The Naked Now

DVD, TNG S1 (The Naked Now)

Not as good as the original. If you're going to do a remake of a plot and go as far as calling it a similar name, it had better be an improvement. Maybe it was too early in the season for an episode about characters being out of character - we hadn't had enough of a chance to see what they're like normally, yet we're plunged straight into drunk behaviour. It certainly would have made a bigger impact coming at season's end.

The effects sometimes weren't really good enough, especially after the fairly impressive pilot, and I'd have thought ships of the Grissom's type from 'Star Trek III' would have been phased out long ago, but the Tsiolkovsky clearly resembles it. Troi's new look is certainly not as appealing, being so severe, although she didn't have to be so gooey this time, which was an improvement. Spiner gets a chance to show off some physical comedy as Data, and is probably the most interesting thing in the episode. It's the second in a row to have people frozen, they must love that effect.

The virus didn't have the same effect as in the original, though mentioning Kirk and the original Enterprise did help to set this series in the same universe, but maybe they should have been trying harder for their own identity and not reminding viewers of their rich heritage at such an early stage.

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