I was about to rewatch "The Naked Now" after the pitiful "Descent II", but decided to continue with s7 disc1. So glad I had. It's nice to see a Trek episode involving seeking out new life, even if TNG forgot about that teensy little trope...
Geordi definitely seemed to remain in character as he likes to find the causes of problems (e.g. Next Phase, et al).
The automated probe idea is shades of VR, which was new in the 1990s, and used to great effect in this episode.
It's nice that Starfleet has kept auxiliary control rooms in ships. 1701-D's was never mentioned.
...47 minutes... always 47...
As always, the Geordi/Data help make the episode, or make it better. Even Data gets his AI on and decides to help Geordi.
This is already a great character-driven episode, with Geordi's father and mother on screen, great usage for Data, Troi, and Riker. Geordi's plight is built up slowly, like a can of soup on a stove, or a frog in a pot of water, and the heat is turned up. Is there such a thing as frog soup? I know of frog legs, which are even more gross if you use those to scoop up some escargot or caviar with in place of a spoon... like with for crab and lobster, weren't those current-day delicacies once deemed "peasant food"? But that info is a thousand years out of date... sure feels that way at times, though, especially when my wall-the-off tangents start to get flung... hmmm, frisbee as a serving platter? Maybe later...
I love that the episode comes across as character drama, not soap opera.
In true Trek formation, what Geordi sees is not her mother but a subspace being that's about to read his mind via the probe, hence his surviving when the crew hadn't.
Geordi['s mom also reminds me a tad of Captain Freeman as well.
This episode is really tightly written for the most part, certainly for season seven, but a couple nitpicks are found:
1. So people are saying that Geordi is making an assumption with no evidence... well, isn't everyone else but in the polar opposite direction?!! The story could have propped up Geordi by his using that as a retort as he's being accused of making decisions based on no evidence.
2. Why doesn't Picard recognize how many of the alien subspace life forms Geordi HAD SAVED?!!!! That's the biggest nitpick, the crew's goal is ostensibly to discover new life and it's pretty much incidental to the plot as much as this Kleenex is next to my keyboard as I need to sneeze. There, I just sneezed but I don't care about the bits of goo lodged in the cotton any more than Picard giving a damn about the subspace critters that Geordi rightly had saved. (In short, this aspect was glossed over and it's a headscratcher. The nonrecognition of saving life, not the bit of cotton fabric with nasal droppings plopped inside.) Besides, after Galaxy's Child where he feels guilt over that, or Silicone Avatar... then again, Geordi is a top-rated officer so that's where the dilemma is. Still, Picard was glossing over a bit much...
3. A shame that the data aboard the ship couldn't have been transmitted to the Enterprise as there seemed to be a few terminals he could have utilized.
The incidental music could have been more refined in a couple scenes (e.g. see the teaser for what would have made it work that much better!), but not once did it really detract. Still, the teasers really pack a punch and then you tune in and it's radically bland in turn.
Plus, as usual for latter-half TNG, the teasers rock.
(The teaser fibbiedoodles with the story's plot, yes, but just a tad, and it's still a plus as TNG teasers sometimes gave directly away too much.)
The story isn't complex in plot, but it didn't need to be. The pacing and bulk of its ideas are well told, though part of me wishes that there could be an aftermath - but maybe that's the point: The Hera was lost and there was no way around that.
8/10 with ease
Geordi definitely seemed to remain in character as he likes to find the causes of problems (e.g. Next Phase, et al).
The automated probe idea is shades of VR, which was new in the 1990s, and used to great effect in this episode.
It's nice that Starfleet has kept auxiliary control rooms in ships. 1701-D's was never mentioned.
...47 minutes... always 47...
As always, the Geordi/Data help make the episode, or make it better. Even Data gets his AI on and decides to help Geordi.
This is already a great character-driven episode, with Geordi's father and mother on screen, great usage for Data, Troi, and Riker. Geordi's plight is built up slowly, like a can of soup on a stove, or a frog in a pot of water, and the heat is turned up. Is there such a thing as frog soup? I know of frog legs, which are even more gross if you use those to scoop up some escargot or caviar with in place of a spoon... like with for crab and lobster, weren't those current-day delicacies once deemed "peasant food"? But that info is a thousand years out of date... sure feels that way at times, though, especially when my wall-the-off tangents start to get flung... hmmm, frisbee as a serving platter? Maybe later...
I love that the episode comes across as character drama, not soap opera.
In true Trek formation, what Geordi sees is not her mother but a subspace being that's about to read his mind via the probe, hence his surviving when the crew hadn't.
Geordi['s mom also reminds me a tad of Captain Freeman as well.
This episode is really tightly written for the most part, certainly for season seven, but a couple nitpicks are found:
1. So people are saying that Geordi is making an assumption with no evidence... well, isn't everyone else but in the polar opposite direction?!! The story could have propped up Geordi by his using that as a retort as he's being accused of making decisions based on no evidence.
2. Why doesn't Picard recognize how many of the alien subspace life forms Geordi HAD SAVED?!!!! That's the biggest nitpick, the crew's goal is ostensibly to discover new life and it's pretty much incidental to the plot as much as this Kleenex is next to my keyboard as I need to sneeze. There, I just sneezed but I don't care about the bits of goo lodged in the cotton any more than Picard giving a damn about the subspace critters that Geordi rightly had saved. (In short, this aspect was glossed over and it's a headscratcher. The nonrecognition of saving life, not the bit of cotton fabric with nasal droppings plopped inside.) Besides, after Galaxy's Child where he feels guilt over that, or Silicone Avatar... then again, Geordi is a top-rated officer so that's where the dilemma is. Still, Picard was glossing over a bit much...
3. A shame that the data aboard the ship couldn't have been transmitted to the Enterprise as there seemed to be a few terminals he could have utilized.
The incidental music could have been more refined in a couple scenes (e.g. see the teaser for what would have made it work that much better!), but not once did it really detract. Still, the teasers really pack a punch and then you tune in and it's radically bland in turn.
Plus, as usual for latter-half TNG, the teasers rock.
(The teaser fibbiedoodles with the story's plot, yes, but just a tad, and it's still a plus as TNG teasers sometimes gave directly away too much.)
The story isn't complex in plot, but it didn't need to be. The pacing and bulk of its ideas are well told, though part of me wishes that there could be an aftermath - but maybe that's the point: The Hera was lost and there was no way around that.
8/10 with ease
