Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. After a member of a landing party dies an accidental, senseless death, Picard must break the news to her young son. “Jeremy, on the starship Enterprise, no one is alone,” says Picard. “No one.” Numerous times on my rewatch, I’ve wished episodes would devote less time to scanning and probing…
Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. After a primitive, rationalist society mistakes Federation technology for supernatural power, Picard must do whatever it takes to undo the resulting cultural contamination. Fortunately for Picard, that involves lots of talking. A grim scene in sickbay memorably demonstrates that humans in the 24th century can sometimes delay but cannot…
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Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. After the Federation colony on Raina IV is obliterated, the Enterprise discovers a perfectly preserved house with two elderly survivors. The standoffish Uxbridge impresses Worf by confronting strangers with a non-functional hand phaser, and the hospitable Rishon tells a charming story of how the two fell in love on Earth.…
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Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break. Data must convince stubborn humans to evacuate an unauthorized colony in Sheliak territory. Meanwhile, Picard must bargain with the legalistic Sheliaks for more time. After a teaser shows Data second-guessing his creative abilities, the main plot follows him as he first tries reason, then rhetoric, then a phaser to…
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: TNG after a 20-year break.) A distress beacon leads the Enterprise to a colony of red-headed bumpkins who bring their farm animals, spinning wheels, and a still aboard. A few plot twists later, the smooth-talking, flask-swigging colony leader named O’Dell has occasion to say, “Send in the clones.” (I am not kidding.)…
(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.