This 2-part epic from season 7 should feel a lot stronger than it does. I mean, it's got the following:
And yet, the two parts feel overly stagnant and cookie cutter - like how a lot of the Treknobabble was.
Amazed at how quickly after 'Interface', with Riker hot to trot on Geordi's unwillingness to give up, is now being just as guilty of it in this story.
The music... is the idea for the flat wallpaper music is to reflect how future humankind would be as stoic? But it'd never really worked, and so many scenes really would have benefitted from a stronger score to complement them with. The teasers simply prove how much better seasons 5-7 would be by just ramping up the music a notch.
Troi has been able to feel minds from insanely big distances before. While not as bad as introducing shiny new powers at the tail-end of a run (I'm staring at NEM right now), forgetting some used infrequently in the past -- why doesn't she just gawk outside a window and point if the long-range sensors aren't working?
Worse, at the start of the story, Crusher's tricorder recognizes "Federation fibers". Fabric bits that apparently only the Federation stitches together?? The mercenaries are pretty shrewd to make a teleporter weapon that makes any readouts of DNA impossible, so that's a nice touch.
Is it true that the reason that all the bridge crew are rotten shots in an action scene is because they never practice in the testing range? Well, that was in season 2 and amazingly brought back once for season 4, but it originated in season 2 and we can't have that so shhhhhh, it never existed...
The artifact - a psionic resonator. This makes for a cool quest, but why would its makers put a "hi there, this is how to defeat me" inscription on it? May as well buy a 500 Magnum and etch on it a big Kevlar vest for all to see a mile away, if not glyphs of a person donning a Bat-Shield, it's just about that ridiculous...
Okay, the leader of the mercenaries keeps calling his gizmo a "control device". TNG usually had better technobabble for such devices.
The baddies were quick to buy into Riker as being a second-rate first officer (on the flagship, no less?)
The baddie leader keeps threatening to destroy the outpost but then they wouldn't be able to get at any artifacts to confirm by those six 40 watt soft-white light bulbs if they're part of the gizmo being sought after.
Worf vs Data is like "Redemption II", all over again. But this episode does feel like a 1.25-parter stretched to 2.00 parts.
When did Picard get the time to pull the old "Swap the serial codes so Baran kills himself by his own device" and when did Picard have the time to figure out which mercenary had which ID?
Some other guest cast acting is sub-par. Even for season 7 standards.
For more on the Bat-Shield, forget the library, just watch this:
Lastly, at Starbase 227 that everyone keeps mentioning in both parts, here's some edited clips of the base's commander in action:
And, why not, this lovely tangent on the awesomeness of Pearl:
- Picard fakes his death and goes undercover regarding a secret weapon
- Riker is kidnapped but quickly figures out Picard (now Geylan)
- The opening scenes have a seedy feel that drive possible inspiration for the PIC sequel
- There's a ton of universe building
- And double crosses
- Robin Curtis is a joy to watch
- Ditto for Richard Lynch
- Location filming, complete with cute rock formations that double as prop walls to hide behind
- And a couple great commercial/episode break cliffhangers
- Riker has a great facial expression for one of them (cue next scene and how Frakes and Stewart nail their scenes is pretty great)
- That said, how come the mercenary leader doesn't bug all the chambers and rooms when he's oh-so-paranoid about everything else?!
- The episode cliffhanger is pretty great, the resolution is passable
- Riker has a great facial expression for one of them (cue next scene and how Frakes and Stewart nail their scenes is pretty great)
- Some terrific teasers, even though pt 2 ruins too much of it by accident
And yet, the two parts feel overly stagnant and cookie cutter - like how a lot of the Treknobabble was.
Amazed at how quickly after 'Interface', with Riker hot to trot on Geordi's unwillingness to give up, is now being just as guilty of it in this story.
The music... is the idea for the flat wallpaper music is to reflect how future humankind would be as stoic? But it'd never really worked, and so many scenes really would have benefitted from a stronger score to complement them with. The teasers simply prove how much better seasons 5-7 would be by just ramping up the music a notch.
Troi has been able to feel minds from insanely big distances before. While not as bad as introducing shiny new powers at the tail-end of a run (I'm staring at NEM right now), forgetting some used infrequently in the past -- why doesn't she just gawk outside a window and point if the long-range sensors aren't working?
Worse, at the start of the story, Crusher's tricorder recognizes "Federation fibers". Fabric bits that apparently only the Federation stitches together?? The mercenaries are pretty shrewd to make a teleporter weapon that makes any readouts of DNA impossible, so that's a nice touch.
Is it true that the reason that all the bridge crew are rotten shots in an action scene is because they never practice in the testing range? Well, that was in season 2 and amazingly brought back once for season 4, but it originated in season 2 and we can't have that so shhhhhh, it never existed...
The artifact - a psionic resonator. This makes for a cool quest, but why would its makers put a "hi there, this is how to defeat me" inscription on it? May as well buy a 500 Magnum and etch on it a big Kevlar vest for all to see a mile away, if not glyphs of a person donning a Bat-Shield, it's just about that ridiculous...
Okay, the leader of the mercenaries keeps calling his gizmo a "control device". TNG usually had better technobabble for such devices.
The baddies were quick to buy into Riker as being a second-rate first officer (on the flagship, no less?)
The baddie leader keeps threatening to destroy the outpost but then they wouldn't be able to get at any artifacts to confirm by those six 40 watt soft-white light bulbs if they're part of the gizmo being sought after.
Worf vs Data is like "Redemption II", all over again. But this episode does feel like a 1.25-parter stretched to 2.00 parts.
When did Picard get the time to pull the old "Swap the serial codes so Baran kills himself by his own device" and when did Picard have the time to figure out which mercenary had which ID?
Some other guest cast acting is sub-par. Even for season 7 standards.
For more on the Bat-Shield, forget the library, just watch this:
Lastly, at Starbase 227 that everyone keeps mentioning in both parts, here's some edited clips of the base's commander in action:
And, why not, this lovely tangent on the awesomeness of Pearl:
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