(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 own chief medical officer. While the title refers to the B-plot (helping the sad-puppy Pakleds…
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 episode, Q is to Picard as The Great Gazoo is to Fred Flintstone. (Popping in and…
Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. 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 before addressing the geological survey team he had assembled. When I…
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. In the previous episode Time Squared, Pulaski’s brief, throw-away reaction to something Riker said about…
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 of place. The six-hour time-loop plot device helps ramp up the tension, and Picard’s resolution…
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 told that aliens who accidentally killed most of the crew of a 21stC NASA mission…