Enjoyed it when the computer basically told Data to shut up... Also, Troi "someone's hiding something but I'm not sure who or what"... don't leave home without your handy part-Betazoid! Ah, and wish I could have heard the rest of Geordi's joke... sounded like quite a spicy one...
As far as these time/space twisting episodes go, I think this is one of the better and more plausible ones, and must be one of the original ones before Voyager made it an almost weekly plotline.
I think this episode went a long way to establishing the camaraderie between the crew that would eventually give TNG its special atmosphere. Also, it was 'good' to see a death handled like it actually meant something, rather than nameless people just disappearing off. A tad weak, yes, like other season 1 TNG, but certainly not awful, and definitely a little meaningful, more so than in many other sister-series episodes at this point of time, even our Jammer's beloved DS9, and certainly more so than VOY. I'd go for at least 2.5.
I agree, that although the drugs chat was a bit forced, it was a tidy example of discussion and application of the prime directive and a neat solution by Picard. Perhaps the story was a tad lacking but not truly awful... 2.5 at least.
I used to dislike Voyager because it could have been so much more, but after watching some episodes I discovered its true purpose: it's the comfort food of all the Star Trek series. Consequences of character actions are rare, and and it requires from the viewer very little thought. It's easy to watch and comprehend; just sit back and let the simplicity wash over you. Some people enjoying not having to use their brain and more power to them
This episode certainly did the battle for the Federation's soul story a lot better than Star Trek: Into Darkness.
I'm thinking of Pine doing the final confrontation between Sisko and Leyton. It will probably be in a much noisier environment than a television set of an office. But it could have been quite awesome.
Thanks Jammer for all of the reviews, and everyone for all of the comments.
One thought on Geordi/Leah: I can't disagree with the complaints of this Easter Egg, but I can't help but compare this little debate/detail vs. the "smack you in the face" telegraphed eggs of Into Darkness with WoK. Give me the subtle but somewhat problematic Geordi/Leah any day!
Why did Neelix change into one of Quark's outfits? Does the replicator have a clothing section for annoying people? I don't know why but he would have been a better character had he stayed in his fur pimp coat.
being a fan of Mass Effect's brand of military sci fi I tried to give the show another chance, but it's so far up its own ass I was unable to penetrate the pretension.
Patrick:
"In fact, the most horrible crap happened to Worf and O'Brien out of all the main characters on the show. Is it a coincidence that they both happened to originate on TNG? Hmmmm....."
A very good point, Patrick. This could be seen as more of Ira's hatred for TNG; hatred which, as far as I'm concerned, ensured that DS9 would not be embraced as TOS & TNG were.
Still though, I think this is one of the heartier episodes of season 1, provides some good background development on Data, has some good crew interactions, all in all one of the more decent offerings of season 1, and foreshadows what TNG would become in later seasons in terms of the crew and the types of situations they face. It would have been nice to learn a bit more about the entity and the colony.
Way late, but Jack: Because they don't know what they're dealing with yet. It could be someone inside the station, or someone outside of it. Raising shields and powering up weapons could cause them to react prematurely (or for all they know raising the shields could cause the explosion), it was a point that was brought up in the episode.
After losing power:
Paris: "The vultures are circling."
Janeway: "Vultures eat the dead, Mr. Paris. We're not dead yet."
Yeah, that's why he said "circling," Captain Post-op. Vultures commonly circle that which is alive but near death. Don't take it out on Tom just because the raiders took your last crate of mustache wax.
I'm a sucker for any Trek episode involving a rogue planet or pulsar - my two personal favorite universal phenomena - so I enjoyed this solely on an aesthetic level. It's doubtful there would be plantlife, and watching now as they explore-- I take it back, rogue planets don't have atmospheres and they are deep cold, so how are they walking around in their uniforms? At least they got the sky of bright and abundant stars somewhat right.
Lt. Yarko - Tue, May 21, 2013, 1:36pm (USA Central)
I have little to say about this one. As Elliott points out, the themes of this episode are very important. The bioengineering is mostly there as metaphor; for the real world equivalent of "creating a perfect soldier," think not genetic engineering but the training as represented in (e.g.) Full Metal Jacket, where in order to become perfect killing machines people are stripped of their individual identities and "reprogrammed" through intensive training. The split personality within Danar also hits many of the points associated with soldiers suffering from PTSD after the war is over (or even milder forms thereof), of one part of them never really leaving the battlefield while they try and try to reclaim their identity otherwise; and Danar's scenes with Troi do help get across his conflicts, and his absolute recognition that he can kill any moment and has killed. The government's disinterest in making any real effort to help "deprogram" or reverse the bioengineering of their soldiers is also believable and on point, since while soldiers are publicly honoured upon their return the medical and psychological damages wrought by the war are no longer so important once the soldiers' use to society as a whole has ended.
I do think that the Angosian prime minister (James Cromwell!) and the society he represents are not given enough depth. It certainly is plausible that the bioengineered soldiers would have trouble adapting and that there would be large outbreaks of violence upon their return; but we don't get a real sense of scale of how bad this was that the Angosians went to the idea of resettling the ENTIRE soldier force away from society. This works best as an allegory if we consider this to be representative of soldiers on Earth being socially ostracized and feeling no longer at home, but this social ostracization is often unconscious or contributed by both sides, and one doesn't have to kill to get out of it. The allegory is certainly more effective than something like "Symbiosis," but I think that while there is an attempt to portray both why Danar is dangerous and why he needs sympathy and understanding, there is very little effort to present the prime minster as anything but smug, condescending, and cowardly. This probably is done so that the pat ending can feel less unearned than if he was actually portrayed sympathetically (the way, for example, the police chief in the following episode, "The High Ground," is, despite a somewhat similar function in the episode), in which Picard leaves him and his to be held at phaserpoint by prisoners who *did* use the Enterprise to get back to the planet.
I think that the show is worth watching, up til the point where Sorbo thinks he should have creative control of the show. At that point the show would have been better served without him and probably would have made more sense and had better continuity.
Enjoyed it when the computer basically told Data to shut up... Also, Troi "someone's hiding something but I'm not sure who or what"... don't leave home without your handy part-Betazoid! Ah, and wish I could have heard the rest of Geordi's joke... sounded like quite a spicy one...
As far as these time/space twisting episodes go, I think this is one of the better and more plausible ones, and must be one of the original ones before Voyager made it an almost weekly plotline.
I think this episode went a long way to establishing the camaraderie between the crew that would eventually give TNG its special atmosphere. Also, it was 'good' to see a death handled like it actually meant something, rather than nameless people just disappearing off. A tad weak, yes, like other season 1 TNG, but certainly not awful, and definitely a little meaningful, more so than in many other sister-series episodes at this point of time, even our Jammer's beloved DS9, and certainly more so than VOY. I'd go for at least 2.5.
I agree, that although the drugs chat was a bit forced, it was a tidy example of discussion and application of the prime directive and a neat solution by Picard. Perhaps the story was a tad lacking but not truly awful... 2.5 at least.
Not to mention the thin white line of semen extending from the holodeck ejection ports, leaving a trail hundreds of light years long.
@Charlie
In response, she says: "Two words. Dear Doctor."
Eh, no worse than 97.5% of Voyager episodes.
Ok, that's the last time I post from my phone using speech to text. That is horrendous.
I used to dislike Voyager because it could have been so much more, but after watching some episodes I discovered its true purpose: it's the comfort food of all the Star Trek series. Consequences of character actions are rare, and and it requires from the viewer very little thought. It's easy to watch and comprehend; just sit back and let the simplicity wash over you. Some people enjoying not having to use their brain and more power to them
This episode certainly did the battle for the Federation's soul story a lot better than Star Trek: Into Darkness.
I'm thinking of Pine doing the final confrontation between Sisko and Leyton. It will probably be in a much noisier environment than a television set of an office. But it could have been quite awesome.
Thanks Jammer for all of the reviews, and everyone for all of the comments.
One thought on Geordi/Leah: I can't disagree with the complaints of this Easter Egg, but I can't help but compare this little debate/detail vs. the "smack you in the face" telegraphed eggs of Into Darkness with WoK. Give me the subtle but somewhat problematic Geordi/Leah any day!
Fun fact: Clint Howard didn't need to wear makeup for this episode.
Why did Neelix change into one of Quark's outfits? Does the replicator have a clothing section for annoying people? I don't know why but he would have been a better character had he stayed in his fur pimp coat.
being a fan of Mass Effect's brand of military sci fi I tried to give the show another chance, but it's so far up its own ass I was unable to penetrate the pretension.
Kazon are just queeny Klingons with krusty quaffs. Sad that they aren't the worst thing introduced by Voyager.
Then my fedora fell off. :(
Patrick:
"In fact, the most horrible crap happened to Worf and O'Brien out of all the main characters on the show. Is it a coincidence that they both happened to originate on TNG? Hmmmm....."
A very good point, Patrick. This could be seen as more of Ira's hatred for TNG; hatred which, as far as I'm concerned, ensured that DS9 would not be embraced as TOS & TNG were.
Still though, I think this is one of the heartier episodes of season 1, provides some good background development on Data, has some good crew interactions, all in all one of the more decent offerings of season 1, and foreshadows what TNG would become in later seasons in terms of the crew and the types of situations they face. It would have been nice to learn a bit more about the entity and the colony.
Way late, but Jack: Because they don't know what they're dealing with yet. It could be someone inside the station, or someone outside of it. Raising shields and powering up weapons could cause them to react prematurely (or for all they know raising the shields could cause the explosion), it was a point that was brought up in the episode.
After losing power:
Paris: "The vultures are circling."
Janeway: "Vultures eat the dead, Mr. Paris. We're not dead yet."
Yeah, that's why he said "circling," Captain Post-op. Vultures commonly circle that which is alive but near death. Don't take it out on Tom just because the raiders took your last crate of mustache wax.
I'm a sucker for any Trek episode involving a rogue planet or pulsar - my two personal favorite universal phenomena - so I enjoyed this solely on an aesthetic level. It's doubtful there would be plantlife, and watching now as they explore-- I take it back, rogue planets don't have atmospheres and they are deep cold, so how are they walking around in their uniforms? At least they got the sky of bright and abundant stars somewhat right.
Chekov is an idiot.
This episode made me shart in my favorite jorts.
I have little to say about this one. As Elliott points out, the themes of this episode are very important. The bioengineering is mostly there as metaphor; for the real world equivalent of "creating a perfect soldier," think not genetic engineering but the training as represented in (e.g.) Full Metal Jacket, where in order to become perfect killing machines people are stripped of their individual identities and "reprogrammed" through intensive training. The split personality within Danar also hits many of the points associated with soldiers suffering from PTSD after the war is over (or even milder forms thereof), of one part of them never really leaving the battlefield while they try and try to reclaim their identity otherwise; and Danar's scenes with Troi do help get across his conflicts, and his absolute recognition that he can kill any moment and has killed. The government's disinterest in making any real effort to help "deprogram" or reverse the bioengineering of their soldiers is also believable and on point, since while soldiers are publicly honoured upon their return the medical and psychological damages wrought by the war are no longer so important once the soldiers' use to society as a whole has ended.
I do think that the Angosian prime minister (James Cromwell!) and the society he represents are not given enough depth. It certainly is plausible that the bioengineered soldiers would have trouble adapting and that there would be large outbreaks of violence upon their return; but we don't get a real sense of scale of how bad this was that the Angosians went to the idea of resettling the ENTIRE soldier force away from society. This works best as an allegory if we consider this to be representative of soldiers on Earth being socially ostracized and feeling no longer at home, but this social ostracization is often unconscious or contributed by both sides, and one doesn't have to kill to get out of it. The allegory is certainly more effective than something like "Symbiosis," but I think that while there is an attempt to portray both why Danar is dangerous and why he needs sympathy and understanding, there is very little effort to present the prime minster as anything but smug, condescending, and cowardly. This probably is done so that the pat ending can feel less unearned than if he was actually portrayed sympathetically (the way, for example, the police chief in the following episode, "The High Ground," is, despite a somewhat similar function in the episode), in which Picard leaves him and his to be held at phaserpoint by prisoners who *did* use the Enterprise to get back to the planet.
I think all in all 2.5 stars sounds right.
I think that the show is worth watching, up til the point where Sorbo thinks he should have creative control of the show. At that point the show would have been better served without him and probably would have made more sense and had better continuity.