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

[Sci-2]

The question you're describing is the exact one that is taken up in The Measure of a Man, the crowning achievement of the first two seasons.

Yeah, it's what at least one person has called the "harder problem of consciousness" -> We cannot, using science, be sure anyone other than ourselves is experiencing conscious awareness.

[Rhom]

This is great. I remember the return. I was a newlywed and we were so thrilled! Picard is my captain. The Gilgamesh one was my favorite. Now with Big Bang, it's great to see "Will Wheatonnnnn!" :)

As yes, the Jar Jar Binks of the Star Trek Universe.

[PetyrPunkinhead]

I've such fond memories of discovering ST:TNG as a kid, I was always reluctant to go back and re-watch the early seasons. And all the haterade S1 was getting poured on it in the first few pages of this thread makes me think I made the right choice. However, I recently saw the whole cast at Wizard-Con in New Orleans and it made me nostalgic, so I bought the DVDs for cheap online. I'm gonna start re-watching from S1:e1 over Christmas break.

[Lord Toblerone]

This is great. I remember the return. I was a newlywed and we were so thrilled! Picard is my captain. The Gilgamesh one was my favorite. Now with Big Bang, it's great to see "Will Wheatonnnnn!" :)

Yes, I enjoyed that episode too.

Darmok and Jelad at Tinagra.

[Rhom]

Yes, I enjoyed that episode too.

Darmok and Jelad at Tinagra.

Shaka, when the walls fell.

[Durckad]

For all the crap episodes that TNG has (mostly in its early seasons), it does have a bunch of really spectacular ones as well. Darmok is one of those.

[Derfel Cadarn]

I never felt the love for the Darmok episode, one of the few I've only ever watched first. And I'd hardly count it as an early TNG episode, its early om in season 4 which makes it about half-way.

[Jaxom 1974]

I never felt the love for the Darmok episode, one of the few I've only ever watched first. And I'd hardly count it as an early TNG episode, its early om in season 4 which makes it about half-way.

Season Five actually. Introduction of Picard's bomber jacket uniform...first episode after Redemption II...

[Durckad]

Ah, I thought it was much earlier than that.

Still, despite the divisive quality of those first two seasons, TNG has some great episodes spread throughout its whole run. :)

[Lightning Lord]

For all the crap episodes that TNG has (mostly in its early seasons), it does have a bunch of really spectacular ones as well. Darmok is one of those.

Agreed. One of my favorite episodes of the series. I've been using "Shaka, when the walls fell" as a sort of curse for language exchange failings for awhile now. It probably doesn't help matters.

[Baitac]

and the sails unfurled. I thought it was great. Poo to those who didn't/don't.

[Independent George]

I guess I'm the only one who wasn't all that impressed with 'Measure of a Man'? It had some nice ACTING! by Patrick Stewart, but all in all, much of the episode just struck me as clunky and clicheed. It was brilliant by S1-S2 standards, but I thought it overall it was both bad Trek and bad television.

[PetyrPunkinhead]

Season Five actually. Introduction of Picard's bomber jacket uniform...first episode after Redemption II...

The Darmok episode is a classic. Paul Winfield was such a great character actor. I didn't realize it was the first episode w/ the Captain's Jacket. Didn't realize it qualified as a bomber jacket either, but after looking it up online, yeah, for that one episode it had the leather(?) shoulders. So, I'll allow it to be classified alternately as a bomber jacket for that episode. ;)

[Bronn Stone]

The Jacket at Tanagra.

translation

A garment so bad-arse that even a blinky zappy monster can't help but focus its attack on the other dude

[Werthead]

204: The Outrageous Okona

The crew of the Enterprise rescue a freighter captain with a highly-inflated opinion of himself. Okona is an unstoppable womaniser and enjoyer of life who soon makes an impression on the crew of the Enterprise. However, when the governments of two rival planets send police ships to arrest him for competing crimes (theft and impregnation of the planetary leader's daughter), Picard finds himself caught in a bind.

An episode which scrapes against the edges of Season 1 in quality, mainly down to Billy Campbell not selling it as a Okona. Okona is supposed to be Han Solo, but Campbell is much more like Luke Skywalker (and plays the more straight-laced hero of The Rocketeer much more successfully) and his attempts to be a badass wisecracker and womaniser simply fail to convince. The neat ending to his dilemma is also painfully obvious from the start. The subplot where Data attempts to discover the meaning of humour is also a bit tiresome, especially the stuff on the holodeck, but Brent Spiner and Whoopi Goldberg do a pretty good job with the material.

205: Loud as a Whisper

Two warring factions on a planet declare a ceasefire and request the assistance of an infamous mediator, Riva. Riva is deaf, but communicates through three telepathic translators or 'a chorus' who represent different parts of his psyche and ideas. When the chorus is killed in a misunderstanding during the negotiations, Data has to become Riva's new interpreter, but Riva loses faith that he can solve the problem.

A very mixed bag. The central concept is reasonably interesting and the actors give it their all, particularly Patrick Stewart who shades Picard with empathy for Riva's situation whilst also urging him to get a grip. Real-life deaf actor Howie Seago also gives a good performance as Riva, despite some occasionally questionable 'eyebrow acting', particularly in his flirtation scenes with Troi. It also helps that the aliens turn out not to have some kind of agenda and genuinely want peace. The problem is that whilst the episode overcomes its 'worthy Star Trek Issue Episode' problems with something halfway-thought-provoking, it doesn't really go anywhere and the episode fizzles out with a standard 'Riva must rediscover his self-belief' schtick. A missed opportunity.

206: The Schizoid Man

The Enterprise is summoned to the home of Dr. Ira Graves, a brilliant scientist who is in the final stages of his life. He plans to transfer his personality into a computer matrix so his knowledge will survive his death, but the arrival of Data proves fortunate, as Graves instead transports his personality into the android, seizing control of him and causing problems on the Enterprise.

A strong - if standard - premise fails to coalesce into a decent episode. Brent Spiner does some reasonable work as the possessed Data and the mighty W. Morgan Sheppard (the Soul Hunter/Warmaster G'Sten from Babylon 5 and the father of Mark 'in every SF show ever' Sheppard) is great as the human version of Graves, but the episode wavers between creepiness (the possessed Data's feelings towards Graves's young female assistant) and cliche before fizzling out at the end. Another missed opportunity.

207: Unnatural Selection

The Enterprise discovers a Federation supply ship floating in space whose entire crew has died as a result of a disease that causes rapid ageing. They identify a nearby genetic research outpost as the source of the infection and find the colony also suffering from the disease. Dr. Pulaski's attempts to find a cure only wind up getting her infected as well, and the crew of the Enterprise have to develop a new cure using the transporter...a prospect the transporter-phobic doctor finds ironic.

Much stronger stuff, helped by a great performance by Diana Muldaur as Pulaski. The show hasn't used its new doctor very much by this point, but Pulaski has some great material as she sparks off Picard and becomes passionate in her attempts to find a solution to the medical crisis. It's also the first really meaty role for Colm Meaney as Chief O'Brien (who is named for the very first time in this episode, and saves the day by coming up with the solution to the problem). The only problem is that the solution used to cure Pulaski is basically an Immortality Device and could be used to de-age people who are naturally old, as well as those aged by the virus. Naturally, it's never mentioned again. Despite that, a reasonably decent episode.

208: A Matter of Honour

Riker takes part in an programme where he gets to serve on a Klingon ship for a period of time. After extensive research, Riker starts his assignment by beating the crap out of an insubordinate officer (resulting in them becoming best buds, because that's how Klingons roll). When both the Klingon ship and the Enterprise are infected by a parasitic space organism, the Klingons decide it was an attack by the Federation and plan a sneak attack...which Riker will be forced to lead.

Whilst Ronald D. Moore (who joins the crew in Season 3) gets a lot of credit as 'the Klingon guy', a lot of their culture and characterisation was established in the Season 1 episode Heart of Glory and furthered here. This includes how a Klingon bird-of-prey operates internally (something that is explored further in multiple episodes of Deep Space Nine) and the introduction of various Klingon foodstuffs and drink (gagh! Bloodwine!). The masterstrokes in this episode are making Riker fully capable of handling himself on the Klingon ship (rather than being a fish out of water) and casting the mighty Brian Thompson (the alien bounty-hunter in The X-Files and the Judge in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as Klag. Thompson wanted the role so badly he volunteered to construct his own costume when he was informed he was too big to fit into any of the existing Klingon stock costumes from the films. It's a (somewhat) tense, clever episode which single-handedly boosted Riker's popularity with the fans and made the Klingons a more integral part of TNG.

The only minor mark against it is the somewhat bizarre decision to cast John Putch as a new Benzite character, Mendon, rather than his role from Season 1, Mordock. This is because they needed a Benzite who was more of a tool than Mordock, but couldn't afford to make new prosthetics. The problem is that this introduces a noted continuity error, as Mordock was the first Benzite in Starfleet and there hasn't been enough time for him (or any other Benzite) to graduate from the academy.

[drawkcabi]

204: The Outrageous Okona

The crew of the Enterprise rescue a freighter captain with a highly-inflated opinion of himself. Okona is an unstoppable womaniser and enjoyer of life who soon makes an impression on the crew of the Enterprise. However, when the governments of two rival planets send police ships to arrest him for competing crimes (theft and impregnation of the planetary leader's daughter), Picard finds himself caught in a bind.

An episode which scrapes against the edges of Season 1 in quality, mainly down to Billy Campbell not selling it as a Okona. Okona is supposed to be Han Solo, but Campbell is much more like Luke Skywalker (and plays the more straight-laced hero of The Rocketeer much more successfully) and his attempts to be a badass wisecracker and womaniser simply fail to convince. The neat ending to his dilemma is also painfully obvious from the start. The subplot where Data attempts to discover the meaning of humour is also a bit tiresome, especially the stuff on the holodeck, but Brent Spiner and Whoopi Goldberg do a pretty good job with the material.

Also this episode features a pre Desperate Housewives, pre Lois and Clark, and pre Tango & Cash too, I think, Teri Hatcher as a transporter operator and one of the women smitten with Okona.

And George Burns was originally offered the Joe Piscapo's part in this episode but turned it down. However going with Piscapo is kind of like offering a part to Bruce Springsteen and when he's not available going with Kenny G. But meh, it was still the 80's.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Didnt they make it clear mendock wasnt a starfleet officer per se, he was an exchangee from a benzite ship? Ok he wa in uniform but that might have been some batshit benzite thing like them not reporting the ship about to blow up until theyve solved it. A bigger error is in ds9's apocalypse rising where sisko went through the avademy with a benzite.

Only good thing about the okona episode is the "lasers? Our navigational shields can handle them". I wonder if that was the writer trying to give trekkies an edge in enterprise vs star destroyer.

[Bronn Stone]

Didnt they make it clear mendock wasnt a starfleet officer per se, he was an exchangee from a benzite ship?

They did. Mendon was not a Starfleet officer, despite wearing the uniform.

[Tears of Lys]

I don't know whether this scene occurred in A Matter of Honor or not, but one of my favorite Worf lines is where he drinks prune juice and proclaims it "a Warrior's drink!" :lol:

[Bronn Stone]

Worf discovers prune juice in my favorite Trek episode of any incarnation - Yesterday's Enterprise.