer of Riva's chorus' murderer in horror yelling "we need you!"
- The pain in Riva's face in the scenes after the death of the chorus and the sympathy of Picard et al is wonderfully done.
- Picard: "Data, he knows some kind of gestural language. Find out which one and learn it!"
- I love how Picard tries to reassure Riva that they're all in this together. So sad. :(
- Data's brief but impressive signing demonstration and Picard's reaction.
- Geordi considering surgery to fix his vision. I love Pulaski in that scene. "I can fix your vision." Geordi: "What? I was told that was impossible." Pulaski: "I've done it twice." Way to go arrogant Pulaski!
- The counselor forcing Riva to see the solution.

My Review
Another exactly like humans race! Riva's race. Despite this, Riva, his race, and his chorus were fascinating. The tragedy that was the death of his chorus was exciting, sad, and a powerful motivator for the wonderful ending. Also, adding the tiny tiny B plot of Geordi confronting his blindness due to learning of Riva's deafness was appropriate and interesting. It is regrettable that we're not informed of Geordi's decision. We must assume he decided to keep everything as is because nothing became of his visit with Pulaski.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From DSOmo on 2007-06-17 at 2:07am:
    - When the Enterprise reaches Solari V, Worf reports laser activity. Picard immediately tells the inhabitants of the planet that they must stop fighting or the Enterprise will leave. He says that he will not endanger his ship. Evidently Picard is simply bluffing because, in the episode just before this one, he and the bridge crew were joking about spaceships attacking them with only lasers ("The Outrageous Okona").
    - Riva's chorus' death is very spectacular but not expected for a laser weapon. Normally lasers only burn holes in stuff. Do the inhabitants of Solari V have some sort of special laser? If they do, maybe that is why Picard was worried about his ship ;)
    - After the death of Riva's chorus, Picard meets with Riva in the observation lounge. During their conversation, Picard tries to convince Riva to help the factions on Solari V. Riva refuses and storms out of the room. The observation lounge is on deck 1, just behind the main bridge. The only way to his quarters is via turbolift. Because riders must speak their destination on a turbolift, Riva isn't exactly equipped to wander around the Enterprise by himself!
    - Both times, just before they beam down to Solari V, Riker sets his phaser on stun by pointing the phaser directly at his stomach and then manipulating the control. Doesn't this seem like an unsafe practice?
  • From thaibites on 2010-01-20 at 11:10am:
    Another touchy-feely, 2nd season episode designed to get those ladies watching. YUCK!
    Does season 2 ever get good?
  • From CAlexander on 2011-03-23 at 10:16am:
    A good episode, the idea of the chorus was pretty cool.

    In response to previous points:
    - While it may be possible Riva could have learned how to speak, using the chorus is so much more effective that he probably never learned how to do so.
    - Lipreading is difficult and inaccurate compared to sign language. Data was being helpful by signing to Riva.
    New points:
    - Adding to the points about the phasers, it is interesting how each time they beam down, they set the phasers on stun, put them in their holsters, beam down, then immediately draw their phasers. Maybe they want to look nonthreatening during the beam down process?
    - A convention of Star Trek is that language barriers are ignored, everyone can speak English. Occasional references are made to the universal translator being somehow responsible for this. This episode sort of breaks that convention, suddenly Picard actually has to deal with the concept of being unable to understand Riva's language. Apparently the universal translator doesn't work on sign language! But if the universal translator doesn't work on visual communication, then Riva wouldn't be able to read lips unless he really did know the language being spoken. Just an interesting point.
  • From CasualLamb on 2021-04-30 at 6:07pm:
    Gotta say, my man Riker’s looking particularly dapper this episode.
  • From Azalea Jane on 2021-07-20 at 5:28pm:
    Overall this time I think I enjoyed this episode more than previous times.

    I didn't like Troi calling out Worf's emotions in front of others. That's not cool. People's emotions are their own business if they don't make it anyone else's problem. She could have invited him to speak his mind, at most.

    I liked the blind man and the deaf man meeting. Geordi talking about his blindness and his VISOR: "They're both a part of me and I really like who I am, so there's no reason to resent either one." - Awesome quote. The phrase "I really like who I am" has stuck with me since I first heard it. #goals?

    I wonder what's in it for Riva's chorus? I mean... they're people with their own lives, friends, families, and interests, right? Do people have to work to live on their planet? Is the chorus well-compensated? Do they get time off? Are there substitutes? Do they get sick? They only seem to exist to serve Riva and his family --- consigned by birth into servitude. Maybe their species doesn't mind that sort of thing? Maybe the chorus members actively enjoy(ed) it? I hope so.

    The chorus dying suddenly is a nice twist the first time you see it. We get to know them a little bit, maybe even care about them, and then BLAM! They're gone and Riva is nerfed. He's suddenly out of control. I do like the resolution, even if (a la Trek) it's rushed. There isn't always a silver lining or a creative solution, but I liked the solution here. Reminds me how I think it's tragic that sign language typically isn't taught in grade school.

    In response to grumpy Mr. thaibites up there: Trek fandom has always included women. Women have always been part of its production, writing, and vision. It was a woman, Lucielle Ball, who saved Trek from cancellation before it was even aired, overriding an all-male board. (Not the only time it was almost canceled, but the first.) Also, "touchy-feely" plotlines (which can be enjoyed by any gender) are an intrinsic part of Star Trek. Deal with it 😎

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Star Trek TNG - 2x06 - The Schizoid Man

Originally Aired: 1989-1-23

Synopsis:
Enterprise provides medical aid for Dr. Ira Graves. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 4.11

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 66 2 3 7 18 20 24 23 17 9 9

Problems
- Near warp transport seems a bit too risky for the gain. They cut what... a few seconds from their journey at the risk of killing the away team? Seems a bit reckless.
- Graves' world looks remarkably like Saturn. I do believe that it's just a Saturn image. Not necessarily a problem, but a bit unoriginal.
- There's a scene order mess up in this episode. When Data and Graves' assistant are in the observation room when the shp goes to warp, the first scene shows Data sitting, Then the next scene shows Data walking around behind her, then the next scene shows Data sitting again. Data's fast, but not that fast.

Factoids
According to ditl.org, "[t]his episode was intended as a homage to the British series "The Prisoner", which had an episode of the same name. Patrick McGoohan, who played the lead in that series, was considered for the part of Graves."

Remarkable Scenes
- Data's beard, identical to Riker's without coincidence I'm sure. "Don't I appear more intellectual?"
- Troi: "For a moment, I thought I was stuck in that wall!" Worf: "For a moment, you were." Regarding the long range near-warp transport.
- Troi: "It's an honor to meet you Dr. Graves." Graves: "Yes, of course it is. This is one of the truly great moments of your life."
- Worf being insulted.
- Data calling Graves grandpa
- Graves is so wonderfully immodest.
- Graves mourning himself and Picard ceasing it.
- Wesley reminding Graves/Data that they're similar in age, bodily anyway.
- Graves/Data mouthing off to Picard.

My Review
A nicely done episode with a genuine and interesting moral dilemma. The episode features a nice plug about Data's father's past adding more detail to the mystery regarding his origins and more hope that he could in fact become human some day. Picard's speech about how one life should never be usurped by another is great and the fact that it forces Graves to realize the atrocity he had committed is fantastic. The story ends with a wonderful bit of irony when Graves ends up sacrificing himself to save Data. Graves' consciousness is lost, but his knowledge preserved. So it's not a total loss but the story isn't entirely a happy ending making Graves' statement that "real life" doesn't always have a happy ending. Despite being such a nice episode, it could have been improved by spending more time on the moral issue and less time on showing us how evil Data + Graves was. Only a tiny fraction of the episode was dedicated to the moral issue. The ending seemed abrupt, though still enjoyable.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From DSOmo on 2007-06-18 at 2:08am:
    - At the very beginning, Pulaski does a voice-over while going to the bridge. She never opens her mouth the entire time she is on the turbolift. How did the turbolift know where to take her?
    - Just after the "touch and go" transport, Data contacts the Enterprise. However, the Enterprise is traveling at warp during this time (it's on a rescue mission, I'm assuming it is traveling at warp 8). Very impressive range for these little communicators.
    -When Picard thinks Graves is dead, he says, "Whatever scientific secrets Ira Graves was about to unlock have been lost forever." Didn't Graves take notes? I would think someone as egotistical as Graves would keep very detailed records (not just for someone to build on his research, but so he could get credit for any discoveries)
    - When Graves/Data becomes angry with Brianon, he tightens his grip on her hand. According to Dr. Pulaski, this action fractures her hand in two places, but Brianon's reaction is amazingly passive. As Graves/Data storms out, she simply sits and watches him go.
    - When Data/Graves backhands Picard, he swings his hand from the left to the right. Picard then spins a full turn to the LEFT, then stumbles to the right. Picard spins in the opposite direction as the force of impact!!
  • From Daniel Blessing on 2009-09-18 at 12:17pm:
    Problems
    "- Near warp transport seems a bit too risky for the gain. They cut what... a few seconds from their journey at the risk of killing the away team? Seems a bit reckless."

    From a viewers perspective, yes it seems to be only a few seconds. However, I believe that if you view the entire coming out of warp, getting into a "safe orbit for transport" and then executing the transport normally or standard procedure, this saves more time then we actually get to see visually. Consider the time constraints the show is forced to endure. Often we get a calculation of "We will arrive at the destination in approximately 10 hours." Just then, we get a Captains Log entry and the ship has arrived. Only a few seconds have passed...
    The bottom line here is that we may not ever get to see all of the required steps involved with coming out of warp at a safe distance, traveling the remaining distance to get into range for transport, and then all that is involved with safe planetary transport.
    If I had to guess at how much time all of these things would take, (and again, this is pure speculation,) I would guess that by doing this form of transport, they could have saved anywhere between 10 to 20 minutes. Not worth the time of the lives being risked by any stretch. Especially considering they were not at maximum warp and could have made up the lost time by simply increasing to a slightly faster warp factor.
    This was obviously an attempt to introduce us to something new. It was never used again, and for good reason. It was fail.
  • From rpeh on 2010-08-25 at 5:19am:
    Factoid: the away team that beams down is the only one in TNG that doesn't contain a 100% human. It has an android, a Klingon, a Vulcan and a (50%) Betazoid.

    Brent Spiner's acting is the high point here, but the rest of the episode has some nice points too. I'd have loved to find out more about the relationship between Graves and Soong though.
  • From CAlexander on 2011-03-28 at 9:23pm:
    The episode revolved heavily around the character of Dr. Graves, but I never felt I understood him. They mentioned his disease affected his brain. How much of his egomania was natural, how much caused by the neurological disease? The entire episode is spent showing how utterly arrogant and self-centered Dr. Graves is, then at the end, he is convinced to give up Data's body. I didn't understand why he did this. Why let the greatest mind in the universe die just because lesser mortals aren't strong enough to be around it? Picard's speech was good, but not that good. Dr. Graves didn't say or do anything that would make me understand why he suddenly develops concern for others.
  • From Inga on 2011-12-28 at 2:54pm:
    Finally, a Vulcan character with lines :)

    I agree with CAlexander, Graves' character seems a little unrealistic.
  • From a2a on 2012-02-19 at 6:19pm:
    This episode was alright but Graves' assistant was painfully one-dimensional. Throughout the entire episode, beginning to end, she had the same helpless, vulnerable demeanor. That's probably my main complaint...

    I liked how this episode tackled some "transhumanist" concepts with a balanced perspective... The show presents an interest in "bridging man and machine," but also a commonsense cautiousness. Graves' assistant is repulsed at the idea of turning into an android, Picard considers what Graves did to be "cheating" and a kind of perversion, and Graves himself in the end decides it wasn't a good idea. The experiment is terminated.

    In the end, Picard is very satisfied with the ship's computer carrying Graves' knowledge, but not his consciousness.

    - - -

    This is an altogether level-headed take on futurist/transhumanist concepts... concepts which may become real, tangible concerns within our lifetime...
  • From Gategod on 2012-07-29 at 9:52am:
    I love this idea, but the actions in it INFURIATE me.

    This stupid girl is in love with an old guy, who is also in love with her, but the moment he isn't "old" anymore and the two of them can actually be together... she pulls away. She is disgusted by him and becomes fearful. To me, this is ridiculous and comes out of nowhere.

    Also, Counselor Troi must have had a copy of the script, because she assumes WAY too much and basically figures out the problem magically.

    Data/Graves should have been able to full everyone, for the entire episode... if not an entire SEASON. He is supposedly the most brilliant man ever, yet can't control himself for 10 minutes? UNREALISTIC.

    He should have been happy after backhanding Picard and took off in a shuttle all la-de-da to continue his research for the next thousand years. He cheated death, only to suicide himself out of nowhere because of a bald man (whom he hated) told him too.

    That's how I would have written it. The "bad" guy should have won out here, and Data should have been gone for good. If not, at least draw this out more. People shouldn't even have SUSPECTED that he wasn't acting right. Not for another 20 minutes, if not 20 episodes.

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Star Trek TNG - 2x11 - Contagion

Originally Aired: 1989-3-20

Synopsis:
The Enterprise computer is infected. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 6.8

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 8 7 4 8 12 5 16 45 36 37 21

Problems
- Why did Riker order the helmsman to raise the shields?
- How can one talk during transport?

Factoids
- This is the first episode in which Picard orders "tea, Earl Grey, hot."

Remarkable Scenes
- The destruction of the Yamato.
- Captain Varley's logs.
- Wesley's history lesson regarding the Iconians.
- Picard: "Now that should not have have happened." Regarding the replicator messing up his tea.
- Geordi running to the bridge trying to stop the captain from capturing the probe then almost dying in the turbolift.
- Picard: "Welcome to the bridge, Mr. LaForge."
- The computer electrocutes LaForge then to save him, Data throws him halfway across the room. I love the facial expression on Data's face when he realizes he used too much force. And I love the short dialog between them afterward.
- More away team bickering between Riker and Picard. Riker puts up more of a fight, but so does Picard.
- Riker: "Fate protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise."
- Troi: "In another time or place, this could be funny."
- Riker: "If it should become necessary to fight, could you find me some rocks to throw at them?"
- Riker to Taris: "Perhaps we should postpone the war until our more immediate problems are solved."
- Picard, more or less, "Data, decipher this language. Now." Ah Data, Picard's personal away team laptop.
- The look on Riker's face when he says to Troi, "You're jumpy," is great.
- Data's over explanation of how he deciphered the language. Picard, more or less, "Yes, yes, just translate." Poor Data. So under appreciated.
- Data: "I believe this is manual override." (Giant flash of light opening a gateway.) Data: "That was not manual override."
- Brent Spiner's acting as a damaged Data was wonderful.
- Picard has a couple of good "final" lines before his brush with death. "I hope that was not a stutter." Regarding Data. Then "very shortly, anywhere will be preferable to this room."
- Worf just appearing on the bridge.
- Data's resurrection and confusion.
- I love the countdowns in the alien languages (Iconian and Romulan).

My Review
This is an exciting episode right from the beginning. Very short into the episode there is fear of a catastrophic design flaw which is milked for all its worth. Then we get an even bigger implication: Iconian technology is destroying the ship accidentally and at the same time must be kept away from the Romulans to keep them from getting a major tactical advantage. Despite heavy politics and heavy tension, the episode bears great archaeological and cultural tidbits. The revelation that the Iconians might not be conquerors and that they were slaughtered by those fearful of them is fascinating. The discussion about it between Picard, Data, and Worf is apt and interesting. This episode very easily could have scored a 10. I take one point off for no follow up and one point off for the "destroy it all now!" attitude. I understand why Picard made that decision, but that Iconian gateway is a wonderful bit of technology that could have been studied in great detail. Picard just blows it up over political fear. Seems reckless. Nevertheless, a wonderful episode.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From DSOmo on 2007-06-24 at 3:25am:
    - Are computer viruses unknown in the twenty-fourth century? Even unsophisticated, twentieth-century hackers knew about reinitializing a computer system and reloading all the software.
    - Every accomplished programmer understands that computer users need to be protected from accidents. That's why the more user-friendly programs tell you when you are about to do something disastrous. For instance, while trying to delete or overwrite a file, the program will usually ask the user to confirm his or her actions. Doesn't blowing up a substation seem like a fairly serious course of action? Wouldn't the programs make this fairly difficult to accomplish? Obviously not, because all Picard has to do to close the bay doors after launching a probe is tab a button three times.
  • From JRPoole on 2008-01-25 at 1:07pm:
    The talking during transport thing doesn't bother me that much here. It always seems that there is a moment between the transporter beam grabbing hold and the moment when your atoms become converted into energy, and it seems reasonalbe to assume that motor functions could still work during that moment.

    Regardless, I agree with the review here. This is a taughtly constructed, exciting episode and one of the best of the second season.
  • From KStrock on 2009-01-14 at 10:10am:
    I think you should mention that the solution to the entire problem on the Enterprise is ridiculous:

    Tech Support: "Did you try shutting down the computer and restarting it?"

    Really? Just shutting down and restarting? It almost seems like a joke by the writers in a time when PCs were starting to really appear in homes.
  • From rpeh on 2010-08-25 at 9:10am:
    I agree with what's already been said: a very enjoyable episode with a few minor problems.

    The panel on the Iconian console is really annoying. If everything is done through three taps of different colour blocks, that only gives you 27 different functions, and why bother with all the fancy symbols in each block?

    "Shut down and restart" is a bit of a cliche now, but at the time it was probably fair enough.

    The gateway itself reminds me of TOS: The City on the Edge of Forever, and I agree it was a shame it was destroyed. Also, as a big fan of architecture, it seems odd that Picard was so keen to do it.

    Still. I'll give it an 8.
  • From CAlexander on 2011-04-13 at 5:56pm:
    Definitely an interesting episode, I thought it was a good one.

    - Picard's stated reason for staying in the Neutral Zone - due to the risk of a design flaw - makes no sense. Surely it is more risky to offend the Romulans than worry about a possible design flaw that could manifest at any time, or never. Maybe it was just an excuse and he really just wanted to stay for other reasons.
    - Blue blue blue? A few simple button presses to destroy the base? No wonder the Iconians didn't survive! The Enterprise would have been destroyed many times over if they had such a control system.
    - There is something quite odd about how Picard says "I doubt any Iconians survived this orbital bombardment" right after he beams down into a fully functional and beautifully intact command center.
  • From Inga on 2012-01-01 at 1:37pm:
    Why didn't Picard or that other Captain inform the Starfleet of this discovery? Can a mere starship captain make such a decision himself?
  • From Ggen on 2012-02-24 at 5:16pm:
    This episode starts up with a wicked, satisfyingly frenzied pace. Within the first few minutes we have an exploding Federation Starship, a tense face-off with a Romulan ship, the threat of catastrophic systems failure on the Enterprise, and hints of an ancient civilization with powerful technology.

    But the same thing that makes this episode so riveting also costs it a few points at the very end. In the last few minutes, Data is pronounced dead, Data is pronounced good as new, Picard is held captive on the Romulan ship, Picard smugly escapes via transport, an out of control Romulan ship is about to self-destruct, the Romulan ship is back to normal...

    With so many dramatic turnings and reversals, the ending of this episode feels simply *rushed*. It needed another 20 minutes or so to wrap everything up.

    Small details:

    - Episode very cleverly sneaks in what would otherwise have been gratuitous-feeling exposition about the Iconians by having Wesley bring it up with Picard... to have Wesley ask Picard, as if he was a little kid asking about myths and fairy tales, is of course utterly ridiculous... but the writers cleverly get away with it by making it a false pretense and not Wesley's real reason to talk to the captain.

    - I liked the tortured look on two nameless crewmen's faces as Pulaski first bitches her heart out to some poor soul, and then gives a semi-ironic pep talk about splints and practicing medicine "with your hands." It's as if the writers are giving us someone to sympathize with. "Yes, yes, Pulaski is intolerable, we know... hang in there..."
  • From jeffenator98 on 2019-12-27 at 1:18pm:
    It's good to know that 300 years from now that the old turn it off turn it on trick still works. 6/10

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Star Trek TNG - 2x17 - Samaritan Snare

Originally Aired: 1989-5-15

Synopsis:
Geordi is taken hostage by the Pakleds. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 5.05

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 15 7 8 9 6 20 46 22 7 8 3

Problems
- Welsey: "Was this before the Klingons joined the Federation?" Picard: "That's right." Er... how about no? The Klingons never joined the Federation. Wesley's line should have read, "was this before the Klingons made peace with the Federation?"

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- Picard's adversarial conversation with Pulaski then his tragically coincidental forced travel companion being Wesley, whom he despises, then his having to give embarrassingly confusing orders to his crew.
- The Pakleds. So absurd that they're funny!
- Picard's stout refusal to admit the details behind his operation and why Pulaski can't perform it is great.
- Wesley: "Didn't you ever wish you had kids of your own?" Picard: "Wishing for a thing does not make it so."
- Picard, to Wesley: "Why do I get the distinct impression that you're acting like some kind of escort?" Wesley: "Doctor Pulaski asked me to make sure that you actually went inside." Picard: "That woman... she would."
- Attempting to discretely communicate the plan for the ruse, Data: "Goodbye Geordi. I shall miss you at weapons systems analysis." Geordi, obviously confused: "Uh huh."
- After being clapped at, Picard says: "I beg your pardon?"

My Review
It's nice to learn more about Picard's past though this forced trip he has to take with Wesley. It's also nice to see Picard realizing that he tends to treat Wesley unfairly, thus making an attempt to change his attitude. There seems to be almost a sort of bonding that takes place. Despite the obvious contrivance of the Enterprise rushing into action to save Picard in the end, the entire story was most enjoyable. Even the Pakleds, for who I can say nothing else except they were inexplicably boundlessly entertaining.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From DSOmo on 2007-06-28 at 4:19am:
    - As the shuttle prepares to leave the Enterprise , Wesley says, "Shuttle Craft 2 is ready for departure." Yet all of the markings on the shuttle say "01."
    - Why doesn't the Enterprise warp over to Starbase 515 instead of sending Picard and Wesley on a shuttle? If it did, it would be a short show because all the dialogue between Picard and Wesley would be missing.
    - Troi warns Riker that La Forge is in great danger. Although Troi has demonstrated her accuracy and worth many times before, Riker does nothing. If he did listen and beamed La Forge back to the Enterprise ... it would be a short show ;)
    - After surveying the Pakled ship, La Forge claims that it contains equipment from the Romulans, Klingons, and the Jaradan. First of all, the Pakleds don't seem like brilliant strategists. Nonbrilliant strategists tend to use the same approach over and over. If that's true, the Pakleds did the same thing with the Romulans and the Klingons. Does this seem like an approach that would work with Romulans and Klingons?
  • From CAlexander on 2011-04-10 at 12:40am:
    An average episode, the Pakleds are amusing and there is some good interaction between Picard and Wesley.

    DSOmo: I agree that their tactic of stealing a crewmember wouldn't work too well with the Klingons or Romulans. But frankly, it wasn't working too hot with the Federation either. The whole idea is, appropriately, idiotic. My best guess: The Pakleds suckered some benevolent race, acquired some technology, then went around robbing small vessels and obtaining second-hand technology one way or another. When they saw how big the Enterprise was, somebody had the bright idea of using trickery again, but didn't think it through so well.
  • From lordcheeto on 2017-07-28 at 11:15pm:
    After the main power failure, Geordi uses his communicator to inform Riker that it's going to take him longer than he expected.

    Riker says "on screen", even though Geordi wasn't communicating with the ships system, and it still works.
  • From McCoy on 2017-11-18 at 3:44am:
    I'm rewatching the series and still wandering... Why most people hate Pulaski, but call Picard best captain of all Trek series? This episode is one of best evidence that Picard is jerk, while Pulaski is great doctor and compationate person. Picards attitude towards her after his surgery is horrible. On her place I would leave Enterprise at once.
    PS - Pulaski once claimed she could help Geordi with his eyes. I bet she could. If she says she can do something, then she can:)
  • From Azalea Jane on 2021-07-21 at 10:34pm:
    Agreed with DSOmo above. Riker, you of all people know better than to ignore Troi's warnings. Seriously! Geordi wasn't even sent over with a security detail. In just the previous episode, "Q-Who?", the crew learn an important lesson about complacency, and now this!

    SO disappointed they didn't utilize the captain's yacht in this episode. I know, I know, budget. ...but still. I wish they had contrived something better than a tiny, slow shuttlecraft. Overall a pretty solid episode, though. Good backstory for Picard that gets revisited in "Tapestry" later.

    "Any rumors of my brush with death are greatly exaggerated."

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Star Trek TNG - 3x04 - Who Watches The Watchers?

Originally Aired: 1989-10-16

Synopsis:
Picard is mistaken for a god-like being. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 6.06

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 51 4 3 2 5 8 23 41 33 46 33

Problems
None

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- Dr. Crusher mentions Dr. Pulaski's memory erasure technique. Good continuity with season 2.
- Troi and Riker attempting to free Palmer.
- Picard's condemnation of religion.
- Nuria's reaction to Picard's introduction.
- Picard carefully attempting to convince Nuria that he's not a god.
- Nuria asking Picard for miracles.
- Nuria finally "getting it" when she sees Picard is powerless against death.
- Picard struck with Liko's arrow.

My Review
Picard seems a bit cold hearted. "Why didn't you let him die?" Acceptable though because his crew members once again prevailed against his uncaring disposition. I like this episode's concept quite a bit. It represents a pipe dream in the modern world. Oh how great an opportunity it would be to study an ancient civilization like the Romans or Egyptians first hand. Think of how much more we could learn about them! This episode also serves as a firm reinforcement of Trek's anti religious standpoint; another feature of it I enjoyed. The climax of the episode is when Picard asks Liko to shoot him with his bow and arrow. I got the impression that Picard was calling Liko's bluff only to find out that he wasn't bluffing. :) All in all, one of TNG's finer moments.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From DSOmo on 2007-07-08 at 7:04pm:
    At the very end of the episode, in his voice-over, Picard claims that Dr. Crusher has tended to his injuries with her usual skill. But in the very next scene, Picard is wearing a sling to support his arm. Why is Picard in a sling? This is the twenty-fourth century, medicine has come a long way.
  • From JRPoole on 2008-01-30 at 10:34am:
    I think the sling was for effect, to show the natives that he'd actually been injured. To them, using the knitter to seemingly magically cure the injury would have seemed god-like, exactly what they were trying to avoid.
  • From JRPoole on 2008-03-12 at 5:40pm:
    I remembered this episode as one of my favorites, but when I watched it again this time around, I was a little disappointed. It's still a fairly strong episode, but there are some problems.

    I'm not usually one to bitch about issues with the universal translator; we have to accept it as a convention of the show to make many of the plots work. Here it's a little more problematic. Theoretically, the UT works by broadcasting speech in the host language in some fashion while it's being spoken. That would seem to make it impossible to fool someone into thinking you're not using it, which makes Riker and Troi's foray down to the planet unlikely at best.

    That said, this episode is classic Trek in its insistence on rational thinking in lieu of religion. I also like episodes that showcase the inner workings of Star Fleet, and the duck blind scenario was great. All in all, an above average episode.
  • From TashaFan on 2008-10-27 at 9:39pm:
    DSOmo asks "Picard claims that Dr. Crusher has tended to his injuries with her usual skill. But in the very next scene, Picard is wearing a sling to support his arm. Why is Picard in a sling?"

    In my recollection, that IS Dr. Crusher's usual level of skill. I think Dr. Pulaski was a far superior physician (for instance, she could fix Geordi's eyes but when Crusher was the doctor, Geordi was told it was impossible), although Crusher had a better knowledge of things like herbal medicine.
  • From Stephen on 2010-08-13 at 10:52pm:
    I loved the simplicity and strength of this episode. Picard's dialogues were brilliant .. they were efficient, logical and pitch perfect.

    Only pet peeve was that the senior researcher studying the civilization was so disrespectful of it. He would completely wreck it by confirming their belief in a god. That should be the antithesis of his perspective.
  • From CAlexander on 2011-04-05 at 12:57pm:
    A solid episode.

    - Funny how the anthropologist is the one who is eager to ditch the Prime Directive. If there is a scientific basis for the Prime Directive, you would think it would be anthropologists who were responsible for it!
    - On the other hand, mabye there is no scientific basis for the Prime Directive, considering how the crew never seems to have any guidelines and always re-debates the philosophical meaning of it from scratch each time.
  • From Ggen on 2012-03-09 at 8:10pm:
    This episode is a rather poignant and explicit assault on religious belief and its consequences (most of it justified, in my personal opinion... but not entirely).

    Riker: "It's worse than we thought. They're beginning to believe in a *God*."

    Need I say more?

    More about specifics: Picard and the crew are faced with an interesting and rather unique dilemma, a kind of Prime Directive Catch-22. They've been discovered and Picard is assumed to be a God. Do they now follow the anthropologist's suggestion and encourage a benign religion, something closer to the Mintakan's natural development, but also a throwback to earlier stages of their development, or do they do as Picard ultimately decides: expose all, take them on the Enterprise, introducing foreign concepts and foreign technology thousands of years beyond their current state of progress (but amenable and compatible with the general logical direction of their proto-vulcan evolution)? Either way, the intrusion, the "cultural contamination" is considerable.

    I don't even know how to pick a side here, from an Anthropological Prime Directive point of view, which is partly what makes this all so great... there is no clear path... arguments can be made for both sides.

    Anyway, there are things I liked about the execution as well, among them just seeing a logical and quite likeable primitive people... if only studying them was really studying ourselves (meaning humans), as Picard proclaims presumptuously. Human beings "in the Bronze Age" were almost certainly a much more fearsome sight...

    Along those same lines, Lico's character was delightfully sincere, emotive, and conflicted... His scenes and story arc were a pleasure to watch.

    So, rather excellent episode, on the whole. A great, original anthropological concept, skillfully executed. I think this falls somewhere in my TNG top 10.
  • From obumpresidency 4life on 2021-07-21 at 1:51pm:
    That is a great line, Ggen.

    While watching this episode it occured to me that the superstitious must hate the prime directive, because if their gods are real, they obviously don't have such a directive with all the bibles and miracles and such.
  • From Azalea Jane on 2021-07-26 at 1:39am:
    I freaking love this episode. The only thing that bothered me watching it this time was Warren's death. It was far too convenient. Nuria needed to see that Picard & co couldn't bring back the dead, so they had an expendable character die in front of her. It always bothers me a little when a walk-on character with no arc dies just to advance the plot and/or another character's development. It was dramatic, and it didn't exactly NOT work, but had just a hint of deux ex machina. Oh, alien lady doesn't understand that Picard's people can't reverse death? We're at an impasse? Hey, here's someone completely incidental to the plot dying at precisely the right moment just to solve that issue! Redshirt ex machina? Lol. Picard could have just told her "Liko didn't actually die" and gone from there, but nobody bothered to state that until near the end.

    I heard George R. R. Martin say in some interview or Q/A that coincidences or unlikely events are OK in fiction, as long as they are bad news for your protagonists. Coincidences that benefit your protagonists don't work so well. I tend to agree. I'm sure this isn't the worst offender in Trek or TNG, but it springs to mind now.

    Other than that minor quibble, yeah. Practically a flawless episode that really helps establish season 3 as a step up from before, and states quite clearly some of Trek's most basic values. I sometimes rag on Picard for his overly reverential and righteous attitude about the Prime Directive, but I admire him for putting himself in danger to avoid the Mintakans descending into superstition. And the Mintakans, unlike many other Aliens Of The Week, are somewhat endearing and memorable.

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Star Trek TNG - 3x07 - The Enemy

Originally Aired: 1989-11-6

Synopsis:
Geordi is stranded on a storm-ravaged planet. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 5.69

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 43 2 9 6 2 5 8 33 54 32 8

Problems
None

Factoids
- Andreas Katsulas, who plays Tomalak in this episode later went on to play G'Kar on Babylon 5.

Remarkable Scenes
- Geordi's escape from the sinkhole.
- Romulan: "You are my prisoner!" Geordi: "Right. Congratulations. Surely a strategic triumph for the Romulan Empire."
- Worf's refusal to be a donor to save the Romulan's life.
- I love Bochra's surprise regarding Geordi's blindness. "Your parents let you live?" he asks regarding being born that way.
- Riker encouraging Worf to forgive and forget.
- Bochra learning to work together with LaForge.
- Picard's proverbial chess match with the Romulan commander.

My Review
I absolutely love the opening of this episode. The obnoxiousness of the loudness and flashing is made up for by Geordi being lost to the sinkhole. I felt the same way as Worf did when they beamed up. Worf wanted to go find Geordi at any cost! But Riker stopped him... Moving on, I rather enjoyed all characters in this episode. Including Wesley, which is rare as he's given so few lines most of the time. Geordi of course put on an excellent show. My personal favorite scene with him is when he saves Bochra's life yet Bochra still maintains his mistrust. Conversely, the captured Romulan dies thanks to Worf despite the best efforts of Picard, Riker, and Beverly to convince Worf to drop the hate. Such a great contrast between Geordi trusting his Romulan counterpart, Worf being absolutely bitter with his Romulan counterpart, and Picard being kind of the halfway point with his Romulan counterpart (the commander). The parallels were intended, of course, but that makes them no less great.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From JRPoole on 2008-04-02 at 5:31pm:
    This is a solid episode all the way through. I don't have much to add to this review, other than I'm glad Geordi is getting some serious screen time and character development at this point in the series.
  • From wepeel on 2008-05-16 at 1:05pm:
    While tending to the Romulan in sick bay, Dr. Crusher tells Picard about her old-fashioned treatment, which involves "keep[ing] the fever down, try[ing] to let the body heal itself." However, a fever is not a sickness, it is the (human) body's way of burning out the germs/unknown entities within its system. The only way this would make sense...is if she was talking specifically about Romulan body structures (maybe they see fever as a disease), but it would be pure conjecture on the doctor's part because in "The Defector," it is hinted that very little is known about Romulan physiology.
  • From thaibites on 2010-11-26 at 7:12pm:
    I like most of this episode, especially the jarring, disoriented opening which launches us into a world of confusion. I love how Worf stands his ground under a lot of pressure, even though it was not the politically correct thing to do.
    The thing that ruined this episode for me was the way Geordi stupidly allows the Romulan to take him hostage AGAIN after the rock slide knocks the guy down. Think about it - this Romulan knocks Geordi out and takes him prisoner on some God forsaken planet on the edge of the neutral zone. When the rock slide knocked out the Romulan, any NORMAL person would either pick up one of the rocks and bash the guy's head in, or at least take the opportunity to take the phaser away. Geordi almost pays for his stupidity with his life. His actions are just too unbelievable. (I realize that if he did what I wanted him to do, the episode would totally change.)
  • From CAlexander on 2011-04-13 at 8:36pm:
    Not a favorite, but a solid episode. There was some definite drama with the confrontation with the Romulans, and parts of the Geordi/Romulan team-up. On the other hand, there was some hokiness there too, with Geordi acting rather stupid about trusting the Romulan.

    There was a lot of time spent on the Worf/prisoner plot, which I found surprisingly unmoving. Perhaps it is due to Worf's laconic nature – he just stands there and people talk at him. It bored me.

    - The reason for the Romulans breaking the neutral zone is rather opaque to me. It seems like a rather extreme action just to pick up a couple of officers.
    - The neutrino probe was one of the better bits of technobabble I've heard. It made sense to me how it was supposed to work, and seemed actually clever.
    - To wepeel: Although you are definitely correct about fever being a defense mechanism, an excessively high fever is not good, and controlling excessive fever is common practice.
  • From Inga on 2012-01-14 at 10:23am:
    Picard said that the Enterprise was going to escort the Romulan ship to the Neutral Zone, however, at the end of the episode, both ships are seen flying away in different directions from the planet.
  • From Ggen on 2012-03-11 at 5:53pm:
    This was a rather exciting and dramatic episode, with some great "real stakes" content and considerations. The most notable points were "the first Federation/Romulan coventure" between Geordi and the Centurian, which was a pleasure to see develop and unfold. I loved how they were forced to help each other or die, a blind man propping up and led by a crippled man. But it wasn't all dire circumstances though - Geordi seemed to have also genuinely gotten through to his counterpart, made him see reason (as Picard later did with the Romulan captain).

    The part where the first Romulan survivor needs a transfusion from a reluctant Warf was also done well. This was a great little dilemma, and I loved how there was no predictable or happy outcome. Warf never warmed to the idea and Picard never ordered him, even though a life was at stake (and perhaps even a war) - and a life eventually lost. That's just great. I mean seriously, that's just great. Picard and Warf basically killed a man in cold blood (not quite, but still... rare enough of an event in Trek to warrant that kind of comparison).

    This tied well into the "brinksmanship" developments and made them rather realistic. There was no utterly villainous, singly culpable side here - the situation was not all the Romulans doing, even though they put the events in motion. As the Romulan capt. put it, Picard put territory over a man's life, ultimately leading to his death - so the Federation is itself guilty of contributing to the crisis (both sides involved, as in most real life military/political situations).

    - - -

    Detail: I liked how the Centurion's first words to his captain were "I told them nothing. I was not mistreated, but I told them nothing." The Romulan implication being that if a prisoner is alive and hasn't been tortured or beaten, then he must be a traitor or collaborator! Gotta love that Romulan military mind...

    Question: Interesting that Troi never approached Warf about the donor issue, and that Picard never asked her to. It would've been an obvious move with any other crew member. Funny how Warf's conflicted thoughts, feelings, and emotions are just assumed to be beyond Troi's capabilities!
  • From dronkit on 2014-02-16 at 7:41am:
    problem: Any vulcan crewman (several are seen in enterprise D) could have given blood for the romulan.
  • From Daniel on 2014-07-04 at 12:27pm:
    I like this episode for its use of contrasting friend / foe interactions; the building trust between Geordi and the Romulan, and Worf's choice whether or not to donate blood to the Romulan. And I like that they have yet another opportunity to seed an alliance between Federation and Romulan, because the Romulan credits Georgi for helping him - as in other episodes where Romulans and Federation work together to overcome a crisis. One item I should point out is the gurney; they use a flatbed type of carrier - looks like a divan without legs - which they glide across the floor to carry the wounded Romulan from the transporter. I believe this is the first (and only) time the medical personnel have used a gurney. Usually, they transport the injured directly to Sick Bay.
  • From lordcheeto on 2017-08-14 at 2:48am:
    Problem: it makes sense for Troi to be able to sense emotions from the occupants of nearby ships, but the Romulan ship was 6 hours away.

    I found Riker to be annoying in this episode.
    Raising his voice to O'Brien and the Captain.
  • From oh bummer on 2021-07-23 at 6:07am:
    The moment when Picard tells the Romulan "He's dead" is so legendary. Love that interaction!

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Star Trek TNG - 3x11 - The Hunted

Originally Aired: 1990-1-8

Synopsis:
The crew deals with a dangerous prisoner. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 6.12

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 17 2 3 4 5 27 16 43 36 17 7

Problems
- I will never understand how someone can move around whilst in a transporter beam.
- Why are the Jeffries tubes so large? In future episodes they are smaller...

Factoids
- This is the first episode to feature a Jeffries Tube, named after Matt Jeffries who created the first Enterprise.

Remarkable Scenes
- The prisoner. It took five men to restrain him! Then his personality was totally opposite. I loved how rational he seemed and how eloquent his conversations were with the crew. I also love how everyone wanted to help him but had no means by which to do that.
- Worf fighting the prisoner.
- The prisoner's valiant escape.
- The escaped prisoner: "To survive is not enough. To simply exist is not enough."
- Picard bailing out of the situation, giving the supersoldiers a chance to reclaim their freedom peacefully.

My Review
Another race that looks exactly like humans! Anyway, the idea of creating a supersoldier is terrifying and this episode explores it well. I remember hearing a story once about one of my relatives returning from Vietnam and suddenly having a dual personality. A usually kind and gentle man suddenly and seemingly randomly becomes violent. Likewise to the episode the society of these people decides to ignore the aftermath afflicting their war veterans. But in this episode, it all comes back to haunt society.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From DSOmo on 2007-07-22 at 7:43pm:
    - The brig has been retrofitted. In "Heart Of Glory," the brig was a room with a force field around the door. In this episode, the brig is a large room with a detention cell in it.
    - Supposedly the Angosians are technologically inferior to the Federation. Yet one of their soldiers gets loose on the Enterprise and wreaks havoc. Danar makes one pass through Engineering and comprehends all the systems of the Enterprise. He defeats Data in rerouting power systems. He knows the exact location to place an overloading phaser so it will cripple all exterior sensors. He "hot-wires" a phaser to supply power to a transporter. Granted, Danar is supposed to be brilliant, but this is like taking someone who is a genius at fixing tube-type electronics and turning him loose on integrated circuits. He isn't going to get very far.
    - Dr Crusher indicates that the reason the sensor can't lock on Danar is because of the substances the Angosians put into his body. Later, the prime minister admits that the chemicals can be removed, but the mental programming cannot be undone. If you are trying to keep these guys locked up, doesn't it seem reasonable that you would take away any edge they have? Why let them remain invisible to sensors?
    - Danar tries to force a confrontation between his men and the Angosians by firing at a wall. The weapon blows a chunk out of the wall. Several seconds later, the same shot shows that the wall is COMPLETELY WHOLE!
  • From JRPoole on 2008-04-05 at 9:22pm:
    My only problem with this episode is the way Danar breaks out of the brig. WTF did he do to fight off the transporter beam?

    Other than that, and the slight stretch of plausibility mentioned in the above comment, this is a top notch episode. I love Picard's reaction to the stand off.
  • From Bruce Dudley on 2009-09-27 at 10:57pm:
    Problem: After the prisoner has left engineering and as the the camera pans around, Geordi's visor is on the ground some distance from Geordi. When Worf walks into engineering, Geordi is wearing his visor.
  • From MJ on 2011-02-23 at 5:52pm:
    I think Season Three of TNG is in the running for "Most New Alien Races Introduced In a Single Season".

    This time it bugs me though. Everything about the ending of this episode suggests to me that we should see the Angosians again, either in TNG or maybe DS9. As one of the comments above pointed out, they designed a genetically enhanced soldier that was more than a handful for the Federation's flagship. It seems they have the knowledge and technology to warrant being seen again, especially when the Federation is fighting the Borg or Dominion.

    I do like the issue this episode deals with, though, that being veterans struggling to live in a civilized, peaceful society, and that society having no place for them. This episode, like the DS9 war trauma episodes, is interesting to watch in today's context.
  • From CAlexander on 2011-03-11 at 7:16am:
    In response to previous comments:

    I, too, found it somewhat difficult to believe that the technology of the Angosians could produce something as deadly as Danar. But I think it is explainable. It appears that the Angosians are inferior to the Federation in most technlogoy but superior in the rest of the galaxy in super-soldier technology; that would explain the Enterprise being unable to handle his anti-sensor and anti-transporter abilities. And if the Angosians are applying for Federation membership, they may already have regular relations with the rest of the galaxy and have access to Federation scientific knowledge. They just haven't had time to build up their infrastructure. Indeed, the enemies of the Angosians probably had better hard technology too, so disabling advanced enemy starships may have been exactly what Danar was trained to do.

    Still, I found it weakened the episode that I had to explain so much in order to believe it. And it seemed a bit of a copout to set up a moral quandary about what to do with the super-soldiers after the end of the war, then get out of it by having the Angosian government turn out to just be too cheap and lazy to deal with the issue. But in general this was a good and memorable episode. I liked the character of Danar and the hunt for him was quite exciting.
  • From Autre on 2011-03-13 at 6:06pm:
    -Picard says that Danar is in their "Highest Security Detention Area" yet when Troi senses his emotional tension moments later she walks in and there isn't a single guard in sight!
  • From Jeff Browning on 2011-10-21 at 5:55am:
    In response to the comments by others saying that the reasons given by the Angosians for failing to treat the super soldiers was lame: not so! The real reason is quite chilling and given by one of the Angosians in an almost off-handed way, it is this: "We might need to use them again."

    If you had access to a devastating weapon, would you give it up readily? Certainly, the Angosians decided not to. They wanted to retain the option to deploy the super soldiers against another potential enemy.

    This scenario has many parallels in history. Ancient Rome is a great example. Rome developed the Legions, the most devastating military power of their time. The ancient equivalent of nuclear weapons. Once they had the Legions, though, the Romans found them both difficult to live with and impossible to get rid of. This led to instability eventually resulting in the downfall of the Roman Empire.
  • From Ggen on 2012-03-14 at 7:14pm:
    I had a mixed reaction to this episode, but I think it's decent and definitely belongs in the series... The issue of reintegrating war veterans, dealing with PTSD, etc. is important enough that I can applaud the writers for tackling it, and forgive them for doing so in a less than subtle and slightly bumbling manner... (I'm thinking here specifically of the very contrived final scenes, the soldiers rappelling down out of nowhere, the final dialogue and exposition...).

    But there were definitely redeeming features, even beyond the social commentary. I liked the nuanced antagonism that eventually developed between Picard and the fugitive, with both apparently respecting each other but forced to contend due to circumstance. I also enjoyed seeing a sympathetic super-soldier wreak total havoc on the Enterprise, outsmarting the entire crew. (I was going to say that the writers preempted The Bourne Identity, but I just learned that the book was written prior, in 1980). I only wish the first fight scenes were a bit better. The crappy choreography doesn't fit the super-soldier plot...

    Problem:
    How the hell did Crusher "examine" the fugitive? Warf can't take down the forcefield for .1 seconds without him escaping, but Crusher can perform a complete and thorough examination?




  • From Daniel on 2014-01-26 at 2:06pm:
    Actor side note: the Angosian Prime Minister Nayrok in this episode is played by James Cromwell, who also played Dr. Zefram Cochran in Star Trek: First Contact.
  • From Bernard on 2022-04-29 at 1:07pm:
    The rating for this episode doesn’t look quite right…. You want my advice? Double it!!!!

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Star Trek TNG - 3x22 - The Most Toys

Originally Aired: 1990-5-7

Synopsis:
Data apparently dies in a shuttlecraft explosion. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 5.4

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 53 2 1 5 4 2 18 39 43 16 16

Problems
None

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- The shuttle explosion at the beginning, with Data presumably aboard.
- With such concern for the mission, no one had time to mourn for Data. It was obviously painful for them.
- Data's eccentric captor.
- Data's Captor's Assistant: "The Andorians wish to make a bid on the shipment of Toulorian spices you offered." Data's captor, frantic: "They had four days to decide! Why do they have to decide right n--" Data's captor, suddenly calm: "All right."
- Wesley and Geordi mourning Data in Data's quarters.
- Data weaseling his captor's assistant into sympathy.
- Geordi refusing to accept Data making pilot error.
- Worf taking ops.
- Data's captor dissolving away Data's uniform.
- Data's passive resistance.
- Picard's faux pas with Worf.
- Data finally sitting in the chair.
- Data's captor killing his wife with the painful-death disruptor.
- O'Brien beaming away Data just as he was about to kill his captor.

My Review
Another Data episode. I liked Data's captor quite a bit. Especially the scene where he goes from rage to acceptance in a split second regarding the Andorian bid. His frantic personality is a flaw in the character but not necessarily the writing. I found the story itself largely enticing and the path Data chose for resistance appropriate. As the story went on, Data's captor got more and more sadistic and the story got more and more interesting. The conclusion leaving us with a mystery regarding whether or not Data would have killed has captor and whether or not Data felt genuine emotion is truly fascinating.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From Ivan on 2006-07-29 at 6:21pm:
    During the scene where Fajo is provoking Dataabout his not capable of killing someone, I kept shouting 'Kill him!'. The Data in this episode shows some kind of 'emotion' but in an android sort-of-way. 9/10
  • From DSOmo on 2007-07-29 at 4:41am:
    - When Data begins his final run to the Enterprise in the opening scenes, he reports his progress to Geordi. After the crew of the trader ship stuns Data, his captors talk freely about the components of Data's body. Isn't it very convenient that Data's communicator happened to shut off at just the right time so Geordi wouldn't hear their discussions? Wouldn't an open communications line be standard in these types of dangerous situations?
    - The opening shot shows the Enterprise almost head to head with Fajo's ship. That means that Data must execute two 180-degree turns to get from Fajo's shuttle bay to Shuttle Bay 2. If hytritium is so unstable, why not put the ships back to back? In that way Data could fly out of one shuttle bay and make a straight line to the other.
    - Evidently, whenever there is any sort of dangerous job, Picard sends poor old Data to do it. For Fajo's plan to work he had to know, in advance, that Data would be the shuttle pilot. Requesting Data would cause too much suspicion later.
  • From Schn on 2010-02-01 at 7:41am:
    Is there really a mystery? The transporter chief stated that the weapon was in the process of discharge while in transit. It seemed to me that we realise in this episode that Data has more complex rules for killing than self defence.
  • From thaibites on 2011-03-01 at 7:51pm:
    This episode is great! I love Data episodes (mainly because you know that Riker or Troi won't be humping the first alien that comes on board). Anyway, Data calculated the possibility of how many people would suffer or be killed by his captor, and then fired. He knew if he killed one man, many lives would be saved. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."
    Also, the personality of the captor is spot-on. The actor did an outstanding job of portraying an unpredictable, quirky, manic collector who was capable of doing anything. At what point does eccentricity devolve into self-absorbed madness...?
  • From CAlexander on 2011-05-01 at 1:14pm:
    The good part of this episode is the way that Data reacts to his imprisonment. The writing is excellent at portraying his unique point of view. On the other hand, the plot on the Enterprise, while necessary for pacing, didn't seem to work so well for me. The fact that I knew the answer to the mystery seemed to rob the scenes of interest.
  • From Lee on 2012-04-07 at 5:43pm:
    After watching this episode, I first thought too, that Data wanted to kill his captor. But he tells Riker and O'Brien, that the weapon might have been triggered during transport. So that would mean, he would be lying to them! For me, that is impossible, especially since killing him would have been justified, so Data had no reason (at least not from his "android-point-of-view") to lie.

    But it could have also been a problem with the dubbing, because I watch all the episodes in German with my family (they don't understand English well). So just ignore this comment if it all makes sense in the English version.
  • From Ggen on 2012-04-07 at 8:48pm:
    Great episode. Vaja (?) (the captor) basically makes this entire episode. He's a unique and all around excellent guest character...

    The little "subplot" with the water poisoning situation, which eventually traces back to Vaja, is done well also.

    Finally, we have the interesting little tid-bit of an ending: Data for all intensive purposes kills Vaja, with an exceptionally "vicious" weapon, no less. (Not really but he resolves and attempts to - comes within milliseconds of success). This despite the fact that no life was actually in jeopardy, only his own freedom. (He could've chosen to obey, to placate Vaja, to remain captive)

    So, was Vaja right in his early discussions with Data? Was Data's talk about using deadly force only for "defensive purposes" a kind of justification of murder?

    That Data hides all this from Riker and the crew after the fact is equally interesting. Perhaps Data is most human in these rare little contradictions, questionable judgements, and deceptions...
  • From Jack on 2014-05-11 at 2:15am:
    Something to add to the Problems section: After the shuttle explosion Geordi is talking to Picard and Riker in Picard's ready room and Picard calls Geordi "Lieutenant" but Geordi is a Lieutenant Commander.
  • From Rob UK on 2014-06-17 at 11:41pm:
    Good episode, I believe that Data was on the edge of a cascade failure (See Lal in The Offspring) which brought on the quasi emotional state and more human behaviour, all triggered by the moral conflict and emotional turmoil so strong his positronic brain and programming malfunctioned, the trigger for the cascade failure in Lal was the thought of being taken away from her father and friends. Maybe if Data had murdered his captor and stayed he too would have experienced a cascade failure resulting in his death exactly as his more evolved daughter did under less emotional duress.

    All just 5am theorising after spending too much time with midnight mary watching the Trek telethon style

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Star Trek TNG - 3x23 - Sarek

Originally Aired: 1990-5-14

Synopsis:
Sarek of Vulcan visits the Enterprise. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 6.94

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 4 14 4 2 4 12 13 22 42 29 26

Problems
None

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- Sarak freaking out and getting emotional.
- Geordi and Wesley arguing.
- Data's string scene with Sarak crying.
- Beverly freaking out at Wesley.
- O'Brien starting a brawl.
- Sarak's vulcan helper admitting Sarak's weakness.
- Picard and Riker arguing.
- Picard confronting Sarak.
- Sarak freaking out in front of Picard.
- Picard freaking out after the mind meld. Marvelous acting.

My Review
An excellent episode from a fanboyish standpoint. We all remember Sarak from TOS/TAS. The chance to see him in his later years is indeed appealing. I for one will never forget Picard's performance venting Sarak's emotions. Truly great acting. Very touching. A fine episode. My only regret is not seeing Spock.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From DSOmo on 2007-07-29 at 11:26am:
    - When Picard approaches Sarek about the mind meld, he comments that it is the only logical choice. Wouldn't another Vulcan be the more logical choice? There is a Vulcan on Sarek's staff, and there are also other Vulcans on board the Enterprise. "The Schizoid Man" featured a Vulcan medical doctor.
    - When Sarek and his wife beam off the Enterprise, they join hands. This puts their hands outside the transporter containment field. Thankfully, the transporter still manages to work "correctly." Otherwise, Sarek and his wife would be handless when they arrived at the transport ship.
  • From Mario on 2012-02-15 at 9:24pm:
    "An excellent episode from a fanboyish standpoint." I disagree with you on that.

    I really don't care if Sarek is Spock's father. It doesn't affect the story at all, which is - at least to me - the exact opposite of a SciFi fanboy story: It is rather a quite universal tale of coming to grips with one's mortality - and a really good one too.
    It's about losing control because of ageing, an aspect which is more and more important in our ageing society. The denial of losing his mind, the difficulty of accepting help, the fear of becoming an undignified burden to your loved ones, the silent tear during the concert - everything about this episode was beautiful and touching.

    Your only regret is not seeing Spock? And that cost the episode 3 points? What a shame...
  • From Ggen on 2012-04-08 at 11:58pm:
    A pretty good episode. Interesting just how illogical vulcans can be - not only Sarak with his debilitating illness, but also his vulcan aide (at least until Data pushed him a bit).

    I thought the mind meld was used appropriately here and in an interesting and rather novel way.

    One thing they could've been mentioned was why Sarak didn't meld with his vulcan aide instead (it could've easily been explained that the illness could be transferred among vulcans through melds, plus Picard has the benefit of a diplomatic mind). It made sense, pretty much, just had to fill in the dots on your own...
  • From jeffenator98 on 2020-02-06 at 1:02pm:
    Sarak is said to be 202 years old in this episode in Journey to Babel he is said to be 101.
  • From Azalea Jane on 2021-08-25 at 9:15pm:
    Too bad Brent Spiner didn't bother with taking a few violin lessons over his career as Data! His inability to even badly fake it is conspicuous. Hey, wait, where's O'Brien? He plays cello! And he was even in this episode! Blaah!

    I like how this episode shows the inherent contradiction of Vulcans. They work so hard to be emotionless, to the point of superstition. Perrin implores Picard to let him retain his pride and honor. Those are not logical! I also noticed this recently watching ENT: "The Andorian Incident" where T'Pol speaks of "blasphemy."

    Are the Vulcans logical because that is the most pragmatic way to exist as an emotional being? Or are they logical because they built a quasi-religion around it? Watching Picard express all of Sarek's regrets, such as not showing enough tenderness to his family, was really sad. Top-tier overacting from Patrick Stewart and Mark Lenard!

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Star Trek TNG - 4x03 - Brothers

Originally Aired: 1990-10-8

Synopsis:
Data faces his creator and his evil brother, Lore. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 5

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 79 11 2 6 20 11 11 45 55 33 16

Problems
None

Factoids
- Brent Spiner played three characters in this episode. Data, Lore, and Noonien Soong.
- Pakleds are mentioned as the reason Lore was reassembled. Some good continuity.

Remarkable Scenes
- The opening scene. I love the way Riker, Troi, and Data handle the child.
- I also love how Data stops talking mid sentence and starts acting weird when with the child, triggered by something we know not what at this point in the episode. Spooky.
- Data's head twitches early on in the episode. Not only does he play three characters in this episode, but he plays them brilliantly.
- Data stealing the ship.
- Picard desperately trying to regain control by planning to separate the saucer.
- Data entering a new and ridiculously long password for Picard's access to the ship.
- Data making his way to a transporter room and beaming off the ship.
- Noonien Soong.
- Picard: "Determine the absolute minimum power that Dr. Crusher needs to maintain the quarantine and use the rest to get me onto my bridge!"
- Data tapping his head, rubbing his belly, and whistling for Noonien Soong.
- Data's conversation with Noonien Soong about the nature of human existence.
- Soong presenting Data with the emotion chip and the short moment of bonding between Lore, Data, and Soong.
- Lore posing as Data to procure the emotion chip.
- Data saying goodbye to Soong.

My Review
You've got to feel pretty bad for Data at the end of his one. His evil brother steals his only chance at ever experiencing true emotion and his father dies. Worst of all he's the only one who seems to care, on screen anyway. This episode was largely meant to be filler. It fills in some gaps in Data's story, to be finished off later. But despite the filler premise, it was excellently pulled off. Seeing Data, Lore, and Soong in the same room played by the same actor was quite fun to watch. And watching Data take over the ship only to have no memory of it was also fun to watch. This episode is thrilling both intellectually and visually. A pleasure to watch.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From Sherlock on 2006-10-09 at 4:14pm:
    Although I don't think this episode ranks up there with some of the Data episodes, such as "The Measure of a Man," I still bow down to Brent Spiner for his excellent performance of three very different characters. I love him as Lore- so brazen and sarcastic. You almost feel sorry for him though, because Soong did replace him with Data. Sibling rivalry between brothers! Whoda thought?
    I also love how Data commendeered the ship. It makes me wonder-
    if he can imitate Picard's voice and fool the computer with only a simple homing chip, wouldn't it be easy for an enemy of the federation to kidnap him and program him to take over the Enterprise? Data is both the most valuable and dangerous, in a way, member of the crew.
  • From Jem'Hadar on 2007-03-26 at 10:04pm:
    I don't know why so many people don't like this episode; it's the perfect Data episode.
  • From DSOmo on 2007-08-03 at 11:58am:
    - Voiceprints can be faked. As seen in "The Battle," when a Ferengi captain faked a confession from Picard. Since voiceprints can be faked, I would expect Starfleet to use some method to verify the authenticity of the voiceprint. In fact: Starfleet uses two methods: handprints and voice codes. The point is that it shouldn't be so easy for Data to present himself falsely as Picard. Since the computer can report the location of each person on the Enterprise, wouldn't it be logical for the computer to cross-check the location of the person with a command request? Yet for this seemingly important operation - localizing command function - only a voiceprint is required.
    - After the crew regains access to the main bridge, they find that Data entered a security code. It stops them from giving command orders to the computer. They decide they must go to the planet and capture Data. After a great deal of effort, the crew gets a transporter working, and an away team beams down. Couldn't the crew have saved time by taking the shuttle craft instead?
    - When Data falls into the trance, he rides a turbolift with the sick boy's worried brother. Moments later, Data reaches over to a panel on the wall of the turbolift and indicates his new destination. A panel on the inside wall of a turbolift? When did turbolifts get control panels?
  • From JRPoole on 2008-04-28 at 8:19pm:
    Maybe it's just because this episode comes straight on the heels of two of the series' absolute best, but it leaves me a little flat for reasons I can't quite put my finger on.

    Spiner's acting here is quite good, and the story is poignant, but there's just something missing. Maybe it's that Data's "homing signal" seems pretty improbable. What's the range on this thing, anyway? How did Soong know where Data was? It also seems a little irresponsible to summon a very powerful android with a call that makes him act dangerously.

    Maybe it's the nonchalant way that the crew just blows off Data's commandeering the ship. Maybe it's the way they just leave Soong there without much of a struggle. Maybe it's just that TBOBW and "Family" were so stellar. I don't know. I give this one a 6, because it is above average.
  • From CAlexander on 2011-05-26 at 12:21pm:
    In general, I thought the episode was fairly effective with the desperate struggle to regain control of the ship, and in particular, the relationship between the brothers and Soong. Lore's jealousy and attempts to manipulate his father are well-played. And it was interesting how Soong, despite his awesome mad scientist cybernetic skills, is far from perfect. He is self-absorbed and not a very good judge of character; reasonable character traits to expect from a technology-obsessed hermit. Data is a wiser man than he is.
    - I had the same impression as DSOmo that it was awfully easy to take over the Enterprise just by using a voiceprint of the captain. But it is reasonable that he could have taken over in that fashion if you assume that, offscreen, he used his computer hacking skills to screw up the main computer and destroy its normal safeguard mechanisms.
  • From Daniel on 2014-04-25 at 8:47pm:
    This is a pretty good episode. I just want to point out two flaws I noticed. First of all, it would seem to me that with a complicated thing like a starship and all the rules and standards of Starfleet, there should be back-up procedures for every contingency; such as Data locking out the ship's computer functions from the rest of the ship. You would think Picard would have several methods of overriding command functions to prevent anyone else from taking over command. The other item, a trivial point, was when Soong asked Data to whistle. Data tried and could not achieve a proper whistle. However, in the first episode, Encounter At Farpoint, Riker meets Data in the holo deck and finds him whistling a tune. So, he can whistle.
  • From JB on 2020-05-14 at 4:17am:
    Problem:
    Soong used a signal that overrode both Data's and Lore's regular programming, turning them into homing automata until he reactivated them with his dental tool. Why did he not simply use the homing signal again once Lore stole the chip? Lore would have become powerless, just as he had been upon arrival when Data pleaded with Soong not to reactivate him.

    This seems to me a huge and obvious plot hole.

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Star Trek TNG - 4x24 - The Mind's Eye

Originally Aired: 1991-5-27

Synopsis:
Romulan mind control transforms Geordi into a killer. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 5.52

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 25 3 29 6 5 12 18 28 32 35 7

Problems
None

Factoids
- John Fleck, who plays Taibak in this episode, goes on to play the equally evil Silik on Star Trek Enterprise.

Remarkable Scenes
- Geordi talking to the computer in the shuttle.
- Geordi freaking out when he sees the Romulan warbird.
- Picard insisting that Worf not be ignored despite his discommendation.
- Taibak taking over Geordi's vision.
- Kell expressing gratitude to Worf for killing Duras.
- The holographic scene where Geordi kills the holographic O'Brien. I love the whole indifference to killing thing.
- Troi laying into Geordi about the details of his Risa trip.
- The Klingon and Picard cursing at each other in Klingon.
- Geordi intentionally spilling his drink on O'Brien.
- Geordi investigating himself. Obviously not having a conscious memory of his crime.
- Kell giving Geordi Romulan orders.
- Data discovering the mind control technique.
- Data using the computer to uncover evidence of what really happened to Geordi.
- Geordi's scene with Troi at the end.

My Review
I'm quite fond of this episode. The way they directed the sudden appearance of the Romulan warbird was great. Off the top of my head, they only ever use this technique one more time, with the appearance of a Borg ship through the window of a shuttle in a Voyager episode. My affinity for the opening scene aside, this episode just struck the "correct" tone with me. It has good contintuity with previous episodes once again regarding Worf's discommendation, it begins a new plot thread involving Sela, a Romulan Tasha Yar lookalike which gets picked up later, and it's a nicely done believable Romulan plot story, which is completely in character all the way around.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From DSOmo on 2007-09-02 at 3:26pm:
    When the episode opens, Geordi flies through space in a shuttle. Geordi asks the computer how long until he reaches his destination. The computer replies three hours. How long would it take for the Enterprise to fly over at warp 7 and drop him off? Why travel three, or six, or nine hours in a subwarp shuttle, when the Enterprise could have you there in a matter of minutes? It is a plot device to separate a character from the Enterprise or force a group of characters to be together for extended time.
  • From JRPoole on 2008-06-26 at 9:42pm:
    I am also quite fond of this episode for the reasons mentioned above. The Manchurian Candidate-esque plot is interesting, and the continuity with past Klingon soap opera episodes is great. My only quibble is that the reset button gets pushed with regards to LaForge's brainwashing aftermath. I find it a tad unbelievable that a Star Fleet officer who was brainwashed into nearly killing a Klingon governor can simply go back to duty after a few counseling sessions. But then again, how many times has Data malfunctioned and nearly killed everyone?

    Poor Geordi. He's almost as tragic as Beverly. The only time he has any luck with the ladies is when an evolving alien endows him with artificial confidence. His dream woman shows up and busts him for fantasizing about her on the holodeck. He transforms into an alien species through a process which killed several of his friends. And now he gets brainwashed by the Romulans. Picard goes to Risa, gets laid, and has an adventure. Geordi doesn't even get to set foot on the planet.
  • From DIo on 2009-01-04 at 7:34pm:
    I wasn't as impressed by this episode. The opening scene was enjoyable, Levar Burton is great. However, I found Geordi's disconnection/clueless routine to be a little frustrating. Why did the Romulans have to subject him to horrors in order to 'brainwash' him? Why can't they just directly feed orders to his brain?

    I also didn't enjoy the frequent cuts to the purple/green visor view: once is enough, we know they are watching. I did enjoy Picard's Klingon cursing though! Overall, a below average episode for me. For Geordi, I prefer Booby Trap, Galaxy's Child or Aquiel a lot more.
  • From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2010-02-10 at 3:30pm:
    The Romulans in this episode are scary, cold-blooded, deceptive, intelligent, and dark. It should be used as the bible for designing all Romulans in future TV shows and movies.

    And yes, they should always have hair.
  • From Nick Counts on 2011-02-23 at 11:05pm:
    The scene where Geordi and Data investigate the phaser rifle horrifies the engineer in me. Does anything about live firing an energy weapon within feet of the warp core seem safe? Not to mention the conspicuous lack of safety barriers or precautions for personnel. I know they try not to build sets unless absolutely necessary, but it still makes me cringe to watch.
  • From Bob on 2012-05-08 at 4:20pm:
    This is one of my favorite Star Trek TNG episodes.
  • From Mike Chambers on 2013-11-15 at 11:42pm:
    This episode never did much for me. Since when does just forcing people to see really horrible things for a few days make them forget what happened, kill friends without question, and think they were on a peaceful vacation with exquisitely detailed memories of it? Too much suspension of disbelief required for me.

    I'd give this one a 3 or 4. Kethinov gives this one a 7 and The Drumhead a 1? Wow, really have to disagree with those two ratings!
  • From Axel on 2015-03-30 at 1:16am:
    Yeah, the phaser rifle test fire in main engineering messed with me as well. A shuttle bay would've been a better place to test something like that.

    As for Geordi's brainwashing, they just showed the part where the Romulans are demonstrating how they can control what he sees, measure his responses, and send information to his brain. I'm sure they did more than just show LaForge a few terrifying images in order to complete the process. It likely would've taken days to reprogram his brain.

    This is probably the best La Forge episode, overall. The plot, his acting, etc. It all comes together well, and is nicely woven in with Worf's arc and an intriguing Klingon-Romulan storyline too.

  • From Dstyle on 2015-06-14 at 3:33pm:
    I'm a sucker for episodes that show Data confidently taking charge and taking command. He's always such a naive Pinocchio figure that I often forget that he's second-in-line behind Riker in the command structure, and the scene where he confidently ordered Worf to detain Geordi was, for some reason, really cool to me.

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Star Trek TNG - 5x19 - The First Duty

Originally Aired: 1992-3-30

Synopsis:
Wesley is involved in a cover-up at Starfleet Academy. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 6.63

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 19 2 8 8 1 6 7 51 35 33 22

Problems
- Data claims to have graduated in the "class of 78." Since it is now 2368, as dated from "The Neutral Zone" in which Data says it is 2364, did Data really graduate ninety years ago?

Factoids
- Robert Duncan McNeill plays Locarno in this episode. He later plays Tom Paris on Voyager. Just like how Marc Alaimo started off as a Cardassian Gul Macet and later went on to play a Cardassian Gul Dukat, why did they have to create a new character, with a nearly identical background, of the same species, played by the same actor? Twice? Because the name sounds cooler?

Remarkable Scenes
- Picard discussing the accident with Beverly.
- Boothby appearance.
- Everybody blaming the accident on Josh.
- Wesley having to listen to Josh's father apologize, further intensifying his guilt.
- The Vulcan guy proving that the team was lying.
- Boothby describing Locarno and his team to Picard.
- Picard discovering the cover up and yelling at Wesley.
- Locarno trying to convince Wesley to shut up about the truth.
- Locarno taking the fall in the end.
- Picard talking to Wesley in the end.

My Review
A fine story. Nice to see Wesley again, and definitely nice to see Wesley screw up. A good change of pace overall for TNG all things considered and I would definitely say this is Wesley's finest episode. This episode deals with groupthink and the concept of following a leader blindly. Locarno maintains his greatness throughout the episode. First as a charismatic leader trying to convince his team to help him graduate in style, then as an intelligent leader orchestrating a cover up, then as an honorable leader taking the fall for everyone. I only wish that they had used Locarno in Voyager instead of Tom Paris. At the very least to remove the confusion of two characters played by one actor.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From Pete Miller on 2006-07-18 at 5:25pm:
    Notice that the 'groupthink' episodes always involve the trigger happy cadets at starfleet academy
  • From DSOmo on 2007-09-30 at 4:51am:
    - When talking to Boothby, Picard claims to have graduated in the Class of '27. The episode "Encounter At Farpoint, Part 2" establishes that Data graduated in the Class of '78. In "Redemption II," Data states that he has had twenty-six years of experience in Starfleet. Let's suppose that Data's experience with Starfleet began with his entrance into Starfleet Academy. In "Datalore," Data tells Lore that he spent four years at the academy. That means twenty-two years have elapsed since Data's graduation. Since Data graduated with the Class of '78 and twenty-two years have elapsed, this season of Star Trek: TNG must be happening somewhere around the year '00. Now if Picard graduated in the Class of '27, seventy-three years have elapsed since his graduation. If Picard was twenty at the time, he must be over ninety years old!!! This all makes very little sense until you remember that Data quoted the year in the episode "The Neutral Zone" as 2364 (also mentioned in the Problems section above.) Evidently something is wrong in one of these figures.
    - Starfleet Academy banned the Kolvoord Maneuver a hundred years ago due to a training accident. Yet Locarno convinces Nova Squadron to try it. What was he trying to accomplish? Did he think Starfleet wouldn't reprimand him if the maneuver was successful? A banned maneuver is a banned maneuver! But Locarno's actions are believeable. College seniors can do strange things.
    - The dormitory doors at Starfleet Academy have regular door handles and hinges, yet every time someone opens one, the door gives a little "erp erp" sound. If the doors are human-powered, doesn't it seem like a waste of energy to have them "erping" every time they are opened?
  • From djb on 2008-04-16 at 6:49am:
    According to Memory Alpha, the reason they didn't use Locarno's character in Voyager was budgetary: the writers of this episode would have to have received royalties for every episode of Voyager. Presumably, this is a similar situation with Gul Dukat in DS9.

    Responding to Dsomo's inquiry about dates, I would postulate that the only erroneous date mentioned would be Data's "class of '78" statement. This is especially likely since it was stated in the pilot. If the end of season 1 was 2364, then the end of season 5 should be around 2369. If Picard graduated in '27, that would place Picard's post-graduation service with Starfleet about 42 years, and make him about 64 years old. Granted, Patrick Stewart was only 51 when this episode aired, it's clear from Boothby's estimated age (something over 100) that the average human lifespan has been somewhat lengthened by the 24th century. Data's 26 years of experience as of the beginning of season 5 (2368 or 69) would place his graduation somewhere around 2346.

    Also, about the doors: I presume that because Wesley had to get up and let people in every time they knocked (instead of saying "come in"), that the doors are locked from the inside and the only way to get in, if you don't have a key, is for someone on the other side to let you in. This is typical of dorm rooms. As for the sound, I can only guess that the door mechanisms are electronic; the sound we hear is the mechanism unlocking. The sound reminded me of the noise some apartment-building doors make when someone buzzes you in. Why use electronic door hardware instead of mechanical? Well, it's a few hundred years in the future! And, they're probably more secure. So, in other words, the door-opening mechanism isn't really human powered; the handle being pressed is what signals the mechanism to unlock, the sound of which we hear whenever someone presses the handle.

    I liked the twist at the end where Locarno takes the fall for his team. His arguments against Wesley wanting to come forward with the truth are incredibly hypocritical, but he actually backs up his rhetoric of team members helping each other, and that saves his character from being a total jerk.

    It was nice to see Wesley do something morally questionable for a change.

    One thing, though: despite the troubled circumstances, wouldn't Wesley make a point of seeing his sort-of girlfriend, Robin Lefler? From "The Game"? I guess Ashley Judd wasn't available. What a shame... That character's involvement would have added a whole new depth to an episode that was already deep to begin with.
  • From Rob on 2008-04-17 at 7:01pm:
    As to what Locarno thought he was going to accomplish...

    I imagine he expected to get an 'official reprimand' while everyone gave him a nod-nod, wink-wink at his audaciousness. The reprimand would be 'required' but would have no actual real-world impact on his service in Star Fleet and his 'made' reputation would probably even improve his prospects. It takes little imagination to guess how easily it would have been for him to convince the others that they could sail through the following three years at the academy as "living legends" and again, any reprimand would have no lasting impact on their assignments following graduation.
  • From John on 2011-01-02 at 10:32pm:
    All the scenes with Boothby are outstanding. Ray Walston was a great actor who never seemed to age. It's hard to believe he was nearing 80 when he filmed this episode. Perhaps it's because he's talked of so fondly by Picard, but he's always been one of my favorite characters.

    The scene where all the team members blame Josh made me kind of sick, but this is the genius of Ron Moore. His writing takes you to the dark places you don't really want to go and forces you to think about a situation.

    I like the "plant" of the Bajoran ensign, Sito Jaxa. Granted, she's not presented in the best light here, but she redeems herself in Season 7's "Lower Decks".

    All in all, a fine episode, and one of my favorite of Moore's TNG scripts.
  • From ADMK on 2012-07-19 at 2:06pm:
    A great episode overall, contributing almost as much to Wesley's character development as all his previous episodes combined. Good to see a young Tom Paris (effectively) too.

    My only problem is how Data misses identifying the likely cause of the accident. It doesn't take Picard very long to deduce that given Wesley's opening of the coolant interlock and the discussed reasons that one might do that (in particular, to purge the plasma exhaust), the team must have been attempting the Kolvoord Maneuver. So why does Data (or even the Vulcan) miss such an apparently straightforward deduction—that Wesley's otherwise inexplicable action correlates with a step required to complete this notoriously dangerous flight-team maneuver?

    The Vulcan can likely be excused, but Data should have already had an encyclopedic knowledge of flight-team history, maneuvers, and incidents, or at least accessed such a database during the investigation. Surely in his millions of calculations per second he would have thought of the Kolvoord Maneuver as a possible, if not the most likely, explanation.

    I wish instead that Data had come to the initial conclusion (in his usual emotionless, matter-of-fact voice), but then Picard could have fleshed out the tale of the banned maneuver and its history, sharing a relevant personal anecdote or other information that Data would have not known or omitted. E.g.:

    DATA: Opening the coolant interlock while in flight is a required step in performing the Kolvoord Maneuver. But that maneuver has been banned by Starfleet for over one hundred years, sir. It is considered too dangerous.

    PICARD: [Thoughtfully] Too dangerous … but perhaps not too dangerous for an Academy senior who had carefully cultivated a reputation for dancing with danger and escaping unharmed. Much like a young [blah blah blah, Picard tells a story].

    GEORDI: [Dramatically] If the flight team was attempting the Kolvoord Maneuver, it's no wonder they act like they're trying to hide something.

    [Dramatic music signals END OF SCENE, and then the rest of the episode proceeds normally.]

    You get the idea. Anyway, still probably an 8/10 in my book!
  • From ADMK on 2012-07-20 at 1:02pm:
    P.S. Meant to add that in paragraph three of my review above I was trying to channel Riker from the episode "Future Imperfect." ("What's the matter, Data? What happened to those millions of calculations per second?")

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Star Trek TNG - 5x23 - I, Borg

Originally Aired: 1992-5-11

Synopsis:
The Enterprise rescues a critically injured Borg. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 6.57

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 15 27 8 3 4 10 8 32 31 50 43

Problems
- At one point Hugh says "Do I have a name?" before he starts officially using the word "I."

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- Picard's initial reaction to bringing a Borg on board.
- Picard conspiring to eliminate the entire Borg Collective.
- Picard, on the Borg: "They declared war on our way of life."
- Picard fencing with Guinan.
- Geordi talking with the Borg.
- Geordi having second thoughts about the plan.
- Guinan changing her mind about Hugh.
- Picard: "It's not a person damn it, it's a Borg!"
- Picard's scene with Hugh.
- The look in Hugh's eye as he transported when he returned to the Borg.

My Review
This episode is a fan favorite, though I found it all a bit naive. The opening logic of this episode ultimately prevails, the Borg must be destroyed. Can they be saved? Sure. But does it save more lives just to wipe them out? Yep. So do so. That's certainly the attitude most Borg episodes take. This episode is just far too high on its own morals. It makes sense to humanize a recovered Borg if you intend to keep it on the ship, like in the case of Picard, or later on Voyager with Seven of Nine, but to humanize Hugh then return him to the Collective? Idiotic. I would have explained to Hugh the benefit of the invasive program and asked him to sacrifice himself. Because "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From Sherlock on 2006-10-13 at 12:18pm:
    I just watched this episode again for the first time in years and found it better than I remember. I thought the plot centered on the same sort of argument that "The Measure of a Man" used. Do they have the right to sacrifice Hugh for the betterment of society, just as they wondered in MoaM if Data had the right to be sacrificed for the betterment of society. In that episode, Picard said that we (humans) would be judged on how we treated this new species, meaning androids. But here he lets his emotions get in the way, and doesn't care how humans will be judged.
    The dialogue between Hugh and Picard is brilliant. I love how Picard tries to verbally force Hugh to 'help him assimliate the ship' and Hugh says 'I will not.'
    This is my favorite use of the Borg other than the movie "First Contact."
    I also think that Guinan is utilized well in this episode. I loved her fencing with Picard!
  • From Shashank Mayya on 2007-08-16 at 11:19pm:
    At the start of the episode, when they get the distress signal from the moon, Riker oders Dr. Crusher to meet him at the transporter room with a medical away team. In the next sequence, we only see Riker, Worf and Dr. Crusher beaming on the moon's surface. It appears that Dr. Crusher choose to ignore Rikers orders or maybe Worf persuaded her that he could perform medical duties as good as any of her staff?
  • From DSOmo on 2007-10-03 at 3:21am:
    - When recruiting an individual to write the "invasive" program that will destroy the Borg, Picard chooses Geordi. Wouldn't Data have been a better choice? Of course, if Data wrote the program, he would be the one to do the research with the Borg, and he wouldn't get all emotional and give the Borg a name.
    - The invasive program will NOT work! The Borg will not just "fall down" because they are thinking so hard about the picture that was created. What if one of the Borg tried to find the square root of two - a number for which there is no final solution because the digits after the decimal point appear to stretch on forever - will the entire Borg consciousness crash? Of course not! If the Borg have the ability to recognize this sort of unproductive loop, then they can recognize when they can't fully analyze a picture.
    - Picard wonders if Hugh's newfound independence might be the most invasive program of all. Haven't the Borg felt this concept of self-identity before? Every time an individual is assimilated, isn't their independence and self-identity felt by the Borg?
    - Just before beaming Hugh back to the surface, Picard tells Geordi that the Enterprise will hang close to the sun to obscure their presence from the Borg's sensors. Why is he telling Geordi this in front of Hugh? Once Hugh is back into the Borg consciousness, they'll know exactly where the Enterprise is located.
    - In this episode, Dr. Crusher balks at sending Hugh back with the invasion program. She "champions his cause." She asks for clarification on the term "total system failure," trying to make the point that they are contemplating destroying an entire race. Isn't this the same person who was shooting large phaser holes in the chests of the Borg during "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part 2"? Isn't she the same one who suggested using the nanites to invade the Borg ship and destroy them? What's the difference between using nanites and using a computer virus?
    - In "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part 2" the crew couldn't isolate Picard from all subspace signals, because Picard would die if they cut him off from the Borg collective consciousness. So why didn't Hugh die when they isolated him from the signals?
    - In "Q Who," the crew finds a world with great rips in the surface. Worf comments, "It is as though some great force just scooped all the machine elements off the face of the planet." A short time later, Q identifies the Borg as the ultimate users, seeking only new technologies to improve themselves. Q says they are interested only in the technology on the Enterprise. Then in "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part 1," the activities of the Borg change a little. Now they also assimilate people. By the time "I Borg" comes along, assimilation is the main activity of the Borg.
  • From djb on 2008-04-21 at 1:08am:
    The only thing that bothered me about this episode is how much of a bleeding heart Crusher was. She gets all broken up about the idea of using this drone to attempt to destroy an entire "race". The Borg are not a "race" or a "species". In effect, the best analogy would be that they are all diseased with an aggressive, incurable, malicious illness, for which the only way to prevent it from spreading is to euthanize those infected with it. When you think of the greatest good for the greatest number, attempting to destroy the Borg by any means possible is the only acceptable course of action. Crusher should know this and stop acting like they're committing genocide: in fact, they're attempting to prevent genocide! (Or, more specifically, geno-assimilation). It's kind of in line with Crusher's character to have reservations about it, but still, come on, Beverly! You're a commander, with, hopefully, the kind of discernment necessary to make these kind of decisions!

    This is reflective of a tendency I find too much in Trek humans: putting themselves at too much risk to save a life, even an enemy's.

    Anyway, not a bad episode aside from that.
  • From JRPoole on 2008-08-25 at 2:51pm:
    I think this episode is pretty strong. Although I agree in part with our host's feelings that this one is "naive," I think it does present a real conundrum, though the idea of asking Hugh to sacrifice himself seems a good alternative. This is the kind of thing Trek explores so well, and this episode is a gem, especially coming as it does in the midst of a string of less-than memorable installments. "Imaginary Friend, "Cost of Living," and "Perfect Mate" are all among the worst of the series, so this one couldn't come at a better time.
  • From CAlexander on 2011-03-26 at 12:00am:
    I enjoyed this episode from beginning to end, even when rewatching it.
    - When I first saw the "invasive program", I thought just like DSOmo, that it didn't make sense. But it does make sense if you think of it as a computer virus. The Borg may be easily able to handle any unsolveable problems. But the Enterprise crew has found a bug in the Borg software, then crafted a very specific input, that would never occur by chance, which exploits the bug and causes the Borg software to operate in ways it was never intended to. Just like a real-life computer virus.
    - Nevertheless, I found it impossible to believe that they could really be absolutely sure the virus would destroy the entire Borg Collective. Is the ultimate menace really so vulnerable and so easy to understand? I prefer to think they meant, "if it works perfectly, it will destroy the Borg Collective."
    - I also, like DSOmo, thought it was odd that independence could be so disruptive to the Borg, since assimilating independence seems to be their primary purpose. But it is likely that the assimilation procedure destroys all independence before the new Borg is actually attached to the collective. For a Borg to develop independence after assimilation may be a totally different situation.
    - DSOmo complains that Dr. Crusher was willing to kill Borg, yet balks at extermining them all. Destroying an enemy in battle is not the same as total genocide. Not even close.
    - In response to the review, the fact that the wisdom of Picard's decision is debatable is part of the strength of this episode. You may not agree with the idealistic Federation philosophy, but it is a reasonable and consistent philosophy. There are many people in real life who would put morality above expedience. The episode makes you think about what you believe is best. However, I will say I found Picard's decision easier to accept if you assume that the computer virus scheme is far from certain to destroy the Borg Collective, and the "spark of independence" scheme had a reasonable shot at success.
  • From McCoy on 2018-01-03 at 8:20am:
    Well, if I had a trauma, Troi would be the last person I wanted to see...:) She's the most irritating character ever created.
    I'm in minority too. Didn't liked it. Aside of the sf problems - first, it's ethically ambivalent forcing someone to live another life and suffer (see Voyager episode with war memorial - which I find far more "moral" than "Inner Light" however), second - what exactly the aliens wanted to achieve? Picard is just ONE person, so when he dies, no one will remember anything (program was destroyed). Creating one-use probe to teach one random person (maybe klingon drunker for example) about our civilization is... well... stupid?

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Star Trek TNG - 5x26 - Time's Arrow, Part I

Originally Aired: 1992-6-15

Synopsis:
Data is transported to late 19th-century San Francisco. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 5.61

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 34 4 17 1 6 4 12 18 30 27 21

Problems
- Data trades his communicator for three silver dollars. He throws one dollar into the pot as his ante for the first game, but the ante was said to be four bits, which is 50 cents.

Factoids
- The Frenchmen in this episode is played by Marc Alaimo, who later goes on to play Gul Dukat on DS9.

Remarkable Scenes
- Finding Data's head in the cavern.
- Riker: "Your head is not an artifact!"
- Data casually discussing the foreknowledge of his death.
- Troi quoting and imitating his definition of friendship.
- Picard trying to force Data to stay safe and cheat his "upcoming" death.
- Data in 1800s San Francisco.
- Data and the beggar.
- Data: "This is not sleepwear. And I do not have a missus. I am a Frenchmen."
- Data speaking French.
- Data playing Poker to get money.
- Data and the bus boy.
- Guinan making a special chemistry drink.
- Data pretending not to be able to lift the anvil.
- Data fumbling over the figures of speech.
- Seeing Guinan in the past.
- Guinan discussing the concept of alien worlds with Mark Twain.
- Data forcing his way into Guinan's house.
- Guinan's reaction to Data's entry.

My Review
An intriguing episode and certainly a memorable one. Though as a huge cliffhanger, there's not much to comment on. It's certainly fun to see Data interacting with 1800s Earth. It's also interesting to see that Guinan is apparently on Earth in this time period for reasons we're not given.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From DSOmo on 2007-10-06 at 3:09am:
    - As the Enterprise warps toward Devidia II, Geordi tells Guinan about finding Data's head in a cave on Earth. Guinan replies, "That's why the Enterprise is being sent back to Earth." The Enterprise has already been to Earth. It is on its way to another planet when she makes this comment.
    - When Guinan asks Picard if he is going on the away team mission, he replies that it is standard Starfleet policy for him not to go on away team missions. Starfleet policy must have changed. It is Riker, not Starfleet, who has made a unilateral decision that captains should not go on away teams.
  • From CAlexander on 2011-03-30 at 11:45pm:
    I liked Data's encounter with 19th century Earth. It plays out nicely. I also liked the mystery of Data's head, and the weird encounters with the phase discriminator. The one negative for me was that I felt everyone's reactions to Data's death were overacted.
    - The ante seemed rather large compared to the size of Data's stakes. Doesn't give him much room to make decisions and use his poker skill. Was he fortunate, or did he cheat?
  • From Cal on 2017-02-24 at 6:04am:
    Starfleet had had the no captains on away missions rule for quite some time. Riker just enforced it more.

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Star Trek TNG - 6x01 - Time's Arrow, Part II

Originally Aired: 1992-9-21

Synopsis:
The crew travels back in time to prevent Data's death. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 4.79

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 68 3 39 10 10 10 13 29 35 29 30

Problems
- Why was Geordi wearing his visor in the hospital for anyone to see?

Factoids
- Premonitions of this episode can be found in TNG: Booby Trap, where Guinan makes a statement about a bald man coming to her aid a long time ago, and in TNG: Ensign Ro, where Guinan explains to Ro that her trust in Picard runs deep for special reasons.

Remarkable Scenes
- The landlady calling Picard "Mr. Pickerd."
- The Revelation that the bus boy was Jack London, the young self-taught writer of over 50 books.
- Mark Twain freaking out over Data and Guinan's activities.
- The crew escaping the hospital with Data.
- Mrs. Carmichael being manipulated by Picard.
- Data's death.
- Mark Twain's reaction to being transported.
- "Wearwolf..." Mark Twain's reaction to seeing Worf.
- Mark Twain's discussion of government with Troi.
- Mark Twain's realization that he's "misjudged many things."
- Data interpreting Picard's message.
- Guinan, Picard, and Twain just before Picard returns.

My Review
If you read the factoids section of my reviews, you'll see that this episode was "supposed to happen". Twice through the show we were given direct evidence that "a long time ago" Picard came to Guinan's aide. Now we know what she was talking about. This long-term character development of Guinan is wonderful writing. One nice thing about the plot is that this Guinan business seems to be just a minor plot thread, as well. We're given a much more dominant plot regarding Mark Twain, Data, San Francisco, and these soul sucking aliens. I'm usually not fond of endings where everything conveniently works out in the end, but this episode wrapped it all up so nicely and neatly as well as stylishly that I forgive it. Time's Arrow is not the best season finale / premiere to grace Star Trek, but it's definitely a great showing for a TNG fan.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From Shashank Mayya on 2007-08-30 at 3:14am:
    The Bell Boy and Data's errand lad goes on to become the famous writer Jack London who wrote the "Call of the Wild".
  • From DSOmo on 2007-10-08 at 3:53am:
    - The away team establishes a base of operations in a boardinghouse. One of the lighthearted bits of the episode has Picard trying to squirm his way out of paying the rent. However, the second time the landlady comes to collect the rent, Data is with the group. Doesn't Data have money from his winnings in poker?
    - Troi takes Clemens to visit Geordi as Geordi works on reconnecting Data's head. After entering the room, Clemens sees his watch on a table and grabs the watch. Doesn't it seem likely that a watch from the nineteenth century would be on its way to a museum instead of lying on a table in Geordi's lab?
    - While trying to reattach Data's head to his body, Geordi finds a metal file at the base of the opening in the back of the head. Why didn't Data discover the metal file when he examined the head earlier?
    - Before departing for the nineteenth century, Clemens states that he wants to go back because he has more books to write. Later, while preparing to fire the torpedoes to destroy the aliens' origination point, Riker expresses concern that Picard should have gotten back already if Clemens had returned to the nineteenth century. Worf then says, "We have no way of knowing if Mr. Clemens was successful." Can't they check their historical data base to see if Mark Twain wrote any books after August 1893 (the time frame for this adventure)?
    - At the very end of the show, Clemens instructs the medics who carry Guinan off on a stretcher. Do the doctors of nineteenth-century Earth really have the medical knowledge to help a woman whose physiology is so different that she lives at least five hundred years?
    - Phasers reacquire the ability to be tuned to different frequencies in this episode. Originally, phasers had this capability, as demonstrated in "Arsenal Of Freedom." Then phasers lost the capability in "The Best Of Both Worlds."
    - Picard sends a message to Data by tapping on the back of his head with a metal file. After Data comes to life, he tells Geordi that he is processing a binary message from Picard. A binary message? Do you know how many 1's and 0's Picard would need to send to create a message that Data could understand?
  • From thaibites on 2012-04-05 at 9:20pm:
    This episode really pissed me off! I waited a couple decades to see what finally happened to Data's head, and all I get is the WORST character in the history of Trek - Mark Twain. This guy was more obnoxious and unlikable than Dr. Pulaski! Plus, he never shut up. I wish Data would've popped his head like a big zit.
    I think the creative team really dropped the ball on this one because they wasted all that time on Twain and never really delved into these mysterious aliens that occupy the same space as us, but are out of sync with our time. It's a fascinating concept that could've led to many wonderful revelations about reality and quantum physics, but all we get is some miserable, old moron prattling on and on and on...
    This episode suffers from too much padding, too much comedy relief, and much too much Twain.
  • From Dys on 2012-08-10 at 2:11pm:
    This episode looks like some 2005 Doctor Who's episodes (and surely old doctor who too?), with disguised aliens commiting some machination at differents periods, in costume s'il-vous-plait, guests historicals characters, and of course time travel.
    For me it doesn't fit correctly in the star trek mythology and let me a disappointing feeling.
  • From Quando on 2014-07-28 at 9:07pm:
    I just re-watched this episode last night, and I had a couple of thoughts.

    First, when Guinan is brought back to the hotel and is with the rest of the crew (Riker, Crusher, La Forge) for the first time, nobody even says anything about it. Like how about, "what's Guinan doing here?" They all just act like she came with them in the first place.

    Second, I thought the whole "zany" side story about pretending to be putting on a play to get out of paying the landlady was incredibly lame. Based on what they found in the cave at the beginning of the episode, they knew in advance that they were going back in time to late 1800s' San Francisco. Picards' group may have even brought appropriate costumes with them (they don't otherwise explain where they got those perfectly appropriate clothes, including a police uniform and a nurse's uniform). So before they left, why didn't they just replicate a bunch of currency from that time period?

    Third, I was rather skeptical that they could take Data's 500 year old head and just hook it up to his body and have it work fine like nothing ever happened. I guess that also means Data will have to live the rest of his life with a head that is 500 years older than the rest of his body -- kinda creepy.

    Finally, the climactic scene in which they beam Picard out just in the nick of time was not believable. Remember: Worf fired the photon torpedoes, shortly thereafter there is a report that sensors have started to pick up Picard's life signs in the cave, Riker calls the transporter room, and then the transporter guys lock on and beam up Picard, all in the time it took for the photons torpedoes to travel from a ship that is in orbit of the planet down to the cave. Those are some seriously slow torpedoes. I know they wanted to manufacture some tension, but they could have come up with something better than that.
  • From Axel on 2015-03-01 at 4:43pm:
    This is the only TNG two-parter I didn't like. It was stretched out longer than it needed to be. There is too much filler, mainly involving the Twain and London characters. It feels like there was such a need to force them into the plot and make the audience aware of their presence, that the main storyline involving the Devidian aliens never gets developed as much as it should. The Guinan subplot was a nice touch, but it too gets convoluted by the overall mishandling of the episode.

    It was a nice episode for the Data character. Along with "Measure of a Man" and several other episodes, it's clear the Enterprise crew has become very protective of Data and see him as much more than an android.

    Still, I'd give this a 4 ranking. Not much of a cliffhanger, on top of everything else.
  • From Keefaz on 2017-01-29 at 4:34am:
    Mark Twain almost single-handedly ruins this episode. Like a squawking bird right up in your ear for 90 minutes.
  • From Cal on 2017-02-24 at 10:31am:
    I love this finale. I love the setting, I love Clemens and his reaction to Worf and the Bolian. I love the continuity, I love the way Data turns up in a getaway coach. There's lots to love. Allthough I still don't know what Data says when he's speaking French.
    I recognised the young reporter's voice talking to Clemens, turns out it's Ensign Taurik from Lower Decks and later Ensign Vorik from Voyager. Loving these blurays.
  • From Rick on 2017-03-27 at 9:24pm:
    To the poster above, Data says something along the lines of "we are almost brothers, nice to make your acquaintance"
  • From Chris on 2018-02-12 at 4:14pm:
    I like this episode but too, have some problems.

    I don't know what Twain's (Clemens') voice was like but this guy is extremely annoying and I'd have punched him a lot!
    There's a recording of Rod Rawlings' imitating Twain, and it is much more tolerable. Rawlings was an early neighbor and acquaintance of Twain and apparently was good at imitating famous people.

    Anyway, no one on the away team brought suitcases and unless they had things like Tim 'The Toolman' Taylor's 'Suit in a Bag', there is a major screw up with the costuming!
    Very irritating that something so glaring would get past the editors!

    I also have a problem with the notion that a person of color would be so highly regarded in 19th Century San Francisco, regardless of its progressive reputation, or her status!

    Think about how the real George Washington Carver was treated during the same period! Rather shabbily IMO, and he was far more influential than any literary figure, black or white!

    I realize that there is no story without accepting this as a possibility, but it kind of bugs me. Perhaps they could have illustrated the prejudices that existed at the time, especially to the Asians in SF! I guess others would complain about the soap-box, but it would have made the story much more believable and Twain would have been far more impressed once aboard the Enterprise in the 24th Century!

    Then there's LaForge and his visor, on and off, but on, quite often in front of folks, it shouldn't have been on!

    Of course, Jack London never met Twain as far as I'm aware, so I will suspend my incredulity for all these things.

    I loved when Riker said, "I have the utmost respect for the law!" Wham!!!

    Otherwise, I enjoyed the episode very much!

    P.S. Does anyone else feel that entire Tricorders and other sensors could be embedded in Data's head or whatever so that they are never needed by him? Similarly perhaps with Geordi's visor?

    Sorry that my comment ran on so long!!!

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Star Trek TNG - 6x05 - Schisms

Originally Aired: 1992-10-19

Synopsis:
The crew suffers bizarre symptoms after an alien visit. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 5.17

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 71 2 9 5 4 7 17 48 41 40 10

Problems
- In this episode it is said that cargo bay 4 is on deck 4. But the big schematics on the wall say it's on deck 10. And in TNG: Power Play it's said to be on deck 18...
- There is a moment of unintentional comedy when Troi says: "Computer, make this a metal table." The innocuous wooden table then suddenly transforms into a scary metal torture table with no additional input or context given!

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- Riker's hair at the beginning of the episode and his fatigue and behavior at Data's poetry reading.
- Data's Ode to Spot...

"Felis catus is your taxonomic nomenclature,
an endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature.
Your visual, olfactory, and auditory senses,
contribute to your hunting skills and natural defenses.

I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations,
a singular development of cat communications,
that obviates your basic hedonistic predilection,
for a rhythmic stroking of your fur to demonstrate affection.

A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents.
You would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance,
and when not being utilized to aid in locomotion,
it often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.

Oh Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display,
connote a fairly well developed cognitive array,
and though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend."


- Worf freaking out at the Bolian hair stylist.
- Everybody collectively remembering weird crap, then going to the holodeck to reconstruct it.
- Riker kicking some goblin ass.

My Review
This is a skillfully written episode from beginning to end. Everything from Data's poetry to the gradual building of suspense to the climax at the end was intelligently written. The episode was captivating and easily kept my interest all the way to the final moments. The holodeck scene in particular is one of the most memorable scenes in all of Star Trek. It's fun to see them use the holodeck as a tool, and not as a fantasy, or a place where things are always going wrong. The only failing in this plot is that in the end, we're left with a clear impression that these aliens would return. But they never do. You'd figure the writers would have learned from their mistake with TNG: "Conspiracy" by now. Oh well.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From Pete Miller on 2006-05-06 at 5:23pm:
    I completely agree with eric. The episode is captivating, and in my opinion the aliens are thoroughly creepy with all their clicking and whatnot. Very disappointing to see them not return. This episode was a breath of frsh air from that crap with troi and scotty.
  • From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2006-05-21 at 11:20am:
    When Riker, Worf, Geordi, and Troi are in the conference room discussing their shared experience, pay attention to the "ordinary" woman in there. The writers gave her one of the worst lines in the history of TNG. Her line was "yeah, cold." The way she says almost ruins the whole scene.

    When they step into the holodeck, she has another bad line, "yeah, it was long." It just seems like she was pasted onto the scences at the last minute.



  • From JennyDaTrekkie on 2007-08-03 at 8:12am:
    Although this episode was engauging at the time, and I really enjoyed the holodeck sequence, I feel the 'inteligent cliffhanger' merely made the episode seem unrewarding and pointless.
    However, I found the episode worth watching just for the use of the holodeck and Data's helarious attempt at poetry.
  • From DSOmo on 2007-10-11 at 3:34am:
    - When Riker first goes to Crusher complaining of tiredness, she finds nothing physically wrong other than muscle tension. She then wonders out loud that his problems might come from REM sleep deprivation. In "Night Terrors," Crusher said that this condition causes a unique chemical imbalance in the brain, and she is able to verify that crew members have this imbalance. If she really suspects dream deprivation, why not just check for the chemical imbalance?
    - In the last captain's log of the episode, Picard reports that all crew members are "safe and accounted for." He must have an interesting definition of the word "safe" because one of the abductees, although "accounted for," is dead!
    - Since everyone in the group remembers a table of some kind, Troi asks the computer to create a conference table. Geordi responds that the table is too high and orders the computer to lower it. Then, Worf says the table should be tilted. Instead of tilting the conference table, the computer replaces it with an entirely different table! Then Riker says the table should be metal, and the computer replaces the angled wooden table with a metal examination table. At no time does anyone ask for a different table design, simply modifications to the current design, but the computer takes it upon itself to start from scratch every time.
    - Everyone in the holodeck agrees that the aliens' examination table was tilted. However, when the episode finally shows the aliens' lair, the tables are flat.
    - After Geordi makes his modifications to the sensor array, the computer reports a massive explosion in Cargo Bay 4. The next shot shows the emergency team "rushing" to the scene. Did I say rushing? More like strolling!
    - When a crew member reappears after an abduction, Worf reports his quarters as being on "deck 9, section 17." However, when Crusher needs a plasma infusion unit for the stricken crew member, she tells her medical technician to bring the unit to "deck 9, section 19."
    - Just before Riker makes his desperate dash through the closing subspace hole, he grabs a fellow crew member. This action pops his phaser loose from its holster, and it falls to the floor. Once Riker returns to the Enterprise, the phaser is back! Yet at no time does Riker stop to pick it up.
  • From JRPoole on 2008-09-11 at 2:11pm:
    This episode is more genuinely creepy than any of the Halloween-y episodes or ghost stories that Trek sometimes trots out, and it’s one of the best stand-alone episodes of the series.
    It’s not truly great in the same way that, say, “The Inner Light” is, but it’s still good solid sci-fi.

    The only thing keeping this one from a 9 for me (10 is reserved for story-arc episodes and really exceptional stand-alones) is the weird random lady mentioned above. She’s cozying up to Picard at Data’s poetry reading, and their body language seems to indicate they’re pretty familiar, then she shows up to deliver those incredibly stupid lines like “cold. It was cold,” that some of you have mentioned. What in the world is she all about?

    The other-universe aliens concept is great. My only question is what Data mentions at the end about the aliens’ cells being salanogen based. WTF does that mean? I love the way this one ends in mystery, and I also like the lovely little ensign who’s been manning the helm for the past few episodes and gets taken by the aliens. I give it an 8.
  • From IUU on 2010-02-13 at 10:11am:
    Trivial continuity note: Dr. Crusher *prescribes* a hot milk toddy, and ascribes the recipe to Picard's Aunt Edell.
  • From Quando on 2011-08-23 at 8:05pm:
    I was frustrated that everybody kept dogging on Data's poetry, suggesting that they should pretend to like it just to be nice. I thought it was brilliant and wanted to hear more! Whoever wrote that should get a gold star.
  • From Percivale on 2011-11-09 at 9:00pm:
    Great episode. Skilfully creepy.

    One comment: I always find it funny when characters get impatient when the computer doesn't understand their incredibly vague commands. Usually it's Geordi - the very adaptable, technically minded engineer - as demonstrated in the holodeck scene of this episode, when he's talking about the lighting. Calm down, dude, and just tell her how much light you want.
  • From lumzi23 on 2017-03-16 at 5:00pm:
    This episode is great. The whole concept of alien abduction in the 24th century is great. It is excellent and clever.
  • From Shrub on 2019-10-24 at 3:18am:
    I have an issue with the hot milk toddy in this episode. In the episode "Cause and Effect", Picard shares this recipe with Dr. Crusher, however the ship is destroyed in this loop, and the recipe is not shared in the following loops. I suppose it is possible that she could remember the recipe, but it seems unlikely that she would remember that specific detail. It's also possible that the recipe was shared between these episodes, but I find it odd that it would be shared twice within a year when it had not been shared in the several years prior they spent on Enterprise.

    Just a thought.

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Star Trek TNG - 6x09 - The Quality of Life

Originally Aired: 1992-11-16

Synopsis:
Data risks lives in order to protect a "living" machine. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 5.25

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 23 3 5 30 7 11 14 31 29 11 9

Problems
None

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- The discussion of Geordi's beard and beards in general. Personally, I like Geordi the best with a beard.
- Data beginning to believe the exocomp was alive.
- Beverly healing herself after being defeated in a sparring match with Worf.
- Data asking Beverly for the definition of life.
- Farallon: "One time I saw an exocomp enter a reaction chamber for no apparent reason and vaporize itself. Is that supposed to make me think that it was depressed and suicidal?"
- Beverly and Data discovering that the exocomp saw right through the test.
- Data objecting to sacrificing the exocomps to save Picard and Geordi.
- Data locking out the transporter to save the exocomps. I love how Data replies to Riker's anger to calmly.
- The exocomps noble sacrifice.

My Review
This episode takes a meager premise and makes it interesting. In the beginning of the episode we have a simple space station with a radical new mining technique. A concept not unlike other TNG episodes dealing with one time guest stars. However, the introduction of the exocomps and the debate over their sentience is an intriguing one. And the debate over whether or not they're alive is even more fascinating than TNG: The Measure of a Man in some respects. Especially with Data's decision to protect the exocomps at all costs. I'm fond of how everyone is so easy to forgive Data and I'm equally fond of how much willing Data was to end his career with his extreme actions. The dialog in this episode was intelligent and was a general pleasure to watch.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From DSOmo on 2007-11-10 at 12:48pm:
    - During this episode, Data asks Crusher to define life, and Crusher sputters around for a while before finally coming up with an answer (sort of). During the first season she was a lot surer of herself. When asked a similar question in "Home Soil," she immediately answered that organic life must have the ability to assimilate, respirate, reproduce, grow and develop, move, secrete, and excrete.
    - Prior to a meeting concerning the exocomp, Picard makes a log stating that he has called a meeting of the senior staff. In the meeting, both Riker and Worf are missing.
    - The exocomps have the ability to replicate the tool attachment they need for a specific job. Normally, the exocomp dematerializes this attachment as soon as it completes the job. Very conveniently, an excomp "forgets" to dematerialize the attachment. This forgetfulness allows Data to see the tool and come to the conclusion that the exocomps are alive (which is needed to move the plot along).
    - When the bridge crew quickly runs through the options for rescuing Picard, Faralon claims that they don't have time to send a shuttle to the space station. Yet mere seconds before, Riker tells everyone they have twenty-two minutes! Twenty-two minutes isn't enough time to fly a shuttle next door to an orbiting space station? It's amazing the dance the creators go through to keep the tension up on this show. Of course, if the Enterprise sent a shuttle, the exocomps wouldn't be in danger, and Data couldn't save them, and so on, and so on.
  • From djb on 2008-05-29 at 3:55am:
    - I wonder why Riker, who outranks Data, wasn't able to override the transporter lockout. Of course, Data has been shown to be able to lock everyone out, even the captain (see "Brothers") but it didn't seem to indicate he imitated anyone's voice like he did before.

    - There's obvious continuity between this episode and "The Measure of a Man" but there's also a subtle reference to "The Offspring," in which Picard encourages Data to disobey the Admiral who wants to take Lal away, saying, "There are times when men of conscience cannot blindly follow orders." It seems Data has taken that to heart.

    - I find it weird that there isn't much of a difference made between "sentient" and "sapient" in this episode. Clearly the line has to be drawn somewhere when it comes to the importance of preserving "living" things. If, for example, I had to sacrifice my cat, who is sentient, but not sapient, to save a human friend, there wouldn't be much of a question, even if it were a difficult decision to make. And if it were a tree, there would be no question. The tree is alive by all definitions of the word, but it would be ludicrous to put a single plant on the same level of importance as a starship captain. Data's acting as if the AI exhibited by these devices might make him "not alone" is ridiculous, because simple self-preservation is certainly feasible without a positronic brain. Plus, even if the exocomps could be proven to be "sentient," they don't have positronic brains, and therefore would never make Data less unique no matter how smart they became.

    Somehow Data has come to the conclusion that the rudimentary intelligence shown by the exocomps, which is, at best, circumstantial evidence that they are anything approximating "conscious," is of equal value with two humans, one of whom saved him from being disassembled. Wouldn't Data take that into account? He seems to have jumped to conclusions, which is inconsistent with his programming. In fact, he seems very driven by emotion in this episode. It brings up a good question of where our the border between our thoughts and our emotions lies.

    It's true that the exocomps exhibited self-preservation behavior, but that is a far cry from sapience. Even following Crusher's loose definition of "alive," these exocomps didn't reproduce or grow. They also didn't consume food any more than a tricorder would. Neither do they obviously exhibit self-awareness. Their self-preservation tendencies could be nothing more than good AI. As indicated in the episode, they have heuristic programming, writing itself as it learns more, and for all we know, this program came to the logical conclusion that self-preservation is most conducive to the unit executing its function properly. Clearly, unlike Data's designer, their designer did not intend for them to become "alive," even in the loosest sense of the word. (This, of course, brings up the whole debate of Intelligent Design, but that's a whole different can of worms.)

    Indeed, I wonder why more effort wasn't made to discover to what extent these exocomps could exhibit life-like behavior, why no one bothered to try to communicate with them outside of the typical "enter command" protocol, and why no one asked exactly HOW they became "sentient." It reminds me of "Evolution", where a science project "accidentally" became intelligent, and all of a sudden has to be preserved and protected, even when it threatens the ship. One wonders, then, since the Federation is committed to seeking out new forms of life, why there isn't a comprehensive working definition of life, along with a set of tests to gauge whether or not something is alive, so this quandary doesn't come up every time some device exhibits seemingly intelligent behavior.

    - This is trivial, but I like the "beard" continuity between this episode and the previous one. It's true that the producers intentionally kept this series episodic, with not much overlap from episode to episode, but some more continuity on non-plot points like this one would have been nice.
  • From 2 Of 14 on 2008-09-05 at 6:53am:
    This episode has some excellent aspects such as great ideas, great production values, etc. However, I just cannot get my head around Data deliberately disobeying direct orders from his commanding officer by locking the transporter. To me, this is a major problem in this episode.

    Data’s reasoning that the exocomps are just as valuable as two human lives is totally believable; he is an android and we understand that he sometimes arrives at conclusions many people would not understand or share, that is part of his appeal.

    But to directly disregard direct orders from his commanding officer in this way is just bizarre. In an organisation like Starfleet following orders would be essential, such a complex starship cannot operate without a high level of discipline. A commanding officer is supposed to be so highly trained and experienced that if they make decisions affecting the lives of their crew they should expect them to be carried out, not necessarily without question, but certainly without such blatant refusal.

    Data knows all this; in "Redemption II" when Lt. Cmdr. Hobson questions Data’s orders, Data threatens to relieve him of duty.

    If I was Picard or Riker after this incident I would feel very uncomfortable having Data in such a senior position and would not want him on board the ship in such a capacity.
  • From JRPoole on 2008-09-11 at 11:49am:
    Thie episode trots out a few standard Trek themes that are starting to get a little cliche by this point in TNG: the definition of life and/or sentience, Dats's humanity, moral conundrums, and scientists blinded by ambition.

    We don't really get anything new here, but these ideas are all handled servicably, and this episode is intriguing nonetheless.

  • From Rick on 2014-03-13 at 1:24pm:
    Huge problem in this episode (which is otherwise a great one): If the scientist and Riker do not buy that the exocomps are lifeforms, then why do they need to disconnect their command pathways? They both tell Data that they arent lifeforms and Data responds by saying that because they are lifeforms they will not accept the commands that will kill them. Then Riker and scientist decide to disconnect the command pathways? Isnt this directly admitting that Data has been right all along and that they are going to kill the exocomps anyway!!!???
  • From El Goopo on 2015-03-02 at 1:16am:
    People really don't like this episode, do they? Talk about being unwilling to think things through..

    >Very conveniently, an excomp "forgets" to dematerialize the attachment.

    Or perhaps it didn't forget, and was intentionally letting Data see it? Works just as well.


    >Twenty-two minutes isn't enough time to fly a shuttle next door to an orbiting space station?

    This is the most minor of nits, for an episode that was clearly not about shuttles. Most problems in stories could be solved far more sensibly without tacked-on conditions to rationalize how the story gets where it has to go.


    >Data's acting as if the AI exhibited by these devices might make him "not alone" is ridiculous

    Data was their advocate, not because he knew they were intelligent, but because a possibly sentient life form was being forced to die, put in the same position he himself was in earlier in the series. Given that the Exocomps never reappeared, he was probably wrong... but not in principle.


    >Their self-preservation tendencies could be nothing more than good AI.

    Rewatch Measure of a Man and revisit the "sentience" criteria - would you condemn something that might be sentient because you think it doesn't qualify? The point is to not be hasty and condemn possible life, not assume it's not life because you can't bring yourself to believe it at the time.


    >But to directly disregard direct orders from his commanding officer in this way is just bizarre.

    "To seek out new life" is the Enterprise's primary mission, spoken loudly right in the title sequence each week. If you saw that your CO was about to sacrifice the greater mission to save two lives, would you not want him to listen to your arguments before saying "yes sir" and pressing on?


    >If I was Picard or Riker after this incident I would feel very uncomfortable having Data in such a senior position and would not want him on board the ship in such a capacity.

    Kind of a ridiculous notion to not trust your subordinate simply for doing something you yourself have done more often, and possibly for lesser reasons than violating your primary mission. Heck, Data hijacked without even knowing it just to go see his father, and they still trusted him after that massive security vulnerability was exposed. Why would this be any worse?


    >If the scientist and Riker do not buy that the exocomps are lifeforms, then why do they need to disconnect their command pathways?

    If your computer isn't responding, do you assume it has achieved sentience, or that it has crashed? No, you reboot it. Similar principle here. Farallon was just a step further, and refusing to accept new facts that pointed at it being more than a "bug", but the story pointed that out.
  • From Rick on 2015-10-26 at 11:22am:
    El Goopo:

    I agree with all of your responses, as people tend to see problems where there really arent any, except for the last one in which you question the problem I brought up.

    The entire premise of the second half the episode is that if the Exocomps have a sense of survival then they are sentient. Or at least there is a high probability that they are sentient and they shouldnt be mistreated until that hypothesis is confirmed or refuted.

    Data explicitly says to Riker, "If I am correct" that the Exocomps are sentient, they will refuse this order because it is too dangerous. Then Riker orders that the command pathways to be shut down, which means that he thinks they will refuse this order too. So are you saying there is a computer bug that only makes the Exocomps refuse orders that are dangerous? That was not programmed into them so it doesnt really make sense that they would develop such a "bug". And besides my speculation, as I already stated, that survival instinct to refuse dangerous orders so heavily suggests that they are sentient that you cannot mistreat them until you find out for sure. So even if Riker thought it may be a bug, he cannot and should not shut down their command pathways until he is sure.
  • From Axel on 2018-06-17 at 1:21am:
    So, these poker games the senior staff plays: you have a Betazoid who can sense emotion, LaForge whose VISOR apparently helps him tell when people are lying, and Data, who can count cards. Yet somehow Riker and Crusher are the ones that always win? Riker must be a phenomenal bluffer.

    Anyway, Data doesn't suggest that the exocomps are exactly like him. He suggests they are possible progenitors. When did he actually become a life form? He's not sure, which is why he's so interested in the exocomps. They might show him an earlier stage of his own existence as he was being assembled by Soong.

    Also, the self-preservation isn't the only reason Data suspects they might be alive, although that gets talked about the most. His evidence that it might have been deliberate self-preservation is because he sees they are rapidly forming new circuit pathways. If that's happening, it's a sign they might be developing self-awareness and a rudimentary intelligence, both signs of life. It also means they might continue to become more intelligent. The possibility of growth is too much to ignore.

    As far sacrificing Geordi and Picard for the exocomps, he said it wasn't an easy decision. As Picard says, it was a human decision. As with all human decisions, some people may disagree or have done it differently. The whole point though, to me, is that Data has to make this call quickly and still adhere to his ethical subroutines. It was a growth moment for him as well.
  • From QuasiGiani on 2018-06-20 at 1:28am:
    "Huge problem in this episode (which is otherwise a great one): If the scientist and Riker do not buy that the exocomps are lifeforms, then why do they need to disconnect their command pathways? They both tell Data that they aren't lifeforms and Data responds by saying that because they are lifeforms they will not accept the commands that will kill them. Then Riker and scientist decide to disconnect the command pathways? Isn't this directly admitting that Data has been right all along and that they are going to kill the exocomps anyway!!!???" -From Rick on 2014-03-13 at 1:24pm

    Yep. Yes. Exactly.

    Riker... ...dis-apoint-ted (or as Data basically said: fuck you).

    ...

    Also -- on a much more serious and substantial level than these squabbles and frittatas about slavery and life-sacrifice -- Dr. Beverly Crusher never really appealed to me (so much, {I mean, who am I kidding}) but in this episode she was undeniably beautiful to my eye (and her character's character was particularly nice as well). Both of these are separate and both of these are just maybe slight improvements but enough to qualify as quantity elevating quality.
  • From Chris on 2019-07-28 at 3:18pm:
    Look folks, and I realize how late to this discussion I am... This to me is a very touching episode, with twists I did not expect!
    The Scientist turning on her own creations despite her deep admiration for Data is one big one!

    I find in these comments, far too much disbelief that something could never happen the way they describe them, yet are perfectly comfortable with the entire premise of ships that go FTL, and Transporters, and all the other gibberish they use or talk about!

    My biggest technical gripe with ST from the beginning is that while a ship may send out a sensing signal at 'sub-space' speeds (whatever that means) the signal would not return at 'sub-space' speeds. Further, when you and your enemy are buzzing around at FTL trying to shoot each other out of the sky, I can't imagine any sensors working in any way, shape, or form!

    Let the nits go and enjoy the good stories, because they are, after all, very good stories!

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Star Trek TNG - 6x10 - Chain of Command, Part I

Originally Aired: 1992-12-14

Synopsis:
After being reassigned, Picard is taken hostage. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 7.07

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 11 3 4 3 15 6 2 23 31 49 23

Problems
None

Factoids
- The writers considered having this episode tie in more directly with DS9, replacing the Ferengi character we see in this episode with Quark. But some scheduling eliminated this possibility. :(

Remarkable Scenes
- The matter-of-fact matter in which the admiral dispersed her orders.
- Captain Jellico's enthusiasm.
- The command transfer ceremony.
- Jellico: "Oh... and get that fish out the ready room."
- Jellico criticising Troi's uniform.
- Jellico "being blunt" to Picard.
- The Ferengi claiming that "he's not a smuggler"; overly paranoid about an accusation not made...
- Beverly seducing the Ferengi into helping.
- Beverly and Worf picking on each other.
- Jellico's deliberate rude behavior to the Cardassians.
- The Cardassian captain giving (perhaps not so) subtle foreknowledge of Picard's mission with Worf and Beverly.

My Review
Like any cliffhanger, this episode can not be fully judged until part II. But standing on its own, there are several nice features. Certainly, the tension level of this episode is its greatest feature. Everybody is on edge. The whole episode is like an adrenaline rush. In addition, this episode sets up the premise for DS9. We're told that Bajor has finally won its freedom! A shame we don't get to hear Ro Laren's opinion on the salvation of her planet. The new uniforms of the Cardassians are also established here. Due to all this, I consider this episode the first episode of the DS9 era. Starting here, Star Trek takes a turn into a bold new direction.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From Pete Miller on 2006-05-10 at 11:50pm:
    That whole thing with Jellico relieving picard in front of the whole ship PISSED ME OFF. I absolutely hate all admirals in starfleet. I STILL stand not having seen a decent one up to this point, and I've seen 5.5 seasons!!!!

    Jellico is a complete bastard. Time to rant about him. "Get it done" is an asinine saying. I hate how he uses data as his personal bitch. He doesn't give a shit about people's feelings, or schedules. "I don't have time for a honeymoon with the crew". What an asshole.

    Jellico ranks as a worse bad guy for me than a Borg or a Romulan any day of the week. I actually found myself enjoying the Cardassian making a fool of Jelico and the federation. That's not supposed to happen!
  • From DSOmo on 2007-11-11 at 12:41am:
    - While rearranging the Enterprise to suit his own taste, Jelico tells Troi that he prefers a certain formality on the bridge. He then requests that she wear a standard uniforn. After seeing Troi function in a standard blue uniform, you suddenly realize the injustice the creators have done to her character. In a standard uniform, Troi becomes a serious professional woman of the same standing as Crusher. Troi's character could have been just as effective, maybe even more effective, had the creators opted for something other than the obvious. Certainly Troi's physical beauty is not diminished by wearing a standard uniform.
    - As the commandos navigate through a maze of caves on Seltrice III, a cave-in buries Crusher. Unbelievably, she's okay even though she was buried under a huge pile of rocks. Maybe the rocks were the Seltrice III equivalent of pumice?
    - Shortly after taking over the Enterprise, Jelico tells Riker to change the functions of the Science I and Science II workstations on the bridge. They are supposed to be "dedicated to damage control and weapons status from now on." Yet when reporting that the theta band emissions from Seltrice III have stopped, Riker stands with Jelico in front of Science I and it still says "Science I" at the top and Riker is still using it for planetary scanning, not weapons status, as Jelico ordered.
    - The creators reused the matte painting of the colony on Moab IV ("The Masterpiece Society") as an establishing shot just before the bar scene.
  • From djb on 2008-05-31 at 4:07am:
    Good episode. I like 2-parters, especially with this series because it's so episodic, i.e. there are hardly any interweaving storylines. 2-parters allow for a larger, more detailed story to unfold.

    - I fully agree that it's high time we saw Troi wear a standard uniform. Too bad it's only for just over 1 1/2 seasons that she actually gets to wear something that makes her look dignified. Why hasn't she been wearing one up to this point? Surely it can't just be for ratings. Now she looks like an actual officer. Anyway, good call on Jellico's part.

    - I'm confused as to why Jellico would want a four-shift rotation instead of 3. That means 6-hour shifts instead of 8, which means less work. What? Unless he's expecting the crew to pull double shifts, in which case, it makes sense.
  • From Mike on 2008-06-13 at 11:08am:
    Absolutely love this episode, and Ronnie Cox was BRILLIANT as Captain Jellico. I actually would've like to have seen more of this character - it was very cool to see the Enterprise under a different commander.
  • From Quando on 2014-08-15 at 9:43pm:
    I really like this episode specifically because Jellico is such a jerk. That is "real." Everybody has had a boss, teacher, parent, or friend like this before, so you can relate to the situation. And it finally lets us see some dynamic interpersonal conflict for a change. I know Gene Roddenberry's vision was that members of the crew would not be in conflict with each other -- rather, the conflict would generally come from outside the crew (aliens and others they encounter). That's OK I guess, but not very realistic and not as interesting as it could be. Compare with the approach taken in the new Battlestar Galactica where there are constant conflicts among the crew, and that is the most interesting part of the show.
  • From Dstyle on 2016-09-16 at 11:20am:
    I haven't watched an episode of TNG for a while, but decided to revisit some old favorites to celebrate Star Trek's 50th anniversary. And I was surprised to find I was far more sympathetic to Captain Jellico this time around.

    I'm not surprised viewers like Pete Miller up above hate Jellico so much. He's visually unappealing: he wears an ill-fitting uniform shirt that is too baggy in the shoulders and gives him the subtle look of a perpetual slouch. He's brusk and dismissive with the senior officers, and he has the audacity to remove Picard's fish from his ready room and ask Troi to wear her uniform on the bridge. It made me marvel at how easy it is to make an audience dislike a character. Had the producers of these episodes dressed him in a uniform that fit and had he delivered his lines with a little less abruptness he'd be far more relatable. Nothing he does is unreasonable at all, considering the circumstances. But we're not supposed to like Captain Jellico. He's an interloper and a threat to the comfortable world of the Enterprise that we've grown accustomed to over five-plus seasons.

    But, perhaps because I wan't watching this episode after five-plus seasons but rather as a one-off, I was surprised at how entirely unprofessional the crew was during this change in command, particularly Number One. Jeez, Riker, you're first officer: your commanding officer isn't supposed to coddle you. Follow his orders and quit acting so entitled. When Geordi complains to you about his orders, you're supposed to get Geordi in line with the captain, not agree with his complaints and go crying to Picard. There's little wonder Jellico chose to have Data by his side as he worked to get the ship ready for a potential war zone: he was the only one acting like a professional. Another commenter (djb) was confused as to why Jellico wanted a four shift rotation. Me too. But it doesn't matter why. He's charged with potentially leading this ship into battle, and he only has two days to get it ready. The four shift rotation was the very first order he gave, so evidently it is very important. Riker shouldn't need a reason. He should follow the order and make it work and then deal with staffing issues once the new rotation is in place. But the purpose of the four shift rotation doesn't matter, because real purpose of the four shift rotation is to make us dislike Jellico. And it works. He's changing things.

    In part 2 of this episode Riker and Jellico have an exchange where they openly and directly tell each other how little they think of each other, and we're supposed to side with the collected and confident Riker. He is seated, but he is cool and calm while Jellico stands and fidgets awkwardly, emphasizing his belly pooch and baggy shoulders. The scene is set in such a way to make us instinctually favor Riker, but all I could think was how inappropriate and insubordinate he was being. He was a total dick, bellyaching that Jellico wasn't inspirational and took the joy out of everything, but he could get away with it because he had the audience's sympathy. And Jellico let him. Because we're not supposed to like Jellico.

    I get it. It's Picard's ship and Picard's show. But it's amazing how a few flourishes of visual rhetoric could make an audience turn again a character so completely.
  • From Chris on 2019-07-28 at 9:43pm:
    It strikes me that Jellico is on the business end of the Enterprise's military capabilities needs her ready for combat ASAP.

    As one of the other commenters posted some years ago, you want a research vessel who deals nice with new life and civilizations, you want Picard, you want someone to take you to war, you want Jellico...
    ... and YES! Troi looks awesome in her uniform! Jeez!!!
  • From Captain Obumico on 2021-08-16 at 3:56am:
    You know just maybe Riker and the viewers aren't hating Jellico for his uniform (who else even noticed lol), maybe it is the fact that he is throwing the entire ships rotation into chaos right before a likely battle situation while also tiring out the engineering crew what bothers Riker? I mean who thinks it is a good idea to have engineering work 2 days without sleep before a battle? Raise your hands...no one? oh there is one captain, good boy!

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Star Trek TNG - 6x14 - Face of the Enemy

Originally Aired: 1993-2-8

Synopsis:
Troi becomes a pivotal part of a Romulan defection. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 6.93

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 11 2 18 2 4 7 6 28 46 48 21

Problems
None

Factoids
- This is one of many episodes to mention that the Romulans use quantum singularities as power sources.

Remarkable Scenes
- Troi's briefing from N'Vek
- Trio's abraisive meeting with Commander Toreth.
- Riker arresting Ensign DeSeve for treason.
- DeSeve delivering Spock's message.
- N'Vek blaming firing on the freighter on Troi.
- Troi and N'Vek discussing the failure of their plan.
- Commander Toreth's objections to Troi's new plan to cross into Federation space.
- Troi forcing her plan on N'Vek.
- Troi challenging Toreth's command.
- N'Vek firing a low powered disruptor to piggyback a transporter.
- N'Vek's death.
- Troi's escape.

My Review
A human defector to Romulus returns to the Federation and Troi unwillingly becomes a Federation spy on board a Romulan warbird. The political web weaved for this episode is a complex one, but definitely interesting. Seeing more of the inside of Romulan vessels is certainly interesting as well. The thrilling plot keeps you on the edge of the seat as the warbird and the Enterprise become ever so dangerously closer to one another, climaxing with Troi's extremely risky maneuver hailing the Enterprise under the guise of being a member of Romulan intelligence. Granted, N'Vek's death is a huge cliche and in this case extremely needless. There's no reason the plot couldn't have been further complicated by Troi pleading Picard to transport him out too, only to find that his fate was now sealed once the warbird went to warp. I enjoyed watching him vaporize, but it seemed entirely senseless. Having him simply remain on board while Troi escaped would have beared so much more emotion. Finally, this is possibly Troi's greatest episode in that she played the most important role and did so spectacularly. Bravo.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From JRPoole on 2008-09-17 at 10:58am:
    This episode is great. The plot hatched by N'Vek is far-fetched at best, but this it's worth it in the end. I love the way that Troi starts to throw her weight around, and I absolutely love the way that the Romulan people are presented as a very complex people. Recently they've been been fleshed out much more than they ever were in the past, and I like that Spock's work on Romulus is revisted here. Overall, this is top-notch. I give it a 9.
  • From J Reffin on 2009-08-03 at 10:02am:
    It's a great episode, but The Inner Light (s 5) is in another league.
  • From Inga on 2012-03-17 at 6:12pm:
    I liked the Romulan Commander. A strong episode with strong female characters and an engaging plot.
  • From Dennis on 2013-03-31 at 7:29pm:
    I didn't know they could spend money. Riker tells Ensign DeSeve to go buy some civilian clothes because he doesn't want to see him in a Star Fleet uniform.
  • From Harrison on 2013-08-24 at 6:52am:
    Any weaknesses (there are few) in this episode are rendered trivial by the outstanding performance by Carolyn Seymour as the Romulan Commander Toreth. It's a compelling and memorable portrayal, of a calibre rarely achieved on television.

    Marina Sirtis delivers a pretty remarkable performance, too. It's a little shrill in places, but her repartee with the Romulan Commander is pulled off wonderfully. It's almost jarrig how departs so thoroughly from the soft & sensitive "Deanna Troi" in this episode.
  • From Mike on 2016-10-27 at 8:47pm:
    This is a fantastic episode, and I'm glad they used Troi's character for it as it worked very well.

    I think we have to assume, though, that Troi speaks fluent Romulan. If she doesn't, then how do the Romulan captain and crew not notice that she's using a universal translator?

    It stands to reason that she would know Romulan and is familiar with the culture. During the senior officers' dinner, the captain suggests she try a dish which she correctly identifies, in a moment that makes N'Vek nervous she'll be discovered. Maybe at the start, they could've had N'Vek mention that her Romulan fluency is one of the reasons she was chosen.

    Anyway, just a minor problem. The episode, overall, is one of the best of this season.
  • From Kethinov on 2016-10-28 at 12:38pm:
    Some common rationalizations:

    For those with the UT embedded in their brains (probably most advanced cultures), the UT may simulate natural language to receivers, including creating the illusion of natural lip movements in your mind. This would have the unintended consequence of preventing you from noticing when someone is not speaking your language.

    It's also possible the Romulan Empire is made of several different cultural groups that each speak different Romulan languages. So any lip movement observed would be chalked up to being from some other province of the Empire.
  • From McCoy on 2018-01-16 at 2:44pm:
    A good episode with great Romulan captain. And Troi completely out of character. It just wasn't her. Too proffessional undercover work, too much bold behaviour and lack of her standard irritating psychological mentalplasma.
  • From Alex on 2021-02-20 at 9:43am:
    Gotta love comments like that.

    "this character sucks, mentalplasma"
    *episode where character kicks ass and handles the situation well*
    "wtf this is too good for this character, this sucks!

    For me it was definitely a strong, intense episode. Troi isn't "too profesionally undercover", she can sense their emotions and gain this insight that lets her know how to react and how to provoke when needed. And she was already familiar based on a previous episode. It all made sense and was thrilling to watch.
  • From FH on 2023-06-02 at 4:22pm:
    Mike: "During the senior officers' dinner, the captain suggests she try a dish which she correctly identifies, in a moment that makes N'Vek nervous she'll be discovered." - actually, I think Troi chooses the wrong dish. After all, once Troi has picked one of the dishes, the Romulan commander says: "I realize that it's nothing compared to what you are accustomed to on Romulus ... but you could at least try the vineriine." This implies it's not the vineriine (the suggested dish) that Troi is trying. Troi just manages to save the situation (and herself) by snapping: "I've smelled better vineriine on prison ships."

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Star Trek TNG - 6x19 - Lessons

Originally Aired: 1993-4-5

Synopsis:
Picard sends the woman he loves on a deadly mission. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 6.81

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 10 1 5 4 4 11 38 27 26 34 20

Problems
- A crew member gets in the turbolift with Picard and Darren but doesn't specify any destination! Is she wandering the ship aimlessly?

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- Picard, frustrated that Stellar Cartography is consuming all of the ship's resources.
- Picard's rather abrasive first meeting with Darren.
- The Chopin performance.
- Picard playing Frère Jacques with Darren.
- Darren playing the Moonlight Sonata.
- The scene with Data and Geordi where they hear Picard and Darren's music.

My Review
This episode is delightful in that it presents the first convincing romance for Picard. I also like the continuity with TNG: The Inner Light regarding Picard's flute and the story concerning the probe. Finally, the music in this episode is great. The best scene in my opinion is when Darren plays the first part of the Moonlight Sonata in the Jeffrey's tube juncture for Picard. I have to take off points for the fact that we never see Darren again though. As moving as this episode is, its lack of consequences is extremely annoying.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From djb on 2008-08-18 at 10:03pm:
    I loved this episode. At first I was afraid it would be a little dull, but it quickly turned around. I liked how you could tell from Picard and Daren's first conversation that they would become an item. Since I am a musician myself, I really like the musical connection the two of them have, especially since it refers to "The Inner Light," which is an excellent episode to be reminded of.

    I find myself consistently enjoying Picard love-interest stories, mainly because they're not treated at all cavalierly, as with Riker (for the first few TNG seasons anyway) and Kirk. Picard takes love, like everything else, quite seriously, and he's not at all a skirt-chaser, and I identify with and appreciate that. I enjoyed Vash ("Captain's Holiday"), I enjoyed Kamala ("The Perfect Mate"), and I enjoyed Eline ("The Inner Light"), and I enjoy the continuing romantic tension between Picard and Crusher, though the producers have wisely toned it down since Season One. In the scene in sickbay between Daren and Crusher, you can see hints of jealousy on the part of the doctor (brilliantly acted by McFadden), which show that that's still a viable plot thread.

    The one problem I have is Daren's hokey roll-up keyboard. They could have easily thought up something not only cooler, but more realistic; any pianist, seeing a keyboard just under three octaves, and scoff. Daren certainly manages to get a lot more than three octaves' worth out of it! Also, not being able to press keys that actually go down would be rather confusing to any pianist. Plus, the keys definitely look bigger than real piano keys. Fortunately, we don't see it too much after the love interest plot takes off.

    The other problem, of course, is that due to the heavily episodic nature of the series, we never hear from Daren again. (Reminds me of "The Game".) I mean, we hear Picard say he's in love with her, and they wisely decide that it's a conflict of interest, but you'd think we'd see him keeping up some kind of communication with her! Oh well.

    The scene between them toward the end is brilliantly written and acted.

    An 8.
  • From John on 2011-09-03 at 11:56pm:
    Though I guess it's part of the remarkable scene with the Moonlight Sonata, I really loved it when Picard played that folk melody from "Inner Light" in the Jeffries Tube. It reminded me of just how amazing that episode was, and how amazing that little tune is.
  • From tigertooth on 2017-01-08 at 11:14pm:
    It's a small point, but in the Jeffries Tube scene, the tube behind Darren is very obviously a 2-D image of a tube. You can see shadows on the surface.

    The "lesson" I learn in this episode is that Picard will use any possible excuse to avoid intimacy. I'm not sure why, but he's terrified of it. I mean, he has to make Darren transfer to a different ship because he can't bear to risk her life? How often is the head of stellar cartography going to be in that situation? And why would that happen less on whatever ship she's transferred to? He's just a coward.

    I think both in the breakup scene as well as the "Picard apologizes for the turbolift incident" scene, you can see that Darren knows that Picard is unable to get into a real relationship. She's willing to play along with his rationalizations because she knows there's no point in fighting it. He is who he is, and she can't change him.

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Star Trek TNG - 6x22 - Suspicions

Originally Aired: 1993-5-10

Synopsis:
Dr. Crusher risks her career to solve the murder of a scientist. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 5.83

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 16 4 3 10 17 17 21 24 42 13 8

Problems
None

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- Reyga: "After all, a Ferengi scientist is almost a contradiction in terms!"
- Guinan convincing Beverly to reopen the investigation.
- Nurse Ogawa disobeying orders and bypassing the computer for Beverly.
- Beverly betting her life on the sabotage theory.
- Beverly killing Jo'Bril.
- Guinan admitting she never had Tennis Elbow.

My Review
A Beverly Crusher episode, rare thing, and a good episode at that. The first good detail is the ensemble of scientists Beverly assembled. A Klingon, Ferengi, Vulcan, human, and some new alien named Jo'Bril. A truly cool example of how far the 24th century has come in terms of inter stellar relations. The next detail I liked was the the fact that the metaphasic shield indeed worked. And it's not just some radical new technology we never see again, it's referenced in future episodes. All of these small details add up to a very pleasing out of the ordinary episode. The only wish I have is that Reyga didn't have to die. We need more nontraditional Ferengi and he was certainly a great character. That said, this is certainly an above average TNG episode.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From 7 Of 14 on 2008-09-17 at 6:47am:
    An overall very enjoyable episode, but a few things just niggle away slightly:

    - OK, so Jo'Bril (the "dead" Takaran shuttle pilot) somehow finds a way to release himself from inside the morgue chamber, finds his clothes, leaves sickbay without being seen, makes his way to the science lab without being seen (‘dead Takaran walking!’), kills Dr Reyga the Ferengi, makes his way back to the morgue via sickbay and seals himself back in for another nap. Perhaps he did it during the midnight shift when zombies are free to move around unchallenged.

    - Later he again does this trick but also manages to beat Dr Crusher to a shuttlebay without being seen, gets to the shuttlecraft without being seen and gains access to the shuttle to hide inside the storage compartment.

    - Yes, it was great seeing Dr Crusher literally blow a hole in Jo'Bril, but then she totally disintegrates him thereby destroying the key evidence needed to prove her side of the story. We have the missing body of an alien already pronounced dead, an unauthorised autopsy on a Ferengi, a negative result from the Ferengi autopsy and a medical officer who has made unapproved use of a shuttlecraft. Perhaps Dr Crusher might have some problems proving what really happened? Still, I guess would I believe her.

    Perhaps all this is being a bit too picky; I still really liked the episode but just wanted to mention these little observations.
  • From JRPoole on 2008-09-23 at 7:20pm:
    This is another strong episode. Finally Beverly gets an episode that doesn't focus on her sorrow. The science is interesting, as are the guest aliens, and the whole package works well.

    Some notes:
    Poor Nurse Ogawa. She's spent the past five years healing people's boo boos in the background and having things explained to her so the audience can follow the sickbaby technobabble. Finally she gets something to do here, even if it's clearly as a sidekick to Beverly

    It seems very common for Vulcans and humans to marry and mate. It was a big deal in Spock's day, but here it's just presented as nothing unusual. What must love and sex be like in a relatonship like this? What about the Pon Farr?

    Troi is largely absent from this one, no doubt because her empathic abilities would have complicated the plot--she'd know that the other scientists were't lying.
  • From Mark McC on 2009-02-11 at 4:58am:
    I have to disagree on this one. When the best thing about a TNG episode is the Ferengi, something is off. The basic premise of the episode is OK, but the implementation is terrible.

    There's the already mentioned idea of a dead alien releasing himself from the morgue (is accidental diagnosis of death so common in the the future that they have emergency release buttons on the inside of freezer drawers?) and wandering around the ship without anyone noticing.

    How do the events at the end of the episode vindicate Crusher? She vaporised his body, so she ends up with absolutely no proof he was the murderer. In fact, the hijacking of a shuttle and blaming the murder on an dead alien whose body mysteriously vanishes puts her in an even more dubious position, and I doubt the Ferengi are going to accept the entire story based solely on her word.

    Again, we see that Worf is utterly incompetent as head of security. After Crusher resigns her position, the computer in sickbay locks her out of accessing an autopsy report that she herself wrote. That's what would be expected if an unauthorised person tried to access it, no problem there.

    Yet she can still walk straight into the shuttlebay and fly off in a shuttle without any problems. Not only that, but she is able to override the ship's command and control functions to prevent Worf from forcing the shuttle to return to the Enterprise. If the security on a few files in sickbay is better locked-down than the shuttlebay launch controls and the ship's command and control functions, then Worf really really should be demoted by now.

    Who ends up with the technology? I'd assume that the Ferengi would lay claim to it and start selling to the highest bidder. Instead it seems that, in a very uncharacteristic moment of generosity, they allow everyone else to use the technology for free, as Geordi seems to have access to it in later episodes. This makes the entire episode a bit pointless. Why go to all the trouble of murdering someone just to steal something that's going to be given away freely anyhow?

    In all, an interesting premise and a surprisingly good Ferengi character, but one of those episodes where the logic is so poor the whole thing quickly stops making any kind of sense.
  • From Albert on 2009-07-07 at 1:45pm:
    I just watched this episode, maybe for the first time, I didn't remember it at all. It's rare that an episode stands out with such bad writing and directing, I wonder what happened here.

    Even the characters don't make sense, why would Crusher facilitate a scientific meeting that had nothing to do with medical research? Why would Picard barely react to Crusher's insubordination, and why would Riker pop up out of nowhere to tell her to "lay low"? Did a child win a contest where the prize was to write an episode of TNG?

    The only person who was apparently in-character was Guinan, and even she was totally ham-fisted. "But I don't play tennis!" Then the two point to each other, start to laugh, and we go out on a freeze-frame.

    I'd really like to know the story behind this episode, it even seems like the actors are doing a dry run-through, it's missing so many elements of a normal TNG episode.
  • From thaibites on 2012-09-24 at 7:35pm:
    I really enjoyed this episode until it was over and I started to think about it. I wholeheartedly agree with 7 of 14's comments above. I couldn't have said it better myself.
    This episode reminds me of X-files where major aspects of the story are never explained. This was produced in 1993, so maybe the writers were trying to jump on the X-files bandwagon, which is a shame. I always thought Chris Carter was a lazy jerk-off that had no respect for his audience.
  • From Quando on 2014-08-21 at 9:27pm:
    Ugh. Hated this episode. It was like Murder She Wrote in space.

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Star Trek TNG - 6x23 - Rightful Heir

Originally Aired: 1993-5-17

Synopsis:
Worf finds his faith sorely tested when he meets Kahless. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 5.82

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 15 1 3 24 4 15 16 30 23 14 14

Problems
- How could fake Khaless know about Worf's vision of Khaless when Worf was a child? Did Worf tell the priests this and did the priests program this into Khaless as well?

Factoids
- This is the first episode to mention Sto-Vo-Kor, Klingon heaven.
- This episode establishes that Khaless died 15 centuries ago.

Remarkable Scenes
- Khaless' return.
- Worf: "Questions are the beginning of wisdom. The mark of a true warrior."
- Gowron's appearance.
- Gowron's hatred of the "idea" of Khaless' return.
- Khaless: "Long ago a storm was heading to the city of Qin'Latt. The people sought protection within the walls, all except one man who remained outside. I went to him what he was doing. 'I am not afraid!' he said. 'I will not hide my face behind stone and water. I will stand before the wind and make it respect me.' I honored his choice and went inside. The next day, the storm came and the man was killed. The wind does not respect a fool."
- Worf squeezing the truth out of the priests.
- Data describing his "leap of faith."
- Worf's emperor solution.

My Review
This episode features good continuity with TNG: Birthright regarding the reason for Worf's loss of faith. I very much enjoyed Worf's doubt about his faith in Khaless. The return of Khaless is analogous to the prophetic return of Jesus Christ in the current day Christian faith, at least in terms of the effect it has on people. I liked the controversy over whether or not Khaless was real. Once again, Gowron puts on one of his brilliant and rare performances. Defeating Khaless, he forces Worf to squeeze the truth out of the priests. Once the truth is revealed, the episode gets even more interesting. The truth about the cloned Khaless is revealed to the people and Khaless becomes the first emperor of the Klingon Empire in 300 years. Not because he's truly Khaless, but because despite how he was created, he represents the true spirit of the empire. A most honorable solution for a most honorable race.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From Pete Miller on 2006-05-21 at 7:54pm:
    I LOVE IT when they show the shift changes, and imply that data just mans the ship at night since he doesnt need sleep. That was cool when riker and the first shift people came to relieve him

    I have always disliked Star Trek's extremely blatant disrespect for religion. Every so often they make an episode like this that is poorly disguised, and is a slap in the face of organized religion, reducing it to the "opiate of the masses" concept. But then again, I'm glad that the writers are not straying from Roddenberry's beliefs, even if I do disagree with them.

    All in all, an okay episode.

    Problem: There's no way in hell that blood on a hundreds of years old dagger still retains its nucleic acid conformity. The base pairs would have disassociated long before. Sorry, nice try, but you can't fool a biochemistry major.
  • From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2006-06-03 at 10:01pm:
    Rightful Heir is a better than average episode. We get to see a spiritual location of the Klingon Empire, although the outside shots of the monastery look fake. We get to learn more about Khaless, a figure mentioned for several more years on TNG and DS9. The plot moves at a nice pace and Gowron is excellent, as always.

    Good episode - 7
  • From Guv on 2008-07-28 at 10:12pm:
    I have never respected Gowron nor disrespected Worf as much as this in any prior episode. Worf is far too quick to believe in spiritualistic nonsense. I cannot believe the writers made Worf appear "skeptical" in the eyes of other Klingons, because he was obviously quite ready to believe.

    Even though he represents the spirit of the Empire, I do not believe it is an honorable solution: they all believe in a lie. How is that honorable?

    A memorable episode, but disappointing in its philosophy. I'd give it a 6/10.
  • From Remco on 2008-08-12 at 9:34pm:
    In contrast to other reviewers, I find this episode to be highly respectful towards religion. It is not a parody of Christianity. It represents a realistic view of religion.

    If you don't think TNG plays it "straight" with the beliefs of Worf and the Klingon race, then I don't know how any episode could do justice to religion and the effect it has on people.

    You must realize that this episode says nothing about whether the Klingon religion is "false" or "true". That answer is just not given. We only know that many people believe that Khaless will once return.

    The people won't believe in a lie, because the people are being told the whole truth. Every Klingon will know that their new emperor is a clone of Khaless, but also the rightful heir. There is nothing a lie about that. It's just the way the prophecy turned out.

    Whether they choose to believe he is the real messiah, well, that's up to them. Just like with Jesus. The Jewish are also still waiting for the real messiah.

    I can't think of this episode other than very very good. It doesn't try to answer the question whether "God" exists, which really isn't that important. It just takes a look at the human (well, Klingon) side of religion.

    I am an atheist, but still I think Jesus would be proud of this episode. If only he could be cloned...
  • From JRPoole on 2008-09-29 at 5:42pm:
    Gowron is the shit. I love his adamant denial that this is the real Kahless, and I love his bow at the end when he realizes its best for the empire. Top notch stuff. Can you imagine the kind of shit-storm that would ensue if Catholic Church cloned Jesus from the shroud of Turin?
  • From Jamie on 2010-06-25 at 9:22am:
    What's the only thing worse than a Klingon? Two Klingon's "talking" for 40 minutes.

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Star Trek TNG - 7x04 - Gambit, Part I

Originally Aired: 1993-10-11

Synopsis:
Picard disappears and is found posing as a smuggler. [DVD]

My Rating - 7

Fan Rating Average - 4.79

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 61 5 15 0 9 7 8 32 42 19 12

Problems
None

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- The alien describing Picard being vaporized.
- Riker forcing more information from the alien who witnessed Picard's "death."
- Data questioning Riker going on the away team, since he's captain now.
- Data becoming captain!
- Worf: "Sir, they have taken Commander Riker. We must do something. We cannot just sit here!" Data: "On the contrary, Lieutenant. That is precisely what we must do."
- Picard appearing on the smuggler ship, voting to kill Riker!
- The engine trouble aboard the smuggle ship.
- Picard explaining why he wasn't vaporized. A beaming gun! Cool!
- Picard hitting Riker as soon as the smuggler captain walks in.
- Picard's conversation with the Romulan.
- The fake battle.

My Review
I loved seeing Data as captain and I absolutely love how Picard and Riker maneuvered whilst aboard the smuggler ship. This episode sets up an exciting premise to the two parter. The captain's supposed death is contrived, but well played nonetheless, and Riker's capture makes both the Enterprise plot thread and the smuggler ship plot thread quite interesting. Overall, this episode is wonderful very intelligently written.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From James on 2007-06-07 at 3:10pm:
    I have to say I really dislike this episode. It seems to me like the series switches between a serial series (Jericho, Dominion War DS9 kind of) and a syndicated show (every crappy 80's show on SciFi).

    My finance and I have watched everything from season 3 onward and it seems like the show went more serialized in th 6th season and then this piece of crap episode pops up.

    1. Starfleet just lets the flag ship stay under Riker and then Data's command.

    2. Riker and Data: I thought for sure they were going to make out at least twice in this episode
    Data: I am sorry if this ends our relationship
    Worf: no it is I....
    LAME!

    3. Why in the hell does it take the entire cast (minus Data for once) to go down to the bar and find Picard?

    4. My finance and I both think the acting in this episode seemed forces. Data was more robotic than he's ever been - despite all of the advances he's made in 6 years.
  • From curt on 2010-04-20 at 1:31pm:
    I think this is the only 2 episodes that Picard doesn't wear a starfleet uniform through the whole episode. Every other episode he has a uniform on, at one time or another.
  • From Tallifer on 2011-03-12 at 3:18am:
    I enjoyed these two episodes for the most part.

    However one thing which I hated was how incompetent Worf was with a phaser during the firefight! He is supposed to be the chief of security!
  • From Robert Koenn on 2011-06-22 at 7:44am:
    Personally I gave this episode an 8 rating. I suppose that was mainly due to it being an exciting episode and a bit off the normal TNG story lines. I also enjoyed the aliens and the Star Wars like bar scene although it did get a bit out of hand when half the bridge crew showed up at the bar. There are always inconsistencies and rather absurd plot line devices so I've grown use to that. Picard playing a thief with his attire and Bronxy accent sounded a bit like in a Piece of the Action from TOS. And as someone else mentioned, these Star Fleet people are some of the worse shots in the galaxy.
  • From dronkit on 2014-03-12 at 3:58pm:
    Did I hear "I'm receiving a transmission fro admiral Chakotay?" at 8:08 lol

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