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DeLancie saves a fair chunk of the story, as had Gene Roddenberry by introducing the character - much to the worry of everyone else at the time due to Q being similar to Trelane! But the dimorphic space jellyfish, even with the subtle nuance of the blue one being trapped on the planet and the pink one saving it, can't save the story on its own. (Granted, the 1950s solidified how blue and pink were used, even if the two hues were reversed in application a century earlier! Just looking at the second hand on the clock as to when the hues are changed again because some designer got bored.)
^^GROPPLER ZORN! But it's apt how Q's pedestal has handrails with the Cowardly Lion sculpted on them...
...just waiting for that second hand to appear...
Speaking of that Lion and all, some of the lyrics don't not fit...
If you only watch one D.C. Fontana story about the Enterprise crew transporting antagonistic dignitaries to a conference, don't make it "Lonely Among Us". The crew are at their most inept, with Tasha unable to keep aliens from roaming the hallways killing each other while Riker and Crusher fail to relieve the captain of duty. Also Picard becomes a magic space ghost who can fly into the computer and leave messages. It's just really really bad.
Where No One Has Gone Before
The Big Goodbye
Datalore
11001001
Coming of Age
Heart of Glory
The Arsenal of Freedom
Conspiracy
I liked the way relieving the captain was discussed there, as legal and even standardized and yet in actual practice also actually quite controversial compared to some later episodes suggesting it’s just illegal even if sometimes accepted.
Really disliked “The Arsenal of Freedom”, thought most if not all the plots and character depictions felt at best really bland if not annoying and thin, stretched-out.
Where No One Has Gone Before
The Big Goodbye
Datalore
11001001
Coming of Age
Heart of Glory
Conspiracy
"Datalore" was a not a bad idea but executed poorly. I feel Spiner didn't handle being both well (although I might be criticising him for something that's actually poor editing or direction). There's a bit of a feeling that things happen because of plot rather than because they would have happened that way naturally.
Where No One Has Gone Before
The Big Goodbye
11001001
Coming of Age
Heart of Glory
Conspiracy
I cannot, cannot, cannot stand the episode 11001001. I find it drags on and, in my opinion, is boring. Whenever I watch it, I feel like it's been going on for the length of an entire movie. I'm pretty sure it's quite a well-liked episode, but I, personally, hate it.
Where No One Has Gone Before
The Big Goodbye
Coming of Age
Heart of Glory
Conspiracy
Wow, not a single good episode left in my opinion. I'll eliminate Coming of Age, all of the ways they tested Wesley were so stupid. Honestly, am I supposed to believe that starfleet puts every teenager who wants to be in starfleet through individual very specific tests? Are teenagers in the federation expected to know every species, their cultures and customs so that they can react perfectly at every first encounter?
And the explosion in the lab ... if the standards for getting into starfleet are so high as they are portrayed in this episode why would any starfleet personnel react like they did in that scenario? This shouldn't even be a problem for Wesley to solve, there should be a bunch of heroes jumping into action instead of suddenly deserted corridors and the trapped people should have been way more calm and collected.
And if those are the standards how did Tasha for example ever get in? Did she somehow learn all of the required knowledge in between being orphaned and running from rape gangs?
And don't ge the started on how starfleet is apparently full of people as good or better than Wesley but no one on the Enterprise (aka the best of the best) stops a teenager from wandering into a shuttle bay and stealing a shuttle? Do you just turn them on? No security codes needed, you just grab one and open the shuttle bay door?
Where No One Has Gone Before
Heart of Glory
Conspiracy
Heart of Glory didn't hold up as well for me on a recent rewatch. It does good work in reintroducing the Klingons but it's not as memorable as these last two.
WNOHGB is excellent, TNG's first great, but the setup and loose arc of the walking prawns in "Conspiracy" has fewer cheesy moments (and was begging for a follow-up, too.) I wonder what could have been if the conspiracy elements were held to a later season, though we did get that somewhat for the Klingon civil war in seasons 4/5.
I sometimes wonder if I should have reversed my previous save (before WNOHGB) and The Big Goodbye, which was long-since saved but I've got the usual two cents...
Only because the previous choice was not up to its potential and this one seems more original (TAS influence excepted). But then Dixon Hill could have been a 22nd century creation, since fads tend to repeat themselves while reinventing - the "embrace and extend" philosophy. After all, Star Wars and Indiana Jones were influenced by 1940s adventure serials of different sorts. Ditto for that little-known show called "Star Trek"*. Let Tom Paris be everything-20thcentury instead.
(There's that 1701-refit model again! The door next to it leads to where the real captain's logs are made...)
(Given the store prices for the blu-ray releases being much lower than the DVD releases, to say nothing of the VHS releases, and people whined about the prices for only the blu-ray and the investment put into its restoration?)
It unintentionally is, unfortunately. The only intentional bit I recall was the dinner scene with the dumb gong show and Data wanting "more petty bickering, please". The unintentional stuff is way too often...
A shame as the subplot about the Tarellians and how the galaxy wanted to exterminate the lot of them had far more potential on its own.
Ditto for exploring marriages and how the crew might react (though in typical season one style, which could be hit or miss despite a good idea to otherwise script about). The 60s throwback arranged marriage stuff was more or less coasting, eschewing some plotting potential in the process, rather than satisfyingly exploring anything - apart from Wyatt, and even then. We all knew Troi would stay on as well so the drama felt unconvincing.
(Sheesh, those plastic sippy cups wine glasses are utterly horrid, even by 1987 standards... kudos to the actors for playing it straight during filming, but I can only hope there's an outtake where they ripped this to shreds.)
And, of course, the piece of resistance is at 5 zillion ohms with this one:
I sometimes wonder if I should have reversed my previous save (before WNOHGB) and The Big Goodbye, which was long-since saved but I've got the usual two cents...
Or saving them from being the least-disliked, hehe. I'm just so ambivalent about some episodes, or at least finding something to like (and people say I like being negative, ha! )
A truly busy work day prevented me from voting again. The final two are a solid winner/runner up.
Though "The Arsenal of Freedom" is my personal favorite of the season (and one of my favorites among all of TNG) because it utilized everyone very well. Even Troi was put to good use during her scene in the Ready Room with Geordi.
And my theory on why Geordi was promoted to Chief Engineer was because this cemented him as having a cool head under pressure while in command. Because being in that position requires having that ability. (Especially considering it's arguably the most important department on the ship.)
Just look at Scotty... he was pretty much flawless when he was in the big chair.
A tduly busy work day prevented me from voing again. The final two are a solid winner/runner up.
Though "The Arsenal of Freedom" is my personal favorite of the season (and one of my favorites among all of TNG) because it utilized everyone very well. Even Troi was put to good use during her scene in the Ready Room with Geordi.
And my theory on why Geordi was promoted to Chief Engineer was because this cemented him as having a cool head under pressure while in command. Because being in that position requires having that ability. (Especially considering it's arguably the most important department on the ship.)
Just look at Scotty... he was pretty much flawless when he was in the big chair.
And in "11001001" when he steps in. He's got more going on than just piloting the ship up there in his head and it all culminated wonderfully.
LeVar Burton's ability to many any Treknobabble sound legitimate is another huge plus, but his character always seemed to have that undercurrent of "chief engineer" ability.
I like S1 more than the last two seasons of TNG. That said, here's how I'd categorize them:
Least Favorite/Skippable:
Code of Honor
Lonely Among Us
Justice
Haven
Datalore
Angel One
The Neutral Zone
Good but not great / Relatively Entertaining:
The Naked Now
Symbiosis
The Battle
Hide and Q
The Big Goodbye
Too Short a Season
When the Bough Breaks
Home Soil
Coming of Age
Skin of Evil
Favorite / Frequent Rewatch:
Encounter at Farpoint
The Last Outpost
Where No One Has Gone Before
11001001
Heart of Glory
The Arsenal of Freedom
We'll Always Have Paris
Conspiracy
But it's apt how Q's pedestal has handrails with the Cowardly Lion sculpted on them...
)
