Star Trek: TNG 1.25 - Conspiracy

Review 109 - Episode 105 (May 9th 1988)

The One with the exploding head

The most violent episode of Star Trek ever? Bet that got your attention. The fact that I had only seen a cut version of this and only seen the uncensored version last night tells it's own tale.

There is a conspiracy in the Federation and it turns out to be bodysnatching beasties. This is one of the few out and out horror/x-files episodes that Star trek did and it benefits greatly from the change of pace and style. Also, using continuity and referring to "Coming of Age" is excellent and it's a bit of a mystery why this isn't the Season finale.

Picard meeting his old chums is tense as is the scene where he meets the heads of star fleet. Now, I find it hard to believe that the Federation is governed by a few old codgers and budgetary restraints take it's toll this episode. But the final scenes with Remmick are very creepy and the final OTT scene with heads exploding and a weird Alien creature poking out his body made me laugh. Bit of a cop out that once you kill the queen, all others die within their hosts, but I'll let it pass.

Good to see Crusher be a bit more aggressive (though Worf comes across as an idiot) and the final scene of the signal being sent into space is suitably spooky. Good stuff.

4/5
Overall Star Trek Franchise Rating so far: 314/550

Star Trek: TNG 1.24 - We'll Always Have Paris

Review 108 - Episode 104 (May 2nd 1988)

The One with Picards old flame

I really liked the first third of this episode. Picard fencing, the unusual camera angles and the mystery of the time hiccup and Picards unease. His initial scene in the holodeck was excellent, very revealing. As this is TNG, there's no carry over from Skin of Evil, but Worf seems to have more lines than usual.

After that, it kind of fades. Picards ex bird isn't brilliant as a character, likable enough, but they really seem a missmatch. Having said that, her new husband, Dr Manheim, seems even more unlikely and their relationship rings false.

Data and Riker get the lions share of the action and Data fixing the time paradox is good. Of course, none of it really makes sense, but it's portrayed excitingly. There's a cute scene with Troi and Crusher, now the only two females in the main cast that is nice and kindof makes sense as Tasha's gone and they would bond. Maybe.

It's really a nonsense episode, but Picard is good and the early scenes almost sell it as a 4 rating. Only Picards ex really drags it down.

3/5

Overall Star Trek Franchise Rating so far: 310/545

Star Trek: TNG 1.23 - Skin of Evil

Review 107 - Episode 103 (Apr 25th 1988)

The One Where Someone Dies

I don't know why I'm being coy about it, as surely everyone knows by now, but this is Tasha Yars swansong. The actual episode is average and rather simplistic, but has it's moments. Anyway, THAT death sequence.

I don't honestly remember if I knew she was getting killed off or not when I first watched it, but the suddenness and unheroic nature of the death is breath taking. Whether this was the writers deciding to make it low key or simply being bold and having her meet the same fate as red shirt, the result is dramatic. I've said for most of this season that Tasha cancels out Worf, and her leaving frees up more lines for the other actors, but Worf benefited the most from this. We can speculate on what would have happened if she stayed, and I think she has always regretted leaving so early, especially as 2 years later it would take off and become a phenomenon. She's very lucky then that she manged to make a comeback in one of the best episodes ever and get a character back in the series. Her funeral service is a bit over the top and you can tell the writers are struggling to give her things to say for ALL the bridge crew. How would she know they were there anyway? And when did she record it? Did she update it every week? The show benefited from her departure and it's not every day one of the main crew are killed off.

The monster Armus is at times incredibly powerful (affecting a shuttle craft and keeping a force field up) but he can affect the Enterprise or stop Picard leaving. He's quite effective and it's creepy to think there's this black ooze on a planet waiting to kill anything that lands on it. It's reminiscent of a Stephen King story actually.

Not a bad episode, but the death of Tasha overshadows everything else in it.

3/5
Overall Star Trek Franchise Rating so far: 307/540

Star Trek: TNG 1.22 - Symbiosis

Review 106 - Episode 102 (Apr 18th 1988)

The One with the heroin-is-bad message

I usually hate episodes like this. Heavy handed sermons by people who have never experienced drugs or addiction. But curiously, this episode got better and better, until the final act revealed an excellent end game

One planet produces a Heroin substitute. The other planet needs it. Picards hands are tied due to the prime directive. What does he do? Some of the lesser cast get some good roles here. Tasha, in her final filmed role, has a good chemistry with Riker that will never be explored. She is genuinely good this episode and for the first time, i'm kinda sad she's about to die. Her scene with Wes is pretty cringey, but hardly her fault (or Wes for that matter)

The rest of the episode is Beverly trying to convince Picard that he should intervene. This is quite annoying as Bev should know the Prime Directive and when Picard gives his speech, it's really to the audience (and bizarrely reminiscent of the Iraq war). But their scenes are good.

Added cute bonus value is guest appearances from Merritt Butrick and Judson Scott from Star Trek 2. Good roles too play as well.

Heavy sledge hammer approach, but once it was acknowledged as a narcotic after act 2, improved greatly and Picards solution is clever, realistic and hopeful.

4/5
Overall Star Trek Franchise Rating so far: 304/535

Troi Cleavage Watch:

Barely in this episode and her sole scene was to say the ship was "tense". Pretty bad:

Star Trek: TNG 1.21 - The Arsenal of Freedom

Review 105 - Episode 101 (Apr 11th 1988)

The One where Geordi takes command

3 very distinct storylines here, 1 is successful, 1 is filler and the other is curtailed. Lets look at the average one first.

After Riker, Yar and Data beam down to a planet looking for survivors (and then Picard and Beverly beam down rather unbelievably - no, just because Troi questions it doesn't mean it's okay. Rather it flags up how wrong and strange it is and it is obviously a plot device to get them on the planet) they are attacked by a weapon that can evolve and anticipate their reactions. This is a neat idea and would be used again in the Borg (especially their shields), plus I like the fact they only have 12 minutes between attacks. However, this is never played up and the weapons themselves look odd rather than menacing, but their eyes are quite cool looking. There's a lot of phaser firing and ducking behind rocks and it's okay but rather ho-hum.

This of course leaves Geordi on the Enterprise and in charge, when the ship starts being attacked and he's forced to make big decisions and also fend of chief engineer Logans designs on the captains chair. These are the scenes that make the episode and it's great to see Geordi take charge, be seemingly weak and come back fighting. We also see the Saucer separation, but man does that star drive look ugly with out the saucer. This would have been an interesting development for Geordi if the writers wanted to go that route, but his Chief engineer role side tracked it (though he is a captain in Voyagers "Timeless" I think).

The 3rd strand is Beverly and Picard trapped down a hole with Bev injured and Picard looking after her and the pair of them getting close. It's ultimately a frustrating scene as it's perfectly set up for Beverly to say her feelings, but behind the scenes writing nixed the idea and makes it rather dull and pointless. The fact they seem to have fallen into the control room for the machine that wiped out an entire planet is stretching it a bit, and the final solution could be seen a mile away (it also raises the question how they ever hoped to sell anything if they kept killing their buyers)

It's never really mentioned but the Drake has been destroyed and there's a spooky cool scene of Captain Rice, Rikers old pal who looks alien and ghost like when he's talking. It's an unsettling scene and is quite effective of this THING being Rikers old pal.

The plant based story strands bring this down, but the Geordi scenes are very good.

3/5

Overall Star Trek Franchise Rating so far: 299/530

Troi Cleavage Watch:

Troi probably had the least to do this episode out all the regulars, but her discussion with Geordi was quite good. You just wish she would cheer her face up at times. Tastefully filmed this episode, even when there were chances for the Film crew. I thought we might get to the end of the episode with out the Leering shot. However, they caved in half way through. Better luck next time:

Star Trek: TNG 1.20 - Heart of Glory

Review 104 - Episode 100 (Mar 21st 1988)

The One with the angry Klingon's

I make this the 100th hour of Trek produced, but since no other sites talk about it, I'll keep my head down as I could very well have my sums wrong.

This is the first Worf episode and expands on the Klingon culture already seen in the Movies. It's a very watchable episode and finally gives Worf a chance to shine and not just be dead pan one liner guy. There would be MANY episodes after this dealing with Klingon rituals and Worf's place in their society, but this plants the seeds. It quite a simple premise. 3 Klingons don't agree with the peace process and want to rip it up and be pirates again. They try to enlist Worf's help.

Worfs interactions with the Klingon's is fascinating to watch as is the crews reactions, more akin to Kirks day than present day. Also of interest was Geordi's Visor on the view screen. Now, this was a bit of a let down and the visuals don't live up to it, looking like a poorly tuned in TV. But Picards reaction to it is brilliant and makes the scene worthwhile, even if Geordi is simply explaining how it works. Of course, It's never seen again. But nice idea.

Anyway, nice Worf episode and really establishes him as a decent character.

3/5
Overall Star Trek Franchise Rating so far: 296/525

Star Trek: TNG 1.19 - Coming of Age

Review 103 - Episode 99 (Mar 14th 1988)

The One where Wesley fails (Yay!)

Wow. Watched this over a week ago, so struggling on the details. Good episode, 2 very separate strands.

Wesley sits the starfleet exam which is a torturous affair with various tests and surprises. It's way OTT and I think is toned down in later series or never referred to. It's interesting and Wesley comes across well, especially with his talk with Picard about failing.

The other plot is Picard being investigated and sets up the first real bit of continuity as this leads into the almost Season finale. There lots of nice moments of references to past episodes and Remmick is excellent, especially his one on one interviews.

The shuttlecraft scene is good and overall this is a very watchable episode that lays the foundation for future story's and more importantly, show's Trek can do story arcs.

4/5
Overall Star Trek Franchise Rating so far: 293/520