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phantom-le6 · 3 years

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Episode Reviews - Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 3 (5 of 6)

After an indulgence of some procrastination, here’s the penultimate load of episode reviews for season 3 of Star Trek: The Next Generation…

Episode 20: Tin Man

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

The Enterprise brings aboard the Betazoid mission specialist Tam Elbrun and takes him to a distant star system. Elbrun, whom Deanna Troi previously knew when he was a mental patient and she was a psychology student, has a history of mental instability due to overpoweringly strong telepathic capabilities that have been active since birth (most Betazoids develop their telepathic abilities in adolescence). However, his unique skills are used for first contact situations with alien life. On this particular mission, Elbrun's abilities are needed to try to coax a giant sentient spaceship, code named "Tin Man," away from a star that is about to go supernova. It also comes to light that the star is in a Romulan-claimed area of space, and that this is a race to claim the living ship. Elbrun finds it impossible to filter out the thoughts of the Enterprise crew, but finds solace in meeting Lt. Commander Data, by whom Elbrun is initially puzzled, finding what he calls 'absence of mind'; he finds relief in developing a friendship with Data, who, being an artificial lifeform, has no organic mind to be read.

When they arrive, the Enterprise is attacked and disabled by a Romulan Warbird that has overly stressed its engines to catch up to them. The Romulans race ahead to try and communicate with Tin Man. When Elbrun gleans from the Romulans telepathically that they intend to destroy Tin Man if they can't claim it, he sends it a telepathic warning to Tin Man. Tin Man suddenly comes to life and emits an energy wave that destroys the Warbird and further damages the Enterprise. Elbrun, now in communication with Tin Man, reveals that it calls itself Gomtuu. The creature is millennia old and formerly had a crew, but they were lost in a radiation accident. Due to a combination of remorse, loneliness, and a lack of purpose, Gomtuu wishes to die in the supernova. Elbrun requests to be beamed aboard the creature, but Captain Picard is cautious of this action. When a second warbird arrives, Picard lets Elbrun transport to Gomtuu along with Data to help procure the ship. Elbrun is initially overwhelmed by Gomtuu, but eventually comes to identify himself with the ship.

With the supernova imminent, the elated Elbrun informs Data he will stay with Gomtuu, believing it is where he truly belongs. Moments before the start of the supernova, Gomtuu creates another energy wave that sends the Enterprise and the Warbird spinning out of the star system in separate directions before they are caught in the nova blast. As the Enterprise regains control, they find Data aboard the bridge, who reports what happened aboard Gomtuu. When Data discusses the events with Troi, Data acknowledges that like Elbrun with Gomtuu, the Enterprise is where he belongs.

Review:

This episode was apparently co-written by a trio of writers in response to the fire quality of the opening five minutes of the second season episode ‘Samaritan Snare’, and then further developed from that initial spec script when the show needed an episode that looked easy to put into production while other scripts were still being re-worked. It’s a writing motivation I can certainly understand; some of my own writing decisions are in response to my dissatisfaction with other works in the same genre. For example, I don’t like how some films, TV shows and even modern comics work in a mixed array of characters that gives the feeling they’re trying to essentially manufacture an air of diversity, rather than allowing the diversity to just be ‘part of the background’ and focus more on narrative. As such, my novel work will hopefully include a level of diversity that matches what I’ve experienced in real life and that is just an accepted part of that world, thereby allowing the story to retain centre stage.

Trek itself is the epitome of ‘diversity in the background’ because it’s never needed to really call any special attention to how mixed its various crews have been over the various shows. It just gets on with telling the story at hand, and the diversity just shows itself through the performance and development of the characters and the issues their stories handle. Sadly, ‘Tin Man’ fails to include any kind of character or issue exploration. We don’t get into what Tam goes through as an overwhelmed psychic enough because we’ve got this living starship being sought by the Romulans as well as by the Federation, and Tam and the Romulans take up screen time that could have been spent really exploring the living ship idea.

Frankly, I think the X-Men comics of the early 80’s did better with the concept of a living spaceship creature when they introduced the Acanti during the Brood Saga. Maybe Trek should have asked Chris Claremont to ship in a script or two, considering the number of episodes I’ve noted to date that include stories covered better by his X-Men run than by TNG. I also don’t get where Data’s ‘realisation’ about belonging on the Enterprise comes from, given that at no point in the entire episode does Data question whether he belongs on the Enterprise, nor does anyone else. This final scene makes the episode all the poorer because it just doesn’t make sense, and yet the people who wrote it did so in protest over a previous episode that also made little sense in many areas. Ultimately, I give this episode 4 out of 10.

Episode 21: Hollow Pursuits

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

The Enterprise in the process of transporting Mikulak biological tissue samples intended for use in combating an epidemic of Correllium fever on Nahmi IV. The transport of the samples is delicate, and when they find one of the sample containers is leaking, they are forced to destroy it to prevent the contamination of the other samples. Lt. Commander La Forge tells Commander Riker he is concerned that one of his engineers, Reginald Barclay, has been underperforming and notes that he is late to help with the sample transport. What La Forge does not realize is that Barclay has been in the holodeck acting in a simulation of other Enterprise crew members, avoiding contact with their real counterparts. La Forge requests that Barclay be transferred from the Enterprise but Picard recommends that La Forge take Barclay on as a "pet project".

La Forge works at supporting Barclay as their team works to investigate the failure of unconnected systems around the ship. Picard invites Barclay to a bridge meeting to review the investigation, but slips up and accidentally calls him "Broccoli", a nickname given to him by Wesley Crusher, due to Barclay's tendency to 'veg out'. Barclay later returns to the holodeck to seek refuge in the simulated version of the bridge members. In talking to La Forge, Guinan suggests that Barclay is simply imaginative and that La Forge keep a more open mind towards him. On her advice, La Forge visits Barclay on the holodeck and discovers the exaggerated simulation of the bridge crew. La Forge suggests Barclay get counselling from Counsellor Troi, whose counterpart on the holodeck displays clear signs of sexual attraction towards Barclay. Barclay attempts to undergo a real counselling session with Troi, but freaks out when she tries to relax him with the appearance of actions his holodeck version of her would do, and ends the counselling session to flee back to the holodeck.

When Barclay cannot be located to attend a briefing with Riker, Riker storms into the holodeck with La Forge and Troi to locate him. They find comical versions of the senior staff, with bumbling versions of Picard and La Forge, a slothful idiot version of Wesley, and an extremely short, comical version of Riker. Riker attempts to stop the program angrily, but Troi stops him saying it might traumatize Barclay and exploring this world can help them understand Barclay better. However, when they come across the sexed-up version of her, it's her turn to want to immediately stop the program, but Riker stops her, sarcastically throwing her own words in her face. They finally locate Barclay sleeping in the lap of a fantasy Dr Crusher.

Suddenly, the Enterprise mysteriously accelerates to warp speeds, and Riker, La Forge and Barclay go to Engineering to discover the matter/anti-matter injectors have jammed; the ship will continue to accelerate until its structural integrity collapses unless the injectors are cleared. The team is unable to come up with any immediate solutions that will work in the limited time they have, but Barclay realizes all the failures they have seen have been connected by a human element: a member of La Forge's Engineering team has been present at each incident, so he surmises that somehow they became carriers of an undetectable contaminant. Using a process of elimination, they reduce the possible contaminants from 15,525 to 2. The contamination that has been interfering with the systems is quickly discovered to be invidium, which was used as part of the Mikulak samples. They are able to quickly repair the injectors, stop the ship, and set course for a nearby starbase to remove the rest of the invidium contamination. La Forge commends Barclay for his contribution in saving the ship.

Barclay returns one more time to the holodeck and addresses the simulated bridge crew, believing it best he leaves them, and then deletes all of his holodeck programs but one.

Review:

According to a note on Wikipedia, the episode writer claims that the central guest character of Lt. Reg Barclay was meant to be a satire of Trekkies and their tendency to develop obsessions with certain characters, though notes on the Trek wiki site Memory Alpha refute this. Frankly, I’m inclined to believe the Memory Alpha notes more just because what the episode gives us isn’t consistent with the kind of satire Wikipedia seems to think this is. If it was a satire of Trek fans, then Barclay would either be obsessed with the main characters and spending too much time with them, or he’d be spending too much time with totally made-up characters relative to the ‘real-life’ of the Trek world.

What we instead get is Barclay playing out how he wishes he could be with real people in a fantasy world, and this is something I think everyone can relate to. We all experience difficulties with friends and colleagues, and given access to holodeck technology, I don’t think there’s a single soul who wouldn’t want to re-create those moments of difficulty in ways we wish they had gone. Of course, the hidden trap in such an approach to resolving issues is that you can then be seduced by the fantasy to the point of neglecting reality, which in turn is what happens to Barclay, and it takes Geordi relating his experiences from the episode ‘Booby Trap’ earlier in the series to bring Reg out of his shell and out of what would ultimately be self-destructive behaviour.

Barclay is a great guest character played by actor Dwight Shultz, who manages to reprise this role many times throughout the TNG TV show, as well as in the second TNG film and a number of episodes of Star Trek: Voyager. It’s refreshing to see that someone can still be a bit of a ‘fish out of water’ in the world of Trek without being an alien, an android or something simply not human, and we also get good development of Geordi, as he gets a chance to be a sympathetic and tolerant commanding officer who is willing to help Barclay (we haven’t seen Geordi play this side of being a commanding officer much). This isn’t quite the best of Trek, but it comes pretty damn close. I’d give it 8 out of 10.

Episode 22: The Most Toys

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

The Enterprise is called to assist the colony on planet Beta Agni II, which has suffered contamination to its water supply. They meet with the Jovis, a ship owned by the Zibalian trader Kivas Fajo, a trader who so happens to have hitritium, the extremely rare compound needed to neutralize the contamination. The volatile substance cannot be beamed aboard, so Lt. Commander Data is assigned to make several shuttle trips to collect the cargo. Just before the final trip, Data is kidnapped, and his shuttle is rigged to explode. The Enterprise crew scan the debris and finding trace elements matching Data. As a result, they believe he is dead, and are forced to leave to continue their mission.

Data is reactivated in a secured room and is met by Fajo, who explains he collects rare and valuable objects and has kidnapped Data due to his uniqueness. Fajo's assistant Varria tells Data to change out of his Enterprise uniform and to sit in his chair. Data refuses to follow orders and remarks that they are both Fajo's prisoners.

Mourning the supposed loss of their friend, Geordi is certain that he is missing something about Data's destruction. Geordi takes his hypothesis to Picard and Riker, stating that the reason he can't find anything is there's nothing to indicate a malfunction. He explains that the only option is pilot error, but doesn't believe it as the odds are too vast to calculate. Picard gives him some words of solace and dismisses him. Picard and Riker select Worf as Data's replacement.

In an effort to make Data comply with his wishes, Fajo says that he isn't at war with anyone and is in fact Data's liberator. He prods Data about whether or not he is capable of killing anyone, and Data states that he is programmed to never kill except in self-defence, and thus would be incapable of murder. When Data still refuses to submit, Fajo splashes a solvent on Data's uniform that dissolves it so he will be compelled to change his clothes.

Geordi and Wesley run through Data's communications during the shuttle trips, with Geordi noting that Data follows protocol to the letter. Wesley further points out that Data didn't report the shuttle clearing the cargo bay of the Jovis on the final transmission, per protocol. Geordi and Wesley conclude that for Data to not follow standard procedures, such as not reporting something wrong, is not like him unless there was something wrong with Data himself.

Data remains defiant against Fajo's attempts to make him an object of display, purposely remaining silent and immobile when Fajo shows off his collection to a rival trader. Only when Fajo threatens to kill Varria with a very rare and illegal Varon-T disruptor does Data agree to follow Fajo's orders and sits in the chair.

The Enterprise crew arrives at the colony and uses the hitridium to neutralize the contamination, but finds it works far more quickly than it should and deduce that the contamination had been caused deliberately, leading them back to Fajo. They return to the last-known location of the Jovis to track Fajo down.

Varria decides to help Data to escape. During the attempt they set off alarms that alert Fajo, and when he gets there, he uses the Varon-T disruptor on Varria, killing her without remorse. Data picks up the spare Varon-T that Varria had possessed and threatens to use it on Fajo. Fajo in turn threatens to murder more of his assistants if Data doesn't comply with his demands, believing that Data's programming will prevent him from shooting Fajo and to preserve the assistants' lives by submitting. Fajo further taunts Data to shoot him, mocking him as "just an android" incapable of feeling rage at Varria's death. Data states that he cannot allow this to continue and gets ready to shoot Fajo, much to the latter's shock. The Enterprise arrives and suddenly beams Data back aboard, discovering that the disruptor was in the process of discharging. Data is met in the transporter room by Commander Riker, and requests that Fajo be taken into custody, with Riker responding that arrangements have already been made. When Riker asks why the disruptor was energized, Data only offers that something may have happened during transport.

Data visits Fajo in the brig, where Fajo laments the reversal of their situation, but says defiantly that he will again add Data to his collection one day. Data informs Fajo that his stolen collection has been confiscated, and all his possessions returned to their rightful owners. Fajo remarks, "It must give you great pleasure." Data replies "No, sir, it does not. I do not feel pleasure. I am only an android." He then leaves a stunned Fajo alone in the brig.

Review:

This is a decent Data episode, though nowhere near on the same level as ‘The Offspring’ from earlier in this season. Given the conclusion and how that feeds back to an earlier conversation with the guest villain, the episode seems to be an exploration into how a being of no emotion and pure logic handles captivity, villainy and where the line lies between a justified act of defence and an act of murder. It’s intriguing to watch, but flawed in that apparently, the show’s producers tried to make the episode’s ending ambiguous. Of course, they haven’t succeeded, because O’Brien detects Data’s weapon firing while Data is being beamed to safety. Clearly that means Data was going to kill Fajo and had been in the process of firing, otherwise the transporter sensors couldn’t have detected and neutralised the weapon’s discharge.

What might be ambiguous, however, is thy why. Why did Data fire? Was it out of sheer logic, reasoning that killing Fajo was necessary to safeguard the lives of his crew and future victims of his collection-oriented piracy and kidnapping? Was it because on some level of pure logic Data could not allow Fajo to keep stalemating him into compliance and captivity? Or was it possible that at this time when Data lacked an in-built capacity for emotion, there was a brief moment where Data’s positronic brain developed a split-second of emotional awareness and he acted based on that? My guess is it’s more likely to be one of the first two, but really, it’s in that one area that the episode makes its mark. For me, the episode as a whole is worth around 8 out of 10.

Episode 23: Sarek

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Federation Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan has arrived on board the Enterprise with his human wife, Perrin. His mission is to attend a conference to lay the foundation for a treaty between the Federation and an alien race called the Legarans, after which time he will retire due to old age. Though Captain Picard and his crew attempt to provide for Sarek and have arranged for a chamber music concert for him, the ambassador expresses apprehension and annoyance. Picard is surprised when Sarek starts crying in the middle of the performance, an emotional trait Vulcans normally suppress.

Across the ship, the crew members start to act with uncharacteristic hostility towards one another, leading to a large brawl in the Ten Forward lounge. The onset of the events is tied to Sarek's arrival. Ship's Counsellor Deanna Troi and Chief Medical Officer Dr Beverly Crusher believe Sarek may be suffering from Bendii syndrome, a degenerative neurological disease that only affects aged Vulcans. This condition causes individuals to lose control of their emotions and emit "broadcast empathy", destabilizing the emotions of others around them. Picard attempts to approach Sarek about this, but Sarek's aides deny that there are any problems. Picard asks Lt. Commander Data to speak with Sakkath, Sarek's assistant, who has mutual respect with Data; Data confirms that Sakkath has been attempting to channel his mental discipline into Sarek, but Sarek has been overwhelmed by the pressures of the conference. Picard directly confronts Sarek on the matter, who attempts to deny the problem. When Sarek breaks down emotionally in front of Picard, Picard realizes they may need to cancel the conference.

As Picard prepares to cancel with the Legarans, Perrin arrives and suggests an alternative option: Sarek could mind meld with another, allowing him to temporarily transfer his emotions onto someone else. This would leave Sarek able to successfully complete the conference and maintain his dignity, reputation and honour. Sarek, however, warns of the possible dangers to the receiver's mind from Sarek's strong emotions. Picard willingly agrees to be the host. Sarek performs the mind meld with Picard, and is able to retain full control of his emotions for the duration of the conference. However, Picard, monitored closely by Dr Crusher, suffers through the numerous emotions that Sarek has pent-up for years, including his regrets of not being able to show his love for his first wife Amanda, their son Spock, or his current wife Perrin. With the conference successfully completed, Sarek prepares to take his leave. Picard lets Perrin know of Sarek's love for her, and Perrin says she has always known it. Sarek thanks Picard for his kindness, and with deep respect states: "We will always retain the best part of the other, inside us."

Review:

This is a great watershed moment for The Next Generation, as for a long time Gene Roddenberry had been adamant about not allowing the show to reference the original series directly. However, with this episode that caveat was lifted, and by having Spock’s father appear on Picard’s Enterprise, we get the first truly explicit link between the two series since Dr McCoy appears in the TNG pilot. The long life-span of Vulcans meant the original actor for Sarek from the Original Series productions got to reprise the role, adding nicely to the continuity of the franchise. It’s great seeing Sarek and Picard together, and the episode makes for an interesting metaphorical nod to dementia among the elderly, and with a proud Vulcan as the focal point, even Sarek’s denials of the condition and emotional outbursts are on-point for how some people might react when coming to terms with such ailments in real life.

Less good, however, is having to sit through all the scenes where members of the main cast and others experience the random broadcasts of anger from Sarek. They’ve all got that ‘characters acting weird for weirdness’ sake’ vibe to them, which is often the case with Trek. Almost no one they hire to play a role can play that character possessed or mentally altered without making it blatant something had happened. It would be nice if every once in a while, they could play such changes more subtly so the audience is genuinely surprised when it turns out what we’ve just seen was down to external influence x, y or z. When it comes to mysteries, some people may like the over-telegraphing of something like Columbo. Me, give me a traditional Poirot or Marple-style mystery where the solution takes some work to discover. For me, these two sides of the equation bring the episode to a balances score of about 8 out of 10.

Episode 24: Ménage à Troi

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

At a reception aboard the Enterprise following a trade conference on Betazed, Counsellor Deanna Troi argues with her mother, Lwaxana Troi, about her insistence that Deanna get married and raise a family. At the same party, Lwaxana is approached by the Ferengi Daimon Tog of the ship Krayton, who is interested in Lwaxana in a sexual way, but also explains he would like Lwaxana to use her telepathy to help him in his business dealings. Lwaxana rejects him flatly, then becomes irate and remarks that she would rather eat Orion Wing Slugs than date Tog. Deanna tries to speak with Lwaxana in her quarters about the incident, but winds up becoming infuriated over Lwaxana's pet name for her, "Little One," and leaves.

Afterwards, at the urging of Captain Picard, Commander Riker and his one-time flame, Deanna, decide to take a quick shore leave on Betazed while the Enterprise heads out on a routine mission studying a nebula. Lwaxana tracks down her daughter and Riker, with intent to encourage a renewed romance between the couple. She is just getting started when Daimon Tog beams down. As Riker expresses his surprise, Tog states that he has come for Lwaxana. When he is again rebuffed by Lwaxana, this time under pain of provoking an interstellar incident, Tog has himself and the others transported aboard the Krayton, leaving a confused Mr. Homn to wonder where his employer has gone.

The three awaken in a cell aboard the Krayton. Tog then has Deanna and Lwaxana beamed into the lab of Farek, a Ferengi doctor who hopes to study Lwaxana's telepathy using mind probes. In the process of transporting them he leaves the women's clothing behind, saying that women are not worthy enough to wear clothes. Lwaxana pretends to be interested in Tog, and gains Deanna's return to the cell with Riker by agreeing to discuss with Tog a proposal to use her telepathic abilities in trade negotiations.

Riker entices a Ferengi guard into a chess game, and once outside the cell, Riker quickly overpowers the guard. Once freed, Deanna and Riker attempt to send a message to the Enterprise, only to learn that the ship's communication system is secured by access code. As Lwaxana seduces Tog by rubbing his ears, she receives a telepathic message from Deanna asking her to try to get Tog's access code.

Lwaxana has nearly gotten Tog to tell her the code when Farek walks in and catches her in the act. Farek threatens to humiliate Tog by revealing his incompetence to the Ferengi, but offers to forget the incident if Lwaxana is turned over to him for experimentation, despite the fact that the proposed tests may be lethal.

Meanwhile, the Enterprise leaves the nebula, which has been interfering with communications, and learn from Betazed officials that Riker and the Trois have been kidnapped. Returning to Betazed, the Enterprise crew discovers flowers indigenous to a Ferengi planet at the spot where Deanna and Riker were last seen. Picard orders a frequency scan to see if Riker has somehow sent a message, but are unable to pick up anything discernible. In fact, Riker has tapped into the system on the Krayton that suppresses Cochrane distortion from the ship's warp field, and modulated it to generate a signal using unsuppressed distortion into a pattern he hopes the Enterprise crew will recognize.

In the midst of the search, Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher is in final preparation to depart to Earth for his second attempt to pass the Starfleet Academy entrance exam. Just as he is about to leave, he realizes that the modulated interference itself may be the signal, and rushes back to the Bridge, missing his transport back to Earth. Decoding the signal, young Crusher finds Riker has provided the heading of the Krayton and the Enterprise heads out in pursuit.

In the meantime, Deanna is experiencing great pain as she senses the mind probes being used on her mother. Riker, having finished setting up the modulation of the Cochrane distortion, arms himself and bursts into Farek's lab to free Lwaxana, but a standoff ensues when Tog enters with a phaser. Just then the Enterprise arrives, and Lwaxana buys the release of Troi and Riker by agreeing to stay with Tog and serve him both as a lover and a business partner. After Riker and Deanna are returned to the Enterprise, Picard begins to play the role of a jealous lover on Deanna’s advice, describing his love for Lwaxana and telling Tog that if he cannot have her no one will, and threatens to destroy the Krayton if she is not delivered to him immediately. When Picard tries to "win back" Lwaxana at the end, he recites parts of three William Shakespeare sonnets and Canto 27 of "In Memoriam A.H.H.", by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Fearing for his life Daimon Tog hurriedly beams Lwaxana directly to the Enterprise Bridge and leaves the area post-haste. So taken is Lwaxana by Picard's poetic profession of "love" for her that she takes her place on his lap in the command chair, causing Picard to quickly tell Ensign Crusher to "set course for Betazed", almost whispering "warp nine".

Crusher is told that he will have to wait for another year before he can reapply for entrance to Starfleet Academy, but in the interim the Enterprise will continue to benefit from him. Picard also tells him that, in his eyes, he isn't an 'Acting Ensign' anymore and thus gives him a field promotion to full Ensign in light of his contributions to the ship and crew.

Review:

A Lwaxana Troi episode is generally never a good thing in my opinion, though this one is more tolerable than most with regards to Majel Barrett’s performance this time around, and for once the Ferengi make decent guest adversaries. However, the bridge scene near the end when Picard starts quoting romantic poetry demanded an extensive fast-forward. The whole thing felt forced, and while in one sense it would be considering Picard can’t really stand Lwaxana, someone who was coaching Data on acting back in the episode ‘Deja Q’ should have been able to give a more convincing performance. Clearly Ferengi theatre must be truly abysmal, if they have any, because that’s the only way I can see Daimon Tog buying Picard’s performance at all.

Luckily, the B-plot surround Wesley missing Star Fleet Academy again and becoming a full ensign regardless is much better, and compensates for the main plot a fair bit. However, it still indicates a bad TNG episode if you need a Wesley-centric story line to save the episode; after all, since when is it etiquette for the hard-to-write child character to surpass the boss’ wife and, in so doing, make the episode her influence has all but broken? For me, this episode only racks up a mere 6 out of 10 while reminding me, as it should everyone else, that Majel Barrett’s best Trek performances are lending her voice to Starfleet computers.

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