Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2
SPOILERS TOTAL. You've been warned.
301: Evolution 1989 September 25
It doesn't seem like Wesley did a lot to get the nanites started on evolving--it seems surprising something like this didn't happen before. Past getting upset that he's the cause of malfunctions, he seems to take it pretty in stride that he's played Creator to a new lifeform.
302: The Ensigns of Command 1989 October 2
303: The Survivors 1989 October 9
304: Who Watches the Watchers? 1989 October 16
A very good Prime Directive-based episode. I like seeing Picard try to minimize the damage done, to the extent of risking getting shot by an arrow to prove he's no god.
Maaaaybe the anthropologists should keep their hideaways a bit further away? Less to risk by hiding a series of small camera/sensors around the area being studied.
305: The Bonding 1989 October 23
For this kid being part of Worf's family now and forever, I'm pretty sure we never hear of him again.
I like that Wesley belatedly gets to share his anger at Picard over his father's death.
306: Booby Trap 1989 October 30
I pruriently note that the episode with the B-story about Geordi's trouble with women has Booby in the title.
So they find an amazing thousand year old museum-quality spaceship... and blow it up to prevent others from getting stuck there. For such an amazing find, mightn't it have been worth spending more time to find a way to disable the actual trap portion from the outside? Or leave a message buoy nearby with warning and information for those who would come in the future?
307: The Enemy 1989 November 6
I like the planet name Galorndon Core. It's not even an important place, but when it came up in the episode I remembered the name so well from long ago that I thought it would be.
I like Geordi's technique of making tools by shaping mud into crude molds, filling it with the right kind of metallic rocks, and melting them with his phaser.
And Andreas Katsulas as Tomalak. Though this is the first role I knew him in, I'm now much more familiar with his Babylon 5 role of G'Kar.
308: The Price 1989 November 13
On the whole, I think the things Mr. Negotiator says to Troi are true. She accuses him of using his powers for gain, but she does the same. She does so for the sake of her ship, he does so for the sake of his customers.
309: The Vengeance Factor 1989 November 20
I've always found it a bit of a stretch that in the end Riker can't manage to find a phaser setting more powerful than "pause her for 2 seconds" yet less powerful than "vaporize her".
Seems a bit of a stretch that the few surviving members of a clan happen to have (or know how to get) the secrets of immortality and extremely targeted viruses.
310: The Defector 1990 January 1
Where was Troi in this episode? When the bulk of the episode is about how much to trust this guy and what peoples' guts tell them, she's not even piping in? Even with something useless like "I sense he's hiding something, but I don't know what."?
So Riker knows some Romulan too? Is he skilled in languages, or did he just learn the greetings and dirty words for major tongues?
So their computer knows enough about Romulus to accurately recreate the planet on the holodeck, but not enough to create one of their most well-known food products.
Tomalak has such a shit-eating grin.
Picard criticizes Data for trying to mimic other actors for his own acting, but a few episodes back he was praising Data for mimicking multiple violinists while synthesizing their styles into something his own.
311: The Hunted 1990 January 8
Star Trek: First Blood
312: The High Ground 1990 January 29
The inverters seem like useful technology. Dangerous to people with prolonged use, but would still have use in times when regular transporters couldn't be used.
313: Déjà Q 1990 February 5
314: A Matter of Perspective 1990 February 12
So the "prosecution"'s case rested on Riker firing a phaser as he was being beamed out. Soooo wouldn't the records indicating he arrived on the Enterprise without a phaser and in a normal standing position blow a giant hole in this theory?
I always liked the concept of the holodeck simulation being so perfect that it was unintentionally generating Krieger waves in conjunction with the equipment on the planet.
315: Yesterday's Enterprise 1990 February 19
I like some of the little touches that differentiate the alternate timeline, like that even the door sound effect is different.
Worth noting that Captain Picard is old enough to be one of the few people on the Enterprise who would have most of his life be the same in both timelines.
316: The Offspring 1990 March 12
317: Sins of the Father 1990 March 19
Both halves of this episode are fun. Another "advanced alien tests us" story for Picard, who thinks his way out of the problem. And a duplicate Picard story that's fun because usually character replacements suck so much--either they act crazily out of character, or don't know things they should know. In this case, it's a very good copy of Picard--but it's too outgoing for the crew to buy that nothing is going on with their reticent captain!
319: Captain's Holiday 1990 April 2
Before he was Rom, Max Grodénchik's Ferengi in this episode somehow comes off like... an old racist Chinese villain?
They talk about Tam measuring high in ESP ratings. I don't think anything like this has come up since Where No Man Has Gone Before in the early TOS days, though then it was esper ratings for humans.
The outcome of this episode was too obvious about a third of the way in.
Gomtuu's crew died from radiation. They must've had Rimmer repairing the drive plate.
321: Hollow Pursuits 1990 April 30
I love Broccoli.
With as talented as Data is, I find it hard to believe he couldn't escape. Yes, Kajafalava has that positron-mangler so Data can't grab him, but what prevented him from using the guy's lady friend the first time she comes alone? Or less violently just running out the door when she's leaving--he's no slowpoke.
Also, again we have a situation where Counselor Troi's big ability amounts to squat. When Data's shuttle explodes and they talk to Favakajova, why isn't she saying, "Captain, he's full of shit and hiding an extreme excitement."?
324: Ménage à Troi 1990 May 28
325: Transfigurations 1990 June 4
Alright. Dude evolved into... dude in a luminescent body sock.
This episode is unusual in that it seems to take place over a month, though most of the time is skipped by.
326: The Best of Both Worlds 1990 June 18
A horrible enemy is on our doorstep sooner than we feared. We must check out this planet they attacked... but it's almost dark, so let's waste half a day for the planet to rotate, since we haven't invented artificial lights yet in the 24th century.
It's funny how there's so much pressure for Riker to move on after a massive 3 years in his current position. A lot of other people on Star Trek go longer without significant promotion, and at this point Picard has been ranked Captain... well, longer than Riker has been an officer, I think? And he will continue at that rank for at least another decade canonically--and even longer non-canonically as he resists attempts to promote him to Admiral in the novels.