Amph Engage! The Star Trek: TNG General Discussion

304: Who Watches The Watchers:
-Premise: The Enterprise must undo the damage when a group of primitives observes a Federation observation team and conclude that the Starfleet officers are gods.

-T2Q Comments: Holographic duck blind observation post- a concept later revisited in Insurrection. Rather cold of Picard with the "why didn't you let him die?" comment. Interesting that they seemingly attribute the previously seen memory erasure to Pulaski- perhaps the show would rather blame her than acknowledge the darker questions it raises- this is also apparently the last mention of Pulaski in the franchise.

Suggesting Picard play into the Overseer role and fan the religious beliefs is a terrible idea, I'm glad Picard rejected it- but is this guy supposed to be some kind of expert? In a worst case scenario, they could provide rational explanations to these people about the guy's experiences- popping up outta thin air might violate the Prime Directive, but it would do less damage than allowing a religion to generate and spread...oh, and it looks like he's going to do something just like that, ha.

The drama of the arrow wound is brushed under the rug pretty quickly as part of a generally quick wrap up, but good episode overall- especially in terms of dealing with a prime directive situation. not essential, though.




305: The Bonding:
-Premise: Worf decides to adopt the child of a slain subordinate, but the child is having trouble accepting his mother's death, especially when she mysteriously reappears.

-T2Q Comments: Quite a few "they destroyed themselves" cultures encountered over the course of this series. If a command crew member- a telepathic one at that- exclaims for an emergency beamup, you think they'd react quicker...

I like that Picard does have qualms about having families/children on a starship. "I'm all alone now." "On the starship Enterprise, no one is alone. No one." I like that line.

...and the undead mom turns a blatant character-development episode (as per the title) into something probably bad. Having trouble keeping transporter offline due to the energy alien- why not just pull a few plugs or circuit boards somewhere? Don't give it something functional to power.

Not a terrible episode, and at least fairly honest in terms of emotional states, but kinda dull overall. Though it is noteworthy for introducing Ronald D. Moore to the show. Ok, But Not Essential




306: Booby Trap:
-Premise: While investigating a 1,000-year-old derelict ship, the Enterprise gets caught in the same booby trap that doomed the vessel a millennium ago.

T2Q Comments: Picard's enthusiasm here is great- a real shame the episode title gives things away right off the bat- they should have kept it more ambiguous.

Some nice FX shots gives a sense of scale. Ship in the bottle frustration amusing- and apparently O'Brien's past hobby of it is referenced in the last episode of the series. Also it seems Guinan's anecdote of a bald man once being kind to her is played out by Picard via time travel in Season 6.

Interesting little trap here, and very neat to see the D under construction. The escape from the trap is surprisingly tense, not to mention that's how you "manually" pilot the ship (as opposed to a microsoft flightstick on a cardboard podium rising out of the floor- damn you Insurrection!). Shame they couldn't destroy the trap without destroying the ship.

Good Geordi episode- the real Brahms shows up later too, if I'm not mistaken, so some good connections here and given the quality of the episode, I'm going to say it's Definitely Essential.


Up next: 307: The Enemy, 308: The Price and 309: The Vengeance Factor.

 

[image=http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/en/images/c/c3/Leah_Brahms_2367.jpg]
Hawtter!

 

Don't forget Famke "original spots" Jennsen EDIT:

[image=http://www.annotatedmst.com/episodes/skydivers/picard.jpg]
Make it so!

 

[image=http://www.annotatedmst.com/episodes/skydivers/picard.jpg]
"And all their clothes fall off. Instantly. And I've seen everything."

 

Other TNG Hotties (besides K'Ehleyr & Dr. Brahms) that come to mind...

[image=http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/en/images/4/45/Ishara_Yar.jpg]
Beth Toussaint as Ishara Yar

[image=http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/en/images/8/89/Lanel.jpg]
Bebe Neuwirth as Nurse Lanel

[image=http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/en/images/2/21/Kamala.jpg]
Famke Janssen as Kamala

[image=http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/en/images/8/8a/Lefler.jpg]
Ashley Judd as Ensign Lefler

[image=http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/en/images/e/e2/SonyaGomez.jpg]
Lycia Naff as Ensign Gomez

[image=http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/memoryalpha/en/images/d/df/Sito_jaxa.jpg]
Shannon Fill as Ensign Sito

That's not to mention "future hotties" Nikki Cox & Kirsten Dunst

 

See, Famke Jameson's appearance on TNG is a big reason why watching the X - Men movies makes me uncomfortable. It's hard for me on occassion to seperate the father/daughter relationship Professor X and Jean are suppose to have in the X - Men Movies with the fact that Famke's character was Picard's lover on TNG.

 

I'd forgotten about Brenna & Vash

 

Not every Wiki can be Wookieepedia

 

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...)