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

[daf]

097 | "The Mind's Eye"



The Mashedbrainium Candidate

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Highlights :
• No! No! Not The Mind Probe!!
• The Klingon Swearing Sketch
• Sherlock Droid Investigates : "The E-Band Mysteries"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Other Bits :
• O'Brien shoulder-spill test-run
• 100% realistic bolt-upright wake-jolt
• Klingon Octopus Nibbles
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Score :

[Wentworth Smith]

This is one of those occasions where it stretches credulity that a character is allowed to just carry on in his post as though nothing has happened. See also Picard's assimilation, any time Data goes haywire etc. Geordi should have been shipped right back to Earth for a low security clearance desk job and lots of observation.

This is true and it makes me wonder who would be left at the end of the shows run if this was taken into account. Picard, Data, Geordi are gone for the reasons you mention and Troy keeps being mentally probed so she's probably a frazzled mess. We're left with the Riker (who would likely be dumped by whoever the Captain was when the Pegasus business comes out) and Crusher who would probably be safe as nothing ever happens to her

[Wonderful Butternut]

Jesus! He just sent him to his death! Though I suppose it would have been politically impossible to grant Kell asylum when the Klingons wanted to investigate him themselves.

Yeah, I'm not sure how effective a basis for asylum "I'm in danger because I've committed high treason and attempted to incite a war or at the very least induce the collapse of an alliance, pls protect me" is, even if we find the assumed punishment of execution, possibly in some particularly cruel and unusual way designed to dishonour him in death, distasteful.

Seeing as Governor Vagh immediately looks at Kell once Data suggests it was either him or Picard, I wonder did they even bother with the search or did they just kill him as soon as they beamed back.

Other random shit:

- In my head I imagine the Klingon swears as being very childish, along the lines of:
Vagh: "You speak the lies of a big smelly willy!"
Picard: "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

- The Romulan mind-fuck specialist is played by the same guy who later plays the head of the Tal Shiar, Koval, in DS9. He was given a different name in the script here, but as it wasn't spoken in dialogue, I like to think it's also Koval here. 8 in universe years until the DS9 episode is plenty of time for him to have advanced.

- The end scene with La Forge and Troi is good, imo. Even though Geordi is fine by the next episode and there are no apparent long term consequences, as is the way in TNG, it's nice to see a hint that things aren't as simple as flicking a switch and resetting everything.

- They probably should've confined Geordi when he's the only one without an alibi, but maybe they needed him for the investigation. Or maybe there's insufficient evidence to be allowed confine him under the Uniform Code or whatever they use for this sort of stuff. At least they could've put a security escort on him though. Of course if they did that, the episode is over after 30 minutes, so...

- Related to the above, it's also worth noting that they're only a couple of episodes down the road from "The Drumhead" where is wasn't actually confirmed for definite that J'Dan had no accomplices (just that it wasn't right it to pin it on Tarses with fuck all evidence beyond him being 1/8th Romulan and maybe talking to J'Dan once). If they still haven't eliminated the possibility at this point, a call back in the dialogue suggesting it was the same hypothetical individual might have been cool.

- Data probably should've had Geordi's movements restricted or monitored as soon as he copped that his VISOR could interpret the e-band emissions. Between that and no alibi, surely there's enough evidence by that point. He can complete the puzzle in the knowledge that Geordi isn't up to no good after doing that.

- Picard not taking any shit from Kell about not wanting to deal with Worf cos dishonour.

Good episode, imo.

[Blumf]

S04E24 - The Mind's Eye
...
- Geordi harasses the Enterprise computer by asking it to generate a ridiculously specific piece of music to match his absurdly narrow taste profile.

Hence, Coldplay[nb]Insert you own punchline[/nb]

[Lemming]

S4E25 - In Theory

Data takes the opportunity to learn about romance when a crewmember shows interest in him.

- The Enterprise is preparing to enter the unexplored Nightmare Death Zone of space, with its on-board nursery filled to the brim with easily-killed kids.

- Data and an engineer, Jenna, meet up and Jenna dumps her romantic woes on him, as she apparently has done many times before.

- Because life in the 24th century is unending joyless torment, there's a music recital in Ten Forward. Jenna looks upset when Keiko and O'Brien embrace, and then goes on about how she fucked the performance up. Data disagrees, and her attraction to him skyrockets.

- Everyone enjoys a good story about how O'Brien, an adult man, can't clean up after himself and Keiko has to do it for him like he's five years old. Data's shit-hot banter establishes him as the Archbishop of Banterbury.

- Bev's stuff falls over. This is foreshadowing the complete annihilation of the ship.

- Jenna kisses Data. Later, he goes to talk to Guinan, and winds up drinking Targ milk. He tells her about the kiss, and Guinan, for the first time in her life, knows to stay well out of this.

- Spot the Cat! Has he shown up before now or is this the first sighting? Anyway, Data asks Geordi what to do, and he also backs out of giving any advice.

- Next, Data goes to Troi, who tells Data that he better be really careful before playing with Jenna's heart. Worf tells Data he can't give him advice, but infers that he'll kick Data's robotic ass if he upsets Jenna. Riker dumbly tells Data to throw caution to the wind and get stuck right in there. Picard says that he doesn't understand women, which I suppose you can either read as a really bad joke from the writers or Picard saying he doesn't have advice about relationships in general (Vash shunned yet again).

- Data goes to Jenna's quarters, gives her flowers, and starts cleaning shit up, before initiating a robo-hug. He explains that he's creating a new program for his relationship with Jenna, which will be based on an attempt to "balance theory with experiential referents". Emulating what he's learned from romantic fiction, Data dims the lights and invites Jenna to sit next to him. He also creates a Jenna subroutine.

- 11 hours until the ship gets torn to fucking ribbons by the nebula of pain. Picard's shit has all fallen off his table, indicating that everyone's going to die.

- Jenna goes to Data's quarters and gives him a really crap glass sculpture. They decide to put it in the centre of the room to signify its importance. Sadly, it isn't one of the items sent crashing to the floor by the anomalies.

- The crew learn that holes are appearing then disappearing on the ship, hence items seeming to fall through tables. Let's hope one doesn't appear in the hull of the nursery and suck all the kids out into space!

- With the ship literally falling apart, Data goes to Jenna's quarters for a fun night in. He adopts the persona of a suave romance novel protagonist, with predictably mortifying results.

- Data starts glitching out and cycling through the various things he thinks he ought to be doing in a relationship, which includes yelling at Jenna in an attempt to simulate a lover's quarrel.

- "You do not wish to continue our lover's quarrel?"

- Jenna realises how shit and weird this all is. Data explains that he can't do anything other than emulate existing things that he knows about romantic relationships.

- After Data and Jenna kiss:

JENNA: What were you just thinking?
DATA: In that particular moment, I was reconfiguring the warp field parameters, analysing the collected works of Charles Dickens, calculating the maximum pressure I could safely apply to your lips, considering a new food supplement for Spot-
JENNA: ...I'm glad I was in there somewhere.

- Some dumbass gets electrocuted in engineering when the console explodes. Geordi takes a team to check out weirdness on a deck, and a crewmember dies when she falls through the floor when an anomaly appears under her. Why does this happen in this episode?! It's so graphic and shocking, and it's one of the relatively rare crewmember deaths in TNG, and it comes in what is otherwise a gentle, slightly comedic episode! The hell?

- The plan is to have a shuttlecraft go out in front of the Enterprise to pilot it through the hell-field. I don't know how this works, apparently the shuttle can detect them first and tell the Enterprise where to fly. Riker strides towards the shuttle bay to hop in and lead the ship directly into a dark matter minefield, but Picard stops him and insists on piloting it himself.

RIKER: Captain, it's my duty as First Officer to safeguard the lives on this ship, including yours. The Enterprise can't afford to lose you, sir. Certainly not in this situation.
PICARD: I believe our best chance of escaping this situation is for me to pilot the shuttle.

He's finally learned not to trust Riker with anything important. And people say TNG has no character development!

- Extended scene of Picard playing Wing Commander on the shuttle computer, which guides the Enterprise through the field. The shuttle explodes! Maybe Picard is dead! Maybe the main character is permanently dead and never coming ba- okay he's been beamed out.

- Data prepares for a ROMANTIC CANDLELIT DINNER in his quarters. Jenna shows up and tells him she's going to have to break up with him because she rushed into the relationship, and it's not working at all.

JENNA: I didn't see it until today. I got out of a relationship with an unemotional man, and I got right back into another, with a man who is absolutely incapable of emotion.
DATA: There does appear to be a recurring motif.
JENNA: You were so kind and attentive. I thought that would be enough.
DATA: It is not?
JENNA: No, it's not. Because as close as we are, I don't really matter to you. Not really. Nothing I can say or do will ever make you happy or sad, or touch you in any way.
DATA: That is a valid projection. It is apparent that my reach has exceeded my grasp in this particular area. I am perhaps not nearly so human as I aspire to become.

Let's get the obvious criticism out of the way - the dark matter plot sucks! I know the ship has to almost blow up every week because the network wants to keep the shitmunchers engaged, and there's always a useless B-plot in any given episode of TNG/VOY/DS9. But here, it takes up so much screentime! It results in a rare crew death, and a horrible one! We get an extended sequence of Patrick Stewart jiggling around in a plastic shuttle! And it's so boring!

The A plot is very good though, because it has the backbone to do something the show mostly shies away from - suggest that Data isn't necessarily sentient in the way we'd like to think he is. Here, he truly has no emotion, he can't feel anything, he can't develop any new behaviours spontaneously without compiling existing knowledge and acting based off that, and he's even kind of glitchy. I think it's a much more interesting way to write the character than the quasi-Vulcan they often write him as. If he is sentient, it's not in a way we can easily relate to.

It also feels like quite a brave thing to do in its potential to piss off the fans - Spiner was apparently getting metric fucktons of fanmail, much of it from young women who were crushing on Data. The episode basically speaks us as fans and says "maybe your fantasies would be depressing shite in reality", which is incredibly risky, but the fans seem to love this plot. I definitely did.

Great A plot, very odd and uninteresting B plot. That makes it hard to rate, because the A plot is a solid 8/10 but the B plot takes up so much time in the episode. I'm going to settle on 7/10 but I hope the review makes it clear how much I enjoyed the main story.



Directed by Patrick Stewart, by the way. Superbly directs himself during the scene where he's jiggling around in his chair and playing Wing Commander.

[Mr Trumpet]

The montage of cautionary advice leading to Riker's "get in, my son" is one of the comedy highlights of the series. And yes, for years literally the only thing I remembered about this episode was the lady horrifyingly stuck in the floor. This episode has it all!

[MojoJojo]

I guess the horrible crew death was a badly judged attempt to give the B plot some weight. Up to that point, all that had happened was some stuff had fallen off tables and a Cat had got out of it's room. Suspect it would have been cut, or not lingered on so much if Stewart more experienced.

Spot does make me wonder if anyone else has any pets. Maybe Picard has read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and is letting Data have a pet as an experiment.

The awkward way Picard gets into the shuttle craft is so Stewart could direct the bridge scenes, rather than any in universe meaning.

Oh and Picard's thing about not knowing anything about women was obviously a joke - he was trying to avoid the conversation.

[daf]

- Spot the Cat! Has he shown up before now or is this the first sighting?

Second time, I think - I made a note of it at the time : 084 | "Data's Day"

• Data's Cat Spot #1 : Feline Supplement #74

There was a lot going on in that one, so it was easy to miss.

[mothman]

At this point Spot is explicitly male. It doesn't last.

[daf]

098 | "In Theory"



Lorra Lorra Blinda Data

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Highlights :
• The Sexist Sock-pile Story
• Data's Robo-wink
• Picard's "Understanding Women" Zinger
• Data's Stiff-armed Snog
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Other Bits :
• Data's Cat Spot #2 : The Egress Mystery
• Picard's Poltergeist Puzzler
• Painting Postponing Perspex Prezzie
• Dark Matter Dodge-Shuttle
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Score :

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Spot does make me wonder if anyone else has any pets.

There are twelve male cats on board, Spot gets fucked off one or all of them in season seven.

According to Data, Spot has never "been chased by a canine", which may mean that there are no dogs aboard, or Spot's never been chased by one as far as he knows.

[Mr Trumpet]

Picard's got a lionfish (apparently Patrick Stewart was against the idea that they'd keep fish in little tanks like that in the 24th century, so maybe it's a hologram).

O'Brien has a tarantula.

[mothman]

Did think daf was going to use the image of Lt. Van Meyter stuck in the floor there...

There's one episode where Q appears to be having a staring competition with Livingston the Lionfish ("True Q"). Which might imply he's not a hologram.

[daf]

Did think daf was going to use the image of Lt. Van Meyter stuck in the floor there...

I was tempted, but I had to get Data in there somewhere for my top quality strap-line to make sense.

[Blumf]

Is Lt. Van Meyter's floor interleaving the most horrific TNG event we see? Certainly in the top 5.

Either way, Lemming is right, why'd it have to be in the middle of a comedy dating episode?

[kalowski]

If it's if any consolation neither of my children were particularly shocked by her death.
Hard of heart, kids nowadays.

[Mobbd]

Personally it gave me the horn.

[Mobbd]

Picard's got a lionfish (apparently Patrick Stewart was against the idea that they'd keep fish in little tanks like that in the 24th century, so maybe it's a hologram).

Did Livingstone survive the destruction of the D? Did anyone spot him in ST: First Contact or later?

Tangentially, there is a holofish in an episode of Voyager. His name is Spectrum.

[Lemming]

S04E26 - Redemption Part 1

Gowron warns Picard that the Klingon Empire may be about to spiral into civil war, and Worf takes the opportunity to clear his name.

- Worf prances about in his quarters with a bat'leth. Picard shows up and reminds him of the whole cha'dich cringeathon that happened a while ago.

-

WORF: I have been told that patience is sometimes a more effective weapon than the sword.
PICARD: Patience is a human virtue, one which I am glad to see you've taken to heart. But doesn't this situation require a more Klingon response?

I know the strange racial essentialism that the characters in TNG speak in has been pointed out a hundred times by now, but it still makes me balk/laugh.

- Gowron hails the Enterprise and tells Picard that a civil war could be on the horizon. The house of Duras has been taken over by Lursa and B'Etor, who are moving against Gowron. Also, apparently women can't serve on the council in Klingon law. No idea why, seems like a boring direction to take things in, but I suppoose Klingon society is shit in just about every other imaginable way too.

- Because he agreed to be ARBITER OF SUCCESSION earlier, Picard is totally fucked now and will be dragged into the vortex of shit no matter what.

- Worf privately tells Gowron that the discommendation was all bollocks. Gowron replies that it'd be too much of a ball-ache to dis-dishonour Worf's family name, so it'll have to stay.

- Guinan, presumably sensing Worf's mild emotional turmoil from across the ship, swoops over to the holodeck to make Worf look like absolute shit at that phaser target practice game. Worf insists that Klingons do not laugh, probably because he's never been around Klingons for more than three seconds.

- She kicks the shit out of Worf at Holodeck Phaser Game. "Don't feel bad," she says, "I've been doing this since long before you were born." HOLODECKS CONFIRMED AS OLDER THAN ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT

- Space is pretty small, so you can find people quickly. Worf finds Kurn's ship and discusses the situation with him. Kurn's verdict: Gowron is shit, he's about to be butchered, government has failed, it's time for a revolution. He has FOUR SQUADRON COMMANDERS in KEY STRATEGIC AREAS ready to help with this. Worf refuses on the grounds that it would be dishonourable to disobey the law (the same law that he proved to be corrupt and which prevents women from participating in government). Worf's masterplan is to wait until Gowron is shit-scared and then rush in to offer aid.

- Picard beams down to the Klingon council. He's greeted in English so naturally he pointlessly replies in Klingon just to show off. He's about to get to put the big cloak on Gowron when some kid shows up claiming to be Duras' son, and challenges Gowron. Lursa and B'Etor show up with him and explain that, serendipitously, they just found this kid who is definitely Duras' son. Picard is called upon to decide whether or not the kid's challenge is acceptable, which calls for a Look of Discomfort to Camera.

- Lursa and B'Etor retreat to the evil plotting room to plot in an evil manner. They're working with Romulans, including a SHADOWY ROMULAN WITH A FAMILIAR VOICE.

- Worf starts checking out the Enterprise's logs on the Khitomer massacre. Picard complains that this is a potential Prime Directive breach, but then decides that it actually wouldn't be after all.

WORF: Sir, those Federation records will help me prove that my father was falsely accused of treason.
PICARD: You are using your position as a Starfleet officer to affect political change on your planet. There could not be a worse compromise of our fundamental principles.
WORF: Do not tie my hands now. I must be able to prove my father's innocence. Those Federation records can do that.
PICARD: Mister Worf. Here I am lecturing you on a conflict of interest while I'm desperately trying to avoid one of my own. Do you think I wish to allow the Duras family to solidify their hold on the Council? Do you think I cannot see for myself the implications for the Federation? Good Lord, Duras tried to have me killed! All of my instincts, my training, my very being as a Starfleet officer are at odds with my responsibilities as Arbiter of the Klingon High Council. We walk the same tightrope between two worlds, you and I. We must try our very best to keep those two worlds separate, or we shall certainly fall.

I'm honestly a bit confused as to what he's actually doing as arbiter of succession. Can he veto Gowron's installation? Can he veto the Duras family's? Or is he completely bound by Klingon law, and it's a mostly ceremonial role? Or is it up to him to interpret the law however he wants? I've completely forgotten whatever explanation was given in Sins of the Father.

- Picard goes to meet with Lursa and B'Etor, and drinks from a retro-futurist cup. The actor playing B'Etor gets to touch the ridge on top of Patrick Stewart's skull. They tell him that the consequence for ruling against them will be the potential destruction of the Federation-Klingon alliance. Picard, in another racial essentialism outburst, tells them that they're almost as good as manipulation and deviancy as Romulans necessarily are. Lursa and B'Etor realise he's onto them.

- Picard goes to the council and absolutely roasts the shit out of Duras' little kid in front of everyone, going on and on about what a loser he is. He rejects the challenge and appoints Gowron leader. Everyone thinks Gowron is a twat so they join up with the kid. Picard stands there looking all limp as his ruling is ignored by virtually everyone.

- Since Picard was such a flop, Worf's time to strike arrives, and he goes to Gowron and offers the help of himself and Kurn. Gowron insists that the only way to win against Duras would be Federation military aid. The ship they're on is attacked by other Klingons. Picard and the gang watch the ship get its ass kicked from afar. He decides to retreat from the area, as getting involved would lead to a major-league shitshow.

- Worf's tech know-how allows them to destroy one of the attacking ships. Kurn shows up out of nowhere and wards off the other assailant. With that out of the way, everyone returns to the council hall so Picard can finally put the Big Robe on Gowron, with like three people in attendance.

- Gowron makes Worf hurt his hand with a dagger thing, which RE-HONOURS him and the house of Mogh. Good news for Jeremy, the little kid from "The Bonding", who is no longer a P'TAHK.

- Worf wants to leave with Gowron, but Picard tells him he'd better get back to tactical right now because you're not allowed to go flying around on a Klingon warship while still employed by Starfleet. Worf resigns his commission, which is effective immediately.

-

PICARD: Being the only Klingon ever to serve in Starfleet gave you a singular distinction, but I felt that what was unique about you was your humanity, compassion, generosity, fairness. You took the best qualities of humanity and made them part of you. The result was a man who I was proud to call one of my officers.

He's really on it today! Congratulations on adopting uniquely human qualities like compassion, Worf!

- Back in the evil plotting room, the shadowy Romulan steps out of the shadows and OH my GOD it's TASHA YAR!!!

It's alright. Honestly I think Klingon politics wore out its welcome for me a while ago. They're just not really well-drawn enough as a culture to get invested in them. I mean most of what we know about them is that they're a pack of dickheads who yell a lot, like "honour" as a nebulous concept that can mean anything, love violence, and routinely conquer and execute the civilian populations of various worlds, if lore established in Errand of Mercy still applies in the 24th century. There are interesting things you can do with them - Voyager's "Prophecy" being my favourite - but watching people yell at each other in the council chamber isn't my favourite use of the Klingons.

So it's not really my thing. It is kind of cool that it tries to incorporate many running plot threads that have been introduced previously. But in the end I honestly can't wait to breeze past all this so we can get back to finding weird fish in space or whatever the next weekly adventure is. It's competently told enough that it's not outright boring or anything. 5/10

[daf]

099 | "Redemption - Part 1"



Tea, Earl Grey, . . . Plot!!

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Highlights :
• Klingon Boob Hole
• Guinan Zappy Gun Masterclass
• Tash-Twist Take Two
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Other Bits :
• Picard's Purview . . . and Beyonnnnnnd!!
• Where's Captain Kurn?
• Worf's Exit Tunnel
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Score :

[Lemming]

• Klingon Boob Hole[/color]

Can't believe I forgot to mention this masterclass bit of costume design! Armour with a window that exposes the chest area, worn by members of a society that often engages in bladed combat.

[Lemming]

Fans of stats and numbers and things get hyped, it's season four review time!

The Best of Both Worlds Part 2 - me 6/10, daf 6/10
Family - me 4/10, daf 8/10
Brothers - me 5/10, daf 6/10
Suddenly Human - me 7/10, daf 2/10
Remember Me - me 8/10, daf 5/10
Legacy - me 6/10, daf 2/10
Reunion - me 7/10, daf 6/10
Future Imperfect - me 6/10, daf 4/10
Final Mission - me 2/10, daf 3/10
The Loss - me 7/10, daf 2/10
Data's Day - me 5/10, daf 4/10
The Wounded - me 4/10, daf 5/10
Devil's Due - me 7/10, daf 5/10
Clues - me 8/10, daf 7/10
First Contact - me 5/10, daf 5/10
Galaxy's Child - me 3/10, daf 6/10
Night Terrors - me 8/10, daf 3/10
Identity Crisis - me 3/10, daf 2/10
The Nth Degree - me 7/10, daf 6/10
Qpid - me 6/10, daf 10/10
The Drumhead - me 3/10, daf 4/10
Half a Life - me 9/10, daf 8/10
The Host - me 5/10, daf 3/10
The Mind's Eye - me 7/10, daf 5/10
In Theory - me 7/10, daf 6/10
Redemption Part 1 - me 5/10, daf 6/10

If I've aggregated all this correctly, my average score was 5.7 while daf's was 4.8, which represents the biggest difference in our averages so far! For reference:
Season 1 average = me 3.5, daf 3.3
Season 2 average = me 4.9, daf 4.7
Season 3 average = me 5.3, daf 5.1

According to the ratings, my favourite episodes were Half a Life, Remember Me, Clues and Night Terrors, while my least favourites were Final Mission, Galaxy's Child, Identity Crisis and The Drumhead. Good enough, sounds vaguely right.

[bgmnts]

Fans of stats and numbers and things get hyped, it's season four review time!

The Best of Both Worlds Part 2 - me 6/10, daf 6/10
Family - me 4/10, daf 8/10
Brothers - me 5/10, daf 6/10
Suddenly Human - me 7/10, daf 2/10
Remember Me - me 8/10, daf 5/10
Legacy - me 6/10, daf 2/10
Reunion - me 7/10, daf 6/10
Future Imperfect - me 6/10, daf 4/10
Final Mission - me 2/10, daf 3/10
The Loss - me 7/10, daf 2/10
Data's Day - me 5/10, daf 4/10
The Wounded - me 4/10, daf 5/10
Devil's Due - me 7/10, daf 5/10
Clues - me 8/10, daf 7/10
First Contact - me 5/10, daf 5/10
Galaxy's Child - me 3/10, daf 6/10
Night Terrors - me 8/10, daf 3/10
Identity Crisis - me 3/10, daf 2/10
The Nth Degree - me 7/10, daf 6/10
Qpid - me 6/10, daf 10/10
The Drumhead - me 3/10, daf 4/10
Half a Life - me 9/10, daf 8/10
The Host - me 5/10, daf 3/10
The Mind's Eye - me 7/10, daf 5/10
In Theory - me 7/10, daf 6/10
Redemption Part 1 - me 5/10, daf 6/10

If I've aggregated all this correctly, my average score was 5.7 while daf's was 4.8, which represents the biggest difference in our averages so far! For reference:
Season 1 average = me 3.5, daf 3.3
Season 2 average = me 4.9, daf 4.7
Season 3 average = me 5.3, daf 5.1

According to the ratings, my favourite episodes were Half a Life, Remember Me, Clues and Night Terrors, while my least favourites were Final Mission, Galaxy's Child, Identity Crisis and The Drumhead. Good enough, sounds vaguely right.

These are the episodes I really want to rematch now.

[daf]

If I've aggregated all this correctly, my average score was 5.7 while daf's was 4.8, which represents the biggest difference in our averages so far!

I was probably a bit too harsh on a few episodes this season . . . though, looking back, I think I did enjoy the episodes in season 3 a bit more - so the drop in my average score makes some kind of sense.

My Series 4 | Top 3 :
1. Qpid
2. Half a Life
3. Family

[Wonderful Butternut]

- She kicks the shit out of Worf at Holodeck Phaser Game. "Don't feel bad," she says, "I've been doing this since long before you were born." HOLODECKS CONFIRMED AS OLDER THAN ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT

Or maybe phaser ranges as a standalone item existed for longer than holodecks. Gotta wonder why Guinan feels the need to be able to accurately shoot people in the face from a distance though. Also you'd think personal weapons would have workable aimbots built into them by the 24th century, considering we have highly detailed scanning devices that fit in your pocket. "Yeah, so long as the target is in a 30 degree cone of where you fired the phaser will do the rest, Worf." idk, maybe they're easy to jam.

I generally like Klingon episodes, if for no other reason that the Klingon actors really get into the roles, even they are a bit hammy. Robert O'Reilly as Gowron is gold and anyone who says otherwise is just wrong, really. How he got to be Chancellor is interesting, he and his family clearly weren't on the High Council beforehand. I kinda thought that'd be a pre-requisite to being in a position to succeed the Chancellorship, unless you successfully challenged and bested the existing Chancellor in honourable combat (which Gowron did not). Best guess is K'mpec pulled him out of nowhere cos anyone worthwhile on the High Council would just defer to Duras.

The 'Honour' thing is fleshed out better in DS9, where, as an example, Dax specifies you have to have a valid reason to challenge a superior and can't just kill your way to the top for fun.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Or maybe phaser ranges as a standalone item existed for longer than holodecks. Gotta wonder why Guinan feels the need to be able to accurately shoot people in the face from a distance though.

Didn't most of her species get wiped out by the Borg or something?

[Lemming]

S05E01 - Redemption Part 2

The Federation enters the Klingon Civil War in an attempt to reveal Romulan involvement.

- Kurn evades the pursuers by flying into the corona of a nearby sun and then warping out. The pursuing ships mindlessly fly into the sun and explode.

- Picard invites a Fleet Admiral over and suggests that the Federation get stuck into the Klingon conflict due to the possible presence of Romulan agents. This will take the form of a blockade on the Rommie-Klingon border to prevent supplies reaching the Duras family. The admiral gives her permission for Picard to start assembling his Big Fleet.

- Picard, for some reason[nb]flagship, i guess[/nb], is in command of the entire operation and gets to choose which ships will be involved and who'll be in command. He shoves his best mates into command positions aboard all the ships.

- In a Klingon bar, everyone's doing the "ahaaaa" stuff like Tom Baker does in Blackadder. Kurn's having a great time bantering with some of the crews of the ships who attacked them the other day. Worf is pissed that his weeaboo-y fantasies of Klingon culture don't match up to reality.

- Data's been assigned command of the Sutherland, where his first officer, Hobson, thinks having an android in command of a ship is Well Dodgy.

HOBSON: Frankly, sir, I don't believe in your ability to command this ship. You're a fellow officer and I respect that, but no one would suggest that a Klingon would make a good ship's counsellor or that a Berellian could be an engineer. They're just not suited for those positions. By the same token, I don't think an android is a good choice to be captain.

I love how the ridiculous levels of racism here are portrayed as totally normal and acceptable views in Federation society.

- Lursa, B'Etor, and Sela have gathered in the Plotting Room. Sela is onto Picard's blockade plan. Meanwhile, Gowron and the two people still loyal to him have their meeting interrupted by dudes with knives who want to challenge Gowron to combat. Worf tries a Federation-y "let's all work together" speech, which falls flat. His faith in Klingon society falls further :(

- Sela's ship pops up in front of the Enterprise. She reveals that Tasha was her mother, and tells Picard to fuck off out of the border area. Troi reckons that Sela is telling the truth, Bev points out that Tasha's medical records indicate she was never pregnant. Everyone agrees it's probably some weird space shit, then Guinan shows up and tells Picard about the events of Yesterday's Enterprise, which only she (vaguely) remembers. She has no evidence but because Guinan has a track record of getting shit right, Picard decides it's time to meet with Sela.

- Worf's day gets worse when he gets his ass kicked in a bar fight.

- Sela agrees to come aboard. Picard assures her that the blockade is only in place to "prevent any external power from interfering in Klingon affairs". The Federation's actions here are obviously sensible and necessary to prevent catastrophic power changes, but how is this justified by the Prime Directive? Why are they allowed, under their own laws, to stop the Romulan government and the Duras family from sharing supplies? I'm guessing the Federation council just waved it through as fast as possible and didn't do too much Prime Directive navel-gazing about it.

- Sela explains that Tasha survived the destruction of the Enterprise-C, but was taken captive by Romulans. The Romulans planned to execute all survivors, but Tasha was able to make a deal with a Romulan general that the survivors would be freed if she stayed behind and agreed to be enslaved by him. This led to Sela's birth. When Sela was four, Tasha attempted to flee with her, but toddler-Sela alerted the guards, who then executed Tasha.

- Worf, having gotten knocked out, is now being molested by B'Etor while unconscious. Lursa shows up and they offer Worf the chance to join them. As B'Etor's mate, Worf would wield immense political influence. The persuasion attempt has no effect on Worf due to his laughably skewed, reality-defying impression of KLINGON HONOUR.

- Picard, Mr "We Can't Interfere With Other Worlds", suggests that Gowron start a full-scale attack against the Klingon rebels right now in order to force the Duras sisters to call for help, which will force the Romulans into the DETECTION NETWORK. But Sela's team have found a way to fuck the network.

- Data realises the Romulan plan and gets into a minor to-do with the first officer. Eventually, Data's counter-plan reveals the Romulan ships and halts Sela's advance.

- Qo'noS is getting fucking nuked! Buildings are just getting bombarded at random! Worf is taken to the Plotting Room to be killed. Lursa and B'Etor teleport out and abandon Duras Child.

- Data apologises to Picard for disobeying orders (I have no idea why he didn't just have one of his crew explain the situation to Picard while it was happening?). Picard congratulates him on his success in foiling Sela regardless.

- Duras Child is brought before Gowron and accused of treason. Gowron gives Worf the "honour" of murdering him. Worf refuses, and finally realises that Klingon culture is total horseshit. He signs back up with Starfleet immediately.

Similar thoughts to the first part, although this one's slightly better since it's more character-focused - Worf's journey is the best part and ends satisfyingly, while the Sela and Data plots are a bit patchier. Sela is just a very odd creation by the writers although she kind of works. Her backstory and reason for existing is such an audacious strain at the outermost limits of credibility that you almost have to admire the writers for just going for it. Reminds me of that little kid who shows up in Sailor Moon and is the main character's great granddaughter from an alternate timeline or something like that, it's so batshit and absurd that you kind of start wanting to go along with it. It also gives us a third retcon (sort of) of Tasha's death, which is just amusing at this point. She's gonna end up being the next Daniel Jackson.

The Data plot doesn't quite work for two reasons - the first officer is a cartoon character who's just comically obstinate at all times, but also, Data is kind of a shit captain here. He doesn't explain his reasoning at any point, he just starts doing shit on his own without informing anyone, he doesn't respond appropriately to challenges from his first officer (it's easy to forget since Riker's so utterly flaccid, but a first officer is meant to be there to challenge the captain - though maybe not as publicly as this guy does), and he doesn't manage to project any authority other than by raising his voice. This could be a really really good subplot with all these ingredients, but I'm not sure you're actually meant to think Data's doing a crap job, since he gets thoroughly vindicated at the end.

Still bored by the grand politicking but the character stuff, for Worf especially, lifts this above the first part. 6/10

[daf]

When Sela was four, Tasha attempted to flee with her, but toddler-Sela alerted the guards, who then executed Tasha.

So much for retconning the Armus blobbing to give her a "meaningful" death!

[Blumf]

The Sela thing is really awkward. It's arguably a worse fate for Yar than the random evil tar blob death, but it is such a cool sci-fi idea with some very nice continuity, and great to see Crosby back again.

Worf learning the reality of Klingon life is excellent. I don't know why people complain about Klingon storylines, they're always so much fun, with all that overblown bullshit they have. Seeing Worf's relation to it all is lovely character work.

I suppose you can brush off Data's behaviour as a learning experience for him. He'll be more communicative next time, maybe. But First Officer Strawman needs a meeting with Star Fleet HR regardless.

[daf]

100 | "Redemption - Part 2"



Hobson's Choice

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Highlights :
• The Blonde Bob Yar Mystery
• Angry Captain Data
• Boisterous Klingon Roistering
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Other Bits :
• Theoretical Tachyon Trap
• Doubting Droidist Dick
• Kurn's Chair-Vault #1
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Score :