The Game

DVD, TNG S5 (The Game)

I think it was designed to be a comment on computer game addiction, but I'm not sure how well it met that directive - the optical gaming technology was quite attractive, even if the graphics were nothing to write home to the Academy about! Ashley Judd, later to be a film star, made a cool character of Robin Lefler (and I can understand why she went on to be used in the book line), like Sonya Gomez in Season 2, she appeared to be a likely recurring character, although I don't believe she ever turned up again after this and 'Darmok'. The main draw of the episode is Wesley Crusher's return to the Enterprise after a year away, and, like Nog after him, it was good to see him again. At first I felt the greeting from the senior staff was a little forced, everyone having their bit to say, but later on it really was forced as everyone gets caught up in 'the game,' and so it didn't detract from the fun of having Wes back and part of the crew again.

Data seemed particularly sprightly, having plenty to say and do before it becomes obvious why: he spends most of the story in sickbay in the android equivalent of a coma, only revived in time to save the day. Wesley often got the rap for being a child genius and rescuing the ship from its problems, but he rarely did, and I have the feeling it was this episode that reinforced that fallacy in people's minds - he gets to come back and then saves the ship, though this time it was with the teamwork of Lefler, and later, Data. I never felt the sinister nature of what was happening went far enough. Okay, so O'Brien wanders into Ten Forward playing the game, and Nurse Ogawa stands addicted in the turbolift, but I wanted more terror as Wes is tracked and chased through the bowels of the ship. The best moment is when he realises Lefler's compromised and you see the hulking shapes of Riker and Worf looming behind him, and that scene where they chase him is quite shiveringly scary as they are the two most unstoppable human or Klingon forces aboard!

I did wonder why the phaser shooting the forcefield didn't spin off down the corridor since it would be pushed back from the recoil of the beam, wouldn't it? Or is there no force pushing back from a phaser beam? Katherine Moffat went on to play Pallra, another femme fatale in 'DS9' Season 2 ('Necessary Evil'), but I believe she can be credited as the first Ktarian we see, Etana Jol (in the most embarrassingly awful opening for a long, long time!), scampering around a bedroom with Riker chasing after her. I'm amazed she didn't trip over her own trailing garment - maybe there are outtakes somewhere? Ktarians never made a great deal of impact on the Trek universe, but they were responsible for Naomi Wildman's protuberances on 'Voyager' as her Father was a member of that race.

In the scene where Wesley visits the ready room it seemed a bit obvious that Picard had tried the game, but perhaps we were supposed to realise that to add tension to the scene, though the shot of him taking off the headset can't actually be seen as that, it's just an out of focus swivel of the chair and the sound of something being put on a table (and it didn't seem to be hidden by the chair, so Wes should have seen it!). Likewise with the scene in engineering when Lefler doesn't answer and he realises she's succumbed to the game - it seemed obvious, but again maybe we're supposed to be shouting "Watch out, Wesley!" Nothing good ever came out of Risa, it seems, and this Risan game is just another in a line of mishaps associated with the pleasure planet. Maybe the 'Shore Leave' planet was a safer bet, at least the characters didn't follow you off-world!

Molly is named for the first time and it's nice that O'Brien was there to greet Wesley when he arrives, and all the stuff he and Picard talk about is such a pleasure, and continues the work started in 'Final Mission' in which Picard experiences such envy for youth and the beginning of the journey. The Ktarian vessel looked suspiciously like the Tarellian plague ship from Season 1! I wouldn't say this was a strong episode, it doesn't go far enough with the forcible attraction of the game (though seeing Wes held down in the Captain's chair, then Worf clamping his head in place and Riker squeezing his eyes open was probably enough for most people - interestingly, even though his eyes are supposedly held open against his will, he blinks, which means he could have shut them at any moment!), and it doesn't really have anything to say about gaming addiction, a moral side of the story missing in favour of mild horror, but it brings back the Enterprise's star pupil and shows him pursued by his friends in an action-packed and chilling way - however I don't think sufferers of epilepsy would find Data's solution very helpful.

***