Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. The life’s work of an eminent astrophysicist is threatened when Wesley accidentally creates a civilization of microscopic beings. For a school project. The rumpled Dr. Stubbs is friendly enough to Wesley, but he lacks the devoted female companion that Star Trek often gives its male scientific geniuses, so his…
Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. After routine establishing shots we open with grumpy Riker slouching in a puddle, reporting that something unseen jabbed him in the leg. That’s the most creative bit of storytelling in the episode, other than some decent camerawork as we linger on various not-all-that-impressive props. The script is budget-friendly tribble…
Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. As part of Starfleet’s response to the Borg threat, Riker refits an 8o-year-old derelict to face the Enterprise in a wargame. Overseeing the simulation is Kolrami, a waddling oddity who takes a disliking to Riker and crushes him in a social game. Pulaski goads Data into challenging Kolrami to…
Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. Susie Paxton, who appeared as the Vulcan Dr. Selar in a Season One episode, shows off her comic timing as the half-human, half-Klingon K’Ehleyr, who turns out to have a history with Worf. K’Ehleyr was sent aboard the Enterprise to intercept the T’Ong, a Klingon sleeper ship. Everyone expects…
(Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break.) Troi’s eccentric mother Lwaxana returns for another comedy of manners, this time with full ambassadorial status and also on the prowl for a new human partner. Data and Picard mildly scold Wesley for saying a pair of alien ambassadors are “rather strange-looking.” and a bit later Picard tsk-tsks his…
(Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break.) Picard, who resolved last week’s plot by proving he was not too closed-minded and stubbornly prideful to admit he needs help from Q, sets this week’s plot in motion by demonstrating he is too closed-minded and stubbornly prideful to admit he needs help from his…
Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. The unpredictable entity Q introduces the Enterprise to the Borg, a collective of hybrid biological and technological drones. We learn that Q and Guinan have some unspecified backstory that, based on their hand gestures, seems to involve a community theater production of Cats. In this…
Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation A new-to-me “Data Hears a Who” character story, featuring a multi-layered philosophical jam session in Picard’s quarters, a substantial B-plot for Wesley, and some tacked-on science-fictiony frippery for the groundlings. I started watching the show late at night, and lost interest when Wesley was steeling himself in the hallway…
Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break Starfleet offers Riker his own command and sends his estranged father to brief him on his new mission. Meanwhile, Wesley notices Worf is more anti-social than usual. A character-based episode that has some good moments for the ensemble, but overall didn’t do much for me.…
Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. The Enterprise encounters an abandoned Federation shuttlecraft and a time-travel mystery. A “bottle” episode that takes place entirely on the Enterprise, which frees up the production budget for some cool “energy vortex” special effects and gorgeous computer interface displays that really help create the illusion…
Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. In “The Royale,” an away team is trapped in a simulated casino, where Data cheats at roulette. That’s about it. A solid teaser and surreal first act ramp up the mystery nicely; however, on my rewatch, the episode didn’t hold together very well for me. We’re…
Picard faces aggressive Romulans and an archeological puzzle as a computer virus threatens the Enterprise. Some good Neutral Zone brinksmanship, and a formulaic but fun quest right out of a CD-ROM point-and-click adventure game.
This article left out someone important! Reassembling the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise (Shatner as Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Spock, DeForest Kelley as McCoy, George Takei as Sulu, Nichelle Nichols as Uhura and Walter Koenig as Chekov) years after the end of its five-year mission — with added, pivotal Starfleet characters Decker (Stephen Collins) and Ilia…
A pretty 16yo destined to bring peace to a war-torn planet falls for Wesley, but 1) her governess disapproves and 2) well… Wesley. The puppy-love story is cringe-worthily wholesome (influenced by the long dark adorable shadow of “The Wonder Years”), but still enjoyable.
Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. Data’s autonomy is at stake in a taut, character-driven courtroom drama that resists pandering — no distracting fist-fights or space battles. This episode not only succeeds as a stand-alone meditation on the human condition, it meshes narratively with events from past shows and offers affordances for future story arcs…
Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. Riker accepts a temporary assignment as first officer of a Klingon vessel. “A Matter of Honor” offers a thoughtful, enjoyable dramatization of differences between Federation and Klingon culture, and a good B-plot in which Wesley helps a visiting officer adapt to routine operations on the Enterprise. It’s a nice touch…
Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. Tension mounts between Captain Picard and Dr. Pulaski as the Enterprise encounters a rapid-aging disease. I rather liked how Picard, who just last week quoted part of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, is in his ready room reading a book when Troi reminds him he wanted to…
Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. In his final hours, an arrogant, crotchety cybernetics genius takes a liking to Data. After the genius dies, Data starts acting arrogant and crotchety. Hmm. This early in the run of TNG, we’ve already seen the trope of a brilliant, older professional man supported and…
Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. A pony-tailed pirate-shirt-wearing pile of charisma steps out of a Renaissance Festival sideshow onto the Enterprise for a silly low-stakes caper. Meanwhile, Data tries stand-up comedy. I cringed when the guest star put the moves on the pretty transporter technician (played by a before-she-was-famous Teri…
Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. LaForge works on his model ship in main engineering (?) and invites Data to enjoy a Sherlock Holmes holodeck adventure. Sounds fun, but a slow start, with low stakes. We can forgive the director for spending a lot of time showing the characters reacting to…