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March 28, 2024, 06:05:28 PM

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Star Trek: The Next Generation Rewatch (oh god no)

Started by Lemming, May 11, 2021, 02:05:41 PM

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Lemming

Bev grew up on the moon, right? Different culture.

mothman

I think I still prefer the show having an episode that acknowledges the aftereffects of trauma, rather than like they did in VOY where
Spoiler alert
three of the crew deliberately let themselves get assimilated, as part of a plan to steal tech from the Borg, but jink it di they retain their individuality, and are even perfectly fine and sound in mind and body by the end of the episode
[close]
...

Lemming

#1082
S04E03 - Brothers

Data finds himself in the home of his creator, and so does Lore.

- Some kid pranked his bro into thinking he'd killed him, which, to be fair, is well fucking funny. His bro then ran off and ate poisonous fruit. This is, apparently, the prankster's fault, and not the fault of Enterprise staff and security for letting kids wander around near the DEATH FRUIT trees while on holiday. Riker (who has been assigned to give him The Talk) isn't unreasonable and takes it very easy on him, but I'm still not having it. This isn't the kid's fault, it's the fault of the crew/security for incredibly lax security measures and improper safeguarding. Yes, I was actually angry about this while watching it.

- Data glitches out and starts flying the ship at Warp 9+ in a new direction. Incredibly, this has coincided with Geordi fucking about with the engine, which means the ship is in deep trouble. Because there's no way to stun or restrain Data due to his MEGASTRENGTH, everyone has to run away like a bunch of fools and hide in Engineering.

- Data has locked all consoles and blocked access to the bridge. It's time for Riker to Die Hard his way through the Jeffries Tubes! It's also time for SAUCER SEP.

- The kid who ate the DOOM FRUIT will perish if the crew can't re-hijack the Enterprise and fly him to a starbase medical facility, because the Enterprise sickbay is too shit to handle fruit poisoning.

- 1-7-3-4-6-7-3-2-1-4-7-6-Charlie-3-2-7-8-9-7-7-7-6-4-3-Tango-7-3-2-Victor-8-3-1-1-7-8-8-8-7-3-2-4-7-6-7-8-9-7-6-4. Password strength: Weak, doesn't include a special symbol

- Data outfoxes absolutely everyone with cunning forcefields, and beams away. O'Brien narrowly stops Riker from blowing up the ship with ricocheted phaser fire.

- Data regains consciousness and finds out he's been lured to the home of Noonian Soong, his creator. Meanwhile, Picard can't regain control of the ship because of Data's new password. Worf, Picard and Riker look shocked when the system asks for a security code. Are you telling me Picard didn't already have one of his own in place? Is it any wonder the ship starts flying at Warp 9 in the wrong direction and kids end up near-death every week?

- Soong is disappointed that Data joined Starfleet rather than becoming a cyberneticist. Data's too modest to mention the time he created a Soong type android of his own. Soon, Lore arrives out of nowhere! Soong tells Lore and Data that he'll die soon.

- I AM NOT LESS PERFECT THAN LORE

- Briefing where everyone bemoans the fact that they're so bad at being astronaut adventurers. Riker earns his (metaphorical) pay for the week by figuring out a way to beam down and retrieve Data.

- Soong has developed the EMOTION CHIP which will give Data emotions. Lore encourages him to get it installed, on the basis that it'll lead them to understand each other better. Lore switches places with Data before the operation, and gets the emotion chip for himself. It sends him apeshit right off the bat and he ragdolls Soong into a glass thingy.

- Riker beams down and rushes to the rescue. Soong allows Data to access the code that will regain control of the Enterprise.

- HELL FRUIT kid is saved, and reconciles with his brother.

It's alright. It's a good vehicle for Brent Spiner, who plays Data, Soong and Lore all at once. It's kind of a meandering waste of time though (that comes across as far too harsh because the episode is enjoyable, but I can't immediately think of a more approrpiate way to phrase it) - Data is denied the emotion chip, and there's not really any plot to speak of. Soong dies (or will die soon) but it hardly matters because we already thought he was dead (and Riker lets him get away with nearly killing a kid, although it was totally inadvertent). Lore was crazy before, and he's still crazy now.

It doesn't really need to be more consequential or eventful than it is, though. The first half is the usual weekly big laugh at the crew's expense for getting absolutely wiped the fuck out by one lone intruder, while the second half is mostly just Data, Soong and Lore talking. Which is fine.

Data hijacking the whole starship feels like it should be a bigger deal than it is. It's not his fault, of course, and it would be unfair and possibly illegal to demote or punish him for it. But at the same time, he just showed how easily he can take over the entire ship. Luckily, Soong's program seems to strictly forbid any real violence (though, again, nearly killed a kid), but what if Data gets hit with dodgier malware in the future? I suppose the track record shows this can happen to anyone, though - if anything, Data's proven to be less likely than humanoid crewmembers to get suddenly possessed and turn ultraviolent.

5/10


Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse

QuoteBecause there's no way to stun or restrain Data due to his MEGASTRENGTH, everyone has to run away like a bunch of fools and hide in Engineering.

They left the bridge because the life support was turned off, jesus christ.

Blumf

Was funny seeing Worf shit his pants when the shield starts closing in on him. Really wish they worked bit line into something a little more honourable.

Mr Trumpet

Data's capabilities seem to vary an awful lot depending on the needs of the episode. In this one he's more than a match for the rest of the crew combined, in others he seems comparatively feeble.

mothman

My problem always was that Soong couldn't tell the difference between Data and Lore. Especially with access to their internal systems. "That's funny, after making Lore I'm sure I decided not to use that type of component when assembling Data's neural architecture..?"

Bad Ambassador

Quote from: Lemming on September 10, 2021, 02:49:01 AM
what if Data gets hit with dodgier malware in the future?

Data being infected with ransomware would be an interesting idea.

He'd probably just try selling knob tablets to the rest of the crew, though.

daf

076 | "Brothers"



Now Soong is - How?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Highlights :
• Backfiring Potts Prank
• Unstable Lying Lore
• Bickering Bro-bots
• Crusher's Chestnut Corner
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Other Bits :
• Blue Alert #1 : bog paper low on Deck 6
• "173467321476–Charlie–32789777643–Tango–732–Victor–73117888732476789764376–LOCK" *
• Emotion Chip
• That's obviously not Data, you flipping idiot!!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Score :

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
* [I actually thought this was Picard's real password for a minute . . . though, as his Enterprise auto-destruct code was something uncrackable like 'Picard 1-1A' - probably not!]

Blumf

Quote from: Bad Ambassador on September 10, 2021, 01:21:19 PM
Data being infected with ransomware would be an interesting idea.

He'd probably just try selling knob tablets to the rest of the crew, though.

He'd be able to use contractions if half his positronic net wasn't taken up mining bitcoins.

Lemming

Quote from: Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse on September 10, 2021, 08:44:19 AM
They left the bridge because the life support was turned off, jesus christ.

I'll turn off your life support in a minute. Why couldn't the crew stun Data, walk over to the console, and re-enable life support? Because they can't stun or restrain him due to his MEGASTRENGTH, which Riker directly brings up as a plot point later when he suggests using the computer to try and find out the exact phaser frequency needed to KO Data.

Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse

Quote from: Lemming on September 10, 2021, 04:29:47 PM
I'll turn off your life support in a minute. Why couldn't the crew stun Data, walk over to the console, and re-enable life support? Because they can't stun or restrain him due to his MEGASTRENGTH, which Riker directly brings up as a plot point later when he suggests using the computer to try and find out the exact phaser frequency needed to KO Data.
They can do that in thirty seconds can they? They're not even sure Data's doing it (which is why Riker tells Geordi to do a full diagnostic sweep in case it's some bizarre failure).

I know you're really invested in Star Trek being stupid bullshit riddled with plotholes but for fuck's sake.

Lemming

They know Data's doing it because they ask him what's up and he fails to respond and starts going apeshit with his console.

What makes you think it's supposed to be an example of "stupid bullshit" or a "plothole", though? It's a plot point - they literally can't restrain or stun him, which Riker Picard brings up later.

Lemming

S04E04 - Suddenly Human

The Enterprise discovers a human who was taken by Talarians as a child.

- New race - the TALARIANS, who routinely fuck you up by making a false distress call and then attacking you. Aboard a ship of injured Talarian teenagers, the crew finds one human.

- The human is called Jono. He refuses to speak and starts making stupid noises until Picard shows up, and then he demands to be returned home to Talarian space. Bev has done scans on him, and believes that Jono has been physically abused.

-
QuoteJONO: Why are you here, Klingon, with them? Did they capture you too?
WORF: They are not my captors. They are my comrades.
JONO: Why do you take orders from a female?
WORF: Doctor Crusher. She is my superior officer.
JONO: Among my people, a female can never outrank a man.
WORF: You are human, and among humans, females can achieve anything the males can.
I really like Worf's line here, for the obvious reason that it's just a blunt anti-sexism statement in the vein of the outright anti-racism statements often made in TOS, but also because if you think about it for a minute, it implies that there are sentient species where sexual dimorphism is far more pronounced than in humans. Race of sentient spiders out there maybe, where the women are huge with higher IQs and the men are small and get eaten.

- Data's done a NET SCAN and discovered that Jono's parents were killed when Talarians massacred a human colony. He has a living grandmother, who is a Starfleet admiral. Troi says that Jono's so fucked in the head from living in a patriarchal society that he can't form relationships with women, so his role model must be male. Picard is chosen, much to his chagrin.

- The nightmare increases tenfold when Jono insists on moving into Picard's quarters. Picard tells Jono that he not a Talarian, to which Jono accuses him of lying.

- Picard begs Troi to make someone else take charge of Jono. She makes him admit he had no friends at school. Sad! Troi tells him to get his act together and just live with it, which is fair considering he's only going to have to care for Jono for one day.

- Picard shows Jono the pics of him as a baby. Jono reveals that Endar has told him that he wasn't kidnapped, but rather saved. HMMMMM. Jono has a look at the pictures and gets flashbacks of the colony being attacked, like in Airplane!.

- Endar arrives and Picard asks why a human war orphan was taken and held by him for so many years. Endar says Jono is his son, which calls for an EMERGENCY READY ROOM MEETUP.
QuoteENDAR: After the battle, I found this squalling child huddled by the body of a young woman, his mother presumably. There was almost no one left alive on Galen Four. Was I to leave him screaming by his mother's body?
PICARD: You should have notified the Federation authorities. To conceal him was a clear violation of our agreement.
ENDAR: I took him in accordance with my peoples' traditions.
PICARD: What tradition is it that empowered you to capture a helpless child?
ENDAR: I lost my son at the hands of humans during the conflict over Castal One. Talarian custom allows me to claim the son of a slain enemy.
Hmm. Picard also asks why Jono has so many injuries, and Endar says it's just typical childhood larks. HMMMMMM

- Picard decides not to return Jono to Endar. Endar responds that the Enterprise will be forbidden from leaving until Jono is returned, and asks to see him. Bev says this is a bad idea. Troi says Jono's repressed memories are coming back. Picard reckons that a meeting will probably be fine as long as Troi's there.

- Endar asks Jono if he wants to stay on the Enterprise, and is shocked when he hesitates to answer and pressures him for an answer, and Jono decides on leaving. I really like this scene, because Endar's tricky to read - this could be the exact kind of thing Bev was talking about, with Endar intimidating Jono into agreeing to leave, but it could also be totally not that. The episode never quite clarifies whether or not Bev's suspicions were justified, which is really cool.

- Jono gets a message from Admiral Grandma saying she's excited to see him. He gets stressed and Picard takes him to the holodeck for some ridiculously-outfitted HOLO-RAQUETBALL. It's all fun and games until Jono is dazed by another flashback to the massacre, finally remembers his mother, and falls to the ground screaming.

- Jono finally recognises that he's a human, and remembers the past. Picard, stupidly, tells him that emotions are unique to being human. He enjoys his new emotional range by befriending Wesley. Everything's going great! Jono then attempts to murder Picard in his sleep by stabbing him in the chest.

- Talarian warships have assembled to fuck shit up. Endar tells Riker that he'll attack if Jono isn't returned immediately. Riker replies that Jono is under arrest and can't be returned. IT'S WAR

- Jono reveals that he stabbed Picard in the hopes that he would be put to death as a result. Suicide by Picard-Stabbing. Picard informs Jono that there's actually no death penalty, so he won't be killed. Jono admits his motive was that he was frightened by his un-repressed memories and his growing attachment to Picard, and felt that he'd betrayed his father, and so his only remaining option was to kill himself.

- Picard comes prancing on to the bridge just in time and tells Endar that Jono will now be returned to him:
QuotePICARD: There was a crime committed on board this ship, but it was not Jono's. It was mine. When we found Jono, it seemed so clear what had to be done. We knew that if only we could persuade him to make the decision to stay, then you would most likely let him. So with the best of intentions, we tried to convince him, and in so doing, we thoroughly failed to listen to his feelings, to his needs. That was the crime, and it has taken a huge toll on a strong and very noble young man. And it must be rectified. He will return home. To the only home he's ever known. And to the father that he loves. To you, Endar.

It'll probably come as no surprise to hear that Picard's actions at the end drive me up the fucking wall. People might give me shit for this but for real, it wound me up to no end. The conflict the episode sets up is very interesting - it is, of course, all down to Jono's choice, and he's got the final choice on what to do. The problem is that - as far as I can see - Jono is never deprived of this decision. He says in the meeting with Endar that he chooses to return, and Endar indicates that this will happens shortly. Yes, the protagonists are very eager to get him to agree to come with them instead (and throw in some of their usual future-racism about how "well he's human so he MUST think this way" stuff), but they never appear to express any intention to kidnap him, as far as I can tell. There seems to be an off-screen agreement that there'll be a brief decision-making period before Jono must be returned - Endar says in the meeting that the humans will have to make "a choice", and when he arrives at the end, he asks if Picard has made his decision yet, so apparently it was agreed that Jono would hang out on the Enterprise for a little bit.

So what happens is the crew reveal the truth to Jono, and that's essentially all they do. In one line, we learn that Jono has almost definitely been lied to about the nature of his childhood - Endar claims to have "saved" him during the attack on the colony, although his retelling of it to Picard sounds more like Endar committed a massacre. Jono has seemingly been made to repress the memories of his family and true origins, because he breaks down in tears as his memories begin to surface. He enjoys learning more about humanity until he thinks of his father - who Bev suspects may be abusing him mentally and physically, and who he seems to have been encouraged to think of as an absolute authority figure. As a result, he tries to kill himself. He feels such guilt over laughing and making new friends that he decides to kill himself. Yeah, doesn't seem like he's been abused to me, everything looks good here.

Picard's response to all this is to send Jono back, with an apology for ever daring to tell him the truth in the first place, followed by a bit of navel-gazing self-flagellation. What the fuck?

The episode even acknowledges all the obvious points here - Jono is an undeclared prisoner of war and Endar broke the law/treaty by failing to contact the Federation to return him, Bev believes he has Stockholm Syndrome, Endar lied to him about killing his parents and retrieving him (and, seemingly, forbade all knowledge of his parents to him, given how shocked Jono is to learn and remember the truth), and either actively made him repress his true memories, or didn't bother to help him deal with them. It's an out-and-out war crime, surely? I appreciate that the situation is not as simple as "well he's 'ours' so we'll make him come with us now, bye", and that Jono must have the final say and if he chooses to leave then there's nothing that can really be done about it,  but come the fuck on. The ending. "We're so sorry for daring to challenge your kidnapping of war orphans! It won't happen again! We're sorry we stressed him out by giving him evidence against the lies you told him, we're turning him over right now so he can forget all about the time you murdered his parents. We're the real bad guys here!"

It's also never presented as a possibility that Jono might be able to live as part of both cultures if he decides, and they never give him the option. It's either come with us to boring vineyard Earth FOREVER or go off to the violent patriarchal possibly-childbeaters FOREVER. No option to move to Earth but remain in contact with Endar, no option to go with Endar but still call his grandmama and learn more about his past. One or the other. Sorry, child, that's just how it works. Also, why does Jono even try to kill himself? He seemingly always had the option to leave - Troi says that they must convince him to come with them willingly, so I assume he can refuse, and he knows Endar won't leave without him - but he chose to try and kill himself instead. He says this is because he couldn't deal with the reality of his past and the experience of being split between two wildly different cultures, but he's subsequently happy to leave at the end regardless. He could have done that without committing near-murder.

Jono choosing to return is actually the more dramatically effective ending, I reckon, but not like this.

The episode presents a complicated situation, and then comes up with one of the worst solutions I've ever seen. Which makes it hard to rate - the plot idea is great, but the execution falters a bit and the ending is just a shocker IMO. But if the ending pissed me off as severely as it did, then the episode must have done a good job of making me engage with the material, so a very shaky 7/10. I can deal with Picard pissing me off and saying/doing things I disagree with, it happens often enough.



Oh, also, stating the obvious: Jono's history is strikingly similar to Worf's, and they share the experience of perceiving themselves as trapped between two cultures. They're almost mirror-images of each other. Worf would therefore have been the ideal mentor for him, not really sure why the writers went with Picard.

Blumf

Quote from: Lemming on September 11, 2021, 02:02:54 AM
S04E04 - Suddenly Human

...

Oh, also, stating the obvious: Jono's history is strikingly similar to Worf's, and they share the experience of perceiving themselves as trapped between two cultures. They're almost mirror-images of each other. Worf would therefore have been the ideal mentor for him, not really sure why the writers went with Picard.

Yeah, you might think it was to allow Stewart to slap his acting chops about, but there's not really much for him to do. Dorn, on the other hand, would have had a lot more to work with.

Could have been a great episode, but there's no way they could have fitted it into 45mins, and instead have to have a rushed status-quo tie-up at the end.

MojoJojo

I've not watched it but the premise sounds similar to the DS9 episode with the cardassian raised on bajor...

I looked it up and it has the terrible name Cardassian. Good episode, and I seem to remember it has a similar problematic quick wrap up, but with Sisko going the other way to Picard.

Mr Trumpet

Talarians were shit enemies weren't they? Feel like a dry run for the Cardassians, introduced a few episodes later.

Wonderful Butternut

I'm inclined to agree about the ending. The writers were trying to be a bit too clever with it or something. The idea I think is to show that Picard is enlightened and wise, and lays aside any possible bias that Jono being with humans is automatically better than being with the Federation's former enemy. And accepts that their society is just different and it's normal for Talarian teenage boys to pick up injuries learning how to soldier and that Jono hasn't been abused, and that murdering warlord daddy Endar is looking out for his best interests within the terms of Talarian culture.

But at the end of the day, Jono is only with the Talarians in the first place because of a war crime. And it's not clear how old he is. Is he 18? Or is he 16 and still a minor? Is he really capable of making the correct decision for his own welfare?

He's been on the Enterprise a few days, having just had some major shit about his past dropped on him. It seems very rushed under those circumstances for Picard and Picard alone to decide that he's better off with the Talarians and that's that. It's nearly TOSish in terms of the amount of power put in a starship captain. And having Jono stab Picard to 'trigger' this decision is a bit contrived. How do we even know that everything will be fine when he goes back? Maybe he'll be constantly conflicted about whether he should be obedient to Endar from now on, knowing Endar killed his parents. Maybe he'll end up stabbing Endar in a few weeks.

Compare that to the Cardassian child with Barjoan parents plot on DS9. There was an actual legal hearing on where he should go. Okay, he's younger than Jono, but if Jono is not an adult, the principle should be the same.

daf

077 | "Suddenly Human"



Jono and the Wail

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Highlights :
• Cringing Counselor Picard
• Horrible Talarian Synth-Rock
• The Blue Banana-Split Sketch
• The Picard Stabbing Sketch
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Other Bits :
• Talarian Teen Tantrum
• Anti-alien gloves
• Space Squash : Tense Racket
• 3D Chess #5 : Data vs. Data
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Score :

mothman

What she's doing to him, it doesn't look like he's enjoying it.

Yes, I went there. Space pegging!

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: mothman on September 11, 2021, 06:17:56 PM
What she's doing to him, it doesn't look like he's enjoying it.

Yes, I went there. Space pegging!
I don't know, maybe he is, always hard to gauge these things. Certainly she is, but the expression on the bod on the right does suggest "you know, this isn't as much fun as I thought it would be".

Blumf

Here's a thought; in that rather ho-hum Trek film Star Trek: Nemesis, maybe instead of all that Romulan bollocks with clone evil Picard, they should have brought back this Jono fella, all grown up and even more emotionally messed up. Basically the same story, but with the Talarians.

kalowski

I must have seen this but have utterly no recollection of any of it.

Lemming

S04E05 - Remember Me

The crew gradually begin to vanish, and Bev is the only person who can remember any of them.

- Bev's BFF, DALEN QUAICE, is here, and he looks like an old West lawman. Dalen tells Bev that the worst part about being old is all the people you know dying off one by one, leaving you gradually more and more alone. I'm sure this conversation won't become shockingly relevant over the course of the next 40 minutes.

- Wes is having good fun fucking about with the warp engines for an experiment. He's literally allowed to do this. Geordi rushes him to finish, and something Well Fucking Weird happens, and Bev seems to have left the room suddenly. By the way, apparently this is based on Kosinski's work, the guy from "Where No One Has Gone Before".

- Bev goes to check on DALEN QUAICE but finds that his room is empty. Worf says he was never told about a passenger coming aboard, and the computer says that there is nobody by the name of DALEN QUAICE aboard the ship.

- It's impossible not to compare this what that one Twilight Zone episode where (based on rather vague memory) three astronauts come back from Earth, and one of them insists there was a fourth. The other two assure him there were only ever three. Then he disappears, and only one of the remaining two remembers him. Freaked the absolute fuck out of me as a kid. This episode isn't quite as effective as that, but it's not far off at times.

- The situation is reported to Picard, who asks Bev why he wasn't informed about Quaice's arrival. She says that he was informed. They check the starbase's records and discover no record of Quaice, and no service record of anyone by that name in Shitfleet. O'Brien, who welcomed Quaice aboard earlier, claims to have no memory of beaming him aboard.

- Bev and Riker reckon that O'Brien's been NOBBLED BY ALIENS and had his memory wiped, so he's made to go to sickbay to get a scanner up his arse. Bev tries to contact her medical staff, but discovers that some of them are now missing too. Including Selar, remember her?

- Wes thinks that Quaice has been pulled into a WARP BUBBLE as a result of his ridiculous warp experiment. The theory becomes dodgy when it fails to explain the disappearance of the medical staff, or the apparent wiping of everyone but Bev's memories. She goes back to sickbay to discover that she's now the only doctor, and has no staff at all. [joke about NHS funding here]

- Bev reports this and everyone looks at her like she's dumb, because she apparently never had any medical staff. She asks how she can be the only medical officer on a ship with over 1000 crew, and Data reminds her that the ship's crew is actually 230. Gates McFadden does a very Shatner-esque "...what?"

- Picard calls Bev for a briefing because she might be going mental. WHAT'S HAPPENED TO YOUR MIIIIND, DOCTOR. She insists that the crew and ship are in serious danger, and Picard agrees to turn the Enterprise around and go back to the starbase.

- In sickbay, Bev gets dragged towards a LIGHT VORTEX, which shows up out of fucking nowhere and tries to suck her in. She parkours away from it. She reports it and Geordi scans sickbay to see if any vortex appeared, but there's no proof that it ever occurred. Everyone looks at Bev like she's even more of a dumbass than ever. She asks how many people are meant to be on board the ship, and Data says 114. She suggests that Worf should program sensors to track all crew, but there is nobody called Worf aboard, reducing the ship's HONOUR rating by 3000%.

- Bev rushes to see if Wesley still exists, and is distraught to discover that he does. Wes suggests the The Traveller could help, but it's impossible to reach him right now because of Yewtree. They leave together to try and contact him, and Wesley vanishes suddenly as they turn a corner.

- On the bridge, Bev discovers nobody but Picard. He can't remember anyone. I love how Troi's defining personality trait, as chosen by Bev, is "loves chocolate". Bev asks how the fuck a starship this big can be crewed by two people.
QuoteCRUSHER: It's all perfectly logical to you, isn't it? The two of us roaming about the galaxy in the flagship of the Federation. No crew at all.
PICARD: We've never needed a crew before.
This line always made me lose my shit laughing for some reason.

- Picard vanishes. The LIGHT VORTEX opens again and drags Bev towards it, but she survives by grabbing onto Data's chair and putting her face right where his ass goes. We, THE VIEWERS, discover that she's actually the one trapped in the warp bubble, and the LIGHT VORTEX is a path back to reality being created by Wesley and Geordi.

- Riker's greatest moment, which I've clipped because it needs to be seen. I may be Riker's all-time biggest detractor, but this is one of the best-delivered lines in TNG.

- The Traveller says that when Bev was pulled into the warp bubble by her dipshit son's stupid experiment, a world was created based on her own thoughts at the time. This is all happening because Quaice is a depressing turd who talked about people disappearing. The Traveller sits too close to Wesley and tells him that he must use The Power Inside Himself to save his mother.

- Back in the BEV BUBBLE, Bev gets pissed off and starts having a go at the computer.
QuoteBEV: What is the primary mission of the starship Enterprise?
COMPUTER: To explore the galaxy.
BEV: Do I have the necessary skills to complete that mission alone?
COMPUTER: Negative.
BEV: Then why am I the only crew member?
COMPUTER: ...that information is not available.
BEV: Ha, got you there.
She decides to try and fly to Tau Alpha C, but that planet doesn't exist, because now the universe itself is disappearing.

- The Traveller is touching Wesley in Engineering. Wes must "open himself". It gets worse: "now, close your eyes". He tries to make Wes ascend to godhood, but he can't do it yet.

- Back in BevVerse, the outside of the ship looks weird, no stars, all misty.
QuoteBEV: If there's nothing wrong with me... maybe there's something wrong with the universe.
Tell me about it.

-
QuoteBEV: Here's a question you shouldn't be able to answer. What is the nature of the universe?
COMPUTER: The universe is a spheroid region 705 metres in diameter.
Haha, this is one of the lines that sticks in my memory. Fucking terrifying.

- Bev realises that the "universe" is the warp bubble, and that she's the one trapped. The ship is now being eaten by the collapsing bubble, and the front of the ship is gone. Bev will be DISINTEGRATED INTO OBLIVION in like three minutes. Bev, being a fucking genius, pieces the whole thing together on her own, while the entire rest of the crew needed the Traveller.

- Bev asks the computer how to escape a warp bubble. But this universe is created from her thoughts, right? So surely the computer only knows what she knows? Anyway, she realises she has to jump into the LIGHT VORTEX next time rather than run from it. She reckons it'll be in Engineering, although I don't know why, since it appeared in sickbay and on the bridge previously?

- Wesley phases in and out of existence as he ascends to TRAVELLERHOOD. Bev manages to outrun the collapsing bubble and jumps really really slowly into the vortex, which sends her back to reality.

Yeah that was Proper Mint, as the kids say (or at least, as the kids said circa 2007). A lot of Twilight-Zone-esque horror and dread in the first three quarters or so, and then a lot of tension in the final act. There's also a lot of humour in the dialogue, which Gates McFadden does really well.

The addition of the Traveller isn't hugely necessary, and it doesn't even really affect the plot - Bev realised independently that she'd need to jump into the vortex the next time it appeared, and Geordi and Wes were already able to create vortexes, so what was the point of the Traveller, other than creating a vortex that's apparently slightly more stable than the previous ones and lasts a few seconds more?

I can't quite make sense of the nature of the warp bubble - was it created entirely from her mind, in which case, how did the computer continue to know things that Bev herself presumably wouldn't? Doesn't really matter, given that the mechanics surrounding the warp bubble are suitably mysterious anyway. 8/10


mothman

A memorably creepy episode. And not just because it's got Jimmy Traviller in it. Two interesting point from the Memory Alpha page:

- Gates M. learnt she was pregnant while filming this.
- There's a noticeable difference in the hue of her's and Major Buzzkill's Dalen Quaice's Science division blue...


daf

078 | "Remember Me"



. . . And Then There Were None

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Highlights :
• Disappearing Doctor Dalen
• Grammar pedant Picard : "Whooooom did you say?"
• Lying O'Brien?
• Tea! Earl Grey! Hot! #3
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Other Bits :
• Badgering Ball-Breaker La Forge
• Pig's Trotter Space-Nonce #2
• Wesley's random keyboard poking
• Shrinking Blue Bubble Universe
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Score :

Mr Trumpet

I like it how TNG sometimes had fairly old Starfleet characters (who weren't just admirals). You didn't really see that on the subsequent shows.

Blumf

Quote from: mothman on September 12, 2021, 12:59:32 AM
- There's a noticeable difference in the hue of her's and Major Buzzkill's Dalen Quaice's Science division blue...



Not just my TV then. Looks like a thicker material too. Who's this guy to get himself a brand spanking new costume?

Why did they not have a green uniform as standard anyway? Maybe for medical staff.

mothman

Lighting plays a large part - just look at the TOS yellow (actually lime green) tunic we discussed earlier, or the fact that I still don't know what colour the DS9/VOY undershirt is meant to be (pale blue? grey? mauve?). But in this case it's obviously a newer outfit that hasnt been washed as many times as Gates' fitted one.

Mr Trumpet

Medical staff wear white in the newer shows, which took a while to get used to but it makes sense to distinguish them from the organic chemists and the theoretical physicists somehow.