The Battle (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 8) A Ferengi plots tricks with Picard’s former ship (that’s a-facepalm)

A Ferengi set on revenge tricks Picard into lowering the Enterprise’s shields and unceremoniously beams him into space.

Uh, no, actually the Ferengi plan involves finding a derelict starship Picard abandoned nine years ago and slipping a beach-ball sized “thought maker” into his personal effects, so that when he stops by his old cabin and gets a headache he can’t finish packing, so his uninspected trunk is brought to his quarters on the Enterprise, where opening the lid tips over a bucket, causing a marble to flip a little man into a tub, in which Picard re-enacts the Battle of Maxia and triggers the jittery vengeful descent of a little plastic cage.

Justice (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 7) When Wes trips on a fence, joggers’ god gets intense: that’s a-deathcrime

In which Wesley commits a crime on the Legalistic Planet of Blond Joggers. (Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break.) We get right into the story by having an away team return to the bridge and briefly report on their first contact with the Edo, a peaceful people who seem to spend…

Lonely Among Us (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 6) Crew-posessing spark roams and a droid cosplays Holmes, that’s a-homecloud

Conflict between two species who petition for membership in the Federation turns out to be the B-plot. On its way past a mysterious optical special effect, the Enterprise picks up a strange glowing spark via the sensor array, and as such entities tend to do in Star Trek, it starts wreaking havoc. We get a lot of exterior shots of the ship, some alien character designs that would have worked better in background shots, a glimpse at a sensor relay room we’ve never seen before (though it’s pretty obviously a redress of Engineering), and some glimpses of the Crushers at home.

Where No One Has Gone Before (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 5) Wes’s warp-drive guru helps him save all the crew (he’s an ensign)

Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. While I wouldn’t say this was a strong episode, of the first season episodes I’ve rewatched, it’s the first that really felt like the Star Trek: The Next Generation I grew to love. The young director Rob Bowman went on to direct about 12 more episodes. The arrogant Starfleet…

The Last Outpost (ST:TNG Rewatch. Season 1, Episode 4) Riker shouts from a cliff while Ferengi use whips, that’s a-facepalm

Rewatching ST:TNG after about a 20-year break. This odd episode introduced the Ferengi, a parody of the capitalist patriarchy. I only remember bits and pieces of this episode, possibly because the pieces really don’t fit together very well. The long opening sequence gives us a good look at how the bridge crew deals with an…

The Naked Now (Season 1, Episode 2: ST:TNG Rewatch) When a script that blows chunks makes the crew flirt like drunks, that’s a-rehash

With a large ensemble, we saw many scenes of one person infecting another, which got predictable after a while. Even after they learned the intoxication spreads through perspiration, nobody thinks to put on rubber gloves.

I admit, Data’s interrupted “There was a young lady from Venus” limerick made me laugh, but what sold the scene for me was Data asking Worf, “Did I say something wrong?” and Worf huffing, “I don’t understand their humor either.”

Because this show has so many short two-person scenes, I like to think of this episode as TNG’s versions of the ballroom sketches on the old Muppet Show. (Closeup on chandelier; medium shot of couples dancing; cut to a nondescript couple of muppets; there’s a setup and a cheesy punchline; cut to another couple, repeat.)

Nerd Break! Listening To: Wilhelm Scream / Castle Thunder / Amen Break (While Watching Lights Blink in an Oft-recycled Sci-Fi Prop)

In order to provide some context for a blog post on a blinking lights prop we’ve all seen in dozens of different TV shows and movies, I opened different tabs for compilations of the Wilhelm scream, the castle thunder sound cue, and the Amen break drum solo. All three of those sound effects are now playing at once, and I am…

The Geekling Worked a Shatner/Nimoy Tribute into Godspell

My geekling daughter, who in Willy Wonka flashed Mr. Spock’s Vulcan greeting during Veruca Salt’s contract-signing scene, also worked a Star Trek reference into Godspell. Here as she says goodbye to Jesus, she is doing the Vulcan gesture in a tribute to Spock’s death (in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan). The needs of the many outweigh the needs of…

Fun with Kirk and Spock

See the Enterprise. See the Enterprise go boldly. Go Go Go, Enterprise! Go Boldly! Join Kirk and Spock as they go boldly where no parody has gone before!Description Since the 1930’s, the book Fun with Dick and Jane and its various adaptations have helped children learn to read. It’s inspired several parodies and movie and…