154 replies to this topic

[drawkcabi]

Werthead, on 07 May 2013 - 05:00 AM, said:

315: Yesterday's Enterprise
Overall, one of TNG's finest hours. Seriously, the only criticism I can make of this episode is that Picard has a distractingly odd sense of space, meeting twice with Guinan in the spacious, huge observation lounge and cramming the entire senior staff into his much smaller ready room for no discernible reason. This may be the very definition of 'reaching for criticism'.

Also from a technical/directorial standpoint there's the scene at the end where Guinan asks Geordie, "Tell me about Tasha." Geordie has the uniform cuffs from the alternate timeline.

But this is my favorite episode of TNG. Love it even more than tBoBW. This was the episode that made me take notice that Trek was more than a mildly amusing at times inferior spin-off of TOS.

Quote

317: Sins of the Father
It's a favourite episode of Michael Dorn, most notably as it inspired him to play Worf slightly differently for the rest of the series. Great stuff, with Charles Cooper giving a gruff performance as Klingon Chancellor K'mpec as well.

Also interesting to note is that in the original script Worf asked Riker to be his Cha'desh (sp?). Which would have made more sense at that time given the Riker - Worf relationship right up to that episode. The producers decided the role was too important and too juicy not to give to Stewart and since that episode it's come to make sense as it went a long way to define the Worf - Picard relationship since.

[williamjm]

Werthead, on 07 May 2013 - 05:00 AM, said:

I have no idea if Behr's other shows are any good (he was also the showrunner on The 4400 and the short-lived Alphas), but interestingly their positions are about to be reversed: Moore is showrunning the Outlander TV show (based on the Diana Gabaldon books) and Behr is going to be a writer under him.

I've not seen Alphas yet, but I did think The 4400 was a good show, particularly the first couple of seasons where the story arc was at its best. I think there were a few dubious plot developments in the third and fourth seasons but they're good despite that and I'm still annoyed it got cancelled.

[felice]

How badly unresolved is the story at the end of season four of The 4400? Would you recommend watching it anyway?

[Werthead]

318: Allegiance
Picard is kidnapped by the Monolith from 2001 and a double is left behind on the Enterprise. Whilst Picard and three other captives struggle to escape from an empty room with a single door, his double decides to become a more charismatic captain, leading the crew in drinking songs in Ten-Forward and putting the moves on Dr. Crusher.

I had almost no memory of this episode, and it's fairly minor coming in the middle of a run of top-quality episodes, but it's still quite entertaining. It's again an excellent acting opportunity for Patrick Stewart, who handles being the centre of attention extremely well. The problem is that, once again, the premise can't really be explored in just 44 minutes. The 'mutiny' storyline on the Enterprise where Riker and Worf rebel against the fake Picard's dangerous orders isn't really given enough set-up. The ending is also a little neat, but overall this is a solid, if unspectacular, episode.

319: Captain's Holiday
Picard is convinced - after a lot of pressure - to take a vacation and visits the pleasure planet of Risa. His hopes for a peaceful holiday are dashed when he stumbles into a disagreement between a Ferengi and a human archaeologist with flexible morality, Vash, over the location of a mysterious, powerful artifact. Picard is also visited by time-travelling police from the 27th Century, who say the artifact is from their time and that need it returned.

An episode that could have been drek (DS9's equivalent visit to Risa is one of the few downright-terrible episodes in that show's history) but is saved some good performances, some funny lines and the fact that Patrick Stewart is clearly hugely enjoying himself. He gets to punch out a Ferengi, gets laid and blows some stuff up. He also has some downright funny lines and moments: his horrified reaction to learning that Troi is going to invite her mother aboard - the nuclear option - provides the catalyst for him going on holiday and when asked if he loves Commander Riker, he drily responds, "I wouldn't go that far." His relationship with the Ferengi Sovak, a rare instance of Picard hating someone on sight, is also interesting. Jennifer Hetrick is very good as Vash, providing an able foil for Picard, and the aliens-from-the-future subplot is handled amusingly routinely ("Oh, they're police from the 27th Century,"). So, a daft romp, but hugely entertaining.

[Werthead]

I never noticed this: Commander Riker is the master of sitting down in TNG.

[Shryke]

Werthead, on 08 May 2013 - 02:39 PM, said:

I never noticed this: Commander Riker is the master of sitting down in TNG.

OMG, I never noticed that before but he mounts that chair like he's making it his bitch.

[williamjm]

felice, on 07 May 2013 - 07:32 PM, said:

How badly unresolved is the story at the end of season four of The 4400? Would you recommend watching it anyway?

I've seen more frustrating endings, but although the final episode was a good ending to the fourth season it doesn't resolve the main plot of the show. There were a couple of novels published afterwards that claimed to provide a conclusion, but they failed to either be any good or actually resolve things. Unlike some similar shows it did do a decent job of resolving mysteries as it went along, what is arguably the central mystery of The 4400 is revealed at the end of the first season, which I think helps a bit. I'd probably still recommend the show, but be aware that some important plot points will never get resolved.

[Aemon Stark]

Werthead, on 06 May 2013 - 03:08 PM, said:

314: A Matter of Perspective
A space station explodes after Riker spends the night on board. Riker is accused of causing the explosion and murdering the station's chief scientist, and the Enterprise crew resort to recreating the crime on the holodeck to prove Riker's innocence.

A great idea - using the holodeck to re-stage crimes from each witnesses' POV - is hamstrung here by poor execution. We end up watching the same scenes three times with almost pantomime levels of exaggeration and villainy (the 'evil rapist Riker' is a potentially sinister idea which is wrecked by poor direction), but the biggest problem is that we know Riker is innocent, which completely removes all sense of tension from the episode. Maybe having Picard having to decide between two Federation crewmembers we hadn't met before, or perhaps Riker being framed or mind-controlled somehow, would have been better. But as it stands the episode doesn't work, despite a strong idea being at the heart of it. Its one redeeming feature is the quite amusing teaser, in which Data gives Picard such crushing criticism of his attempt at painting that Picard apparently never paints again.

I find that the various re-enactments become unintentionally funny upon rewatches, particularly for Riker's fabled "You're a dead man, Apgar! A dead man!" line. Little did he know that Hector Salamanca would live another 20 years.

[TrackerNeil]

Werthead, on 07 May 2013 - 05:00 AM, said:

Ron Moore was just a writer (and later producer) on both TNG and DS9. He wasn't the showrunner in either case. For DS9 the showrunner was Ira Steven Behr, who was an excellent writer. I think a purely Moore-driven Star Trek show would have been quite dark and drifted quite far from the Trek ideals

I would have liked to see such a drift. The Star Trek universe is, quite frankly, anodyne.

[Jaxom 1974]

Werthead, on 08 May 2013 - 04:56 AM, said:

319: Captain's Holiday
Picard is convinced - after a lot of pressure - to take a vacation and visits the pleasure planet of Risa. His hopes for a peaceful holiday are dashed when he stumbles into a disagreement between a Ferengi and a human archaeologist with flexible morality, Vash, over the location of a mysterious, powerful artifact. Picard is also visited by time-travelling police from the 27th Century, who say the artifact is from their time and that need it returned.

An episode that could have been drek (DS9's equivalent visit to Risa is one of the few downright-terrible episodes in that show's history) but is saved some good performances, some funny lines and the fact that Patrick Stewart is clearly hugely enjoying himself. He gets to punch out a Ferengi, gets laid and blows some stuff up. He also has some downright funny lines and moments: his horrified reaction to learning that Troi is going to invite her mother aboard - the nuclear option - provides the catalyst for him going on holiday and when asked if he loves Commander Riker, he drily responds, "I wouldn't go that far." His relationship with the Ferengi Sovak, a rare instance of Picard hating someone on sight, is also interesting. Jennifer Hetrick is very good as Vash, providing an able foil for Picard, and the aliens-from-the-future subplot is handled amusingly routinely ("Oh, they're police from the 27th Century,"). So, a daft romp, but hugely entertaining.

At this point hadn't we only heard about Risa and its fabled amenities...it's a little humourous (if I'm remembering correctly) that it is Picard that takes the audience there, not Riker...

[Werthead]

320: Tin Man
A Federation long-range probe picks up an alien spacecraft - apparently a living space creature - orbiting a star in a region the Romulans have claimed. The Enterprise takes on a Betazed expert in first contact situations and races to investigate, but finds that their expert may not be entirely up to the job.

A strong episode, notable for its haunting music and a solid (if slighlty whiny) central performance from Harry Groener. The premise feels under-explored a little with the idea of the Enterprise in a race to get to a prize being sold short, as is the sequences on the living ship itself (which are brief), but overall this is pretty solid stuff. My main complaint is that the episode seems out of sorts with regards to the rest of the series' technical limitations, namely that a single Romulan warbird can cripple the Enterprise with just a few shots even with its shields up (the Romulan ship is more formidable that a Borg cube in this sequence) and the Enterprise somehow beams Data and Tam to the living ship from many millions of miles away (when the transporters only have a maximum range of 40,000km). Even sillier, the Enterprise is blasted several light-hours from the exploding star at the end of the episode but somehow they see the explosion instantly.

321: Hollow Pursuits
LaForge and Riker have issues with a new engineering officer who is constantly later and too nervous to make a solid contribution to the team. LaForge discovers that Lt. Barclay has created a fantasy world on the holodeck and populated it with recreations of the bridge crew, to their disapproval.

A fun episode, notable for the first appearance of Lt. Barclay as played by The A-Team's Dwight Schultz. Schultz gives a nervous, on-edge performance which stays just the right side of irritating. The tech problem that nearly destroys the Enterprise (until LaForge and Barclay solve it) is a bit cliched, but most of the fun comes from the holodeck, particularly Barclay's representation of Riker as a short, whiny buffoon (which Frakes does a great job of selling). Overall, fun but not too deep.

322: The Most Toys
Data is kidnapped by a lunatic collector who also fakes Data's destruction.

Meh. Not a bad premise, but the execution is so-so. Brent Spiner's fine performance and the ambiguous ending (in which Data appears to decide to kill an unarmed being to prevent greater harm later on) add some interest to the episode, but it fails to adequately explore any of its ideas. The crew's surprisingly muted reaction to Data's 'death' is particularly unconvincing.

323: Sarek
The Enterprise must transport the infamous Ambassador Sarek to a meeting with an alien race, a meeting he has been working on for over ninety years. Outbreaks of violence on the ship reveal that Sarek is severely ill and cannot complete the mission, forcing him into a dangerous mind-meld with Picard.

A powerhouse of acting, with both guest star Mark Lenard (reprising his role as Sarek from the original series and the movies) and Patrick Stewart firing on all cylinders, particularly in the mind meld scenes and their aftermath. It's a shame we don't get to see the unusual aliens (after all the fuss made over their goo-bath environment) but the episode benefits from its tight focus on Sarek. This is also only the second time an original Trek main castmember (Spock) is mentioned on the show (McCoy appeared in the pilot but was not named; The Naked Now mentioned Kirk).

324: Menage a Troi
Lwaxana Troi, Deanne and Riker are kidnapped by a Ferengi captain who has become obssessed with Lwaxana, as well as seeing the benefit of gaining control of her telepathic powers for financial gain.

A daft-but-fun episode with Lwaxana Troi matching wits with the Ferengi. The subplot with Wesley going to the academy-but-not (again) is a bit tedious, it has to be said, and Riker breaking free from captivity using a Ferengi officer's interest in chess is so predictable they don't even bother showing it on-screen. The episode is most notable for its insane ending sequence, where Picard vows to 'regain' Lwaxana by mauling Shakespeare and threatening to destroy the Ferengi ship (which actually should be a match for the Enterprise, so I'm not sure why the Ferengi captain bricks it instantly), which is entertaining.

325: Transfigurations
The Enterprise crew rescue an injured alien who has no memory of who he is or where he came from. Shenanigans ensue.

Fairly standard Stark Trek guff, handled with competence but little flair. Mark La Mura is reasonably good as the mysterious alien and it's amusing to see Worf trying to tutor LaForge in the arts of seduction, but overall the episode is just...average.

[beniowa]

As a geek, I found the hollowdeck stuff in "Hollow Pursuits" cringe-worthy, but I suppose it works.  What I liked about the episode was when all the engineers get together to solve the tech problem and Barclay manages to bring himself together to show he's really quite a brilliant engineer.

I also want to note that the script for "Sarek" was written by Peter S. Beagle who is perhaps most well known for The Last Unicorn.

[Lord of Oop North]

Werthead, on 08 May 2013 - 02:39 PM, said:

I never noticed this: Commander Riker is the master of sitting down in TNG.

This is way too amazing.

[Werthead]

Encouraging! Some of the DS9 CGI files have been found (not all of them, but the ones Foundation Imaging worked on). That makes a DS9 HD re-release more likely.

[Rhom]

Werthead, on 11 May 2013 - 05:45 AM, said:

Encouraging! Some of the DS9 CGI files have been found (not all of them, but the ones Foundation Imaging worked on). That makes a DS9 HD re-release more likely.

I've never understood how stuff like that just gets lost.