Amph To Boldly Trek Where Many Geeks Have Gone Before- VOY: Drive, Repression & Imperfection

307: The Enemy:
-Premise: La Forge and a Romulan are trapped on a planet ravaged by electromagnetic storms.

-T2Q Comments: Return to the Romulan stories. Geordi falls down this hole, why doesn't he use his phaser to fire like a flare? Crusher's hair looks a lot better than it has the last couple episodes at least. Geordi's a resourceful SOB, though...

Romulan G'Kar!

The Enterprise escorts the Romulan ship to the Neutarl Zone...by flying in the opposte direction- goooo stock footage!

Good episode, both for Geordi and even for Worf to a lesser degree. Romulan connection, particulalry with the introduction of Romulan G'Kar who'll pop a couple more times down the road, adds up to making this one Definitely Essential.




308: The Price:
-Premise: The Enterprise hosts negotiations for possession of the only known stable wormhole.

-T2Q Comments: This delegate looks like Stan's sister on South Park- "are you starring at my headgear?!", and the Caldonians take the "all Trek aliens are a forehead prosthetic" theory and cranks it up to 11. Guy from Police Academy 5 & 6..

"First and only stable wormhole" (to Gamma Quadrant) seems notable given DS9's premise later on. The lovey-dovey eyes between Troi and Police Acadmey 5 & 6 Guy already bugging me and we haven't even hit the opening credits yet.

"We'll need chairs" LOL- ok, the first time was funny, then they immediately kill the joke and kick it's corpse into a tupperware container.

First visit to the Delta Quadrant. Crusher/Troi workout scene- yikes. Cameltoe: The final frontier. Ha, Ferengi soo screwed- I remember this moment.

As much as the Troi/Police Academy 5 & 6 Guy subplot has been dull, the discussion over empath advantages contrasted between his position and hers is quite interesting- however, any goodwill that scene built up is cancelled out by the subsequent Riker/Police Academy 5 & 6 Guy scene.

The way Stewart says "Screen off!" as if it's a curseword is great, there's gotta be a good way to use that again, ha. 80 years to the Dela Quadrant sounds about right.

This would be a much better episode if about 10 minutes of the Troi stuff was cut, but despite that, I have to chalk this one up as a nostalgic favorite due the wormhole bit, but since I have to look beyond that, I'll have to say this is an Average episode, but.....Memory Alpha points out they actually followup on the lost Ferengi in an episode of Voyager, which is surprising to hear and I look forward to that episode way down the road. Given that element (which is essentially the source of Voyager's premise), I'm going to upgrade the episode's classification to "Potentially Essential, But Not Necessarily Good".




309: The Vengeance Factor:
-Premise: The Enterprise tries to negotiate an end to raids launched by a group called the "Gatherers," but a murder threatens to prevent peace.

T2Q Comments: Not a particularly grabbing teaser. Another "war-like past we've moved beyond" race.

The warp effect again, yay! Dig the music during the ambush. Sovereign's negotiations have weight. chick villain is promising.

There's something very wrong with the angles of the main viewer conversation- it's not a hologram, there is no perspective.

Whats with the multiple phaser shots? She's trying to kill the guy 3 feet in front of her, maybe actually stunning her like normal and sorting it out safely later would be a good idea? ......Or you could vaporize her... what the hell?

A dark enough of an ending, but the logic hole in the degree of force used here really throws a bit of a wrench into the works. Good Episode, But Not Essential, though it's borderline Average to a degree.


Up next: 310: The Defector, 311: The Hunted and 312: The High Ground.

(having all these episodes start with "The" is making this season sound like a season of Aqua Teen Hunger Force...)

 

They did!

 

Nope- it was first seen from Ten-Forward in the first episode of Season 2, with Wesley, IIRC.

 

310: The Defector:
-Premise: The Enterprise grants asylum to a defector from the Romulan Empire.

-T2Q Comments: At first I'm like "why does this look like a medieval tent?" then the shakespeare holodeck nature of the scene becomes apparent.

The pursuit's appearance has some great music set to which combines with the Romulan ship visuals (where it's acting more hastily or frantic than we normally see, making it all the more effective) is really grabbing- it's a massive shame it ends for the teaser cliffhanger just as it's on the precipice of being a fantastic moment. The chase is still a decent sequence after the teaser, though.

Romulans freaking love shoulder pads.

Man, ship explodes outside window- what does it take for Picard to flinch?

Romulan G'Kar is back, yay!

Tomalak: First, Captain, you will return the traitor, Jarok... then you will surrender as prisoners of war...
Picard: Do you seriously expect me to agree to those terms?
Tomalak: No, Captain Picard, I expect you won't. You have thirty seconds to decide.
Picard: I do not require one.
Tomalak: Captain Picard, I urge you. Surrender. Consider the men and women you would lead into a lost cause.
Picard: If the cause is just and honorable, they are prepared to give their lives. Are you prepared to die today, Tomalak?
Tomalak: I expected more from you than an idle threat, Picard.
Picard: Then you shall have it. Mr Worf?
Worf: Aye, Captain...

::Klingon fanfar kicks in as three Birds of Prey decloak::

Worf: Klingon warships, armed and ready.
Picard: What shall it be, Tomalak?
Tomalak: You will still not survive our assault...
Picard: Nor will you survive ours, Commander. Shall we die together?
Tomalak: I look forward to our next meeting, Captain.

Easily one of the best moments in the series so far, as it is very frelling awesome.

A shame that, according to Memory-Alpha, that there is no real "next time" meeting between Picard and Tomalak (as his subsequent appearances are not really him) and, with the great Andreas no longer among us, now there never can be.

As part of the Romulan arc, and just due to general badassery, Definitely Essential. I've rewatched those 8 minutes surrounding Tomalak about 6 times already.

[image=http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/en/images/5/58/Federation-Romulan-Klingon_stand-off.jpg]



311: The Hunted:
-Premise: The Enterprise captures a renegade veteran who was altered to become the "perfect" soldier, but he claims that he's been mistreated since the end of the war.

-T2Q Comments: Guest-starring Not-Cochram. We-Art-Uber preamble a bit heavy.

Interesting little cat and mouse game during ship hunt.

Wait, what the hell just happened? First it looks like he fights the transporter beam and explodes, then it cuts to commercial break and we come back there's a phaser missing and he's on the loose somewhere in the ship- huh?

"Mr. Worf, he's in engineering" "Acknowledged, we're our way" at the pace of a quick stroll- then again, if they don';t run during a self-destruct, I imagine this is small potatoes by comparison.

And now a nice little cat and mouse chase around the ship. Whole damn bridge crew is on away team almost.

I'm kind of mixed on this- it has some good moments and some good action yet is very much your typical Star Trek plot (at least for ones not dealingw ith magic aliens) what with the "seemingly good society has a dark blemish in it's past that comes back to haunt them when a Federation ship arrives, and after the crew causes some social chaos, leaves them to work it out while chuckling to themselves about how those people aren't ready to be as awesome as the Federation yet".

Gonna have to say Average, though it's borderline good but not essential.



312: The High Ground:
-Premise: Doctor Crusher is captured by terrorists who want the Federation to get involved in their struggle for freedom.

T2Q Comments: Holy crap, I don't think we've ever had so much exposition in the opening Capta

 

313: Deja Q:
-Premise: As the Enterprise tries to stabilize a moon's orbit before it impacts a heavily populated planet, Q once again appears, only this time he's been stripped of his powers and is seeking asylum on the Enterprise.

-T2Q Comments: Seems like a bit too much of an explanation of the effects of a moon collision- you'd think they'd think Starfleet command crew would have a general idea.

Naked Q- never wanted to see that. "What must i do to convince you people (that I'm mortal)" Worf: "Die."

The Q/Data interaction dynamic is surprisingly interesting given the unconsidered similarities between them, and the Guinan moment is equally awesome to the Worf line.

"It's difficult to work in groups when you're omnipotent."

These two aliens on the screen are really forcing it down our throats.

It's part of the Q arc and amusing, Definitely Essential



314: A Matter of Perspective:
-Premise: When Riker is charged with the murder of a prominent scientist, each side uses the holodeck to show their side of the story.

-T2Q Comments: I do get tired of forehead aliens, but the layered angles on this race are somewhat interesting.

I like the implication that this'll be a "same event from multiple POVs" story, could be interesting... but some of this would be much more effective if they had gone for a more subtle approach in terms of who was googling who.

Wouldn't the radiation emissions burn from outside the ship? not in the middle of a corridor/sickbay wall?

"all the POVs" "all the witnesses"...you had 2 and a half...

Overall not bad- not outstanding, but still good- not essential though.


315: Yesterday's Enterprise:
-Premise: A temporal rift opens, and the USS Enterprise-C emerges, changing the timeline into a reality where the Federation is in a bitter war with the Klingon Empire. The only one on USS Enterprise-D that realizes that something is not right is Guinan, and she must help return the Enterprise-C to its proper time in order to save themselves.

T2Q Comments: Enterprise-C, hurrah! Love the under-used Ambassador-class. Sort of an alternate timeline/time travel thing going on here; Tasha Yar is also back- I also like the lowered lighting style of the bridge. Enterprise-C captained by the Earth Alliance President in B5: In The Bgeinning. "Let's make sure history remembers the name...Enterprise."

Absolutely essential and aces all around. This is about as good as it gets.




Up next: 316: The Offspring, 317: Sins of The Father and 318: Allegiance.



Time Travel Log:

-TOS: All Our Yesterdays (2700 BC, Sarpedion Ice Age; NCC-1701 crew; from 2268)
-TOS: All Our Yesterdays (Undefined 17th Century-esque Sarpeidon; NCC-1701 crew; from 2268)
-TOS: The City on the Edge of Forever (1930: NCC-1701 crew; from 2267)
-TOS: Assignment Earth (1968: NCC-1701; from 2268)
-TOS: Tommorow is Yesterday (1969: NCC-1701; from 2267)
-ST4: The Voyage Home (1986: The Bounty crew, formerly of NCC-1701; from 2286)
-TOS: The Tholian Web (2154 (Mirror Universe): NCC-1764 Defiant; from 2268)
-TOS: The Naked Time (2266: NCC-1701 goes back in time 3 days; from 2266)
-TNG: Time Squared (2365: Picard goes 6 hours into the past; from 2365)
-TNG: Yesterday's Enterprise (2366 (Standard & FKW Universes); NCC-1701-C goes forward through a temporal rift; from 2344)


Alternate Universe Log:

-TOS: The Alternative Factor (Anti-Matter Universe)
-TOS: Mirror, Mirror (Mirror Universe)
-TOS: The Tholian Web (Mirror Universe & "Solo-Kirk" Universe)
-TNG: We'll Always Have Paris (Simultaneous Continuum universes, "Manheim Dimension")
-TNG: Yesterday's Enterprise (Federation-Klingon War universe)

 

316: The Offspring:
-Premise: Since the release of their 1994 album Smash, The Offspring have achieved commercial success over five albums, with singles such as "Come Out and Play", and "Self Esteem"- ...what? oh, sorry, wrong The Offspring.

Data attracts new scrutiny from Starfleet when he decides to build a child.

-T2Q Comments: Meant to reflect earlier that we're halfway through the series now.

"Congradulations, Data- it's a girl"...amusingly cheesy punchline. Lal is sort of Johnny Five in human form with the whole "need more input" approach to things. Johnny Five would make for an annoying human.

Wesley needs to get a haircut? is he shaving his head? Lal's robot-walk is like a 3PO mime

"Commander, what are your intentions towards my daughter?" ok, I'll admit, I laughed ...and I see they continue the tradition of making Starfleet higher-ups jerks. No wonder our main characetrs never want to get promoted- they're afraid they'd fail the ******* exam.

First episode directed by Jonathan Frakes and a surprisingly decent low-key episode with some good humor- good, but not essential



317: Sins of the Father:
-Premise: Worf is plunged head-first into the politics of the Klingon Empire when his deceased father is accused of treason.

-T2Q Comments: A pseudo-followup up to "A Matter of Honor" with Tony Todd aka the Final Destination mortician/Victory Captain from Babylon 5: A Call to Arms as the Klingon.

Never really took particular note of it until now, but Klingon/Federation dinner table scenes always seem to be fairly entertaining...

...and Worf's secret long-lost brother- dunt dunt dahhhh! Plotline tying in heavily with Worf's past. Ending is...a bit of a let down as the solution is essentially (and literally) "we'll turn our backs on the situation", but does set up potential future plotlines such as the Klingon civil war. Duras's ancestor also appears in Enterprise. Essential. Also by association bumps up A Matter of Honor to essential.



318: :
-Premise: Captain Picard and three other people are abducted and imprisoned by an unknown force and replaced by duplicates.

T2Q Comments: Captain's log seems rather tacked-on since it has nothing to do with the opening of the episode almost immediately. Mr Tholl's look is interesting in a sort of proto-Cardassian kind of way. Poker game #3. This pig dude is kind of off-putting, something rarely accomplished by a Trek alien- not to mention he's played by the same actor as Dukhat on B5.

I see that they've called back to the captain's log to justofy it's inclusion...still, seems a bit...I don't know, not right?, to include your key clue as the opening log narration- different though, and certainly makes the Captain's log less of a "for those of you just tuning in" device.

Is a round on the captain for everyone that much of a gesture when you have both A) A system of no money and B) an unlimited free supply via replicators?

Interesting new shots of the ship approaching the pulsar, though they won't be able to reuse them due to the lighting effects. Ah, and it ends with a badass Picard moment: "In any event, we now know of your race...and we know how to imprison you. Bear that in mind. Now get off my ship.".

Very Good Episode, though Not Essential




Up next: 319: Captain's Holiday, 320: Tin Man and 321: Hollow Pursuits.

 

319: Captain's Holiday:
-Premise: Picard takes a much-needed vacation on Risa, but unwelcome events keep interfering with his rest.

-T2Q Comments: Walk-on extra a bit risky on the swimwear for an 80's show. yummy. Bit more elaborate than usual aliens.

Not sure if i commented on this earlier, but I love the last shot of the opening credits as the saucer starts to appear and stretch out to seem so huge- it's sort of an inverse-ANH-Star-Destroyer effect and the music hits the right moment. I really do wish they didn't reuse opening sequence stock footage in the actual shows though- kinda dilutes the whole thing.

"I'll give it serious thought", ha. "So, have you decided where you're going?" "yes, I have, Number One- (to lift) bridge." haha. Troi's little "yes!" moment also amusing- I really don't want to like this episode and yet if it keeps being funny I just might ave to...though it'll depend on where this alien plot goes.

Like the way Picard makes the Ferengi recoil just by closing a book. This Vash thing could be interesting somewhat afterall. Timetravelers? That's rather random and now I have to like this episode

I'm hoping they limit the wide shots of Stewart in his speedo... does this Ferengi com across as a mildly racist characture to anyone else? "you're becoming quite annoying".

"A man like you needs excitement" "Excitement? Spending the night in a damn cave.". Few people besides Stewart could get away with the cheesy delivery of "You are ouuutraagous". Vorgon twist telegraphed a bit.

For a more light-hearted episode, this one was surprisingly fun to watch and Vash is pretty hot in that 80's Linda Hamilton/Bonnie-from-Knight-Rider way. She also apparently pops up down the road in both TNG and DS9, as does the planet Risa , so I'll tentatively put this one in as Definitely Essential, though I could see someone justifiably going with just "Good Episode"- it will really depend on how essential the other two Vash episodes end up being in relation to this episode.


320: Tin Man:
-Premise: The Enterprise races against Romulans to make First Contact with a powerful entity code-named "Tin Man."

-T2Q Comments: We sure do hear about the USS Hood alot... this Tam guy sure doesn't mind reading thoughts- he'd make a great Psi Cop if he was just a teensy bit more evil.

Romulans sending two D'Deridex cruisers whose top speed is supposedly less than the Enterprise's...an amusing note that underlines just how wrong, beyond the obvious, the one book i had as a kid was that claimed they could go at Warp 13, hehe.

So Tin Man is a Leviathan like Moya- be funny if Pilot was aboard...woah- Tin Man packs quite a punch. So, ok, fine. Not a Leviathan, or at least, closer in relation to Talyn.

The way they describe Gomtuu, I'd like to speculate that they have some kind of relation to the Doomsday Machine and perhaps it may be the cause of Gomtuu's race's apparent extinction.

Is Riker so lazy he has to make Worf walk all the way over to the control panel that Riker is standing right in front of to check the sensor reading of a potentially hostile craft om approach?

I see this thing is sort of like an organic version of the Trimaxion Drone Ship from Flight of the Navigator...

I freaking love the shot of the D'Deridex and Enterprise getting smacked away, even if it leads to a reuse of the "Q flick"/"When the Bough Breaks repulsor" stock shot.

The one exterior shot of the Enterprise reminds me of an earlier comment in the show- that there are over 1,000 people aboard the D. Even accounting for families, there are clearly not that many windows seen from the exterior of the ship (especially since many would just be walkway viewports and such), and yet we've never seen (to my recollection) anyone's quarters that did not have a window. So where are all these people staying? Or are the random visitors/stowaways/passersby guest stars brought aboard the ship given better quarters than mainstay crew?

Very good episode, and the Romulan connection (and slight develo

 

Yes, that was a brilliant moment.

 

322: The Most Toys:
-Premise: A trader fakes Data's death to add him to his collection of rare and unique objects.

-T2Q Comments: The explosion might have been more of a suspenseful teaser if we hadn't seen Data being stunned. Part fanboy collector, part gypsy a bit..I don't know what, really.

Nice to see the Tasha hologram show up again- a shame it essentially represents the low-point of the series (Naked Now, not Skin of Evil).

What i said earlier about hiding Data's fate also applies to these scenes with geordi and the crew- I wish they could have structured things so Data didn't show up alive to the audience until halfway through or something.

Ending portion surprisingly good- though I would have liked to have had Data take this guy down a few notches somehow.
Structure issues aside (I'm really tempted to make a Quest Qut re- edit of this episode because I think it would vastly improve the episode), Good Episode, But Not Essential.

Also worth mentioning that Kivas Fajo was originally played by David Rappaport, but he commited suicide while the episode was being filmed, and so all the scenes involving the character had to be reshot with Saul Rubinek recast in the role on short notice.



323: Sarek:
-Premise: Violent emotions sweep the Enterprise when Ambassador Sarek comes aboard to finish a long diplomatic mission.

-T2Q Comments: Formal dress uniforms still not a good idea. As the title not-so-subtly implies, Sarek makes his first appearance in the TNG era here.

Ah, a good old random bar fight. First mind meld of the TNG era that we've seen, the second overall performed by Sarek that we've seen.

Holy crap, Stewart-as-Sarek's-emotions is genuinely disturbing and extremely revealing regarding his relationship with Spock.

It feels like a huge cop-out to not even show the Legarans or part of the negotiations after how important they've been built up to be to require such a level of sacrifice by our characters, not to mention we never see or hear about the great benefits of having this treaty at any point after this episode, so it doesn't seem like anything was gained.

Given that this is seemingly the last chronological appearance by Sarek and is essentially the character's epilogue as well as thematic setup for Spock's later appearance, I think this one can be classified as Definitely Essential, despite reservations about the lack of Legarans.



324: Ménage à Troi:
-Premise: A Ferengi DaiMon kidnaps Riker, Deanna, and Lwaxana Troi.

T2Q Comments: Ferengi permitted aboard, let the laughs commence... One Ferengi played by Neelix.

Lwaxana/Deanna room conversation starts out good, but devolves into cliche by scene's end. Wesley is accepted into academy here- I guess they finally gave into people not liking him.

"Pick some." ha. Ok, so score one for Ferengi Transporter technology, .

When they show the Enterprise arriving at whatever it is they're mapping, I swear the music is doing a weird hidden version of the TOS theme...

I wonder- is it difficult for a good actor to play a character who is a bad actor? "Set course for Betazed...warp nine." ha.

Damn, looks like Wesley is staying around a bit longer. God Wesley has a doofy walk out that door...Arriving in the uniform is a nice scene, however, I'll grant.

Wesley's promotion is semi-important in the larger scheme of things to some degree, and this is apparently referenced in an episode of DS9 later on, and since I really didn't care for the last two Mama Troi episodes, this makes for a much more palatable introduction to the character, so I'll go with Definitely Essential, though this is an episode that could pass for just "Good Episode".



325: Transfigurations:
-Premise: The Enterprise rescues a critically injured amnesiac who is undergoing a mysterious transformation.

T2Q Comments: "I have much to teach you about women!"

Of course when they use some kind of technology we the viewers haven't seen before, s

 

326: The Best of Both Worlds, Part I:
-Premise: Little more than a year after their original encounter, the Enterprise intercepts a Borg cube heading directly towards the heart of the Federation: Earth.

-T2Q Comments: Episode #326, and my birthday is 3/26, happy coincidence that the most memorable episode of the series falls on that number

Beamed to the center of town, but not center of the crater. The Shelby/Riker interplay is interesting, as is the further avoiding-promotion habit of Riker. "Will- what the hell are you still doing here?"

You can really hear the fear or desperation subtly in Picard's request to get there at warp 9. Love the music here as the cube comes on screen- "We have engaged the Borg."

I know it's merely budget limitations so they can reuse stock footage from Q Who, but it'd be really nice if the Enterprise wasn't sitting still when the Borg start probing the shields- use those maneuvers you practiced in Peak Performance!

Picard's musings on how the Borg might represent the fall of the Roman Empire moment for the Federation are note perfect. The one dead Borg just vanishes- overlooked FX?

Anyone else ever notice that Riker and SHelby take the long way around the tactical console to the command chair area when they recieve the Locutus hail? The debut of Locutus is appropriately creepy and angering:

"I am Locutus...of Borg. Resistance...is futile. Your life, as it has been...is over. From this time forward...you will service...us."

"Mr. Worf...fire."

dunt da DUNT! badadaboom. dunt da DUNT! badadaboom. dunt da DUNT! badadaboom. dunt da DUNT! badadaboommmmmmmDUNT!!!

It was at this point as a kid the notion of seasons became more apparent as "I have to wait HOW LONG to find out what happens next?!" was exclaimed loudly.

Essential essential essential essential.

Amusingly, I was rewatching this episode a few months ago and then that same night Family Guy, on their 100th episode [a 2-parter with a cliffhanger] made direct reference to the BOBW To Be Continued cliffhanger music and TBC font- talk about huge coincidences.

With that particular reference they tried to get the exact music rights from Paramount but couldn't so instead Seth MacFarlane had Ron Jones, who composed the music for BOBW as well as did music for Family Guy, create similar original music. Seth also played Rivers on Enterprise for two episodes AND is a distant cousin of Denise Crosby- both had the same ancestor aboard the Mayflower. Small world.



401: The Best of Both Worlds, Part II:
-Premise: With Captain Picard assimilated by the Borg, the enemy is able to totally vanquish a Starfleet/Klingon armada at Wolf 359, leaving Riker in command of the Enterprise and forced to go one on one with his former captain.

-T2Q Comments: It's a bit of a letdown that the huge build-up to "Mr Worf- fire."'s payoff is...nothing, though it does reveal why they wanted Picard. Reference to Nanites from Evolution, never picked that up before.

Interesting tidbit: according to Memory Alpha, Geordi's scenes here are all stock footage due to LeVar having recent surgery, which is why O'Bien fulfills the tech role with Data in this episode.

Aftermath of Wolf 359 still ominous- we'd never seen that many ships wrecked before, and the loss of ships and manpower will be felt by the Federation even as the later Dominion War begins.

Saucer separation #3. Aaannnd there we go! Manuevers! Another observation- why do they wait until AFTER they beam aboard to unholster their weapons?

Visual of the Borg passing Saturn really has a sense of vulnerability to Starfleet we really haven't seen before- only V'Ger and the Whale Probe have gotten that far, and neither had purposely hostile intentions. The Mars defensive ships- are these the first starfighters we've seen? Hard to gage the scale.

A shame we never see Shelby again (though apparently she does reach the rank of Captai

 

It certainly brought a cinematic quality to the show, and showed it could be more than just giant space faces, energy aliens & mysterious guests causing strange events aboard the ship.

It definitely made people start paying attention to the show. I don't remember watching much of TNG before Q Who, nor much of the episodes between then and BOBW. glancing ahead at episode guides, I find many of the episodes I remember most are in the last 3 seasons, following BOBW. It also kind of defined the season finale cliffhanger for the genre.

I recall an article or webpage back when the SW Video Boardgame came out, and the person reviewing showed how, after removing all the little plastic pieces from the grid/frame they ship connected to, he used the various left over grid/frame squares to make a Borg cube- so the Borg had certainly made their impact across fandoms.

Resistance is futile.

(who else prefers to say that pharse the Picard way, "Few-tile"? hearing other people use the phrase, be it characters, crew or trailer announcers, and pronounce it "few-till" always bugged me, even if thats the non-brit way of saying it....)