Star Trek: The Next Generation - Arsenal of Freedom

Yes, that is an actual conversation from this first season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. As the season is winding down, the episodes seem to be getting better. This is definitely one of the better ones. 

The Enterprise travels to the planet Minos in the Lorenz Cluster to find out what happened to the U.S.S. Drake. Captain Rodriguez was in command of that ship, and he happened to know Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) back in Starfleet Academy. 

What they discover is a planet devoid of intelligent life which was once habited by a race of arms merchants. An away team led by Riker beams down to the planet surface. Quickly they are assaulted by an unknown enemy. After having the conversation above with what is apparently a holographic image of the dead Captain Rodriguez, Riker is encased in a sort of force field presumably for transport to an interrogation center at a later time. 

With only Data (Brent Spiner) and Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) on the planet, Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) beams down along with the Doctor Crusher (Gates McFadden) to try to free Riker and see if he is injured. Just as Data and Yar manage to free Riker, they are once again attacked. Trying to fool the attacker, the crew separates. It is at this point that Picard and Dr. Crusher fall down a hole into some sort of cave. 

Meanwhile, Geordi LaForge (Levar Burton), the blind helmsman of the Enterprisehas been left in command of the ship. They are also being attacked by an unknown enemy. There is a sub-plot here where the Chief Engineer feels he outranks Geordi and wants command to be turned over to him. 

This episode has good character development for Geordi, Picard and Crusher. While trapped in the unknown hole, Crusher begins to go into shock. To keep her conscious, Picard engages her in a series of conversations which subtly shows there is a deeper attachment between the two of them. 

With Geordi, we get to see that at times he is unsure of himself, and the confrontations with Chief Engineer Logan aren't helping. What isn't explored, however, is exactly what Logan's problem with Geordi is. Does he feel that because he is blind he should not be in command? Does he feel that he has more practical experience than Geordi? Does he outrank him? The source of the conflict between the two of them is never established and makes this part of the plot feel forced. It probably doesn't help at all that the actor portraying Logan is terrible in the role. 

The writing is better than some episodes, but not great, so I feel the actors deserve the credit for making this episode work. They seem to be finding their footing in regards to their characters. Jonathan Frakes especially seems to be defining Riker in more human terms rather than as a cartoonish Captain Kirk knock-off. There is also more action here than we have seen previously this season - and not the space-battle type either. Though it is not too suspenseful, it does fit well with the story and manages to entertain. 

In the end, the crew surmises what killed off life on the planet and what happened to the Drake: all of what they experience here is an elaborate demonstration of the newest armament system developed by the merchants. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to turn it off until Picard finds what seems to be an obvious solution. It's the sort of thing that leaves you feeling "Why didn't anyone else think of that?" 

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Heart of Glory

This episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation finally gives some character development to crewmembers other than Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton), the teenaged son of the ship's doctor, and Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart). In fact, we don't even see Wesley during this entire episode. Therefore, I am not going to bring up his name again in this review! 

After detecting a battle inside The Neutral Zone - a zone which serves as a buffer between the Federation and the Romulan and Klingon Empires - The Enterpriserushes in and rescues three Klingons form a badly damaged Talarian freighter. 

This turn of events provides the writers with a reason to draw Lieutenant Worf (Michael Dorn) more into the forefront. Up until now all we know about him is that he is a Klingon serving on a Starfleet vessel. His part seems to have been standing there in the background looking menacing. The writers apparently figured out that the novelty of "look, we have a Klingon on the bridge of theEnterprise" was going to start wearing thin pretty soon if they didn't do something. This is the first time we hear the background of a raid by the Romulans on Khitomer and his survival and subsequent adoption by a Starfleet officer. 

We soon see Worf begin to sympathize with the rescued Klingons, especially after finding out they were rebelling against the "traitors of Kling" when they stole the freighter. 

This part smacks of bad writing. Worf has graduated Starfleet Academy and been around humans for most of his life, yet as soon as some of "his own kind" come on board the Enterprise, his loyalties seem to waver. He sympathizes with these Klingons who are rebelling against the Klingon authorities who have embraced peace, yet he has no sympathy for all of the Klingons who were killed when they destroyed the pursuit vessel in The Neutral Zone. Captain Picard also seems to not entirely trust Worf during this time. 

However, to me these plot holes are secondary to some of great information and insight we are given into the Klingon culture. The Klingon Death Ritual is first seen here. Worf also shows near the end how the Klingons focus more on honor than on anything else. 

Another character who gets some development here is Geordi LaForge (LeVar Burton). When he is sent to the Talarian vessel as part of the away team, we get some insight into what his world is like. Geordi is the helmsman of the Enterprise, and he is also blind. To compensate, he wears a VISOR (which is actually a spray-painted girl's banana hair-clip) to let him "see" the world. This functions in such a way that he sees much more than we do as human beings. 

The android Data (Brent Spiner) has been working with Geordi testing out rigging a Visual Acuity transmitter to his VISOR. This will allow the Enterprise to pick up what he is seeing. It was fascinating to see the interpretation of how Geordi sees the world and very well done. Instead of seeing clean images, he is seeing light energy and its reflection as well as a variety of energy fields. 

Unfortunately, this is not only dropped in the beginning of the episode, but for the remainder of the series. The idea of using Geordi's VISOR to see things does not come up again until Star Trek: Generations. At that time, the images transmitted back to a scientist named Soran are very different from the images we see here, so there is no consistency. 

Some of my favorite Star Trek episodes are those which feature the Klingons. Though this is far from some of the best ones, it is a decent beginning. It is good to see Michael Dorn and Levar Burton finally get some decent air time. Despite the problems with the writing, the character development comes along nicely. Both of these actors are very good and deserve more attention from the Star Trek writers. 

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Coming of Age

At this point as I go through the first season episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I am thinking I have seen just about enough of Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) and it's about time they give this character a break. 

Unfortunately, the Star Trek writers do not agree with me. 

The sad thing is, if I hadn't already been hit with Wesley-Crusher-overkill, this would have been a pretty good episode. 

As the Enterprise orbits Relva III, two different stories are taking place. On one hand, teenager Wesley Crusher beams down to the planet to take Starfleet Academy entrance exams. He is pitted against three other youths from different species. 

At the same time, the crew of the Enterprise is being thoroughly interrogated by Commander Remmick (Robert Schenkkan), the adjunct to Admiral Quinn (Ward Costello). The object of their suspicion seems to be Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart). 

This is a well-balanced episode with very few holes in the plot. We get to see the crew talk about the episodes of the last season as they are interrogated about each event. Each crewmember conveys their frustration as Remmick seems to twist every answer of theirs to his own purpose. At times it seems as if he is almost trying to set Picard up to take a fall for some imagined indiscretion. 

During the investigation, one of the youths aboard the Enterprise, Jake, hijacks a shuttlecraft after a fight with his father. His intention is to sign-on with a freighter after having failed to qualify for the exam that Wesley is taking. Picard has to deal with what is essentially heckling and harassment on the part of Remmick as he attempts to talk Jake through a major malfunction. Why they did not just beam him out of the shuttlecraft when it is first launched seems to be the only plothole in this episode. Beaming him out of the shuttlecraft is not brought up until he is - of course - out of range. 

Watching Wesley deal with the demons of his past as well as trying to focus on what he has to do to pass the test is also very interesting. He must stay true to his own self and at the same time is being put through draining mental and physical exercises. The tests do not just measure his intelligence, but other factors as well. 

What is nice here is the way the Picard/Quinn storyline is actually the first part of a two-parter. This is one of the first storyline arcs we see in Star Trek, as the conclusion comes at the end of season one. All of the actors involved in the interrogation give strong performances, from Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Worf (Michael Dorn) to Remmick on the other side. As Quinn begins talking about a vast conspiracy in Starfleet, we have to wonder if he managed to find a collection of old X-Files episodes (note: Star Trek's first season was well before X-Files.) 

This is a fairly good episode, especially as the first part of the two-parter. The acting is strong, the plot does not feel contrived, and the characters seem to be acting with reason. 

Star Trek: The Next Generation - When The Bough Breaks

The Enterprise follows a trail to a legendary planet that no one has yet been able to prove exists. When the planet Aldea is actually found by them, initially no one seems to question why, after all these years when no one else could find it, theEnterprise and its crew manage to. Eventually, Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes), the ship's First Officer, does comment that it did seem like they were being led right to the planet. 

Unfortunately, this does not seem to deter Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) in the least as he immediately seeks to establish relations with the Aldeans. Their technology seems to be much more advances than that which the Federation currently possesses. The half-Betazed ship's counselor, Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), also cautions that all is not what it seems after her empathic abilities kick in during a conversation with the Aldean leaders. 

For a very long time the Aldeans managed to conceal their planet using a shield similar to a cloaking device. Why have they suddenly allowed themselves to be seen? 

The answer comes when all of the children mysteriously disappear from theEnterprise. It seems that the Aldean race is dying off and they wish to take the children to replenish it. They offer technological and logistical information in return for these children. Captain Picard must now find a way to get the children back through the powerful Aldean planetary shield before they decide to enact the cloaking device and disappear. 

This part of the plot is very well done. Watching Captain Picard deal with the Aldeans on one hand and the irate parents on the other was very interesting. Patrick Stewart has done a wonderful job, especially conveying the fact that Picard does not like children and feels quite uncomfortable around them. This does not prevent him from having empathy for the parents who do not know what has happened to their children. 

The biggest part that doesn't work, however, is the Aldean culture itself. This is a supposed advanced race with technology the likes of which the Federation can only dream. However, not one of the surviving Aldeans seems to have any clue as to how it operates. Doctor Crusher (Gates McFadden) eventually figures out that the power source for the great shield is depleting the ozone and allowing dangerous radiation to the planet which has caused the sterility. If this is so easy for her to discover, why weren't one of the early scientists aware of this? 

Here on Earth, we have noticed ozone problems with technology that is far behind that of the Aldeans, so it does not make sense that the people who created all of this technology would have no idea of the damage it could be doing. Even if it were believable that the remainder of the Aldean population has no mathematical or scientific education, the people who originally conceived of this technology should have been more adept. The Aldeans we see now seem to be totally clueless as parents as well when they have to deal with mild rebelliousness on the part of the children when they stage a "sit-in" demanding to be returned to theEnterprise. 

If I had to guess, I would say that this episode was written by someone who hasn't had children. They are entirely too well-behaved and seem to feel at home on Aldea entirely too fast. There are no signs that they miss their parents or act out until Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) organizes the "sit-in". The one boy, who we are shown being scolded by his father for not wanting to learn calculus in the beginning of the episode, seems to prefer being on Aldea. When they are eventually reunited with the parents, it seems as if the parents are being played as the "bad guys" for telling the boy he has to go to school, rather than letting him do whatever he wants. 

This is not bad for one of the episodes for the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. However, if a more plausible scenario was found for the source of the sterility of the Aldeans rather than the ozone depletion, it would have been much better. 

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Home Soil

The Enterprise journeys to the planet Velara III to witness the terraforming of a planet. Terrafoming is when a scientific team takes a desolate planet which is seemingly incapable of supporting life and creates a liveable habitat out of it. 

Immediately upon arrival they are greeted with hostility by the Project Leader of the four-person team. Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) is immediately suspicious. Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), the part-Betazed Ship's Counselor, uses her empathic abilities and announces that he is afraid of them and concealing something. 

The crew beam down to the planet to investigate the facility. Soon after, the Hydraulics Engineer is mortally wounded by a malfunctioning laser drill. While attempting to investigate the malfunction, the android Data (Brent Spiner) is also attacked, but his android reflexes allow him to survive. 

Now a Federation matter, Picard launches an investigation of the remaining three terraforming crew. He is convinced that one of them murdered the Hydraulics Engineer in an attempt to conceal something. They soon discover that there is inorganic, intelligent life on the planet living in a thin layer of water beneath the surface. 

This life is brought back to the medical lab and soon begins to reproduce as it feeds off of the lights in the medical lab. It eventually manages to communicate with the crew using the universal translator, and declares war on the humans for the great loss of life its kind has experienced at the hands of the terraformers. 

After manually shutting down the lights, they force the life form to listen to them and agree to beam it back to Velara III and abandon the terraforming project. 

There are so many contradictions in this episode that it isn't even funny. The build-up in the beginning seems to be that the terraformers know about the life-form but try to hide it in an attempt to carry-on their project. However, as the investigation wears on, it is apparent that none of the terraformers had any clue that this life form was on the planet. What is with all of the deception and concealment then? After all the sinister build-up throughout the episode, there is no payoff. 

This team is supposed to be a highly knowledgeable scientific team, and yet Deanna Troi talks about the one member, Louisa Kim, almost as if she is an empty-headed ditz. When she can't get anywhere with figuring out what she knows, she suggests that Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) talk to her instead as he might "have more success". What is she insinuating here? That the young woman will swoon for the man and spill her guts to him? 

It also becomes apparent that there was some signs that were missed by this scientific team, and again I have to question how they can be educated and knowledgeable in something like this and still be able to miss all the signs. 

The episode could have been written with out all of the defensiveness on the part of the terraformers and I believe it would have worked better. An error in writing was made to build this up as if they are covering up something and then have them all to be clueless about what is going on around them. 

The only salvage to some of the episode is the acting. Patrick Stewart does a great job as Captain Picard, having to play off of a dot of light for the last part of the episode. I thought Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi also came into her own a great deal more during the episode, although I wanted to gag when she said "We think all life is beautiful!" Eaten any meat or vegetables lately? You've eaten a living thing then. The writing is more at fault there, though, than her acting ability. 

This episode wanted to show how highly evolved the human species had become and how much we value life, but it doesn't get to that point. Instead it comes of as far too pretentious and self-congratulatory. It is just another example of a first-season episode with a good premise, yet it completely falls apart in the execution.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: 110010001

The Enterprise checks into Starbase 74 for a routine maintenance and system upgrade at the hands of the Bynars. The Bynars are a species that acts the same was as the binary computer language. They work in pairs as a "1" and a "0". This allows them to interface with the computer at great speeds. Their language when they talk to each other is also incomprehensible. 

For some reason, Wesley Crusher (portrayed by Wil Wheaton), the son of the ship's Doctor, and First Officer Will Riker (portrayed by Jonathan Frakes) are immediately suspicious of the Bynars. They write it off to just being the way another species behaves. 

The upgrades the Bynars are loading into the computer also include the holo-deck, a place that is essentially a virtual-reality room. It is like nothing we have seen yet here, but the technological advances make everything in that room seem all too real. Commander Riker heads down there to check on that upgrade and while recreating a New Orleans Jazz Club manages to create what he sees as the perfect woman named Minuet. Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) joins them briefly and is also captivated by this "enhancement" to the holo-deck. 

Meanwhile, the android Data (Brent Spiner), determines that there is a problem with the anti-matter containment field and evacuates the ship. It must be sent out as far away from people as it can get before it is destroyed. However, Captain Picard and Commander Riker cannot be found. 

When Picard and Riker make it out of the holo-deck they discover the Enterprisehas been abandoned and is orbiting the Bynars home planet. All of the Bynars on the ship are dead, and there are no life-signs from the planet. A nearby super-nova caused the Bynar computer to malfunction. Since the Bynars are essentially co-dependent on their main computer, they too died. Once Picard and Riker begin reloading the information into the Bynar computer, they live again. 

Though sympathetic, Picard and Riker must take the Bynars back to Starbase 74 for a hearing. When questioned as to why they didn't just ask for help, the Bynars reply that they were afraid of being told "no". In their world, everything is black or white - a "1" or a "0". There is no in-between for them. 

The main intrigue in the episode is the Bynar species. They are written in a way that is very interesting. Watching them work and "chatter" is also played well by the actors. The other good point is the use of the holo-deck. Riker begins to fall in love with the computer-generated character of Minuet. Her personality is such a perfect match to his ideal woman that he has trouble remembering that she is not a real woman. However, she will play an important part in a future episode of the series, Future Imperfect. Kudos to the writers in later seasons for consistency. 

I thought the one little comment about "the way another species behaves" was interesting. What would it be like to try to interpret another species by human standards? Would our standards of behavior - our suspicions, our hunches, our interpretations of "body language" - apply to an alien species? It is something that is only glossed over, but that one little comment raised a whole host of questions for me. I wish that had been delved into more. It was also interesting to wonder if part of the crew's reaction to the Bynars had to do with their height. At about half the size of Jonathan Frakes, it seemed like the at times they were being looked at as children. Was it because they were a race unfamiliar to the crew - or was it their prejudices? More could have been done here, but the writers missed the boat. 

A big disappointment I have is that such a well-developed species as the Bynars is never again seen in Star Trek. It seems a shame to have developed them so thoroughly and then to completely drop them from the canvas. Otherwise, this is a pretty decent episode in what was an uneven first-season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. 

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Angel One

The Enterprise finds the remains of a freighter which collided with an asteroid. The have reason to believe that survivors of the collision may have landed on the planet Angel One, which is a society dominated entirely by women. There are four survivors from the freighter - all male. They are being treated as criminals onAngel One. The "Elected One" (no joke - this is the best they could come up with as the name of the leader) requests that these men be removed. 

Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) - who is second in command of theEnterprise, readily agrees. The only problem is that these men are not bound by Starfleet law and have wives and families now on Angel One and do not want to leave. They are being persecuted because the men do not like being treated the way they are and want to move the society to a more level playing field. For many of the leaders - especially the "Elected One" - this is too revolutionary. 

Meanwhile, back on the Enterprise, there's a virus going around. It ravages the crew one by one until all that is left seems to be the android Data (Brent Spiner) and Doctor Crusher (Gates McFadden). Ever heard a Klingon sneeze? It's not pretty, but then again they do everything in a big way. It's a race against time to save the day on Angel One, as well as get the ship back in shape to ward off the Romulans attempted advance into The Neutral Zone. 

There's a whole lot wrong with this episode and very little that is right. It's just one of those that leaves me scratching my head wondering "What were they thinking?" First of all, where the virus comes from is never really explained. It's suddenly just there. It seems to start with the doctor's son, Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) and a schoolmate in the holo-deck, but that really doesn't make sense. Also, Doctor Crusher is racing against the clock to find an inoculation for the virus, yet she doesn't seem to show any symptoms. She would have been one of the first people in contact with the disease, yet she seems fine all the way through. 

In the beginning, when she is trying to figure out how the virus is spread, Doctor Crusher states that it isn't an airborne virus. Yet later on in the script we learn that it is. The writing is way inconsistent and the whole virus scenario is just never believable. It seems to be simply filler since the other storyline going on couldn't hold up the episode for the entire time. 

The planet Angel One is a female-dominated society. The men who landed there from the freighter don't like it. And???? That's the whole story, folks. The rest is merely filler. We get the opportunity to see Riker with his shirt off and the Ship's Counselor, Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), and Security Chief, Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby), snicker at him. All this as he seduces the "Elected One" in a true throw-back to the Captain Kirk era. Karen Montgomery portrays the "Elected One" and is so wooden in the role she seems to have no chemistry with anyone. 

This episode fails miserably in all areas. I think this is one they should write-off as Riker's bad dream after eating too much Klingon food one night. 

Star Trek - The Next Generation: Datalore

Here is another first-season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation which showed so much promise, but fades quickly due to its flaws. 

The Enterprise returns to the Omicron Theta star system where the android Data (Brent Spiner) was "discovered" years earlier in what was once a thriving Earth colony. While exploring the now lifeless planet, trying to figure out exactly what caused the extinction of all life there, the crew stumbles upon what appears to be another android, disassembled. 

Once reassembled by Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) and Chief Engineer Argyle (portrayed by Biff Yeager), the android informs him that his name was Lore. The colonists soon became jealous of his perfection and had him shut down and disassembled, he tells them. Following that, the "less-than-perfect" Data was created. 

What Lore fails to tell them is that before he was shut down, he found a way to communicate with a Crystalline Entity which travels the universe feeding off of intelligent life forms. This is what cause the complete erasure of life on the planet since Lore summoned it as revenge on the colonists. 

Datalore is the first episode which prominently features Data. We learn a great deal about him and how he came to be in Starfleet. Brent Spiner does a tremendous acting job as both androids and saves this episode from complete mediocrity. He manages to capture the essence of each character distinctly and portrays them in very different - but excellent - ways. He differentiates the physical characteristics as well, making them almost appear different. 

Evil twin stories are fairly common, but this is a new twist. The beginning premise is fairly good, but it fails terribly near the end. Once again, it is Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) who saves the day and is the only person on the entire ship who figures it out when Lore impersonates Data. Why did the Star Trek writers do this so often in the first season? I honestly have no good explanation for it, but constantly having the whiny teenager be the only person who can solve the situation and the adults reluctant to listen to him wears thin after the first episode. Had Dr. Crusher instead figured out the fact that Lore was impersonating Data, the episode would've been quite a bit better. This wouldn't have required a major re-write, either. 

This is the beginning of the thrust of Data - and Brent Spiner - into the spotlight. As time goes on, a criticism leveled by Star Trek fans is that it becomes too much the "Picard and Data Show". Watching this episode and Spiner's acting ability, I think he earned that focus by giving such great performances. 

While there is an amazing special effect where we are shown the Crystalline Entity, the set for the planet is disappointing. When the away team beams down to the area where Data was first discovered years earlier, it is very obvious where the entrance to the colony is. Yet they have to act as if no one has any clue of where to go to enter. 

The flaws in this episode bring it down to mediocre, unfortunately. It could have - and should have - been much better. Still, a mediocre episode of Star Trek is better than a great episode of a lot of other shows.