Star Trek: TNG Reviews - From Start to Finish!

Season 1

Okay, some quick thoughts on the season as a whole. I was expecting it to be much worse. But it has been a really long time since I've seen some of these episodes, and I was surprised at how many I had never seen.

Yes, there were some godawful episodes but overall I think I enjoyed the season. Especially towards the end. I know we still have one more rocky season to go before we get to the Michael Pillar era, but even at the end of this season the cast has already started to gel and find their characters.

Picard and Wesley improved a lot over the course of the season, Data was an awesome character from almost day one, and we got a glimpse of how potentially interesting Worf could be. Especially once Ron Moore shows up a few seasons from now.

The first half of the season was pretty bad. It almost felt like a direct continuation of the original series horrible third season. But the silly plots decreased, the characters became more competent, the dialogue became sharper.

It will be interesting to see where the second season goes from here. Amidst cast changes and a writers strike, will the second season continue to improve or will it slide back to mediocrity?

Oh, and I'm dropping my star ratings. I'm finding my ratings to be inconsistent and confusing. Honestly, the stars are kind of pointless. They don't really indicate anything. My commentary should be enough.

So I'm just gonna keep it simple from now on. Did I like the episode or didn't I? If I liked it, it gets a If not, it gets a

Of the 26 hours, 17 were decent to great. About 65% for this season. Not too bad for a first season. We'll see how the following seasons stack up.




Season 1 episodes I liked

Encounter At Farpoint, The Naked Now, Where No One Has Gone Before, Justice, The Battle, Hide And Q, Datalore, 11001001, Home Soil, Coming Of Age, Heart Of Glory, The Arsenal Of Freedom, Skin Of Evil, We'll Always Have Paris, Conspiracy, The Neutral Zone

Season 1 episodes I disliked

Code Of Honor, The Last Outpost, Lonely Among Us, Haven, The Big Goodbye, Angel One, Too Short A Season, When The Bough Breaks, Symbiosis

You put your finger here on one of the fundamental problems with TNG. They try to depict an almost utopian "We are supremely powerful because we are supremely humane" Star Fleet, that never has any need to work long and hard to handle an enemy little by little. No matter how antagonistic an adversary is, they just need to be "understood" and if you do that, you can deal with them in one episode.

Except the Borg, who are so big and so bad they just have to be avoided until, finally, you can begin to "understand" them, too.

That comes from the fundamental "in your face" approach to the show's underlying humanistic philosophy. They not only work on the basic idea that all enemies can be dealt with through understanding and cooperation, they smash you over the head with it.

Where are the adversaries you can't reason with, but can't just handle in one episode, either? Where are the grand story arcs where, with various episodes scattered here and there throughout several seasons, you learn little by little how to handle a situation and "beat the bad guys"? Small victories along the way, that don't "make everything nice" but allow life to go on, while admitting that it can take a long time to find real solutions (like TOS's approach to the Klingons), would have made the show much more believable, because that's how life is. And all the "solutions" should not reduce, ultimately, to: "We discovered that we can get along, actually, because the only real problem was that we were misunderstanding each other."

I liked TNG quite a bit, but I did so despite that fundamental philosophy that I found simplistic, unrealistic and nauseating.

​

Her paycheck was probably pretty small for being in the show so little, and she was probably just busy enough with the part that she couldn't do any side projects to make money. As things went along, she'd have gotten wind as to how big her character was (or was not) going to be. If it was more of the same old, same old, for next to no money, then going back to waiting tables probably seemed to be a viable option.

At least one of the cast at the time (and others in the years since) have all admitted that the producers knew the scripts they were spitting out in the beginning were shite, but they didn't care since they figured [-]saps[/-] Trekkies/Trekkers would watch it anyway. Apparently, the ratings weren't holding well enough, so they started improving the quality.

Yes.

In my book, this episode was the one where Picard slipped the farthest out of character as he ever did. Given what he'd been through with the Borg, he was the one man in a position to make the hard, moral choice that to send Hugh back to the collective and destroy it was the right choice. The Federation had stood on the very brink of defeat once with the Borg and here was a golden opportunity to end the threat once and for all.

The writers did a great job as presenting it as a moral choice. Where they failed was in that Picard ultimately chose incorrectly. Or perhaps they chose that route deliberately, illustrating to us all a flaw in the moral 'character' of 24the century humans.

If you've read the TNG "A Time To..." novels and the Titan series, I think Yar would pretty much be Christine Vale.

This is such a great thread, RM. Really enjoying your (and everyone's) reviews, and hell, has even made me pull up a few TNG episodes on Tudou and watch them all over again.

^Thanks!

If I ever make it all the way to 'All Good Things...' this could end up being a gigantic thread.

Season 2 reviews coming this week!

Try this: http://www.surfthechannel.com/show/202.html

It's a catalogue of all the places to watch TNG online (Tudou seems to have the most complete collection) and once you've selected an episode, it gives you a direct link to where to watch. Pretty helpful in finding the specific episode as I can't read Chinese either.

Heart Of Glory - remember when Klingons used to be interesting? You know, before TNG turned them into animalistic, honor-bound Vikings? Decent story with Worf's loyalties being tested and some good action for the climax, but, sorry, these aren't the Klingons I remember. **

The Arsenal Of Freedom - the old "aliens-got-too-big-for-their-own-britches-and-destroyed-themselves-and-now-we've-fallen-into-the-same-trap" manuver, eh? Not a bad ep, with lots of action and a sci-fi message about building weapons that are too good. I'd rather they threw Geordi off the show and kept Logan. **1/2

Symbiosis - interesting sci-fi take on drug addiction with TWOK veterans Judson Scott and Merrit Butrick in the guest roles; Picard bleats a lot about non-interference and then promptly interferes...would've been more interesting to see him living with the consequences of acting in accord with his platitudes. Kudos to the screenwriters for having Tasha explain the appeal of drugs, but Wesley Crusher has to be the most sheltered teenager in the universe to be completely devoid of any understanding on the subject. *1/2

Skin Of Evil - Deanna's shuttle is captured by some really evil tar monster thing and, in the course of trying to rescue her, Tasha Yar gets killed in an extremely senseless career move. Meh, I always thought she was a little emotional to be security chief, anyway. Her recorded farewell speech resonates a little bit, especially where she says that Data's child-like curiosity makes him the most human of all. *sniff* **

We'll Always Have Paris - reason #439 why Picard's manhood is suspect: he had an opportunity to run away with young Michelle Phillips and passed. Anyway, Picard's romantic past is only as interesting as Picard himself (which is to say: not very), but the Mannheim Effect is interesting. I like that Data has no real problem interacting with several versions of himself, even though how he knew which was in the so-called "correct" time continuum remains a mystery. **

Conspiracy - now we're talking. Alien invaders are taking over crucial Starfleet personnel (hinted at in an earlier episode). Quinn's battle with Worf alone is worth the price of admission, though could Riker's stunt double in the same scene be any more obvious?!? Strangeness and paranoia ramps up well, culminating in the worm buffet at Starfleet HQ. Alas, poor Remick; he gets hit by a phaser set on 'frapee,' in what is surely the series' most profoundly violent moment. Wonder whatever became of these aliens, anyway...? ***

The Neutral Zone - mildly entertaining 'A' story has three 20th Century humans being revived and brought aboard the Big E; had the script writer explored the 'A' storyline a bit more, there'd be no real need for the 'B' story involving the re-introduction of the Romulans. The new Romulan Warbird is cool, however. (And RM is right; contrary to what this episode states, the Romulans were creating mischief several episodes back.) Just wonderin': wouldn't it have been more interesting to see some 20th Century human--who was cryonically frozen for fear of death--find life impossible in the 24th Century and commit suicide at the end? And I want to know what happened to Sonny Clemonds, dammit! Anyhoo, **

I'm not with those who think that TNG was "too idealistic" or anything like that. That was the point.

Were the Ferengi based After Ayn Rand?

Sort of. They were meant to be TNG's "Big Bad" at first. They were supposed to be uber-capitalists and as such a commentary on runaway capitalism/materialism which the utopian Federation had of course outgrown. Of course, they were eventually portrayed as a bad parody of rampant profiteering and lost any value as anything but comic relief.

The only "good" Ferengi were Quark, Grand Nagus Zek, and Moogy. I didn't even care for Rom and Nog.

Anyway, I watched the first couple of minutes of Encounter at Farpoint lastnight...after Picards initial starlog entry...the very first spoken line in TNG was...

"You will agree Data, that Starfleets orders are difficult"

That line is truly horrible and makes no sense...a seasoned captain in the Federations flagship...and a simple investigation order is"difficult".

It is interesting to read Paladin's reviews.

It often seems like we like or dislike entirely different aspects of the various episodes.

I'm in the middle of rewatching all of DS9 right now. Quark, Zek and Andrea Martin's Moogie (the other actress was "meh") were good, as was Brunt. I even like Rom a little.


I can't stand Nog, or at least the actor who played him. Annoying, to say the least.

I had intended the Tom Sawyer thread to be the greatest Media Central thread of all time. It was incredibly facetious of me, as this is the greatest Media Central thread of all time.

Or is it just a tribute?

Or have I had one too many beers tonight?

If you think this is good wait until he starts reviewing DS9.

Baba reviews dS9 episde "IN the pale moonlight" Best god damn trek episode of all time. ****
Baba reviews Enterprise "A night in Sickbay" - 4 stars worst trek episode of all time
Baba reviews Rejoined **** best trek kiss.

Love the reviews so far. I've been following along episodically with my newly purchased Season One DVD set. Unfortunately, I only have Season One so there will be no following along episodically with your Season Two reviews. At least not for some time.

J.

Of all seasons to buy... strange choice.

Best Thing about Sisko is he is Kickass makes kirk and Picard look like wimps. He is the only Trek Character who could have a chance at hand to hand with Admiral Adama.

Thanks for the positive feedback!



The Child

It is very obvious from the first scene that quite a bit of time has passed since 'The Neutral Zone.'

Riker has a beard. Wesley has grown at least a couple inches and is now manning the Helm. Geordi is in gold and is down in Engineering. Worf is also in gold, has some better Klingon makeup, and is now permanently at the Security Station. Troi is in a formfitting bodysuit, her hair is fuller and less frizzy. Data no longer counts down to the milisecond and seems more comfortable with human concepts.

Oh, and we have a new set to play around in... Ten Forward. And a new recurring guest character, the mysterious Guinan. We also have O'Brien back in the transporter room. I hadn't really been paying attention but I think this is the first time we've seen O'Brien since the pilot episode.

Oh... and Dr. Crusher is out, Dr. Pulaski is in. Not a total retooling of the show, but the differences are still very noticable.

Some questions however. Why did Gates McFadden leave the show? And then come back? And why isn't Diane Muldaur listed in the main credits? Odd.

Another thing I've noticed is the combined duty stations. In TOS, Spock was both first officer and science officer. Data is navigator and science officer. Worf is communications officer and security officer.

Anyway, what about the episode itself? Well, this episode is really just about re-introducing the characters in the show. There is an 'A' plot about Deanna gettin' knocked up and a 'B' plot about the transportation of some lethal biological samples.

Neither plot is very compelling. But this episode is full of great character moments. First of all, Deanna gets her own storyline for the first time since the forgettable 'Haven'. I don't think she is a bad character, and I like the actress. I just think she often got some of the dumbest lines in the show. But she got some okay character development in this episode.

I liked the reactions of the crewmembers when Deanna announced she was pregnant. Riker was confused and wanted to know who the father was. Data wanted to study the child and Worf wanted to abort it. LOL. Probably the closest Trek ever gets to the whole abortion debate.

And Picard's look of utter horror when he sees the child mature to an eight-year old after only a few hours is priceless. Of course, the child is mostly harmless. This was a by-the-numbers plot and was resolved pretty quickly. The other plot with the biological samples was equally 'meh'.

But, again, the characters make this episode. Dr. Pulaski immediately gets into trouble with Picard and is also quickly dismissive of Data. It will be interesting to see how Pulaski/Picard and Pulaski/Data relationships progress over the season.

Wesley also gets some good moments in this episode and he has a talk with Guinan which introduces us to this character. And even this early on, there is a hint that Guinan knew Picard prior to coming aboard the Enterprise. Of course, this hint is picked up on sometime later in the series.

And Guinan gives good advice. In fact, she is probably a better counsellor than Troi... which sort of defeats the point of having Deanna around.

Anyway, this was a pleasant episode but nothing great. I liked it.

Rating:

Where Silence Has Lease

Really good episode! I liked the concept of a void in space and all the mystery of it. The episode was full of really wierd moments as the crew try to methodically escape the void.

But, first, I want to talk about Worf's holodeck fantasy. Picard's fantasy was to be a private detective from the 1950s. Riker's was to be a jazz musician in a New Orleans club. And Worf wants to battle mutants and demons in a jungle!

Definitely an interesting use of holodeck time. And it was kind of interesting that he wanted to share the experience with Riker. Nice friendship developing here. Of course, Worf almost gutted Riker but was able to control his bloodlust.

And yet it was amusing to see Worf and Riker both freak out when exploring the strange recreation of the USS Yamato while in the void of space. Picard managed to keep his cool, and decided to blow the ship up rather than submit his crew to Nagilum's 'experiment in death'. This was the second time we've seen the auto-destruct in TNG (the first was in the Bynars episode). But in this one, Picard and Riker were able to set the time counter... in the earlier episode the time was fixed. Just something I noticed.

Another amusing moment. The one time Wesley is not at his post, a red shirt (and a black man!) gets killed by Nagilum while manning the Helm. I also liked Pulaski's comment about having joined the ship at the wrong time.

Lot of good moments sprinkled in this episode. TNG really knows how to use its entire cast well. This is something DS9 would continue and which Voyager would drop the ball on.

Rating:

Elementary, Dear Data

This episode builds on 'The Big Goodbye' and '11001001' and is definitely the best use of the Holodeck yet.

This episode gives us a chance to finally see Data roleplay as his hero, Sherlock Holmes. This is nice to see, since his fascination with the character was mentioned in more than a few 1st season episodes. Continuity!

And the Doctor continues to be dismissive of Data. This spurs on a debate about how human Data actually is. And this is something we will revisit in 'The Measure of A Man' later this season.

Interesting to see how Data solves Holmes mysteries through deductive reasoning. And when Pulaski is still not convinced, Geordi makes the mistake of asking the computer to create a Holodeck adversary worth of Data.

I really have to question how one misspoken word can create such a calamity. But, whatever. Moriarty is a fascinating character and really makes the Holodoc from Voyager kind of redundant. All of the fundamental issues explored on Voyager about hologram rights were already done on TNG with Moriarty and Data.

And this episode hits at the heart of what Trek is all about. Exploring new life. Moriarty questions whether he and, by extension, Data are really alive. What is the definition of life? TNG will explore this more fully in later episodes.

Moriarty is also another good TNG villain. And we will see him again in another episode. Another point for TNG continuity. Why couldn't Voyager do this sort of thing more regularly? Sigh.

Anyway...

Rating:





Tex, I seriously doubt I will be reviewing DS9 anytime soon. I may never even finish this series. And I have seen DS9 fairly recently, so I probably wouldn't watch it again so soon. But, honestly, I can name off the top of my head all the episodes of DS9 I disliked. I really liked almost all of it.

But in this thread, you can expect me to speak highly of DS9 from time to time. What TNG did well, DS9 continued to push even further. And, conversely, what TNG did well, Voyager would try to rehash... unsuccessfully. So in being critical of TNG I am also sort of reviewing the show's two very different spinoffs.

I'm a completist. If I bought the Second Season, I would have needed to buy the first.

J.

The Child - the show's re-tooled (Riker's got a beard, Geordi's chief engineer, Pulaski replaces Crusher, Guinan and Ten-Forward are introduced) and Troi winds up with an immaculately conceived child. Pulaski adds some much needed conflict (even if she's a bit too much McCoy in construction) and Deanna's child inadvertently threatens the ship by interfering with the quarantine on some dangerous biological samples. You know the kid will be gone by the end of the episode, so don't get too attached. Yawn. *1/2

Where Silence Has Lease - tense episode has the Enterprise being pulled into a pocket of space where it encounters illusions of her sister ship and Romulan warbirds, all created by a malevolent alien called Nagilum who ultimately plans to kill half the crew to better understand the concept of death. In order to keep an alien from killing half his crew, Picard decides to do the whole job by blowing up the ship. Better than average. **1/2

Elementary, Dear Data - the episode that proves the Holodeck is a menace. Data plays Sherlock Holmes and, through Geordi's incompetence, a sentient Holodeck Moriarty is created by the Enterprise computer. When Moriarty interferes with the operation of the Enterprise during a dangerous celestial event, Picard must reason with the villain to prevent disaster. Daniel Day is terrific as Moriarty and would play him again in a later ep, the even better 'Ship in a Bottle.' **1/2

This is where I started having trouble with holographic characters. I could never beilieve a sentient character could be created by a computer that is, itself, not sentient. After all, a holographic character is being continually run as a program within the computer itself, by the the computer itself. How can a computer operate a program that is smarter (for lack of a better term) than itself?

To use a human analogy, when I try to develop a piece of fiction that requires a tricky, intelligent resolution, I sometimes can't figure out what to do, 'cause I ain't smart enough to think my way out of the problem I've created. And the character I'm writing sure as hell isn't gonna come to life and think of it himself!

But remember! The holodeck computer hacks into the main ship's computer and takes it over! Apparently, firewalls, "sandboxing," and anti-virus programs are technologies the Federation has lost, along with things like seatbelts and surge protectors.

The Outrageous Okona

That was fuckin' lame!

Star Trek tries to be like Star Wars and introduces its own rogue-ish Han Solo type character. But it doesn't work. Captain Okona is just not that cool and, worse, he makes the main crew look like stodgy, humorless twats.

And Wesley, after much progress in season two, reverts back to dorkiness in this episode. When he was talking to Okona, it was strongly reminiscent of the scene from Star Wars where Luke berates Han for always leaving his friends.

They also tried to do some sort of interstellar Romeo and Juliet story in this episode with the two warring families and the secret young lovers. None of this was very interesting...

And there was also a subplot about Data trying to understand humor... from Joe Piscopo?! These scenes did not work for me at all. Was Piscopo supposed to be funny? Cuz I wasn't laughing.

The only good scene in the episode was Data's talk with Guinan about understanding humor. But that is definitely not enough. Oh, yes, we also have a very young Teri Hatcher in this episode playing one of the Enterprise crewmen in a bit part. Sort of memorable for that reason alone.

Rating:

Loud As A Whisper

More FAIL. The idea of a chorus for a deaf mediator is kinda sorta interesting but the episode was mostly a snooze-fest. I was literally closing my eyes at some points.

Riva was not an interesting enough character to base a whole episode around. And his 'romance' with Troi felt forced. I didn't feel any chemistry there at all. And for a mediator he sure takes offense pretty easily.

I did like how Data was able to assimilate all the different sign languages in the computer database and communicate effectively with Riva. I'm sure they had to rehearse all the signing many times so kudos to Brent for putting effort into learning the stuff. But it was probably wasted effort in such a forgettable episode.

There is also some talk about Geordi getting ocular implants (which he eventually gets in the movies) or perhaps undergoing regenerative surgery. But I don't believe any of this ever gets addressed again, so what was the point of this scene?

I guess the point of this episode was to show that, 'hey, disabled people can accomplish great things too!' But it was a hamfisted attempt.

They could have just flashed a scrolling text at the bottom of the screen saying THIS IS A MESSAGE EPISODE. That might have been more interesting.

Rating: