Jammer's Review
Star Trek: The Next Generation
"Relics"
Air date: 10/12/1992
Written by Ronald D. Moore
Directed by Alexander Singer
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
Every once in a while, the Trek franchise will stop for a moment and indulge its inner fan for a Very Special Episode that reflects upon its mythos. The most obvious way of doing this is to bring aboard TOS characters — something it did in the pilot episode (McCoy), season five's "Unification" (Spock), and would later do in Generations (Kirk) and even Star Trek 2009 (Spock again, in the rebooted alternate timeline). There seems to be an aura of legitimacy that bringing TOS forward into the future seems to bestow upon the latter-day mythos. It's a uniquely fascinating construction: Some of the actors were still playing the parts off and on even when this aired in 1992, but the time frame between TOS and TNG made the fictional TOS characters a piece of decades-old history.
In "Relics," we get Scotty, who is found having been suspended in a jerry-rigged transporter beam on a downed vessel for the past 75 years. In that time he hasn't aged a day. His ship crashed on the surface of a mythical Dyson Sphere — a massive sphere constructed by an ancient society around a star. The Dyson Sphere has a diameter equivalent to Earth's orbit around the sun. Whoa.
"Relics" is a good title, because it not only describes the mysterious Dyson Sphere, but gets to the heart of Scotty's dilemma, where he wakes up to find that he's become mostly irrelevant. Technology has moved on, most everyone who knew him is dead, and when he tries to help out in engineering, he becomes such a nuisance that Geordi finally snaps and tells him that he's in the way. (Picard, ever the wise, recognizes Scotty's plight, and appeals to Geordi to take one for the team and find a way to help a former Starfleet officer be useful again.)
Yes, the episode lays on the nostalgia fairly thick. Sometimes it is too broadly played, with a few too many examples of Scotty saying he was doing this, that, and the other while your great-grandfather was still in diapers. (One of the problems with James Doohan's take on Scotty in general is that the affects of the character are at times so overpowering that he edges close to cartoonishness.) But the scene that really works in "Relics" is when Scotty recreates the original Enterprise bridge on the holodeck. It's a terrific homage, made all the better because it's grounded in believably nostalgic dialog between Scotty and Picard about old glories that cannot be recaptured. (Scotty's drink with Data also has an elliptical quality; Data's line, "It is green," borrows from a TOS drinking scene Scotty appeared in decades earlier.)
If there's a problem with "Relics" — and I must regretfully admit that there is — it's that, apart from the holodeck sequence, the storytelling can be too earnest for its own good, and without the benefit of digging as deep as it perhaps might have. There's also an abundance of forgettable technobabble — probably a symptom of this particular period in TNG's run while also being a symptom of putting two chief engineers in the same room for long stretches of time. And I felt the awesomeness of the Dyson Sphere, a fascinating sci-fi concept, was never adequately realized. (The visual effects of the time reveal their limitations, and the sphere ultimately becomes a means to an end to supply a routine jeopardy plot.)
Still, I want to be clear that this is a pleasant and even admirable example of the Very Special Episode. It understands its characters, gives them a personal story worth telling, and uses them to drive the plot. If it doesn't achieve greatness in the process, well, so what?
Previous episode: Man of the People
Next episode: Schisms
Season Index
17 comments on this review
Great story overall though and as Jammer says the Dyson Sphere is an awesome invention, well realised on screen.
Have realised that I have been following your reviews (even of Andromeda) for nearly 15 years which brought me to a juddering halt and gave me an intimation of my own mortality! Delighted you're back at it and remember Handlen has to go through at least five seasons of DS9 and seven seasons of Voyager (at least) before he equals your longevity !
I'd say this is worth 3.5 stars, whilst I recognise James Doohan's performance, especially The scenes with Burton were hit and miss, it still resonates. the interaction ( or lack thereof) between Worr and Scotty and the scenes with the ensign providing Scotty with quarters are excellent, so for pure nostalgic feel, this is one of season six's better offerings
Looking forward to the remainder of the reviews, and you remain the true 'No.1' for Real Star Trek fans!
NO!!!
THAT is what has always bothered me about this episode--Picard is an amateur archeologist who can wax rhapsodic about a clay pot for hours and when a real, live relic appears he is too busy?
Geordie will build old ships and talk to a hot hologram for days but can't spare a moment for the GREATEST ENTERPRISE ENGINEER ever?
And don't tell me the Dyson sphere was urgent--damn thing wasn't doing a damn thing until much later.
If a random person from 75 years ago suddenly appeared in our midst, he/she would be the most talked-about person on the planet--the most feted, celebrated individual in many years.
But on the Enterprise they are too busy? FAUGH!
Scotty is brilliant and wonderful in this--and I love the nods to the past, especially "How long will it really take you?" so I put the failure here solely on the writers. They threw in completely erratic character traits for the others, so this did not ring true.
Seriously--SCOTTY had to "prove" himself useful before they appreciated him? That's a big 'ol pile of steaming plop out the back end of a bull.
And all that being said, Scotty's conversation with Picard on the original Enterprise is indeed moving and touching, one of the best moments ever.
Just don't expect me to believe that every crew member on that ship wouldn't be clamoring for time with Scotty! Phooey.
the only one in voyager i cared for was quark in the pilot.
"Relics" is one of my favorite eps from Season 6, due to the idea of the Dyson Sphere, and of course, Scotty. Anytime they feature ancient advanced civilizations, it's the best!
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It would be interesting to note what reviews would keep their ratings, and which would decrease over time. It would also be fun to compare notes with fans that watched the shows when they aired, versus new fans today. I suspect as long as the props or cgi don't give away their age, many Star Trek episodes tell universal stories. Anyone watch TOS remastered - does it help the shows compensate for their age?
I've said this before in various ways, but the reviews are as much a product of their time as anything. I can certainly point to episodes that I would view (and rate) differently if I saw them today. That's just a matter of the fact that times have changed and so have I.
That being said, there is, to a certain degree, a closed universe that each of these shows lives in. When I watch TNG today, I find myself entering into "TNG mode." I think of the shows in terms of who I am today and what I know, but I also do not forget what it felt like to watch them 20 years ago and how they were a product of their time, as all things are.
It all probably swirls around my brain and finds a balance. Who's to say how much of it gets factored in either way as I'm writing a review today of something I remember from 20 years ago.
I don't bother changing old ratings because at a certain point the review should just stand for what I thought at the time. I stand by most of what I wrote and most of the ratings. Some things I might change if I were writing them today. But I'm not writing them today, so that's pretty much all there is to it.
I don't bother changing old ratings because at a certain point the review should just stand for what I thought at the time. I stand by most of what I wrote and most of the ratings. Some things I might change if I were writing them today. But I'm not writing them today, so that's pretty much all there is to it.
So, just for fun, if someone put a gun against your head and told you to pick a Trek episode rating your current self disagrees with the most, what would it be? :)
For anyone who didn't know, the concept of Dyson's Sphere is actually one cultivated in the real world during the 1950's. Freeman Dyson was amused by this episode. Per Memory Alpha:
"Freeman Dyson himself called his theory a 'joke.' About 'Relics', Dyson said: 'Actually it was sort of fun to watch it. It's all nonsense, but it's quite a good piece of cinema.' [1] In the same interview, he said that 'Stapledon sphere' would be a more appropriate name, in honor of Olaf Stapledon, whose depiction of such an object in his 1937 novel Star Maker inspired young Dyson to look into the theory."
That said, the Dyson's Sphere was a fantastic sci-fi concept that helped to continue bridging both television series. The notion that Scotty randomly shows up 70+ years later in the Trek Universe is far-fetched itself, but the Sphere allowed for both his appearance AND for Scotty to save the day. Perfect homage for TOS, in my opinion.
Furthermore, Scotty's interaction with the TNG crew is well-executed. Much like his reaction to Ensign Sonya Gomez in "Q Who," Geordi expresses quick frustration over dealing with annoying personalities. Meanwhile, Picard expresses sympathy with Scotty, not only as a Captain, but also as someone who is a bit senior in age himself. And the Data scene in Ten Forward eerily reminds you of Scotty's conversations with Spock, his own non-human crew member on TOS.
I do agree with Jammer that the Dyson's Sphere was a grand concept that was not properly addressed in the Trek Universe, and that technobabble may have stolen away a bit of screentime from further deepening the emotional impact of Scotty's return. However, I'm not sure if it deserves the demotion of an entire star.
My rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars
Maybe twenty-fourth-century transporter technology can beam through twenty-third-century shields. Yeah, that must be it.
Also, Starfleet Medical should have been all over Scotty's feat. Say someone has a terminal illness for which there's no treatment -- stick them in a transporter buffer until such time as a cure is discovered. Sorta like the Phantom Zone.
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