Lonely Among Us

DVD, TNG S1 (Lonely Among Us)

We get some good effects, a nice nebula-type backdrop, and some high-res aliens, as they might be described - detailed, full head makeup. They were interesting aliens, but I can't believe the Federation would be considering membership of two such bloodthirsty races, and especially not transport on the same vessel! It's the good old mystery entity coming aboard and taking people over, except the twist is that it was an accident and it just wants to return home. 'Just' meaning with Picard in tow, for no apparent reason.

Mr. O'Brien makes a strange appearance as a security guard - his career must have been all over the place! Poor Mr. Singh. It makes some of the senior staff look a bit callous, the way they have a laugh about things like Data pretending to be Sherlock Holmes, when the engineer's just died. I noticed there were some models of the original Enterprise and one of its shuttlecraft (possibly even the Galileo 7) in one room - it may have been Crusher's quarters, but it's not clear. Worf gets to throw some people around, and it's really not a bad episode all told, it just sags a bit in places, and they could have got more out of the body-hopping alien idea.

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