Amph Engage! The Star Trek: TNG General Discussion

Small observation as I browse youtube- but Ship in a Bottle's trailer was the first episode where they switched over from the classic silver metal cut-out look for the show's logo to a new blueish liquidy/gaseous metal cutout look.

Much appreciated

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TNG 618: Starship Mine
-Premise: On an evacuated USS Enterprise-D, Picard plays a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with terrorists who want to steal toxic waste from the warp core as a lethal beam sweeps the ship.

-T2Q Comments: I think this sets a record for the number of times the word "captain" has been spoken within a single minute. So this sweep/cleaning hasn't been done in the 5 years they've been active, and have apparently accumulated more of this radiation than typical ships would in that period of time...so when they were pulled in for major repairs over Earth after the Borg attack, why didn't they cleanse it of radiation then?

Not-Tuvok appears here. Combined with Not-Paris and we're a good skip towards Voyager already.

The Data/Hutch pair off is hilarious. The one chick here is played by the same actress who played Dodger on B5's GROPOS & Day of the Dead episodes- and Patricia Tallman appears again. It's a B5 Twofer episode (underlined by B5 having debuted a month prior to this episode's original airing).

So I'm guessing Hutch is dead? They haven't really touched upon him, only Geordi. This one moment here I think might illustrate a distinction between Kirk and Picard, as far as I perceive it- when the one guy chasing Picard through the crawl tunnels is killed by the energy field, Picard stops a moment in regret over the loss of life, while I can't help but think Kirk would have smirked a little in amusement at tricking the bad guy.

When Picard uses the door opening device the one time, while he attaches it and presses it to the door, the door noticably bends inwards as if made of wood or plastic (like it probably is on the set). It didn't cross my mind till we see the shot of the barrier crossing over it it- but if they're looking for a way off the ship, and the shuttlebay is unaccessible, why not just take the Captain's Yacht?

Not-Lyta is sorta shrugged off after the explosion. So Ten Forward is now the most radioactive place on the ship, ha.

Anyways, great episode, and one I've been looking forward to seeing again for awhile. It's Die Hard on a Starship, what's not to love? The whole baryon sweep thing is a great plot device too (even if not terribly subtle in name ).

Technically this one isn't "Definitely" Essential, as it doesn't connect to any other plotlines or recurring characters, but, I see no reason why anyone should miss this episode. So I'll pull rank and go "Definitely Essential".


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TNG 619: Lessons
-Premise: Picard falls in love with one of his subordinates, but he can't deal with having to order her into dangerous situations.

-T2Q Comments: Communications, library and replicator systems offline due to Stellar Cartography- "What could they possibly be doing down there?" My guess? Talking about their bookclub via a game of telephone while consuming a feast. I'm absolutely positive I'm right about this one. Damn. Missed it by that much.

The pause at the response to "Have you been playing long?" in regards the flute is a nice touch. On the upshot, at least this chick is closer in age to Picard than his usual one-shot romantic interests, and she bares more than a passing resemblance to Beverely.

I'm glad they didn't take the cliched way out and kill her off inside a single episode. This would have been a more effective episode had she been established as a crew member in prior episodes instead of coming across as the guest star love interest she is.

Oddly enough, this episode almost feels like it could have been an episode of BSG, without the doom and gloom, replaced with more optimism. Even though the flute is a followup to The Inner Light, I'll say this is a Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential- though I could see why one would call it Potentially Essential.




Up next:

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TNG 620: The Chase
-Premise: Picard tries to finish his old archaeology teacher's monumental last mission: solving a puzzle that leads many factions to the secret of life in this galaxy.

-T2Q Comments: Alas, no Charlie Sheen, Claudia Christian, Henry Rollins, or even Flea, in this one.

I think I remember this artifact. Yridian destroyer appears here- same race that was played by Papa Bauer in the Birthright DS9 crossover, and will continue to be a recurring species.

This DNA puzzle-program is a very neat idea- though I'm sure the answer to be revealed won't be related, this seems like it would have been an excellent opportunity to reconnect to The Preservers aspect of things.

Cardassians and Klingons- the plot thickens! From spoilery fragments I've accidentally come upon, I can't help but think the Klingons destroying a planet and the Cardassian's reaction to it as being typical of Klingons isn't somehow an unintentional hint of things to come.

"I will send you my mother's recipe."

Geez- and then the Romulans show up- how long till Ferengi pop in?

Hmm, they never really ID the "Ancient" by any name or term so maybe they were The Preservers.

Last conversation with the Romulan does a good job of reunderlining the cold war tensions and hopes.

Very Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential.

Trivia: Apparently, early drafts of this script DID have the Ferengi in it, as well as a Vulcan, and was toned to be more comedic in a "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" style. Moore did consider, but purposefully did not specify, that the ancient species was The Preservers- commenting that they "could" be and still be an internally consistent notion. A deleted scene had Crusher testing Mr Mott as one of the non-Federation world members aboard. First mention of another Deep Space station- DS4. First appearance of an adult female Cardassian, as well as the first episode to have Humans, Klingons, Romulans and Cardassians in a single episode. The artifact Picard is given here appears throughout the remainder of the series and is among the wreckage aboard the D in Generations.




Up next: TNG 621: Frame of Mind & TNG 622: Suspicons.

Yeah, I wish they had expanded Crusher's role in Lessons- between the guest star's vague resemblance to her, and Beverely's reaction at things in one or two scenes hints that we might see some development in that direction, but it never comes to fruition.

I think I'm looking forward to this character-centric approach- when they try top cram every single character into an episode it either seems tacked-on or meaningless because there's not enough screentime to go around with such a large cast.

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TNG 621: Frame of Mind
-Premise: Riker thinks he is losing his mind when reality keeps shifting between an alien hospital and the Enterprise, where he is rehearsing a play.

-T2Q Comments: Another hazy teaser- if it's one thing TNG never seemingly mastered... Seems kinda weird to be sending the XO of a ship on an undercover mission solo- isn't that what lower ranks and special operatives are for?

I know we're not really given context, but that seems like an odd scene to end a play on- end an act on, sure, but the whole play?

The "nooooooo!" is a bit funny. This alien design is kinda distracting- they should have just used all humans or something- why not use Tasha's planet again or something?

Level 16 of a phaser can destroy half a building? I mean, sure, we saw Data fry an entire aquaduct system but that coulda been chalked up to the conduit itself or some kind of chain reaction- that's awfully powerful for a mere standard issue hand weapon.

Ahahahahaha- here I was, about to comment that they've been handling this type of story very well, seemingly avoiding the annoying cliche of having the character revealed to be on a bed hooked up to a strange machine in the real world towards the end...when, with about 5 minutes to go, Will is revealed to be on a bed hooked up to a strange machine in the real world.

"Capatin's Log, Stardate 46678.1. Commander Riker has returned safely from his mission to Talonis IV. Doctor Crusher has hit the reset button."

They should have given us a few more moments of Riker taking down the set, still, despite the last minute cliche, this was a "Good Episode". It's always hard doing an episode where the character wonders if their crazy and if the world of the show is a delussion when the audience knows that (shy a massive, radical revelation about the entire nature of the series) the character's world is definitely real. This does a good job of handling that balancing act, though.


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TNG 622: Suspicions
-Premise: Dr. Crusher violates Starfleet regulations and medical ethics when she investigates the death of a Ferengi scientist.

-T2Q Comments: I remember parts of this episode- don't remember the Ferengi scientist but I remember the shuttle flying into the corona and the metaphasic shielding and the concluding "I don't play tennis" scene. The meta-phasic shielding comes into play in Descent, so even though this is an average-to-good episode, I'll go with "Potentially Essential". This is also Guinan's final appearance on the show




Up next: TNG 623: Rightful Heir & TNG 624: Second Chances.

Noted. Though I'll have to wait to watch Descent to confirm my suspicion (no pun intended), I recall digging the connection as a kid, but that could just be the hazy memory of this episode overlapping with something else.

You are right that it seems a bit sudden and insignificant an event to require her resignation, though. On the flipside, it's nice to see people in Starfleet actually are occasionally reprimanded for violating orders, especially "hero" characters (versus guest star one-shots).

Outside of Future Imperfect, I can't think of amother. The most prominent one I recall would be the one Geordi episode that I was supremely dissapointing they didn't follow-up on/hit the reset button on.

Future Imperfect is the Riker-Captain one. I had forgotten about the sleep deprivation one.

Speaking of messing with Riker's head...624 adds to the pattern.



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TNG 623: Rightful Heir
-Premise: At the Klingon monastery on Boreth, Worf sees a very real vision of Kahless the Unforgettable.

-T2Q Comments: "Worf- what the hell are you doing?" Going cross-eyed, apparently. Following up Birthright's events here. Swordfight with bat'lha is better than you'd think the weapon capable of. The guy who plays Kahless is really good, appropriately captivating.

Not much to say about this episode- it's quite excellent, and tackles subject matter not usually addressed by Trek in so mature and developed a fashion. Also evolves the Klingon plotline further. Definitely Essential.

Trivia: Kahless originally appeared in TOS: The Savage Curtain (though as a barbaric murderer, the discrepancy apparently explained as that manifestation was based on Kirk's perceptions). Final appearance of Gowron on TNG. Deleted dialogue involved a reference to the Duras sisters.



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TNG 624: Second Chances
-Premise: The Enterprise finds a second Will Riker on a planet that he helped evacuate eight years ago.

-T2Q Comments: Ah, I remember this one too- definitely into the groove of what i saw back in the day. Very good overlay/splitscreen work in the one shot. This does bring up the old question of just what happens to you during transport- do you maintaina single consciousness, or does yours end and another exactly like you up to the milisecond started on the other? I know we see Barclay's POV in the one episode, but that might not be conclusive, especially here where you can have two identical people come out of one.

Troi here talks about how things never went back to the way they used to be between her and Riker- a shame they went against that in Insurrection. The exercise dialogue between Beverely and Deanna is amusing. Ok, so maybe this episode shifts at least Deanna towards her and Riker, but then the eventual Worf thing would negate that and even if it didn't, it was Thomas, not Will.

Data's discussion on doubles is curious, given that he does more or less have one in Lore. I'm glad they didn't take the obvious route of killing "Thomas" off. Good episode, and, since Thomas Riker shows up down the road, Definitely Essential.

Trivia: First Trek episode directed by LeVar Burton. The first female africian-american astronaut makes a cameo in this episode. As of this episode, each of the five regular male actors have worn two different colored uniforms. This episode reveals Riker's middle name for the first time (we only knew "T" thus far)...thankfully it's not Tiberius. Most interestingly, during the development of this episode, the production team considered killing off Will Riker and have Thomas Riker join the Enterprise crew as a replacement for Data at operations while Data would be promoted to first officer. That would have been the second time they almost changed the crew dynamic following the Riker-as-Captain possibility of Best of Both Worlds.





Up next: TNG 625: Timescape.

The XO role though is something they tried to have from the very start in The Cage- but Mrs. Roddenberry as Number One was nixed by the network. So it makes sense that Gene would try to re-establish that role when he got the chance to do things his way (for better or for worse) with early TNG.

I actually think the first officer role is something that was missing from TOS- as I mentioned long ago in my comment on The Cage, it avoids the silliness of having the entire command staff (plus Ensign Jimmy ) go down on every away mission.

Well, see I can understand that, for dramatic reasons, we're mostly only seeing the most important away missions/away missions requiring command staff presence. Situations where having your best scientist, engineer or doctor on hand would make sense. But they shouldn't be emptying the bridge in the process- at least one high-ranking officer, CO or XO, should remain.

I mean, in TOS, when Kirk and Spock are on every away mission, whose running the ship? Sometimes we see Scotty, but he could be needed in engineering at a moment's notice. Sulu and Chekov were low in rank at the time, etc.