Wert's Star Trek: The Next Generation rewatch (now in added HD!)

[Aemon Stark]

One of the classic scenes of the series: http://youtu.be/4hdiuRMK3UQ

[Sad King Billy]

On a related note: this GIF is mandatory for any DS-9 thread.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/bc0250f98da7e160beb74674b66c6302/tumblr_mstm0kIzWT1s1uisco1_500.gif

[Werthead]

Season 6 has arrived! The project will resume shortly :)

[Rhom]

Season 6 has arrived! The project will resume shortly :)

Huzzah!

[Ferrum Aeternum]

Season 6 has arrived! The project will resume shortly :)

"THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!"

[Lightning Lord]

"THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!"

*chills* oofta

[Werthead]

The big documentary for Season 6 is actually a bit light on the season itself. Some good stuff from John de Lancie on Tapestry, but then a ton of stuff by the female actors complaining about sexist scripts. True, but they covered that on the documentaries on Seasons 1-3, with Gates McFadden getting fired and reinstated. Then there's stuff on production design and music, which applies to the whole show rather than this one season. And oddly an interview with Whoopi Goldberg about joining the show, which should have been on the Season 2 set. They also spend a good fifth of the time talking about DS9 launching (and all the footage from that is SD, so if they are remastering it, clearly they haven't done anything to it yet). The Stephen Hawking cameo from the season finale also gets some coverage.

[Werthead]

601: Time's Arrow, Part II

Shenanigans in the 19th Century. Shenanigans in the 24th Century. Time travel. Blah blah. MAKE IT END.

Time's Arrow is probably the worst ST:TNG two-part story simply because of how slight, inconsequential and dull it all is. Part II has some good moments - Jerry Hardin and Whoopi Goldberg are terrific value and Patrick Stewart posing as a Shakespearean director is great - but it's all a bit random and daft. The episode deserves some special recognition for its appalling stuntwork (the stuntman playing Data driving the getaway cart is terrible), ludicrous approach to continuity (Data could have paid Picard's rent with his immense wealth won in the last episode, but it appears to have all vanished for some reason; Data's 500 year-old head is fully functional in this episode despite being inoperable in the previous) and appallingly un-TNG ending (where Picard orders the en masse slaughter of the aliens rather than negotiating with them).

Season 6 does not get off to a good start, it has to be said.

[Jaxom 1974]

Season 6 does not get off to a good start, it has to be said.

At least it got better...

[Raksha 2014]

Eh. Picard was ever the diplomat, not the warrior. He was played like that. If they wanted him more militaristic, as he showed in Yesterday's Enterprise, Stewart would have kicked the shit out of that too.

Sisko. No disagreement there. He was more of a military figure and designing ships was one of his things, so the Defiant made sense there.

Janeway was a scientist and I think that's how Mulgrew approached a lot of what she was portraying.

For what all that's worth.

I think of the 5 Star Trek TV captains like this:

Kirk: The Space Cowboy. (and Hooray for Cowboy Diplomacy!)

Picard: The Renaissance Man. (there wasn't much Picard didn't know or couldn't do)

Sisko: The Silken Tiger. (while Sisko was a good Starfleet officer, he had an interesting capacity for toughness bordering on ruthlessness - I loved his verbal exchanges with Dukat over the years)

Janeway: The Den Mother With Teeth. Janeway had a maternal side, especially with Harry Kim and Seven of Nine; and I think to some extent, she considered herself a mother-figure to the ship (except for Tuvok), and NO one was going to mess with her children.

Archer: The Happy Pioneer. He was probably the most emotionally healthy of the captains; a nice guy who had just enough smarts and drive to get the job done. I don't remember him as well as I do the other captains.

My favorite Star Trek commander/captain is Sisko, followed by Kirk. I admired Picard, but never really found him believable, since he could do just about anything except form and keep a romantic relationship. (the only ST:TNG characters I found believable were Worf and Data)

Favorite Doctors -

1. McCoy, without question. Loved him.

2. Dr. Bashir - starts out as this completely arrogant bratty young doc looking to make a name for himself in frontier medicine, and gains humanity and much more character in the course of the series, though he never completely loses the arrogance, it is diminished a bit.

3. The Doctor on Voyager - a fascinating concept and character, yet quite credible.

I didn't care much for the other doctors. Phlox on Enterprise didn't do anything for me; and I always had trouble believing that Crusher on ST:TNG was a real doctor (A. Her name, how many doctors named Crusher do you know? B. She looked like a model, not a doctor)

[JonCon's Red Beard]

(A. Her name, how many doctors named Crusher do you know? B. She looked like a model, not a doctor)

Her real name was Howard. It's all Jack's fault.

BTW, I'm missing some ST episodes from season 6 and 7. I'll try to find some time to watch the whole season and make some comments :D

(yeah, I'm a bad trekkie! bad!)

[Raksha 2014]

Her real name was Howard. It's all Jack's fault.

BTW, I'm missing some ST episodes from season 6 and 7. I'll try to find some time to watch the whole season and make some comments :D

(yeah, I'm a bad trekkie! bad!)

You're right, I'd forgotten about Bev's boring backstory. But she does use Jack's name, calls herself Dr. Crusher, not Dr. Howard.

[drawkcabi]

The other night I dreamt that Neelix was throwing a surprise party for Wesley, only Wesley found out because...he's Wesley...and Neelix unknowingly used some dangerous technology for the party entertainment because...he's Neelix.

So Wesley sets off the dangerous technology ahead of time, this attracts some nasty aliens who are really only pissed off because these dimwits are playing with fire, they're ready to destroy everybody until Picard shows up kicks some ass, talks some diplomacy, and everything is put right.

I've been watching to many SF Debris reviews.

[Derfel Cadarn]

While Archer was the happy pioneer, I like how dark he became in season 3, stealing a vital ship component to repair his wrecked ship and thus condemning an alien crew to years of sub-warp travel.

[Aemon Stark]

The other night I dreamt that Neelix was throwing a surprise party for Wesley, only Wesley found out because...he's Wesley...and Neelix unknowingly used some dangerous technology for the party entertainment because...he's Neelix.

So Wesley sets off the dangerous technology ahead of time, this attracts some nasty aliens who are really only pissed off because these dimwits are playing with fire, they're ready to destroy everybody until Picard shows up kicks some ass, talks some diplomacy, and everything is put right.

I've been watching to many SF Debris reviews.

You do mean that you had a nightmare, given that it featured not only Wesley but Neelix too? Neelix is the Jar-Jar of Star Trek!

I know that Time's Arrow isn't *that* great, but it's surely better than Birthright, Descent, or Gambit. As you say, Wert, it does have Jerry Hardin and Whoopi Goldberg. It doesn't amount to much but the all the little bits are fun. I can't remember whether you mentioned previously that amongst the poker players that Data defeated was a pre-Dukat Marc Alaimo. I also enjoyed bizarre little scenes such as Riker attempting to explain his presence at the hospital when the police arrive ("I've been working downtown." "I work downtown. I've never seen you before." "...").

If it has any downside, it's Troi's smug reply to Clemens' criticisms once he gets to the 24th century. We'd already seen plenty of people hardly living lives of peace and fulfillment on this show, be it on Tasha's planet or amongst other cultures like the Bajorans.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

I just watched the episode. I remember to have seen it years ago in a ST fan club I used to attend. We watched there the episodes that weren't aired here yet (and many didn't have cable, it was the 90s!).

Anyway, I think it was a fun episode but yes, now I'm way older, it could have been better. I did like the "mystery" about Data's head and how it was resolved (back then). But I am a softie for stories where time goes full circle and I try to not put much input on it.

We got more of the Guinan/Picard relationship but was at the end left unexplored. While I would have loved to see more, I think it was better to be left open.

I've always found amusing how TNG avoided any kind of copyright infringement by completely erased current pop culture from history and cite and reference the classics :lol:. The 24th Century is full with people quoting Shakespeare and similar... we've become a bunch of snobs :P

In the same way, they were barely excited for meeting Clemens. I know, they we're facing a dangerous situation, but still.

For the rest, I think it was an episode that didn't deserve to have two parts and being a cliffhanger.

Season 6 does not get off to a good start, it has to be said.

As said above, it gets much better, although I haven't watched the season in many many years.

[Werthead]

602: Realm of Fear

Lt. Barclay suffers from paranoia and fear over using the transporter, which makes an away mission to a ship trapped in a plasma stream which can only be reached by transporter technobabble doohickey rather traumatic.

Hmm. Barclay episodes tend to be good because Dwight Schultz brings a charisma and humanity that is sometimes missing from the rest of the show, and he does good work here. Certainly the idea that people would be nervous and scared of transporting is a valid one and touched on previously (Pulaski was also not keen, building on an underdeveloped Roddenberry concept from the original show that McCoy didn't like it either), but worthy of further investigation. And it's interesting to see what transporting looks like from the inside. It's also nice to get an O'Brien subplot a few episodes before he leaves TNG for DS9. But there isn't much sense of jeopardy, the alien creatures look rubbish and there's too much technobabble. A nice idea which doesn't stick the execution.

603: Man of the People

An alien ambassador comes aboard with his crazy-ass mother and weird shenanigans ensue and Troi gets telepathically affected and it's all so very tedious.

Poor, poor, poor. An episode that wouldn't have passed muster in Season 1 is just plain embarassing at this point in the run and Marina Sirtis does not rise to the acting challenge (with a script this bad, I can't blame her either). Patrick Stewart has a nice speech but that's the episode's only redeeming feature.

604: Relics

The Enterprise stumbles across a Dyson Sphere and finds an old Starfleet vessel crashed on the surface with a still-viable pattern in the transporter. This turns out to be Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott, the chief engineer from the original Enterprise. Scotty finds that he is a man out of time, with his engineering knowledge decades out of date. When the Enterprise is trapped inside the Dyson Sphere, it falls to Scotty and LaForge to rescue the ship.

A fun episode, with James Doohan being given more to do in this one episode than all 79 episodes of the original series and the six movies (to that point) combined. He pulls it off superbly, making you realise how underused he really was. A lot of great lines and material, and the recreation of the original Enterprise bridge is impressive given how limited it was. What is a bit of a shame is that the Dyson Sphere storyline is completely under-explored, given its sheer size and the alien technology on it could have driven several episodes' worth of plots. Still, highly entertaining.

605: Schisms

Crewmembers on the Enterprise start experiencing feelings of sleeplessness and 'missing time'. Analysis later reveals that aliens from subspace are kidnapping crewmembers and returning them, so it falls to the crew to figure out why and how to stop them.

An interesting episode which slightly anticipates The X-Files with its alien abduction storyline and also furthers a recurring Season 6 trop of exploring an existing Trek alien concept or race in greater detail. Just as the Romulan culture would get fleshed out in Face of the Enemy and Timescape, the Cardassians in Chain of Command and the transporter in Realm of Fear, here we learn a lot more about subspace and how it works. The episode has feeling of dead weight to it though, with some major events happening but no-one seems really alarmed by any of it. Riker's languid reactions whilst in the alien realm (waiting ages before leaping through the portal back to the Enterprise when he could have done so at any time) are also weird.

A highly promising episode with some good mood stuff near the start, but the ending is disappointing and the episode never really comes to life. Apart from one bit.

[Derfel Cadarn]

I founds schisms quite creepy, especially the holodeck bit with the torture chair.

Relics was good, but Scotty's Scottish accent - already getting ropy in the movies - is barely there, and he struggles with the technobabble. Albeit that helps sell him being out of time. And Geordi - what a prick!

[Jaxom 1974]

But the season does get better...I think...

[mcbigski]

Anyway, I think it was a fun episode but yes, now I'm way older, it could have been better. I did like the "mystery" about Data's head and how it was resolved (back then). But I am a softie for stories where time goes full circle and I try to not put much input on it.

I mostly just remember being disappointed that they didn't seed the previous season or 3 with a few super miraculous escapes and then reveal that Data was reconstructed in the past and then secretly helped the Enterprise survive all sorts of hijinks. Kind of like how Marvin got sent back in time so much on shit errands that he was actually older than the universe itself.