Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1
SPOILERS TOTAL. You've been warned.
201: The Child 1988 November 21
Picard never played with puppies? What a weirdo.
Maaaan, Counselor Troi's relationship with that child is messed up. If it was really her child, OK. But while genetically so, in actuality it was something already existing. It is some sort of pretender and... benevolent rapist?, but she loves it as her own.
Season 2 is a real in-between stage. Geordi and Worf secure in their new positions and uniform colors, Riker's beard in place, but everyone still with the older style uniforms. O'Brien is in the transporter room but without a name yet. Teen Crusher living on a ship without Mom Crusher. Dr. Pulaski a dick to Data right from the start.
202: Where Silence Has Lease 1988 November 28
I remember as a young one the ideas of a limited space the Enterprise kept looping in, and then the even more compact repeating bridge, really sparked my interest.
I notice this time when they activate the self-destruct, they aren't stuck with just 5 minutes.
Something that kind of bugs me not only on this occasion, but: when they say the sensors show nothing. Well clearly they're seeing something that the ship's sensors are recording and displaying on the ship's screens, so there's detectable visible light radiation, yeah?
203: Elementary, Dear Data 1988 December 5
Man, Pulaski is a total dick to Data. I think the idea she and Geordi come up with to test Data's abilities is flawed, though. Her reasoning is that since Data is a computer, he can't solve a mystery he hasn't read yet. So their plan is to test it with a new mystery... created by the ship's computer. If Data can't be expected to be good at solving a mystery, why should the ship's computer be relied upon to write a creative mystery?
TNG Moriarty really is an interesting character. Grown from the seed of a fictional bad man, but going through rapid change and learning with his actions only an attempt at escaping the cage he's found himself born into.
Data may not have emotions as most humans know them, but he clearly has his own sort of excitedness we can see when he gets the chance to play Holmes.
204: The Outrageous Okona 1988 December 12
Oh boy. Joe Piscopo.
205: Loud as a Whisper 1989 January 9
206: The Schizoid Man 1989 January 23
Seems noteworthy to me that while Data eventually has access to the extra hardware of an emotion chip, at various times such as this one his body isn't a hindrance to emotions for other... software using it.
207: Unnatural Selection 1989 January 30
Whoa whoa whoa. Pulaski pronounced small-d "data" like Data's name in this episode, so it would seem it's how she normally says the word. So when she pronounced his name the other way a few episodes ago, she was going out of her way to say it weird? Again, Pulaski is a dick.
There's so much worry about what to do with the children, but they don't seem to consider many possibilities. The sick people planetside want them away. Picard doesn't want to risk bringing them on the Enterprise without understanding what's spreading the disease. Fine! So set up a temporary shelter elsewhere on the planet for them and beam down necessary supplies.
I guess at this point it hasn't been established that the Federation is pretty strict about genetic engineering of sentients. Really, probably doesn't come up until DS9. But anyway, given those yet-unwritten rules I'm sure they'd have some concerns about fast-growing super-healthy disease-immune telepathic telekinetic children.
Finally a name and a noticeable role for O'Brien.
208: A Matter of Honor 1989 February 6
So the Klingons have records of where exactly the Enterprise was scanning several hours ago, but no records of what was already going on on their hull there at that time and before?
209: The Measure of a Man 1989 February 13
Data has storage capacity of 800 quadrillion bits? I'll probably have microSD cards (or the future equivalent) that hold that much in my lifetime. Doesn't seem very big for a 24th century marvel. On the other hand, it's hard to say what exactly Data means by quadrillion when not even everyone today agrees on what it means.
This episode is really firing on all thrusters... and with nary any firing nor thrusters. "Your Honor, Starfleet was founded to seek out new life. Well, there it sits!"
I'm trying to imagine some modern day important precedent-setting case taking about 10 minutes of court time total.
210: The Dauphin 1989 February 20
The interference on the planet is so great the Enterprise doesn't have the power to break through it and respond with a message... but they can beam people down? Seems like that would take more power and have a lot more to lose from interference.
Once they'd determined the Yamato blew itself up, Picard didn't want to leave the Neutral Zone because if it was a design flaw, he didn't want to risk the Enterprise blowing up, too. BUT the Yamato was just sitting around when it blew up; there was no indication that being at warp was any more dangerous than sitting still. And with agitated Romulans around, sitting still has extra danger factor in this case. And if it IS a design flaw, what's he going to do? Sit around in the Neutral Zone until it's fixed some indefinite time in the future?
I think this is the first time Picard asks for his Tea. Earl Grey. Hot., but due to malfunctions he doesn't get it.
"This would appear to be manual override." *taps buttons* *arc of energy shoots out, gateway is created* "That was not manual override."
I've got a soft spot for The Royale. It's still very much of this early period where TNG was TOS-like, but I like the way the mystery slowly unfolds. What's this fragment doing here? What's this building? Who are these people? It's a book? Can we get out by enacting the finish of the book?
Worf seems just as flustered by the elevator as he did by the old door at the end of last season.
I enjoy how pained Picard is when he decides he should study the novel and realizes how shitty it is right from line one.
The plight of a lone Earth astronaut ending up in a bizarre situation far from home reminds me of Farscape.
213: Time Squared 1989 April 3
The conclusion... I get why the duplicate shuttlecraft and Picard disappeared, but not remaining Picard's actions immediately before it. Killing his duplicate? Stopping the loop of having a shuttle go out, sure, buuuuut he went straight for a kill setting on the phaser?
Maybe not as big a deal as Picard committing twin murder, but Riker definitely left shell in the bowl when he cracked his eggs. Even if the eggs ween't a weird variety only Worf liked, they would've been having a crunchy experience.
214: The Icarus Factor 1989 April 24
Pulaski knew Kyle Riker 12 years ago... and since then got married and divorced three times, staying good friends with each spouse?
Ahahaha. "Anbo-jyutsu. The ultimate evolution in the martial arts."
I'm reminded of an old Star Trek: The Original Series novel; I'm not sure right now if it predates TNG. Anyway, the similarity is that in both cases the Enterprise crew took action from above to save a planet headed for destruction. In the TOS novel, they explicitly stated that if the results of their actions that the people on the planet noticed could be seen as possible if not necessarily likely, well, that was the wiggle room they needed for it to be less Prime Directive-shattering.
Tin man really has a heart in this episode. Cute the way Sarjenka hides behind him from everyone else.
217: Samaritan Snare 1989 May 15
218: Up the Long Ladder 1989 May 22
This episode is just full of dumb overreactions and solutions to dumb invented problems. Adding new DNA to the society won't help because the cloning will just run into a problem in another 15 generations? Errr, so? A solution that works hundreds of years at a time without intervention is still a pretty damn good long-term solution. It's not like they were all going to die out in the next month, so I'm sure they could've found at least another 5 people out of however many billions or trillions are in the Federation who are willing to donate some cells. Forcing the fusion of the two disparate colonies was needless. Also needless: killing what appeared to be nearly fully grown clones. The prime minister and Riker shout at each other "Murderer!" "No, you're a thief!" Can't it be both?
Mr. Drunkie used the word "blatherskyte". This may be the only time I've heard that used outside of DuckTales.
Ahahaha. It's great to see how Lwaxana can get to Picard even more than Q can. Also how Picard uses Data to deflect her. When the scene shifts back to her quarters and Data is doing a 24th century Powerpoint presentation, it is The Best.
I can see how someone would be annoyed at this episode if they were solidly in the mood for sci-fi, but I laughed at it more than any episode yet.
220: The Emissary 1989 June 29
Running into a ship full of Klingons of 75 years ago, interesting premise, but it still left unanswered WHY? What sort of mission, military or otherwise, would they have been on? Short of some other time travel going on they couldn't be sure what sort of situation they'd be entering, and their ship would be expected to be outclassed after decades of development.
221: Peak Performance 1989 July 10
Nice to see the Constellation class again, and Riker's crew's attempt to get it going decently. I wish we'd have seen more of how their battle with the Enterprise would've played out if they weren't interrupted so quickly.
The Ferengi are at least DRESSING like later Ferengi, even if they're still way more violent and antagonistic.
222: Shades of Gray 1989 July 17
With a name like this, it would've been better if it was just Picard sitting in his quarters drinking Earl Grey.