Datalore (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 12) Data’s bro wants to be with a big crystal tree, “Shut up, Wesley.”

In “Datalore,” an encounter with Data’s more human-like “brother” showcases Brent Spiner’s acting talents and the optical FX crew’s mad split-screen skillz. While I enjoyed the plot twists and character bits as they happened, as a work of science fiction this episode offers little beyond popcorn “evil twin” fare.

The opening captain’s log lampshades an unprompted, random visit to Data’s home planet. The “Data practice sneezing” scene is silly, but the character development subtly allies Data’s desire to be human with Wesley’s desire to be respected by adults. The scene also accustoms us to the idea that Picard uses Wesley to deliver in-person messages, which kinda sorta helps explain why in this episode Wesley ends up where he needs to be to witness just enough to suspect Lore, but not enough to prove anything to the dumb-as-a-fencepost adults.

The Big Goodbye (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 11) When a holodeck glitch taints Picard’s film-noir kitsch, that’s a-cosplay

Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. The first of (far too) many “trapped on the holodeck” episodes. Exhausted while preparing for a high-stakes diplomatic ritual, Picard takes a break in a virtual-reality simulation of a 1940s detective novel. I remembered enjoying Brent Spiner’s portrayal of Data adapting to the noir setting,…

Haven (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 10) When a low-stakes rom-com shows Troi’s beau and her mom, that’s amore

Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. This low-stakes, character-driven rom-com pulled off everything it set out to do — fill out the romantic backstory between Riker and Troi, showcase Patrick Stewart’s comic timing, and set up an apparently unrelated B plot as the surprise resolution to the A plot. In her…

Hide and Q (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 9) Riker, buffed up by Q, grants desires of the crew; that’s a-facepalm

Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation after a 20-year break. The powerful, unpredictable Q conjures a Napoleonic scenario from Picard’s mind and takes the rest of the bridge crew there, leaving Picard on the Enterprise. Memorable not for the fuzzy-faced toy soldiers that get way too much screen time, but for a Shakespeare quote battle…

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.)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi abuse blamed on Russian trolls and ‘political agendas’

More than half of the hostile responses to The Last Jedi, episode eight of the Star Wars saga, were politically motivated trolling or the result of non-human bot activity, according to an academic paper published by a US digital media expert. Morten Bay, a research fellow at the University of Southern California (USC), analysed Twitter activity about the…

Anime Treatment of Star Wars

I am not particularly into anime, though when I was about 12 I was entranced to run across episodes of Star Blazers that aired on my local TV station one summer at about 7am. Having said that, I found this trailer for a (theoretical) anime reworking of Star Wars very appealing. Similar:The Ascent #StarTrek #DS9…

My buddy JTK helps me make a key point in my slideshow. #4c18 #b29

Putting speaker notes on an iPad is always more fun when using a typeface that invokes TNG Okudagrams. Similar:The Ascent #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 9) Odo and Quark bicker their way up …Visiting the #scienceofpixar exhibit @kaminsciencecenterQuick visit to see my mother and siblings.Things Past #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 5, Episode 8) Odo…