Re: Star Trek The Next Generation appreciation thread
A few quick thoughts about the fourth season.
The Star Trek The Next Generation Companion notes that the fourth seaaon focused on two things, family and the return of old characters. That sure was true!
The season premiere of course completes the story and cliff hanger of The Best of Both Worlds. I have to agree with an earlier comment, it was well done, but didn't grab you like part 1 did. I remember watching it then and wasn't as on the edge of my seat. Over repeat viewings, I've grown to really like it as a whole piece. A lot of good lines n there, "I like my species the way it is!" and "Sleep, Data" Cool way to defeat the Borg, essentially putting the computer to sleep. Oh, I forgot, as a Macintosh user, it means something, but to Windows, it's 'Stand by' I believe.
The next six episodes were really well done, in Family, we learn about Picard's family, brother and nephew and the wine. And his brother's rivalry is nicely settled and also an added scene where Picard gets to vent out his frustration at not being able to fight the Borg after being assimilated. Great casting in that one. Worf's parents were finally revealed here, as comic relief in part and to serve to show his odd mixture of cultures! Edit, I neglected to add a thought about Picard's nephew, Rene. I liked the chemistry when he's with Picard and talking about the stars and adventures in space. Such a contrast with his father who'd rather not see him go off as Jean Luc had. As noted below, by Sam, it was a shame to see him and his father die in Generations.
Brothers is a pretty cool tour de force for Spiner to play 3 characters. He's really good here as Dr. Soong. It had a sweetness to it too.
Remember Me was a bit convoluted and I thought it had been by Brannon Braga, but it's not! It brings back the Traveler to save Dr. Crusher from the bubble world she was accidentally sent too by Wesley. It gave Gates a chance to really hold the show on her own.
Legacy was ambitious, a story about Tasha's sister. The problem for me was that I wasn't sure it was really her sister. The betrayal at the end was heartbreaking if Data had a heart. This episode was a milestone too, it marked a point where it exceeded Star Trek TOS as it is the 80th episode filmed.
I really liked Reunion a lot. K'mpec asks Picard to meet and to find his murderer who poisoned him. K'Ehlyers come back to help Picard with a little surprise for Worf, Alexander. They dance around the subject of whether he is Worf's son or not and Worf is too subborn to ask. K'mpec dies and Gowron and Duras fight for the right to be the new leader of the Klingon Empire as Picard seeks to find person who murdered K'mpec. K'Ehlyer pushes too hard to find the truth about Worf's discommondation, she is also murdered and it's such a strong scene I think as Worf finds her. It's such a shame they decided to kill her. Could she have become a semi regular? The resolution of Worf's secret past is resolved later.
Future Imperfect is also a favorite. It was a really cool show that looks at an alternate future for Riker and the Enterprise as he awakes years later to learn he lost his memories and is the Captain of the Enterpeise with a son. However Riker figures out it's all trick as he sees the mother of his son is Minuet, a Holodeck creation. Nice return for Carolyn McCormick. Of course he's tricked again to think it's a Romulan trick, but then learns it's really a lonely Alien child looking for company. Really well done I think!
Final Mission, another really strong show where Wesley is about to leave for Starfleet Academy and Picard selfishly asks him to join on one last mission together to mediate a dispute with miners. But the shuttlecraft they travel in is a rustbucket from one of the miner's captained by amorally questionable Dirgo. He's played by Space: 1999's Nick Tate. Nice to see him on Trek! Well acted episode as they fight to survive after crash landing on a small planetoid. Picard is injured and Wesley figures out wy to get water from a fountain that has a force field that kills Dirgo. Nice acting here and it shows such admiration and affection Picard has for Wesley. We learn of Boothby here, who we don't see till Voyager visits a fake Starfleet Academy. But that's for another thread. It was probably Wil Weaton's best episode and his last as he leaves the show to pursue other projects.
Data's Day is a favorite too as we see a day in the life of Data. We are first introduced to Keiko, Miles' new bride to be, who Data has to try to help get them married when Keiko has cold feet. The best scene in this episode for me is the Dancing Doctor sequence. What a great bit of acting. The look on Spiner's face is priceless when Beverly tells him to smile as they dance. I have a good laugh everytime as he looks so silly!
The Wounded is one I had not seen in a long time and I forgot about it and it's a really good one. We meet Cardassians for the first time. We meet a rogue Captain Maxwell who turns out to be right that the Cardassians are illegally massing weapons that could threaten the peace between the Federation and Cardassian Empire. Picard helps the Cardassians hunt down Maxwell, Captain of the Pheonix and O'Brian's former C.O.. An exciting chase insues as Picard gos put of his way to show the Cardassians he means business the Federation will do what it takes to stop Maxwell from destroying more Cardassian ships. It is revealed that O'Brian is also wounded by the earlier skirmishes between the Cardassians and Federation citizens as he has to kill a Cardassian in a firefight to save Federation lives. He lives with what appears to be some prejudices to Cardassians. O'Brian get's a chance to sing an old song with Maxwell to get him to surrender. I like how it ends by Picard showing the Cardassian captain he helps to catch Maxwell that Picard knows the truth and he'll be watching.
Devil's Due was okay. But Clues was a really cool idea. It is revealed that Data is hiding the truth of why the Enterprise lost 24 hours and as a mystery, the crew does what it can to figure out the cause. And it all points to Data. But turns out the Enterprise accidentally discover a hidden planet whose inhabitants will do anything to stay hidden, including destroying the Enterprise. Picard order's Data to hide all evidence and never reveal the incident. Really well done show and resolution!
Gosh, more cool episodes follow! First Contact is a really well done show, about a first contact mission with the Malcorians whose about to embark into space, yet many extremely conservative citizens cannot embrace such advances in science. Riker is hurt while disguised as a Malcorian and is discovered to be an alien. He's held captive. Picard meet a sympatheic scientist, Mirasta who helps with first contact with the leader of the Malcorians, Durken. Riker is close to death as he tries to escape and is beaten up through fear and ignorance by his alien hands and toes. Eventually they decide it's too early for first contact and decide to leave the Malcorians alone at the request of the leader. Mirasta, in a touching ending requests and is granted an opportunity to leave with the Enterprise and explore space. A fun little sequence to poke fun at the tablods, Bebe Nuewith has a small part as a women who will help Riker escape the hospital if he agrees to her desire to have sex with an alien. A terrifically comical moment! And one of many cross overs between Star Trek The Next Gen and Frasier.
Galaxy's Child is another one of my favorite's where Geordi finally meets the real Dr. Leah Brahms whom he sort of falls for a holodeck version of her last year's in Booby Trap. They discover an alien creature that lives in space and inadvertantly kills it. What a great idea, a living space creature. It turns out to be pregnant and Dr. Crusher uses the ship's phasers to help the baby get out. The baby them imprints on the Enterprise as it's mother. Meanwhile Dr. Brahms turns out to be not very nice to Geordi who is trying hard to be nice and maybe get a date with her. Poor Geordi as he learns she is married and then she discovers the holodeck program and is angry by his apparent interlude with a virtual Dr. Brahms. In the end, they work together very well and resolve the problem of the alien baby who is stuck on the ships dorsal section and sucking the energy of the Enterprise. Another nice and sweet ending, the baby goes off to join a group of it's life form before they attack the Enterprise and Dr. Brahms and Geordi are friends and acknowledge they could be good together.
Identity Crisis was pretty good. But the Nth Degree was another cool sci fi idea. Barclay gets an episode and his withdrawn and awkward nature is overcome after encountering a shock from an alein probe that disables a Starfleet antenna array. His personality and intellegence grows, he makes a pass at Deanna, he learns to act in a play so well he makes Dr. Crusher weak in the knees and then takes over the Enterprise via an interface he builds in the holodeck. The cool revelation is that Barclay was used to alter the Enterprise so it can travel to another section of the Galaxy to meet another Alien race who don't actually travel, they bring back other species to them to make first contact. Barclay goes back to his old self, but just a tad better and the Federation meets a new race and brings back knowledge they learn from them.
"I am not a Merry Man!" This is a really fun episode where Q puts Picard in Robin Hood's shoes, and the crew are his merry men. But first Vash comes back to meet Picard. She learns that he tells no one of Picard and Vash's adventures on Rhisa, to her dissatisfaction. This seeming odd behavior of Picard not showing his feelings for Vash intrigue's Q and he decides to force Picard to admit he likes her by making her Maid Marian in the clutches of the evil Sir Guy so Picard has to either save her, or let her die. In th eend, he saves her and Vash's doubledealing really intrigues Q, so he invites her to go with him after Vash says good bye to Picard.
The Drumhead was a heavy serious episode and extremely well done and acted concerning an investigation on the Enterprise of an explosion by a retired Admiral Satie, played by Jean Simmons. The investigation of an accidental dillitium chamber explosion on the Enterprise reveals a visiting Klingon officer is smuggling plans to the Romulans. But Admiral Satie's quest for justice takes her investigation past this to places that makes Picard very uncomfortable, likening it to a witch hunt where she tries to implicate a crew member who has Romulan blood from one of his relatives and then implies Picard is dirty because he was assimilated by the Borg. Admiral Satie losses credibility to another Fleet Admiral and the trial ends as a warning that this should never happen again.
The Host marks the first time we meet the Trill race. I forgot the main issue they so well bring to light is what happens if a person you meet and become close to is not the external shell, but the being that's inside that joins with the body and becomes that being. Dr. Crusher falls in love with the Trill, but she learns after he is injured that he is really the parasite inside. The parasite must be saved and Riker volunteers to host the parasite, Odan. The ensuring situation puts Crusher in an awkward spot, Riker takes on Odan's personality and wants to make love to Beverly, who cannot acept this at first. She can't deal with it! Later, a new host arrives so that they can transfer Odan into the host. It is revealed to be a woman, and Beverly just can't get past the external, and has to end the affair.
The Mind's Eye was a terrific homage to The Manchurain Candidate, and adds more insight that the mysterious Klingon/Romulan conspiracy to bring down the Federation. In theory is an interesting look at what would happen if Data tried to fall in love. I already wrote about these two in an earleir post, so I'll stop here.
Finally, the season ends with Redemption Part 1. Worf and Kurn fight to help Gowron retain his leadeship as the Duras sisters appear with a claim that Duras had a son and rightful heir to lead the Empire. With the secret help of the Romulans, they conspire to help the Duras take over the Empire. Picard will not get involved as it's an internal affair. He comes at Gowron's request though to finish the ritual of naming Gowron as the new Leader of the Empire after deciding that the Duras sister's claim is invalid. It is revealed in the end that Sela is pulling the strings, Tash'a daughter.
In Part 2, the fifth season opener, Worf quits Starfleet to help in the civil war that now threatens to tear the Empire apart. Picard suspects Romulan involvement and hatches a plan to help without getting invloved in the internal affairs of the Empire. He set's up a blockade of ships to trap any clocked ships. Data is given command of one of the ships. This ia an interesting B story here. The first officer of the ship Data commands won't accept an android as a captain and questions and resists orders. Data proves he's a competant captain by the end and earns the respect of his first officer after he comes to the conclusion that the Romulans are trying to take advantage of an opening and cross the blockade where Data's ship is. He violates Picard's order to move to another sector and reveals the Romulans. Sela's plan is foiled. What is odd to me here is how Spiner was acting with such emotion as he raises his voice to order his first officer to follow his instructions.
Phew, that was a lot of babbling. But the fourth season really had a lot of gems. I pointed out episodes that I felt were really good and I enjoyed rewatching. What do you guys think? There were 2 shows I didn't mention, Half a Life and Night Terrors. I remember them as weak episodes, though it's usually fun to see Majel back as Mrs. Troi, maybe you guys have different views?
My only gripe (and it's a small one) is I believe they made McDuff way too conspicuous. I would have loved, for example, not to have had him appear on the Bridge right after the probe. It would have been great (IMO) to have him walk on the Bridge sometime after that (maybe even a minute or two later).
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