Why the hate towards "Rascals"?

[Mojochi]

The problem I have with QPID is the same I have with most Holodeck Episodes. When I watch Star Trek I want to see characters do science fictiony stuff in space, on a ship, on a planet etc.

I do not want to see the characters LARPing a shitty version of Robin Hood.

Sorry, that kind of stuff was baked into the premise back in the 60s with A Piece of the Action, or any other episode where they could save money by using pre-existing sets & costumes.

By season 3, TNG didn't even want to separate the saucer section anymore, which I personally don't even see how that's not doable regularly on a budget. You have the battle bridge set. You're doing routine CG for ship stuff anyhow. Where's the difficulty? Can anyone tell me?

 

[cgervasi]

The Ro/Guinan scenes excel, regardless of age, but...

1) how easily the ship is taken over

For an investment of two surplus Klingon ships, a few repairs and some weapons, we've netted a Federation starship and her crew, not to mention a planet rich in vendarite.

I was annoyed as a teenager by how easily the ship was taken over. I liked to think of the Enterprise-D as powerful and Riker as being good a combat maneuvers. I thought the ship would be nearly totally destroyed before they would surrender, if at all.

If I saw it for the first time now, though, I could probably suspend disbelief and accept that this is a high-concept story that requires the ship to be taken over intact. It's difficult though because the ship being easily taken intact goes against the entire premise of the show.

 

[Orphalesion]

Sorry, that kind of stuff was baked into the premise back in the 60s with A Piece of the Action, or any other episode where they could save money by using pre-existing sets & costumes.

I know. Doesn't mean I have to like it.

 

[Qonundrum]

Sorry, that kind of stuff was baked into the premise back in the 60s with A Piece of the Action, or any other episode where they could save money by using pre-existing sets & costumes.

If done right... TOS sometimes just puked it out and it was starting to get commonplace... I've a thread coming up soon delving into this.

By season 3, TNG didn't even want to separate the saucer section anymore, which I personally don't even see how that's not doable regularly on a budget. You have the battle bridge set. You're doing routine CG for ship stuff anyhow. Where's the difficulty? Can anyone tell me?

No technical difficulty I can think of. Indeed, they only needed to reuse existing footage of the separation, plus reusing existing saucer battle moments with maybe one or two new passes for a battle, or splicing in others -- TNG season 5 onward more often than not reused f/x scenes from obvious episodes even more than reusing ships or effects from the 1979-89 movies and somehow looked more obvious in the process.

The changed focus toward drama is probably a factor. Action was becoming passe after TBOBW, especially after Ron Jones left. Redemption's action felt flat... And, yeah, to come up with ideas sufficiently "big bad enough" to warrant the separation so that the engineering section could become that formidable weapon would be harder to think of. The two times we got it since "Farpoint" were nicely done, plus a couple mentions that were always nice to hear. But, here's one, the ship - in a 3-parter - had to separate due to a big bad. Enterprise wins the main battle, but is taken over as the saucer was a distance away and doesn't have warp engines and is vulnerable. When they do combine, the takeover is complete. We probably might have gotten something closer to that trope if the show didn't turn into a soapbox festival.

Come to think of it, with "Redemption", they missed an opportunity to pop the Enterprise's top and retrofit the saucer with some basic warp engines as well. Wouldn't have been any worse than the contrived web in space idea that wasn't so large that nobody couldn't have flown around it... at least we have that ever-engaging routing with Data, who may as well have been Barclay or a floret of Broccoli and the subplot wouldn't have been any different.

 

[Sumire]

I loved this episode. I admit my first viewing of it was when it aired and I was a young teen myself so probably not the keenest critic. Plus I was a theater kid from second grade onwards so I never believed there was some inherent lack of skill in young actors. There are phenomenal actors and not as gifted actors of every age range. I’ll forgive a plot contrivance in a heartbeat (which yes, looking back, this absolutely was) for the sake of humor and a character driven plot. I also prefer problems solved by quick thinking over action. So, yeah, this episode was made for me, someone who introduced herself with the lines “I give all real Trek fans fair warning. I know I am an anathema to many.” I am the lowest common denominator sort of viewer such episodes are created to entice. That’s probably why others tend to hate it.

 

[Oddish]

If I were reduced to age 11, and there was a way introduced to turn me back... I'd probably say "nah, just do the first one to me again in about 40 years".

Oh, forgot to mention the STUPIDEST part of this episode...

- Picard gets assimilated by Borg and winds up killing 11,000 of own people... right back to the captain's chair.
- Picard gets zapped by an alien probe and spends 45 subjective years in another world... right back to the captain's chair.
- Picard gets tortured and brutalized and effectively BROKEN by a Cardassian torturer... right back to the captain's chair.
- Picard is shorter and has hair... Beverly wastes no time in bullying him into ceding command to Riker.

 

[Roundabout]

Odd. I thought he was outstanding.

That, he was. And he performed the Picard Maneuver smartly. Well done.

 

[fireproof78]

Like most Trek, I watched this one once about 18-20 years ago, so I had little memory of it. This thread inspired me to crack it on.

It’s alright. Charming in places I suppose. Episodes like this live or die on the basis of the quality of their child actors and the four in this episode are… alright?

I think the girl who plays Guinan comes off best, with Keiko and Ro coming second and the worst being Picard… and even he’s not that bad.

It was all worth it for the ‘he’s my number one Dad moment).

Geordi noticed the molecular structure of the shuttle remains was decaying… did that get followed up on?

Regardless, it’s far from the worst. A but lightweight maybe, but charming enough.

This sums up my experience fairly well. It has that otherwordly quality that of being a fish out of water, but not entirely either. It's fun, the child actors do well, and I enjoy it.

The Enterprise being taken over being my one gripe but that's minor in comparison to the fun of the kids taking the ship back. Also, the ending scene is freaking fantastic.

Everyone loves Starship Mine, right?

No. That episode is one that I find entirely mixed bag.

 

[Ragitsu]

Miles getting lightly whipped by Kid Keiko is hilarious.

 

[Mojochi]

That, he was. And he performed the Picard Maneuver smartly. Well done.

I thought the kid actors were good as well. Miles ahead of most kids to ever show up on TNG. I honestly thought those kid actors were the most believable part of the episode, especially Picard & Guinan. They really seemed to capture the characters IMHO

 

[Richard S. Ta]

Guinan convincing Ro to jump on the bed is a nice moment.

 

[Tallguy]

Guinan convincing Ro to jump on the bed is a nice moment.

I think I love the show for kid Picard and then I realize I love the show for kid Guinan and Ro.

 

[fireproof78]

Guinan convincing Ro to jump on the bed is a nice moment.

That and the end. Carries so much weight for what Ro had been through.

 

[at Quark's]

I think after the ending credits, they should have added another snippet of just about 15 seconds of a Starfleet hearing, with a Remmick -type interrogator going on about how they could possibly have lost the ship to the Ferengi, with Picard and Riker both clearly annoyed and bored out of their skulls

 

[Farscape One]

As others have said, I thought the child casting was spot on. (Rare for TNG.) And even Alexander was not annoying and had a hand in helping save the day. (A double rarity, there.)

Plus, the O'Brien scene was really good. Kid Guinan and Ro were also fantastic together.

But...

I always put "Rascals" as among the worst of TNG. Why? One of my primary criterias for 'worst episodes' is if it damages a character or characters (or species, in some cases) so badly it makes it difficult to enjoy it or take the episode seriously. (Same reason I rate "LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT SIN...", "THE RECKONING", "VIRTUOSO", "FURY", "UNIMATRIX ZERO", and others as 'worst eposodes' of their respective shows.)

Because of how stupid it made the crew look that they allowed a group of Ferengi with a pair of old Klingon Birds of Prey take over the FLAGSHIP of the Federation, a Galaxy class ship that should have easily handled them, this is just a terrible episode.

Riker, Data, Worf... they all look incompetant here. And these are the same people that saved the Federation from the Borg! This episode is saying these Ferengi are a bigger threat to the crew because they succeeded where the Borg failed.

I just can't watch this episode without shaking my head.

 

[Yuri Nikolayev]

It’s not so much the episode that’s bad… it’s the children. EVERY time Star Trek has a children-centric episode, the kids end up coming off as endlessly cringy and wooden. Especially in this episode. The only one who you could really tell even halfway cared about the role was the kid playing young Picard. The others were all wooden and cringe.

 

[Ragitsu]

Robocop 2 kid turned in a decent enough performance.

 

[fireproof78]

Because of how stupid it made the crew look that they allowed a group of Ferengi with a pair of old Klingon Birds of Prey take over the FLAGSHIP of the Federation, a Galaxy class ship that should have easily handled them, this is just a terrible episode.

Riker, Data, Worf... they all look incompetant here. And these are the same people that saved the Federation from the Borg! This episode is saying these Ferengi are a bigger threat to the crew because they succeeded where the Borg failed.

Yeah, this is one that the framing device to get to the story and manage the crisis makes no sense. It ends up making all of the ship security staff look stupid and inept with no good reason.

The child actors are the high point for me, and definitely the reason why I enjoy this episode as a guilty pleasure.

 

[DonIago]

I thought it was an interesting bit of not-quite symmetry that the kid who played Picard's nephew in "Family" later played Picard himself in this episode.

Aside from the aforementioned plot contrivances, I find the episode, if not enjoyable, at least inoffensive. There's a lot of more bothersome Trek out there.

 

[JamesRye]

If I were reduced to age 11, and there was a way introduced to turn me back... I'd probably say "nah, just do the first one to me again in about 40 years".

Oh, forgot to mention the STUPIDEST part of this episode...

- Picard gets assimilated by Borg and winds up killing 11,000 of own people... right back to the captain's chair.
- Picard gets zapped by an alien probe and spends 45 subjective years in another world... right back to the captain's chair.
- Picard gets tortured and brutalized and effectively BROKEN by a Cardassian torturer... right back to the captain's chair.
- Picard is shorter and has hair... Beverly wastes no time in bullying him into ceding command to Riker.

Well, Picard obviously had some unresolved issues from TBOBW and we had that episode 'Family', which was new territory for Star Trek.

Wouldn't it have been cool if his mental anguish after these horrendous experiences was resolved by some 24th Century techniques. Maybe a telepath could help him, like Spock did with Kirk in This Side of Paradise.