Star Trek: The Next Generation
"Shades of Gray"
zero stars
Air date: 7/17/1989
Teleplay by Maurice Hurley and Richard Manning & Hans Beimler
Story by Maurice Hurley
Directed by Robert Bowman
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
Worst. Finale. Ever. I might as well get it out of the way and call it the most pointless episode of TNG ever made. Honestly, was this episode even meant to be taken seriously, or were the creators as hopelessly desperate to fill the hour as it looks? Part of me thinks it's unfair to even assign a star rating to a clip show, but I'm going to do it anyway and assign it, let's see, no stars. (I suppose every Trek series has to have one.)
Not only are the choices of clips mostly bad (not that they had much to choose from at this point), the framing device is terrible: Riker is infected with parasites on an away mission, and the only way to keep them from destroying his brain are to combat them with endorphins by triggering his memory. His memories, of course, are all clips from previous first- and second-season episodes of the show. How convenient. Or, for us, inconvenient.
One nice aspect of this episode is that it took me about 25 minutes to watch on DVD because of the fast-forward button and the fact that I've seen all these other episodes in the last few months and don't feel obligated to watch excerpts again. (I can't imagine watching this episode again without a fast-forward button.) But, for the record, the clips are from the following episodes, in this order: "The Last Outpost," "Encounter at Farpoint," "The Dauphin," "The Icarus Factor," "Justice," "11001001," "Angel One," "Up the Long Ladder," "Skin of Evil," "The Child," "A Matter of Honor," "Conspiracy," "Symbiosis," "The Last Outpost" again, "Skin of Evil" again, "11001001" again, and "Heart of Glory." And, of course, a montage where lots of stuff blows up (including Remmick's head from "Conspiracy," which is almost worth a free half-star by itself, but I'll resist).
While there are clips from a few good shows, many of the clips are from some of the series' worst episodes, and there's no reason to be repeating them. The episode's "original material" depicts how happy memories strengthen the parasites while painful ones ward them off. The scenes in sickbay with Troi and Pulaski employ much unendurable medical babble that seems to be repeating on an endless loop. I seem to remember there was a writers' strike either before or during this season of TNG. Based on this episode, they should've taken more time off.
Previous episode: Peak Performance
Next episode: Evolution
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89 comments on this post
Mon, Sep 17, 2007, 12:27am (UTC -5)
Despite the fact that enduring all those meaningless flashbacks was a waste of time at best, I really thought that the worst part was the "story" that happened in between memories. Half of the things said were by the doctor, and no justification is required to explain why that is a horrendous choice.
Maybe something that was positive about "Shades of Gray" was that it actually got a laugh out loud from me. At the end, when Riker wakes up he says "you won't believe the dreams I was having", and Troy responds, laughing, "Oh yes we would!" If this was a cartoon made in the 70's for toddlers that would be appropriate.
I guess I feel more sorry for this episode than I am mad at it.
Sun, Apr 6, 2008, 1:20pm (UTC -5)
And it certainly wasn't as bad as "Threshold"
Wed, Jun 11, 2008, 12:15pm (UTC -5)
Whenever I wrote about the recent writers strike, I thought of Shades of Gray, and feared that a current favorite show's finale would suffer a similar fate...
Fri, Mar 20, 2009, 9:51pm (UTC -5)
This episode is thought to be one of the weakest ever made. Maurice Hurley, who co-wrote the episode, commented, "Piece of shit. It was supposed to be a bottle show. Terrible, just terrible, and a way to save some money. I was on the way out the door."
The only thing that makes this episode that makes it better than Voyager's "Threshold" is the fact that they were forced to produce it. "Threshold", on the other hand, was entirely the writers' fault.
Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 8:29pm (UTC -5)
"Shades of Grey" come about because of the '88 writer's strike. But compared to "Genesis", it's a cake-walk to sit through ("Data, something's got meeeeeee!")
Thu, Nov 22, 2012, 8:08am (UTC -5)
On to the 3rd season! :) I love Star Trek!
Sat, Jan 12, 2013, 6:10am (UTC -5)
Tue, Apr 2, 2013, 9:02pm (UTC -5)
There are still some good clips in the episode -- the Riker/Guinan flirting, the (not great, but decent) Riker/Troi farewell in "The Icarus Factor," the fight with the second officer on the Pagh (though I would have preferred a number of other scenes from "A Matter of Honour"), the dance with Minuet, and the introduction to Data -- the last of which is not really a great scene, but is one that makes sense to be important to Riker and is decent. In addition to these, I like Riker's stoic reaction to his life being on the line and his scene with Troi talking about this. There are some good things here.
Unfortunately, the clips actually get worse as the episode gets on, and the meshing between the clips and the Enterprise material gets worse and worse. I like how this episode follows Riker/Troi tearful goodbye scene, ending with words like "Are you sad?" "Yes." "So am I!" with Troi saying something to the effect of, "He's relaxed...he has feelings of warmth and friendship." OK, that is not the emotion communicated in that scene, is it?
I do like how this episode demonstrates how huge the quality differential between s1 and s2 is. It follows up the Riker/Guinan flirting in "The Dauphin" (a great comic scene) and then the Riker/Troi tearful goodbye in "The Icarus Factor" (not great, but serviceable) with the Edo fleshfest from "Justice" -- as quick a demonstration of how far the show came in one year as is possible. The Riker/Min scene -- which is quite good -- is sandwiched between the Edo scene and the "Angel One" and the "Up the Long Ladder" sex scenes, which also demonstrates how variable the series is in terms of its eroticism. (To be fair, while the "Up the Long Ladder" scene is not good, it is nowhere near as bad as the "Angel One" scene, which in turn is IMHO nowhere near as goofy as the Edo skinfest.)
Somewhere in the 1/2 to 1 star range from me.
Wed, Apr 3, 2013, 8:23am (UTC -5)
Elementary, Dear Data 3.5 (+0.5)
Loud as a Whisper 3 (+1)
Unnatural Selection 2.5 (+0.5)
The Dauphin 1.5 (-1)
The Icarus Factor 2 (-1)
The Emissary 3.5 (+1)
Shades of Grey 0.5 (+0.5)
Well, that sure was insightful.
On the season as a whole, I think that it's underrated. The season still has some bad shows, but they are mostly of the forgettable variety -- nothing in "Manhunt" strikes me as bad, it's just totally devoid of interest, for example. I don't really count "Shades of Grey" against the season, given the writers' strike and the necessity of working around it. And there were strong shows for most characters -- Picard with "The Measure of a Man," "Contagion," "Time Squared," the subplot in "Samaritan Snare," and a general strong commanding presence, Riker with "A Matter of Honour" and "Peak Performance," with strong supporting work in "The Measure of a Man," Data with "E,DD," "The Measure of a Man," "Pen Pals," and the subplots of "The Outrageous Okona" and "Peak Performance," Worf in "The Emissary," Troi in "Loud as a Whisper" (to me anyway), and Wesley in the B-plot in "Samaritan Snare" with Picard. Pulaski's only headline show was "Unnatural Selection," which I think is not as bad as people usually credit it with, but isn't a great starring vehicle; still, she's a good presence throughout the season. I think Geordi was fairly ill-served here -- as he frankly is every year -- but the promotion to chief engineer gives the character a better niche within the show, and he gets some good material throughout and especially in "Elementary, Dear Data." The season introduces Guinan, gives the first use of the Romulans as an effective Cold War-style foe in "Contagion," introduces the Borg, deepens Klingon culture in "A Matter of Honour," moves the Ferengi into largely comic threat territory which can *still* be mined for dramatic tension in "Peak Performance," moves Wesley away from wunderkid and into a role more believable (if not entirely well realized), and Riker grows a beard and a sense of humour. This is where TNG starts really *being* TNG.
While it's hardly that strong a recommendation, I do think it's notable that most of the bad episodes are *really* bad and disconnected from everything, and thus highly skippable. If I wanted to rewatch s2 tomorrow, I would essentially skip all of "Okona" except the Data subplot, "The Royale," "Up the Long Ladder," "Manhunt" and "Shades of Grey" and I would not feel I've lost anything at all. The worst episodes remaining -- say, "The Child," "The Dauphin," "The Icarus Factor" -- are important enough for character to be worth watching, but aren't really all that bottom-of-the-barrel; the material which *works* in this season is not particularly infected by the rot that remains in the weak episodes. It's easy enough for me to dismiss these 'skippable' eps as hiccups of a show finding its footing, which don't really have any impact beyond the episodes themselves, with the possible exception of "Manhunt" which does affect later Lwaxana episodes, albeit slightly.
Mon, Jul 1, 2013, 8:01pm (UTC -5)
Mon, Jul 22, 2013, 9:51pm (UTC -5)
Things must have been a real disaster back then, or else they'd have changed places with "Peak Performance".
Now, time to look at the whole season: Overall, I think it was a bad season. But, you have to remember that S1 was terrible, instead. So, this is an improvement!
Now, what makes S2 better than the first season is a mix of a couple of great episodes and more subtle progress.
Great episodes: "A Matter of Honor", "The Measure of a Man", "Time Squared", "Q Who". And both "Peak Performance" and "The Emissary" deserve a special mention, imo. I already talked about these eps in their respective pages.
And when I say subtle progress I mean better acting: everyone is much more relaxed, lines are starting to come out naturally; and characterization is becoming more stable.
We are just about to see the show taking new heights next season, and no small part of S3 success was thanks to the solid foundation S2 left before.
Mon, Sep 16, 2013, 9:34am (UTC -5)
I also have stated many times season 2 is my second favourite season and I have nostalgia love of season 2, so I like clips from them.
Mon, Sep 16, 2013, 9:44am (UTC -5)
Sat, Oct 5, 2013, 9:18pm (UTC -5)
(Actually, I seem to recall liking the episode when I was a kid. Maybe it was because I started TNG in the 2nd season, and so all the 1st season clips were news to me. Or maybe because I was just a kid).
In any case, I bear no malice towards the writers, director, or even the producers who ordered it. It had to be done, so be it. Time to move on.
As for the 2nd season as a whole, the improvement over season 1 was so dramatic that I can't really put this season in the same category. By my count, a full 50% of the episodes were at least good episodes, compared to less than 25% in the first season. Yes, only half good is hardly the sign of a wonderful franchise, but it's enough to be engaging.
It also had the first sustained length of quality episodes. Starting from Matter of Honor and going through Q Who, Jammer rated 7 of the 9 episodes as 3 stars or greater (personally, I'd nix Icarus Factor from that list, but 6 of 9 is still good). That's a pretty good run, not just for season 2 but for the series in general.
Part of it is that the characters became more clearly defined into the roles they would play for the rest of the season. Picard was the humanist diplomat, not a short tempered Frenchman. Riker was the good humored non-conventionalist, not the Kirk clone. Data was the mirror to reflect on what being human means, not just the weird robot. Troi was... well, still Troi. But whatever. Plots started to get smarter, and more importantly ended in a rational matter. No more character's acting like idiots like Datalore or plots randomly lurching along like Home Soil. Instead of bad episodes that frustrated and angered me with their stupidity (Angel One, Justice, and the like), the bad episodes were basically just boring (Unnatural Selection, the Dauphin, etc). While improvements still need to be made, I quite enjoy the season for what it is.
Wed, May 21, 2014, 11:14am (UTC -5)
The only way I'd watch this episode again is if they had a "musical soundtrack only" option on a DVD.
Wed, May 21, 2014, 12:35pm (UTC -5)
Needing to save money is no excuse. You don't need a big budget to film 45 minutes. My favorite Star Trek episode of all time is "Remember Me", and the majority of that was Beverly Crusher wandering around an empty ship ranting at the computer.
Need to save even more money? How about that episode (don't know the name) where 3 members of the crew were stuck in a single room on the holodeck with one dying of a gunshot room? That episode sucked. But at least they put in an effort and gave us new material. And it probably cost them almost nothing.
Fri, Aug 22, 2014, 3:43pm (UTC -5)
And the framing for the clips is not as bad as all that. About 20-25 minutes of setup outside the clips, and some decent dialog between Picard and Riker about the how most lifeforms attack out of instinct to survive instead of malice, etc.
Not the best of course, but zero stars? nah.
Thu, Nov 20, 2014, 7:01am (UTC -5)
Even she picked out most of the first few 'clips' originating episodes which suprised me, but i had to use the fast forward button on the Tivo to get to the end. If Picard had asked the Doctor one more time 'what can i do'? or 'What do you want me to do?'.......
TNG is to me, 'STAR TREK' and its such a shame, i can watch any episode over and over, and have done over the years, i always enjoy it but this.....well. I understand about the strike and saving money etc, but no one participating in it seems even bothered. Even Riker couldnt care less that he might die. With Troi almost hysterical and the Doctor constantly shaking her head at her computer screen thing, its one ill avoid in the future like it just doesnt exist!
One thing i did note was how different Data had become since the clip shown on the episode where Riker calls him 'Pinocchio' in the holo-forest to how he is now at the end of season 2.
Thu, Nov 20, 2014, 8:13am (UTC -5)
There is a reason why Data/Worf are fan favorites, and their character development is a huge part of that. The actors just did so much with their roles (going from "Pinocchio" and "sit in the corner and scowl" to what they eventually became).
Fri, Jan 16, 2015, 10:13am (UTC -5)
It started interesting enough with Riker's injury, and I thought: "See? That's what you get for going to unexplored planets without any protective gear!" Of course we know that Riker is not about to die, but I still found it interesting how they would resolve the situation, and he's given a little character development in how he handles imminent death, where we are once again shown how much he's built his identity on his role as a Starfleet officer. I also liked that the episode featured a lot of Pulaski, who to me is the most underrated character on the show. I knew that she wouldn't be around for the next season, so I was happy to see more of her here.
Then she and Troi probed Riker's brain and his memories started resurfacing, beginning with the scene of Riker alone on some planet, shouting his crewmates' names. I didn't remember that scene and only thought: "Weird, why doesn't he have his beard? Did they use a deleted scene from season 1?" But when the scene on the holodeck was replayed, it dawned on me: "Could this be a clipshow? Did they really go there?" From there on it went straight downhill.
In the end, the episode really only serves to remind us how many bad moments TNG has had until this point - bad in terms of stories, dialogue, acting and sets. Which is a shame, because there had in fact been many good moments (though hardly any consistently good episodes) the in the second half of season 1 and during season 2. I didn't reach for the forward button (mainly because I watched it on a tablet computer, where it's harder to scroll to the right scene), but I instead turned away my eyes to check e-mails and Facebook statuses. I think that if I had been watching this show on TV back then, with no knowledge of the coming seasons and with the next episode months away, I probably would not have tuned in for the next season.
Thu, May 21, 2015, 11:45am (UTC -5)
Say want you will about episodes generally considered to be the worst of their respective series (ones like "Spock's Brain," "And the Children Shall Lead," "Let He Who Is Without Sin...," "Profit and Lace," "Threshold," or that abysmal finale to Enterprise), but at least all those episodes were actually trying to be episodes. They were all failures, but at least the attempt was made!
"Shades of Gray" is as close as you can get to pure filler - nothing more.
0/10
Thu, May 21, 2015, 1:35pm (UTC -5)
But regardless, this cheaply made piece of trash was the price they paid for blowing the budget on the Borg ripping a slice out of the ship.
Totally worth it. Cause we can just skip this...
Thu, May 21, 2015, 4:32pm (UTC -5)
But, DS9 did MUCH better with 'Duet' for sure. :-)
Mon, Jul 13, 2015, 3:34am (UTC -5)
Fri, Aug 21, 2015, 8:42pm (UTC -5)
I just think there was lots of other TNG episodes worse than this, more boring than this and with worse writing like masks and descent
Fri, Aug 28, 2015, 12:22pm (UTC -5)
OK, so it's a clip show, and we all know that because they blew the budget on early episodes they were told to bring one in quickly and cheaply. But you can bring a sense of style to a clip show, and this doesn't.
For the new scenes this actually starts OK, I guess there's no real sense of peril as Riker is clearly not going to die, but up until they start stimulating his dreams it's not too bad. But from then, the constant Troi and Pulaski "let's do this" interspersed with the clips is the lazy man's way out.
We do get to see the exploding head again, so that's something, and Data's character progression is clear for all to see. But there's not much else to see here. 1 star.
---
Overall my scores for this series average out at 2.3, coming in a hair under average and a hair up on season 1. Indeed, it was heading for a better score until the abysmal end to the series, which saw 4 of 6 score under 2. Ironically that came straight after the triumph that was Q Who, the only 4 star episode of the first 2 seasons.
Overall, the characters are now starting to blossom and back story being filled in. Data and Worf continue to star, Geordi is assuming greater prominence, and Chief O'Brien is now on regualar show. Wesley was even a bit less annoying. Personally, I was not unhappy with Pulaski - she brought a spiky quality which actually served as a nice counterpoint to some of the other main characters. Good groundwork for sure.
Mon, Oct 19, 2015, 8:31pm (UTC -5)
Thu, Jan 21, 2016, 11:54pm (UTC -5)
I didn't like Pulaski.
Now I am rewatching the series on netflix as a man in his 40s, and I absolutely love her character. Depth, personality, charisma, edge, passion, joy of life..... a far superior actress and character to Beverly. She was was written to be passive, bland, and had almost zero character development until late in the series when they gave her command in the S7 opener, and the Picard love episode (I try to forget that abhorrent ghost lover episode).
Wed, May 11, 2016, 2:16pm (UTC -5)
Wed, May 11, 2016, 6:21pm (UTC -5)
Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 8:15pm (UTC -5)
hard scifi : 0/5
-virus and bacteria cannot infect spieces they are not adapted to.
-adaptation requires massive exposure to that virus/bacteria over prolonged time
-as such it should not have infected riker at all as this was the first time humans landed on that planet.
-needles in the head to stimulate brain activity, that penetrate the skull somehow?
Without disinffecting the skin or a sterile OK, giving REAL dangerous bacteria a chance to enter the brain?
-besides that far in the future? sorry i refuse to believe they still use needles to stimulate the brain.
-total bullshit with their negative endorphins talk, they bind to the molecules, ok thats what virusses do, bind to dna, ordering to make more of them, still you could just kill the diseased cells. (why would cutting of a leg or a few nerves be bad, certainly they can be grown back with fututure medic tech, and even if not better without a leg than dead I would say.
-besuides there are only 3 types of endorphine, and none are negative, basicly they work like a mild variation of morphine. there is no biological posibility that they chemically can do anything to nullify that virus.
continuity 0/5 :
-the flashbacks are bad, and in error, he had a whole career and a love live before the enterprise, his flashbacks should have included those too
-they forgot their own solution for the aging bug? they could have pulled riker through the transporter and supplemented the datastream with earlier dna patterns, and as such canceling out the virus.
Enjoyment : 1/5
-flahbacks are never fun.
-stupid needle thing, for shock effect not fun
-WAY to many time 'lets futher narrow down the beam + a lower groth percentage, boring!
-the cure worked way to fast, instead of a slow recovery or "and the next month" the cure works IN AN INSTANT, rather than having a slow negative growthrate, skipping info is no fun.
-goofy capturing spine moment has lack of real danger no fun.
average score 0.3/5, or in stars 0.0 out of 5 stars.
Sat, Nov 12, 2016, 3:06pm (UTC -5)
-virus and bacteria cannot infect spieces they are not adapted to.
-adaptation requires massive exposure to that virus/bacteria over prolonged time"
This is... not true at all. Think about it; some of the most notorious pandemics in human history occurred precisely because populations were suddenly exposed to novel contagions. When smallpox and measles were brought to the New World, it was the previously unexposed indigenous peoples that died, far more readily than the Europeans who had been living with those viruses as endemic diseases for centuries.
Sun, Nov 20, 2016, 1:11pm (UTC -5)
And thanks for the genuine laugh out loud at seeing zero stars.
Wed, Nov 23, 2016, 3:51pm (UTC -5)
I'm thankful the series was able to survive its rough start.
Fri, Jan 20, 2017, 6:49pm (UTC -5)
But four stars for being So Awful That you and your friends all dive for the remote and scream, "No! No! Quick, turn it OFF! Turn it off right now!!"
Tue, Apr 11, 2017, 3:31pm (UTC -5)
"Where Silence Has Lease"-3
"Elementary, Dear Data"-3.5
"The Outrageous Okona"-1.5
"Loud As a Whisper"-2.5
"Schizoid Man"-1.5
"Unnatural Selection"-2
"A Matter of Honor"-3.5
"The Measure of a Man"-4
"The Dauphin"-2
"Contagion"-3.5
"The Royale"-3
"Time Squared"-3.5
"The Icarus Factor"-2.5
"Pen Pals"-2.5
"Q Who"-4
"Samaritan Snare"-2.5
"Up the Long Ladder"-1
"Manhunt"-1.5
"The Emissary"-3
"Peak Performace"-3.5
"Shades of Grey"-0
Overall: 2.48
Tue, May 23, 2017, 5:44pm (UTC -5)
The actual plot is very basic - and how Riker is cured all of a sudden at the end is a mystery since the parasite's growth rate stops but it never (as I recall) went negative. It was as if a few steps were skipped. So some of his nerves should still be impaired.
I actually didn't mind the flashbacks until about half-way through them. I've seen most but not all of S1 and S2 and didn't mind seeing the ones that would have Riker go through the appropriate emotions.
The early part of the episode (before the treatment/memories begin) isn't half bad but when considering the overall episode as being very simplistic, I'd rate it 1 star out of 4.
That being said, TNG S2 is pretty weak -- seems most people are of that opinion -- of course it gets much better, but it has its strong episodes too. Would be good to see more consistency in quality of episodes.
Wed, Jun 21, 2017, 4:46pm (UTC -5)
Any clip show justifies a temporal eradication order on the offending studio but this was the absolute pits.
The initial memories of our chap Will are ,of course, driven by his wedding tackle as he tries to ape Kirk's romantic efforts with every female he comes across.
Unintentionally funny, if rather sad and agree with Jammer that I could have done without being reminded of those terrible earlier episodes.
17 million wormholes from me.
So: season 2,eh?
Well it was more or less as dreadful as season one really.
I only really liked snippets of some episodes with one or two exceptions.
Best actor was , for me , easily Michael Dorn.
A miracle that the series survived but at least we are over the worst and from the next season things get steadily better and that is mainly because the showrunners begin to realise that the more interesting area to explore is the characters themselves.
Thu, Mar 22, 2018, 3:16pm (UTC -5)
Sun, Mar 25, 2018, 6:52pm (UTC -5)
But let's say you HAD to do a clip show to save money and time:
Seems like some of the crew in an already crashed shuttle craft (to save money on the not having to show the crash) would be they way to go. One of them is dying -- doesn't matter who. It could still be Riker.
Three of the others go in one at the time and they talk about their journeys on the show (in clips) and then also tell stories of their time before the Enterprise to keep him awake and fighting until the Enterprise arrives. Seems like Picard, Troi and Data would be the best choices. Could have been a chance for dramatic personal interactions and a better array of clips could be used.
They even could have projected into the future with talk of the Borg and Romulans and set up some tension for Season 3. You could have Pulaski get there for the last five or 10 minutes to give her a little send-off and one last thing to do.
I think there could have been a way to do a better clip show at least.
That said, I didn't think this was horrible.
Fri, May 18, 2018, 1:33am (UTC -5)
So I did! Then I felt bad cause obviously she had nothing to do with it.
THANKS SHADES OF GRAY!!!!
Mon, Jun 4, 2018, 12:35am (UTC -5)
A clip show after only 2 seasons. What a stinker.
Sat, Jun 9, 2018, 6:48pm (UTC -5)
#%*@*@* hospital episode. bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep
Mon, Jun 25, 2018, 6:52am (UTC -5)
It's a shame that this episode was Pulaski's final episode though, not a strong send off.
Mon, Jun 25, 2018, 11:37am (UTC -5)
They might do it if there’s another writer’s strike during production. Of course, Star Trek is serialized now so it’s extremely unlikely. Who would even queue up a clip show if they could just go to the next real episode any time.
Tue, Sep 4, 2018, 10:30pm (UTC -5)
Imagine that the writers strike continued for another year. Imagine that shades of grey was just the beginning of a continuous run of clip shows that went on to compose the entire third season...all regurgitating the same tired crappy episodes in some stupid way only slightly different from each other.
Then the show is cancelled after its third (mostly clip show season)
TNG never becomes the global phenomenon that it is today. No more star trek spin-offs are produced. Star trek dies a quiet death in early 1990.
The actors all drift around in quiet desperation, living unfulfilled lives. Broken dreams.
Mirinia Sirtis gets into hardcore porn to pay the bills...but contracts AIDS and dies in 2001.
Michael Dorn quits acting and becomes a successful commercial airline pilot, flying for Delta.
Patrick Stewart returns to England and stage acting. He can never get the roles he once did, even in small English productions. Occasionally he does commercials for local companies. Most of the commercials are spoofs at the fact that he was "that other star trek captain."
Brent Spiner quits acting and goes into insurance sales
Jonathan Frake's career starts to dry up. He gets smaller and smaller roles. Refusing to give up the dream, and saddled with emotional distress, he drifts and flounders. He becomes addicted to meth. In and out of rehab, he later dies of suicide.
Wil Weaton still goes to conventions, and makes his living doing star trek appearances. His life is more or less the same.
Gates McFadden retires from acting and becomes a drama teacher at a rural high school somewhere in middle america. She is beloved by her students and her community. She marries a wealthy real estate developer. She remodels houses in her spare time and was even featured in one of those remodel shows.
Yep...it all almost happened. And it could have happened, if things didn't pull themselves together after the early seasons of TNG. Let this be a reminder to everyone never to give up. Persistence. Good Humor. Faith. Hard work.
Thu, Sep 6, 2018, 6:50am (UTC -5)
Sat, Sep 15, 2018, 1:53am (UTC -5)
Wed, Sep 26, 2018, 5:00am (UTC -5)
The end of Pulaski thank you very much.
Wed, Sep 26, 2018, 1:31pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Sep 26, 2018, 1:36pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Sep 26, 2018, 1:45pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Sep 26, 2018, 1:49pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Sep 26, 2018, 2:20pm (UTC -5)
“This episode was written to save time and money as a result of budget overruns earlier in the season. It was shot in only three days, while most take at least a week. Director Rob Bowman commented, "It was Paramount saying, 'We gave you more money for "Elementary, Dear Data" and the Borg show. Now do us a favor and give us a three-day show.' So that's what you do. It's an accepted part of the medium." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages)”
Wed, Sep 26, 2018, 2:31pm (UTC -5)
Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 5:39am (UTC -5)
Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 7:21am (UTC -5)
Right, the strike was settled in 1988 and this episode (1989) was written by the usual writing staff. If you want to see the strike’s impact, check out “We’ll Always Have Paris” where the ending was unfinished and needed to be ad libbed or “The Neutral Zone” which was a fan-submitted script.
Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 12:28pm (UTC -5)
Thu, Sep 27, 2018, 2:30pm (UTC -5)
Fri, Oct 26, 2018, 4:48pm (UTC -5)
What's notable in S1-2 TNG is that even though about two-thirds of the episodes are bad, the characters all work (as do the relationships between them) and they're people you feel welcomed by and want to spend time with. They feel like real people. All of the characters would be deepened in coming seasons, but what's here already works well - they're people you instinctively trust and respect as professionals but also who you'd hang out with, and this is a big key to the show's success.
Sat, Dec 8, 2018, 7:26pm (UTC -5)
Sat, Dec 8, 2018, 7:38pm (UTC -5)
You’re right, it is easy to do...with recycled footage.
Can’t wait for your review touting “Cost of Living”’s refreshing take on disciplining children.
Sun, Dec 9, 2018, 9:37am (UTC -5)
Tue, Dec 18, 2018, 9:38pm (UTC -5)
Sat, Mar 16, 2019, 10:29am (UTC -5)
I liked the cooperation between Pulaski and Troi. (As an aside, it is pretty ironic considering the shit talking Marina has been doing against Diana Maldaur, a superior actress who went on to a great role in LA Law. )
It is too bad this was the last episode for Dr Pulaski. I wonder if we will ever get the full story of what happened there. If Patrick Stewart lobbied for his love interest, Beverly, that is pretty pathetic. Women should be given strong roles and Pulaski was a true Chief Medical Officer who was strong and principled and stood up for things. I compare her favourably against the other bridge crew who themselves were cringingly unprofessional and weak at times. When I was a young lad, I wanted just the prettier and less abrasive Dr Crusher but now I prefer the real senior officer character and the superior actor.
The actors who played Troi, Riker, and Data have stated that they are typecast now (even in a recent interview with Frakes) and unable to get good roles and yet others went on to get great parts (such as Maldaur). I wonder if what we had was some young inexperienced actors, including those three, who were unprofessional and didn't know what to make of the older accomplished actors such as Stewart and Maldaur. Stewart tried to get them to be more professional and Maldaur has stated they were not very friendly.
The last scene alone was the best and funniest portrayal of how Data as artificial intelligence didn't get humour. (Although I wonder if it does now in real life? I expect so since it is pretty formulaic)
The episode would have been a great one if Riker were being killed off. That way they get to show a montage but as a real part of the plot. In this case we got to see just how truly awful some of the earlier episodes were. So there were a lot of flashbacks in this episode and yet for some reason they didn't bother me (and that is saying something as I am not a fan of Rikers.)
Mon, Jun 3, 2019, 12:28pm (UTC -5)
Y'all probably saw that one coming. But anyway the episode itself is pretty dry and the story *or lack there of* was pathetic. I understand they were going thru the writer's strike and what not, but seriously? At least some of the clips were from decent episodes.
Well it's all in the past now. Anyway I'm off to Starbase [insert number] to greet the lovely Dr. Crusher. ^-^
But before I go:
The Child: 3/10 I really don't like Deanna.
Where Silence Has Lease: 3/10 I just didn't understand anything.
Elementary, Dear Data: 6/10 cute. But it would have been nice if it stayed a Data episode.
The Outrageous Okona: 4/10 Data is funny tho.
Loud As A Whisper: 3/10 what in the world?
The Schizoid Man: 5/10 any excuse to do a Data abduction episode.
Unnatural Selection: 3/10 eww Pulaski.
A Matter Of Honor: 5/10 KLINGONS!!!!
The Measure Of A Man: 8/10 duuude this one. It loses points because Maddox is a little terd who I want to punch multiple times. Also this is the twenty fourth century. EVERYBODY is supposed to be accepted. Still good tho.
The Dauphion: 3/10 oh Wesley. I'm not even gonna bother checking to see if I spelled it right.
Contagion: 7/10 finally another good one.
The Royale: 5/10 silly.
Time Squared: 5/10 this one and Cause And Effect remind me of each other. I liked Effect better.
The Icarus Factor: 4/10 dude WTF?
Pen Pals: 6/10 Data is soooooo cute!! But ugh all that Prime Directive crap.
Q Who?: 7/10 I don't know bro. I always hated the Borg. They're just too good at being bad.
Samaritan Snare: 5/10 the Pakleds are funny. They make things go.
Up The Long Ladder: 3/10 what's with all the early season stereotypes?
Manhunt: 5/10 ehh. Hey Lwaxana was there.
The Emissary: 8/10 duuude K'Ehleyr is so cool!! And her and Worf brooo! I wish she could have been brought back. You know, for more than just a stupid death scene.
Peak Performance: 7/10 I love it when Data kicks ass.
Shades If Gray: 2/10 bye bye Pulaski.
Season 7 is still better.
Thu, Jul 18, 2019, 10:10am (UTC -5)
The epidemics of smallpox, measles, and other Old World diseases among the inhabitants of the Americas are in no way comparable to what happened in this episode. As Dutchstudent clearly said, viruses and bacteria cannot effect species they are not adapted to. Key word: species. Europeans and Native Americans are not different species! Smallpox, measles, etc, had been adapting to the human species in Eurasia and Africa for millennia before they were brought to America, where they encountered absolutely ideal conditions for a disease, a large population of a species they were adapted to that had no prior exposure to them. That's why those epidemics were so devastating.
The situation in episode is in no way comparable. It's explicitly stated that the Enterprise crew are the first humans to land on the planet, so nothing on the planet would have had a chance to adapt to humans. Without prior exposure, the chances of a bacteria or virus being able to infect or even interact with a human's system would be extremely low. Have you ever given an oak tree a cold by sneezing on it? Sounds ridiculous, right? To catch a disease from a never before encountered alien lifeform is exponentially more unlikely.
Thu, Jul 18, 2019, 12:21pm (UTC -5)
In real life this is certainly true, which makes the idea of contagion or infection from alien life forms you often see in scifi (or parasitism like in the Alien movies) especially implausible. We would almost certainly have nothing to fear from an alien organism at the microbial. Even at the macro level an alien predator probably wouldn't even recognize us as something to eat let alone try to eat us. And if they did our foreign chemistry would probably make us as nutritious to them as rocks would be to us!
But to be fair this is Star Trek, where half the galaxy is populated by so-called "humanoid" aliens who are almost indistinguishable biologically, such that they can even breed with us the idea of cross species infection is more plausible.
Tue, Sep 10, 2019, 10:52pm (UTC -5)
--Even though I last saw these eps maybe 1.5 to 2 yrs ago or so, I find my old brain does not retain the details that long. I remember the basics, though . . . and I remember this one as being a long series of flashback clips?
--It has kind of a promising beginning here, but I know it won't be realized.
--Animate vs inanimate objects, people's roles - responsibility and blame. Watching where you put your feet.
--I love Pulaski. I wish she didn't have to leave us.
--Will Riker dreams himself younger. I do that sometimes, too.
--Ah! This great Guinan-Will scene. I do give the ep points for showing us that again.
--The flashbacks touch frequently on dreams vs reality.
--Mega points off for showing the black slime monster.
--I like how Troi takes some of the credit for the Doc's theories and efforts. "We've only made it worse!" "We've found the answer!" Really, Deanna? Though "credit and blame" is something of a theme in this ep, so all this oddly worded, shared responsibility stuff between Pulaski and Troi is probably deliberate.
--LOL. The super-weird electrolyzed hostage Riker scene.
--Riker has led a fairly violent existence the last couple of years.
--Cute ending, as Riker claims to be "Captain Jean Luc Picard." It's the least we deserve.
Well, no great shakes - bad, yes, but more passively bad than actively bad. Bad not because there are terrible things about it, but because there's very little good about it.
A disappointing way for Pulaski to go out, and for the Season to end. But passable. Have seen much worse on ST.
Wed, Nov 6, 2019, 1:21pm (UTC -5)
Fri, Feb 14, 2020, 11:50pm (UTC -5)
Sun, Jun 21, 2020, 8:11pm (UTC -5)
The result was completely editor-driven. Troi and Dr. Pulaski poking skewers into Riker's brains was OK for starters, but it reminded me of when I got into my parent's drinks cabinet when I was 11 and poured gin into the Kaluhua .....Cascade failure rapidly descending from a flabby concatenation of over-long scenes to a kaleidoscope of horror. The best part was the look of relief on Pulaski's face once she had killed the infection in Riker's brain and in our own.
Sun, Feb 21, 2021, 3:09pm (UTC -5)
Sat, Mar 6, 2021, 3:51pm (UTC -5)
I had work to do today that I put off so I did that while letting this episode play so I could say that I didn't skip it.
PS - I still skipped a lot of it.
Sat, Apr 3, 2021, 10:50pm (UTC -5)
Now for my Season 2 overview
The Child: 1/10
Where Silence Has Lease: 7/10
Elementary, Dear Data: 7/10
The Outrageous Okona: 2/10
The Schizoid Man: 5/10
Loud as a Whisper: 4/10
Unnatural Selection: 3/10
A Matter of Honor: 8/10
The Measure of a Man: 9/10
The Dauphin: 3/10
Contagion: 7/10
The Royale: 2/10
Time Squared: 7/10
The Icarus Factor: 3/10
Pen Pals: 6/10
Q Who?: 8/10
Samaritan Snare: 4/10
Up the Long Ladder: 1/10
Manhunt: 2/10
The Emissary: 6/10
Peak Performance: 6/10
Shades of Grey: 1/10
Average final score: 4.6
A lot more promise than Season 1 due to having some strong episodes. But it still has its share of major stinkers that severely hamper it's average final score.
Tue, May 4, 2021, 4:35pm (UTC -5)
My favourite bit is where Pulaski says 'He's dying' and Picard says 'is there anything I can do to help'.....bit harsh, but you can see where he's coming from.
Tue, Jul 20, 2021, 2:16am (UTC -5)
All I can say is: what a pointless way to end a series. Did they believe the show wouldn’t be renewed and therefore fans might appreciate a review of what had gone before? That’s the only possible reason I can come up with for its existence.
The biggest gripe? That the show featured Dr Pulaski heavily for what would be her last appearance, yet gave her so little to work with. Welcome back Dr Crusher… not!!!
Tue, Jul 20, 2021, 2:38am (UTC -5)
@Chrome
You too have the “Captain’s Logs…” reference - a great work! That’s where I first read about the ‘Picard Manoeuvre’, and now I can’t stop seeing it…
Wed, Oct 13, 2021, 1:36am (UTC -5)
Highly recommend, it's so bad it's good, especially after the halfway point. Read up on why it's nonsense (the writers' strike), speculate on the effort needed for the actors to keep a straight face.
And you can think about how incredible it is that the show kept going, and quickly became a classic, just a few months after this. Impossible for a TV show today.
Sun, Dec 26, 2021, 12:24pm (UTC -5)
- Ludo
Fri, Feb 25, 2022, 5:24pm (UTC -5)
Sat, Feb 26, 2022, 4:14pm (UTC -5)
Tue, Mar 15, 2022, 9:55pm (UTC -5)
Contrast with the 90s Outer Limits where they did a clip show at the end of each season. They were generally extremely bad because that is an anthology show, so typically thethe connections they made between episodes were ridiculous.
It really tarnished that show's legacy, imho.
Tue, Mar 15, 2022, 11:06pm (UTC -5)
"And you can think about how incredible it is that the show kept going, and quickly became a classic, just a few months after this. Impossible for a TV show today."
TNG benefited from fan support to an unprecedented degree. It simply would not have survived halfway through the awful first season otherwise.
Wed, Mar 16, 2022, 7:31am (UTC -5)
Good point. Then there was the 'eye candy' factor in 1987. I think the visual quality and color resolutions fascinated people at the time. "the ship is cool" "beautiful planets" and crew housing which resembled contemporary Hiltons. It was a comparatively sensual program back then.
Sat, Apr 16, 2022, 2:28am (UTC -5)
Yes, the flashbacks is laziness personified. However, the underlying premiss is both sound and intriguing. It cuts into the heart of what it means to be self-cognizant. A deterioration of the brain--in particular the neurons and the firing of electrical impulses among those neurons--is what makes the essence of a human being. If something goes sideways there, a person stops being that person. Keeping the neurons, axons, and synapses active and healthy, including through mental stimulation, is a proven way to forestall a number of neuro-degenerative diseases. It's usually done through doing crosswords or learning a new skill, such as a language. The episode did it through artificial means (and yes, some artifice).
I thought that was pretty neat and certainly thought-provoking.
Thu, Apr 21, 2022, 3:29pm (UTC -5)
Wed, May 25, 2022, 8:59pm (UTC -5)
Fri, Mar 17, 2023, 2:43am (UTC -5)
I do remember thinking at the time how stupid it was for them to be on an entirely new planet without any protective clothing at all. And how stupid Laforge was to say that he had to go down with Data because he knew where Riker had been. As if the transporter chief didn't know where he had beamed them up from. Also stupid was Picard hanging around mournfully, and I was annoyed at Troi too until she started reporting on Riker's emotional responses to stimulation.
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