DVD, Stargate SG-1 S4 (2010)
In the light of the longevity of the series this has a different impact than when I first saw it back in 2002. I bet then they had no idea it would last to 2007, only three years away from the time this episode is set, though the future was changed by their actions so it wouldn't have made much difference if they had made it to that year. Dr. Fraiser would not be there, Teal'c would have more hair, and that's about all I know about the latter seasons of the show, not having seen them! They got around having to make the cast old and unattractive by the anti-ageing pill, also cleverly the cause of the trouble, though if O'Neill didn't trust the aliens he shouldn't have taken the pill, but he doesn't look older, so he must have taken it. Perhaps that timeline would have been better for some, though not for the majority of the human race that would eventually see themselves die out with no children.
It's a little hard to accept that no one realised how low birth numbers had fallen to - with all this amazing technology in everyday life they didn't predict the increase of social networking to extreme degrees. With that many people connecting many more would have realised or suspected the truth before Sam did, even if they couldn't get at the actual figures on the alien database. They got the style of glasses right with the wider lenses and thicker frames, and the flatter computer screens were fairly true to today, though of course there's supposed to be a lot of alien technology so it wasn't meant to be an accurate prediction of the future as it was to be, the past as it is now.
Stories that involve looking at characters in a different way, whether that's alternate reality or different time, can often be the most enthralling examples. This isn't one of the best examples, but it has a quiet scale to it with large settings and lots of people. The fact of the aliens false benevolence was nothing special, and easy to guess, but you wonder how these people could cultivate trust and friendly relations without questioning their own practices. You also have to assume they'll live longer than most humans or that they are a very patient people looking out for their descendents prosperity since it would take almost two centuries for the Earth to become fully theirs. I wonder if they were merely shrewd conquerors or if they had good reason to take such actions, perhaps their own planet was dying or they were over-populated, but we never find out anything to put them in a better light. If we understood the enemy we wouldn't be so quick to defy them, and it could take away from the heroic image of the SG team.
The final sequence, a 'Mission: Impossible' moment as the team all work together to try and send the message back in time through the gate (using the backstory established in Season 2's great time travel story '1969'), is by far the best, each member dying in an effort to get the note closer to the gate as tiny laser bursts slice through them. The episode was quite laid-back compared to that, with a lot of talking and the occasional fun moment - Walter, the former gate technician we see so often, has a good scene when he stumbles upon the former SG-1 team in the Cheyenne Mountain Complex which has become a tourist attraction.
There's also the joke about Carter finally getting to see O'Neill's now-overgrown pond that he always wanted to take her to, and some interesting speculation on the future, such as the destruction of the Goa'uld by the Ashen, though If they are so all-powerful wouldn't it be inevitable for the Goa'uld and Earth to eventually make contact with this race at some point and in some place? It's also not like Hammond and the rest of them to accept a note through the gate at face value - okay, so they left it where they're about to test the blood on the note and find it belonged to the team, but usually they'd investigate such an event carefully, so this seemed like a quick way to wrap the story up. The most terrifying thing to take from the episode was Senator Kinsey as President in 2010. Perhaps that eventuality was made impossible by the actions of the SG-1 team changing the future, for which we owe them a great debt indeed.
***
Monday, 11 July 2011
The Masterpiece Society
DVD, TNG S5 (The Masterpiece Society)
"My eyelids feel like they have leaden weights attached," says Geordi at one point, and I had to agree with him. This story of the Enterprise putting its foot in it when trying to help a society has been done before, and better. For a story about genetic manipulation it's poles apart from most stories which deal with the subject, being as colourless and drained as the people of the colony. They wore bright clothes (ugly, ugly ones at that), they could play beautiful piano music and were highly intelligent, but like any society that was enclosed and isolationist, they were stagnant without even knowing it. Then the Enterprise dashes in to save them, introducing them to imperfection, freedom and the unknown, messing up their ordered civilisation with new ideas and the very concept of being able to explore the galaxy rather than remain part of an old experiment.
You could point out that it was a rather selfish experiment since they kept completely internalised, not interacting with the galaxy, not expanding their knowledge except to benefit their world. Great talent and brilliance wasted by the very desire to keep it great. Though Picard thinks his aid has been disastrous for them, I think it probably was good for them to have a choice and the people that decide to leave will create unknown situations for those that stay: they'll be forced to become resourceful to work around the 'missing pieces,' and only those that are serious about it will remain to continue the experiment.
The only moment that had any feeling was Troi's vulnerability when she makes her embarrassing confession to a forbearing Picard in the turbolift. Apart from that it suffers from the worst kind of sluggishness, with little character coming through from the guest stars, and a general impression of banality. There should be a great sense of urgency as this core fragment is getting ever closer (and it looked more like a complete piece than a fragment), yet instead we have the leader of the colony falling in love with Deanna and dreamily droning on. There were attempts at getting some issues going with the slightest degree of friction from Martin the naysayer, though for a perfected human he spends a lot of time frowning.
Geordi experiences some offence that he would have been aborted before being born if he'd been born in their society, but the idle thoughts don't go anywhere and remain a shallow pool with a few drops of water allowed to ripple the surface. Human rights, the duty to state or self, the importance of science as opposed to freedom, these are all subjects that come up, but not one is satisfactorily delved into, and that's the problem. Everything is slow, unresolved and lacking in dimension. Riker, who might have had something to say about Conor and Troi keeps his thoughts sealed, most of the main cast have little to do, and the episode is only notable for some of its guest stars who would go on to other (and better) roles: Dey Young in 'DS9' story 'A Simple Investigation' and Ron Canada in that series' 'Rules of Engagement.' Oh yes, and for the fact that this story of genetics was co-credited to one James Khan. One to miss.
**
"My eyelids feel like they have leaden weights attached," says Geordi at one point, and I had to agree with him. This story of the Enterprise putting its foot in it when trying to help a society has been done before, and better. For a story about genetic manipulation it's poles apart from most stories which deal with the subject, being as colourless and drained as the people of the colony. They wore bright clothes (ugly, ugly ones at that), they could play beautiful piano music and were highly intelligent, but like any society that was enclosed and isolationist, they were stagnant without even knowing it. Then the Enterprise dashes in to save them, introducing them to imperfection, freedom and the unknown, messing up their ordered civilisation with new ideas and the very concept of being able to explore the galaxy rather than remain part of an old experiment.
You could point out that it was a rather selfish experiment since they kept completely internalised, not interacting with the galaxy, not expanding their knowledge except to benefit their world. Great talent and brilliance wasted by the very desire to keep it great. Though Picard thinks his aid has been disastrous for them, I think it probably was good for them to have a choice and the people that decide to leave will create unknown situations for those that stay: they'll be forced to become resourceful to work around the 'missing pieces,' and only those that are serious about it will remain to continue the experiment.
The only moment that had any feeling was Troi's vulnerability when she makes her embarrassing confession to a forbearing Picard in the turbolift. Apart from that it suffers from the worst kind of sluggishness, with little character coming through from the guest stars, and a general impression of banality. There should be a great sense of urgency as this core fragment is getting ever closer (and it looked more like a complete piece than a fragment), yet instead we have the leader of the colony falling in love with Deanna and dreamily droning on. There were attempts at getting some issues going with the slightest degree of friction from Martin the naysayer, though for a perfected human he spends a lot of time frowning.
Geordi experiences some offence that he would have been aborted before being born if he'd been born in their society, but the idle thoughts don't go anywhere and remain a shallow pool with a few drops of water allowed to ripple the surface. Human rights, the duty to state or self, the importance of science as opposed to freedom, these are all subjects that come up, but not one is satisfactorily delved into, and that's the problem. Everything is slow, unresolved and lacking in dimension. Riker, who might have had something to say about Conor and Troi keeps his thoughts sealed, most of the main cast have little to do, and the episode is only notable for some of its guest stars who would go on to other (and better) roles: Dey Young in 'DS9' story 'A Simple Investigation' and Ron Canada in that series' 'Rules of Engagement.' Oh yes, and for the fact that this story of genetics was co-credited to one James Khan. One to miss.
**
Future Tense
DVD, Enterprise S2 (Future Tense)
This is exactly the kind of thing that was wanted, needed and expected from this series before it had begun: exciting space action, but more importantly connections to 'The Original Series' that make you smile, all cleverly woven into a tale that encompasses familiar alien races and the distant future, beyond even the 24th Century! They should have achieved this level of inventiveness and thrills on a regular basis, and if they had, who knows, but the series might have lasted for its full and necessary quota.
Like all the Temporal Cold War-themed episodes this leaves a lot of questions dangling, and in the light of the diminishing involvement of the War within the series' continuity, this is quite frustrating, though in this particular case the pieces are varied enough to be more than a passable story in their own right, with technology from 900 years in their future including organic circuitry, which came in with the USS Voyager, and another visit to Daniels' quarters, though Archer really shouldn't leave the door wide open when dealing with top secret stuff - the rest of the time it's kept sealed! The questions, however, do remain: what faction did the mysterious ship belong to? Presumably a kind of future Federation since the human had ancestry from a variety of species, but most importantly human with Vulcan DNA (and some Terellian, Rigelian, and others that aren't mentioned).
This leads to some of the most joyful hints towards 'TOS' with Archer and crew wondering about the possibility of a future where Vulcans and humans would intermarry - we know it will happen, and in less than a century, since Sarek would be born a few years after this, and would marry Amanda, a human, during the 23rd Century, leading to Spock. Why does everything (the past, the future and alternate realities), always seem to lead to the most famous Vulcan of all? T'Pol's distaste is evident, though perhaps it was thanks to these new ideas permeating her ordered Vulcan brain (and the fact that she was always a bit skewed towards the different, with a rebellious nature), that she would go on to fall in love with a human herself?
I don't know how or why, but when an episode comes together on this series, all the cracks that often appear, the flaws that drag it down, and the lack of exuberance and truly going where no man has gone before in story terms, seem to be overcome at the same time. Case in point: often some characters aren't used too well, a problem with this season in particular, yet between the battle scenes and the futuristic connections we get the friendship of Trip and Reed continuing as they work together on the strange ship; we have a nice scene in the mess between Phlox and T'Pol, something we don't see enough of as the two alien members of the crew show their different attitudes plainly. We get Archer and Reed working together and we get Mayweather doing something other than being stuck to the helm chair - I was surprised they didn't use him for a 'ghost story' moment at the point when they're examining the pod, as he usually provides a creepy experience to enhance such scenes.
This may be the first Temporal War story not to feature either Silik the Suliban or Daniels, though both are mentioned. This Suliban representative doesn't have the same dignity and sliminess that Silik embodied, being a rather gruff, no-nonsense type. Having the Suliban along for the ride almost guarantees some action, and we're not disappointed thanks to a slippery raid from the aliens, and later, a full-on space battle in which Enterprise is almost pleased to see their enemies appear to attack a worse foe: the Tholians. These have always been a mysterious race at the best of times, so to hear their scratchy voice and see their arrow-head vessels screeching into view was a major event.
The negatives were that it gave us the taste of 'TOS' lore, then proceeded not to fulfil that promise very often in succeeding episodes. So we'd just had the Andorians, but all this meant was a stronger wish for more known races. We also weren't blessed with an image of the Tholians, having to wait a couple of years longer for that. The race were only seen once, on a viewscreen in 'TOS,' but were mentioned a few times over the years, with Sisko having some connection with a Tholian Ambassador, so they would become allies to the Federation in future. Here they seem strong, but not quite tough enough to steal the future ship. Why did they want it? What did they know of it? What did they plan to do with it? We'll never know, and while some level of mystery is a good thing, to have so much come out in these kinds of stories, yet never discover the main details was a criminal offence to loyal viewers.
The ship and its special technology, the fact that it had ladders down into further rooms which went on for who knew how far, may not be an original idea ("Bigger on the inside?"), but it is a great one. I wanted them to explore inside it and get lost - that could have been an episode in itself. The best thing about it were the time loops that made those near the ship experience the same scene over and over, especially distressing when Archer and Reed are trying to carry out a delicate plan in a short timespan! Even better was the mystery of Zefram Cochrane, which is suggested by Archer as a possible explanation of the dead human found in the ship, but which we know is not the answer since Cochrane landed on a distant planet and was discovered by Captain Kirk many years later! It's a brilliant nod to the one man that links the various Trek generations together, and if anyone was worried that 'Enterprise' was pulling apart the historical continuity they should have relaxed - it was furthered and enhanced naturally and provided a very satisfying feeling.
Furthering some of the good relations displayed in the preceding story with the Vulcans, Andorians and humans managing to find some common ground, Archer is reliant on a Vulcan ship to back him up, and it's quite a turnaround from his general attitude towards the race that his ship is headed as fast as it can to reach it when under pursuit. It also shows the threat level of the Tholians that they can disable such a vessel when the Vulcans so often seem unchallenged masters of the Quadrant. Another scene takes a little more away from them too - Phlox talks about the time Denobula experienced first contact, and it wasn't from the Vulcans, but a different race.
Originally entitled 'Crash Landing' the final choice was much more evocative, and like many Trek titles is similar to a previous one, in this case 'Past Tense,' a two-parter of 'DS9' - I wish this had been expanded into a two-parter, as there was so much to mine. All we need now is for a new series with an episode called 'Present Tense' to complete the set! The episode is probably the best of the season to this point, and would certainly have got a higher mark had it been the precursor of great revelations in the future, so that it became even more enjoyable to watch again with hindsight - the closest to being called a classic this season. Of all the references to 'TOS' that are scattered throughout, one is perhaps less obvious: Trip uses Scotty's famous line about the Tribbles when the future ship and all its technology vanishes, the whole 'kit and caboodle'!
***
This is exactly the kind of thing that was wanted, needed and expected from this series before it had begun: exciting space action, but more importantly connections to 'The Original Series' that make you smile, all cleverly woven into a tale that encompasses familiar alien races and the distant future, beyond even the 24th Century! They should have achieved this level of inventiveness and thrills on a regular basis, and if they had, who knows, but the series might have lasted for its full and necessary quota.
Like all the Temporal Cold War-themed episodes this leaves a lot of questions dangling, and in the light of the diminishing involvement of the War within the series' continuity, this is quite frustrating, though in this particular case the pieces are varied enough to be more than a passable story in their own right, with technology from 900 years in their future including organic circuitry, which came in with the USS Voyager, and another visit to Daniels' quarters, though Archer really shouldn't leave the door wide open when dealing with top secret stuff - the rest of the time it's kept sealed! The questions, however, do remain: what faction did the mysterious ship belong to? Presumably a kind of future Federation since the human had ancestry from a variety of species, but most importantly human with Vulcan DNA (and some Terellian, Rigelian, and others that aren't mentioned).
This leads to some of the most joyful hints towards 'TOS' with Archer and crew wondering about the possibility of a future where Vulcans and humans would intermarry - we know it will happen, and in less than a century, since Sarek would be born a few years after this, and would marry Amanda, a human, during the 23rd Century, leading to Spock. Why does everything (the past, the future and alternate realities), always seem to lead to the most famous Vulcan of all? T'Pol's distaste is evident, though perhaps it was thanks to these new ideas permeating her ordered Vulcan brain (and the fact that she was always a bit skewed towards the different, with a rebellious nature), that she would go on to fall in love with a human herself?
I don't know how or why, but when an episode comes together on this series, all the cracks that often appear, the flaws that drag it down, and the lack of exuberance and truly going where no man has gone before in story terms, seem to be overcome at the same time. Case in point: often some characters aren't used too well, a problem with this season in particular, yet between the battle scenes and the futuristic connections we get the friendship of Trip and Reed continuing as they work together on the strange ship; we have a nice scene in the mess between Phlox and T'Pol, something we don't see enough of as the two alien members of the crew show their different attitudes plainly. We get Archer and Reed working together and we get Mayweather doing something other than being stuck to the helm chair - I was surprised they didn't use him for a 'ghost story' moment at the point when they're examining the pod, as he usually provides a creepy experience to enhance such scenes.
This may be the first Temporal War story not to feature either Silik the Suliban or Daniels, though both are mentioned. This Suliban representative doesn't have the same dignity and sliminess that Silik embodied, being a rather gruff, no-nonsense type. Having the Suliban along for the ride almost guarantees some action, and we're not disappointed thanks to a slippery raid from the aliens, and later, a full-on space battle in which Enterprise is almost pleased to see their enemies appear to attack a worse foe: the Tholians. These have always been a mysterious race at the best of times, so to hear their scratchy voice and see their arrow-head vessels screeching into view was a major event.
The negatives were that it gave us the taste of 'TOS' lore, then proceeded not to fulfil that promise very often in succeeding episodes. So we'd just had the Andorians, but all this meant was a stronger wish for more known races. We also weren't blessed with an image of the Tholians, having to wait a couple of years longer for that. The race were only seen once, on a viewscreen in 'TOS,' but were mentioned a few times over the years, with Sisko having some connection with a Tholian Ambassador, so they would become allies to the Federation in future. Here they seem strong, but not quite tough enough to steal the future ship. Why did they want it? What did they know of it? What did they plan to do with it? We'll never know, and while some level of mystery is a good thing, to have so much come out in these kinds of stories, yet never discover the main details was a criminal offence to loyal viewers.
The ship and its special technology, the fact that it had ladders down into further rooms which went on for who knew how far, may not be an original idea ("Bigger on the inside?"), but it is a great one. I wanted them to explore inside it and get lost - that could have been an episode in itself. The best thing about it were the time loops that made those near the ship experience the same scene over and over, especially distressing when Archer and Reed are trying to carry out a delicate plan in a short timespan! Even better was the mystery of Zefram Cochrane, which is suggested by Archer as a possible explanation of the dead human found in the ship, but which we know is not the answer since Cochrane landed on a distant planet and was discovered by Captain Kirk many years later! It's a brilliant nod to the one man that links the various Trek generations together, and if anyone was worried that 'Enterprise' was pulling apart the historical continuity they should have relaxed - it was furthered and enhanced naturally and provided a very satisfying feeling.
Furthering some of the good relations displayed in the preceding story with the Vulcans, Andorians and humans managing to find some common ground, Archer is reliant on a Vulcan ship to back him up, and it's quite a turnaround from his general attitude towards the race that his ship is headed as fast as it can to reach it when under pursuit. It also shows the threat level of the Tholians that they can disable such a vessel when the Vulcans so often seem unchallenged masters of the Quadrant. Another scene takes a little more away from them too - Phlox talks about the time Denobula experienced first contact, and it wasn't from the Vulcans, but a different race.
Originally entitled 'Crash Landing' the final choice was much more evocative, and like many Trek titles is similar to a previous one, in this case 'Past Tense,' a two-parter of 'DS9' - I wish this had been expanded into a two-parter, as there was so much to mine. All we need now is for a new series with an episode called 'Present Tense' to complete the set! The episode is probably the best of the season to this point, and would certainly have got a higher mark had it been the precursor of great revelations in the future, so that it became even more enjoyable to watch again with hindsight - the closest to being called a classic this season. Of all the references to 'TOS' that are scattered throughout, one is perhaps less obvious: Trip uses Scotty's famous line about the Tribbles when the future ship and all its technology vanishes, the whole 'kit and caboodle'!
***
Violations
DVD, TNG S5 (Violations)
I agreed with the main Ullian, Tarmin (or the BBC's John Simpson, I'm not sure which!) - I, too, wanted to see some Klingon memories! It wasn't an oversight, as they were never going to show the memories of all of the main cast, it would have taken too long and if they all fell into comas there'd only be background characters to work out the mystery and that's not how TV works. It was different and pleasantly surprising to have the episode begin on Keiko, perhaps the only one of either this series or 'DS9' to do so, and for the first time she was treated as a character in her own right, with Miles nowhere to be seen. Apart from that the teaser didn't live up to the rest of the episode as it ends with an ever so slightly sinister Jev, of the Ullians, looking moodily camera-wards as if preparing some dark deed, which he was, and so there was no mystery to the story.
I think it would have worked better had his presence in the memories been vague and shadowy so we couldn't be sure of the identity, that way the creepiness and revulsion would have been stronger. Admittedly there was a degree of horror in seeing Jev taking control in each memory, whether it was physical, as with Troi, accusatory, as with Riker, or just plain frightening, as with Beverly. Dr. Crusher's memory was the most fascinating with the younger versions of her and Picard going to the mortuary to see the recently deceased Jack Crusher (the words 'blink and you'll miss it' no more apt than in Doug Wert's reprisal of Jack!), but whether Jack turning into Jev was the most terrifying thing, or seeing Picard with hair, is debatable…
Jev would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for his own pesky lasciviousness - all he had to do was keep quiet, but no, he had to go and say goodbye to Troi, which got him going, and then it was too late and he was revealed. Troi's fight back was most impressive, flapping about like a wounded bird in a cage. As a counsellor she doesn't get much call for hand to hand combat, so I felt she did well, even if she did need Worf to appear and whack her assailant down with one well-placed blow. Troi and Worf have been quite friendly lately with her advising him about Alexander in a recent episode, and now the Klingon saving her, so maybe these little seeds were what grew into the otherwise inexplicable 'romance' they shared towards the end of the season.
Riker is her main focus in this story, with the endearment Imzadi used in her memory. There's a nice scene when he tries to repeat in some way what she did for him in 'Shades of Grey' when he was in the coma and she was there for him, but otherwise the First Officer is out of it fairly early though his memory was the most action-packed - Beverly's line that begins "Riker is the second officer…" made me reply mentally "oh no he's not, he's the first officer," though she was really talking about his position as the second to become comatose! All three violations were shot in a very dramatic and surreal way, but like none of the other dramatic, surreal flashbacks/memories/experiences we've seen in other episodes. Even the picture was stretching and condensing like a hall of mirrors and it emphasised the horror of Riker's guilt or Crusher's foreboding suspense exceptionally well. I wish action scenes could be more like that on 'Star Trek' in general, with dramatic camera angles and wide lenses, though for 'real life' they'd have to lose the bendy picture.
Troi's memory was the most unpleasant of the three, bringing to mind a similar scene in 'Star Trek Nemesis' - knowing John Logan, writer of that film, loved the series, I wonder if he got the idea from this episode? The 'Voyager' episode 'Remember' may also have gained some inspiration from this episode. As well as John Simpson, we also got to see Barack Obama, going by the name of Dr. Martin, but I wasn't fooled by his disguise. Would the episode have been better with a mystery to solve? I think it would, because Jev wasn't filled out enough for the angle they chose - he should have become almost a tragic figure so that we feel sorrow at his actions, when he really is a simple Bad Guy. There was a nice moral at the end, from Picard, about violence, and being aware of it in ourselves, and though there were drops out of the episode that lost the momentum, such as Geordi technobabbling to himself, or Geordi and Data walking and talking (filler scenes), the fascination with the crew's memories sustained it as a whole, and it's no surprise the idea came from the same person as last season's 'Night Terrors' as they are similar in tone.
***
I agreed with the main Ullian, Tarmin (or the BBC's John Simpson, I'm not sure which!) - I, too, wanted to see some Klingon memories! It wasn't an oversight, as they were never going to show the memories of all of the main cast, it would have taken too long and if they all fell into comas there'd only be background characters to work out the mystery and that's not how TV works. It was different and pleasantly surprising to have the episode begin on Keiko, perhaps the only one of either this series or 'DS9' to do so, and for the first time she was treated as a character in her own right, with Miles nowhere to be seen. Apart from that the teaser didn't live up to the rest of the episode as it ends with an ever so slightly sinister Jev, of the Ullians, looking moodily camera-wards as if preparing some dark deed, which he was, and so there was no mystery to the story.
I think it would have worked better had his presence in the memories been vague and shadowy so we couldn't be sure of the identity, that way the creepiness and revulsion would have been stronger. Admittedly there was a degree of horror in seeing Jev taking control in each memory, whether it was physical, as with Troi, accusatory, as with Riker, or just plain frightening, as with Beverly. Dr. Crusher's memory was the most fascinating with the younger versions of her and Picard going to the mortuary to see the recently deceased Jack Crusher (the words 'blink and you'll miss it' no more apt than in Doug Wert's reprisal of Jack!), but whether Jack turning into Jev was the most terrifying thing, or seeing Picard with hair, is debatable…
Jev would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for his own pesky lasciviousness - all he had to do was keep quiet, but no, he had to go and say goodbye to Troi, which got him going, and then it was too late and he was revealed. Troi's fight back was most impressive, flapping about like a wounded bird in a cage. As a counsellor she doesn't get much call for hand to hand combat, so I felt she did well, even if she did need Worf to appear and whack her assailant down with one well-placed blow. Troi and Worf have been quite friendly lately with her advising him about Alexander in a recent episode, and now the Klingon saving her, so maybe these little seeds were what grew into the otherwise inexplicable 'romance' they shared towards the end of the season.
Riker is her main focus in this story, with the endearment Imzadi used in her memory. There's a nice scene when he tries to repeat in some way what she did for him in 'Shades of Grey' when he was in the coma and she was there for him, but otherwise the First Officer is out of it fairly early though his memory was the most action-packed - Beverly's line that begins "Riker is the second officer…" made me reply mentally "oh no he's not, he's the first officer," though she was really talking about his position as the second to become comatose! All three violations were shot in a very dramatic and surreal way, but like none of the other dramatic, surreal flashbacks/memories/experiences we've seen in other episodes. Even the picture was stretching and condensing like a hall of mirrors and it emphasised the horror of Riker's guilt or Crusher's foreboding suspense exceptionally well. I wish action scenes could be more like that on 'Star Trek' in general, with dramatic camera angles and wide lenses, though for 'real life' they'd have to lose the bendy picture.
Troi's memory was the most unpleasant of the three, bringing to mind a similar scene in 'Star Trek Nemesis' - knowing John Logan, writer of that film, loved the series, I wonder if he got the idea from this episode? The 'Voyager' episode 'Remember' may also have gained some inspiration from this episode. As well as John Simpson, we also got to see Barack Obama, going by the name of Dr. Martin, but I wasn't fooled by his disguise. Would the episode have been better with a mystery to solve? I think it would, because Jev wasn't filled out enough for the angle they chose - he should have become almost a tragic figure so that we feel sorrow at his actions, when he really is a simple Bad Guy. There was a nice moral at the end, from Picard, about violence, and being aware of it in ourselves, and though there were drops out of the episode that lost the momentum, such as Geordi technobabbling to himself, or Geordi and Data walking and talking (filler scenes), the fascination with the crew's memories sustained it as a whole, and it's no surprise the idea came from the same person as last season's 'Night Terrors' as they are similar in tone.
***
Hero Worship
DVD, TNG S5 (Hero Worship)
Scheduling this episode right after one about the new arrival of a child to the Enterprise, and the emotional trauma he goes through, might not have been a good idea as this has a very similar direction to it, though this time it's Data who must react to the boy, rather than Worf and his son. It doesn't quite have the impact of similar tales 'The Bonding' and 'Suddenly Human,' and is a bit slow, especially in the first half. This doesn't reflect well on Patrick Stewart's directing ability, but I wouldn't say he was a bad director, just that he hadn't flowered into a great one at this time. Perhaps too, the story must bear some of the blame, and the best I could say was that it wasn't over-directed and didn't draw attention away from the story.
The teaser started as the episode meant to go on: at snail's pace. It really should have been dynamic, with the sense of danger in the air - at that point they assumed an enemy had attacked the Vico, and it could still have been nearby, but it takes them a while to beam over, and then the ship was a bit too bright, losing the drama of deep shadows, though the impression of being about to fall apart was certainly achieved. Data's rescue wasn't bad, especially the part where he and Timothy lurch out into the corridor and get beamed away, though the support strut did look suspiciously like it had been placed above them to fall down, rather than looking natural.
The anticipation rose a notch or two when mention of first Romulans and Klingons, and then Breen took the imagination to better places. They were described as being dangerous or likely to attack, adding to the infant mythology of the Breen, but for all that we never got to see them or even a ship because it was a naturally occurring disaster. A good idea, that leads to vindication for the boy in his own eyes, but I'd still rather have seen a first glimpse of a Breen ship, though I suspected that never happened until 'DS9.' Seeing the extensive damage to the Vico's hull was interesting as we don't often get to - I expect in a modern series they'd have shown a rip in the hull from inside the ship, perhaps in the place where Timothy was trapped, to up the tension.
Mainly because O'Brien has featured a fair bit, and I expect him to have the transporter room if there's a worthwhile sequence of dialogue going, it was odd that it was a different transporter chief. Once Timothy acts as an android and builds a friendship with Data, prompted by his kind move of turning back and building the model structure at super fast speed before he left the boy's quarters, things became more enjoyable and a little sadder. It forced Data to consider his own wish to be human, a question and a quest that has become almost unspoken in recent seasons, and helped to contrast his weaknesses in some areas. His friendship with Timothy reminded me of the later one in 'Star Trek: Insurrection' with the Ba'ku boy, Artim, and I half expected him to say 'bye' in return to the boy! The episode did pick up with these things, but felt in summary a weaker version of 'The Bonding' using the same or too similar ideas. A couple of things stuck out beyond the story for me: that 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat' wasn't exclusive to 'Star Trek V,' and that Geordi didn't get his VISOR until after he was five years old.
**
Scheduling this episode right after one about the new arrival of a child to the Enterprise, and the emotional trauma he goes through, might not have been a good idea as this has a very similar direction to it, though this time it's Data who must react to the boy, rather than Worf and his son. It doesn't quite have the impact of similar tales 'The Bonding' and 'Suddenly Human,' and is a bit slow, especially in the first half. This doesn't reflect well on Patrick Stewart's directing ability, but I wouldn't say he was a bad director, just that he hadn't flowered into a great one at this time. Perhaps too, the story must bear some of the blame, and the best I could say was that it wasn't over-directed and didn't draw attention away from the story.
The teaser started as the episode meant to go on: at snail's pace. It really should have been dynamic, with the sense of danger in the air - at that point they assumed an enemy had attacked the Vico, and it could still have been nearby, but it takes them a while to beam over, and then the ship was a bit too bright, losing the drama of deep shadows, though the impression of being about to fall apart was certainly achieved. Data's rescue wasn't bad, especially the part where he and Timothy lurch out into the corridor and get beamed away, though the support strut did look suspiciously like it had been placed above them to fall down, rather than looking natural.
The anticipation rose a notch or two when mention of first Romulans and Klingons, and then Breen took the imagination to better places. They were described as being dangerous or likely to attack, adding to the infant mythology of the Breen, but for all that we never got to see them or even a ship because it was a naturally occurring disaster. A good idea, that leads to vindication for the boy in his own eyes, but I'd still rather have seen a first glimpse of a Breen ship, though I suspected that never happened until 'DS9.' Seeing the extensive damage to the Vico's hull was interesting as we don't often get to - I expect in a modern series they'd have shown a rip in the hull from inside the ship, perhaps in the place where Timothy was trapped, to up the tension.
Mainly because O'Brien has featured a fair bit, and I expect him to have the transporter room if there's a worthwhile sequence of dialogue going, it was odd that it was a different transporter chief. Once Timothy acts as an android and builds a friendship with Data, prompted by his kind move of turning back and building the model structure at super fast speed before he left the boy's quarters, things became more enjoyable and a little sadder. It forced Data to consider his own wish to be human, a question and a quest that has become almost unspoken in recent seasons, and helped to contrast his weaknesses in some areas. His friendship with Timothy reminded me of the later one in 'Star Trek: Insurrection' with the Ba'ku boy, Artim, and I half expected him to say 'bye' in return to the boy! The episode did pick up with these things, but felt in summary a weaker version of 'The Bonding' using the same or too similar ideas. A couple of things stuck out beyond the story for me: that 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat' wasn't exclusive to 'Star Trek V,' and that Geordi didn't get his VISOR until after he was five years old.
**
Chain Reaction
DVD, Stargate SG-1 S4 (Chain Reaction)
Like Colonel O'Neill I didn't buy the sudden desire of General Hammond to retire - being a soldier of many years experience he wasn't going to suddenly balk at the thought he might be sending soldiers on missions they might not return from. Knowing that Hammond eventually did leave the series, I did wonder if it could happen at this relatively early stage, but not for long. It did mean we got to see some heartfelt goodbyes from the SG-1 team to their beloved General and friend. It seems that every TV series which revolves around a team with an older leader who sends them off on their adventures has to have an episode in which that trusted leader is replaced by a completely different type of person. This person then goes about wrecking the established equilibrium, breaking up the team and making questionable decisions based on a lack of experience with the exact formula of the series, and this is the episode for 'Stargate.'
Major General Bauer looked more like a man on his way to retirement than Hammond did, and I got the impression he was merely a stooge sent to upset the status quo rather than one with any real hope of staying in command for long - his first plan almost destroys the Stargate programme, and puts Earth at extreme risk, not to mention an unethical destruction of a planet! I also had the sense that, while he regretted his actions (enough to apologise to Carter), he would also be liable to make the same mistake again if he was allowed, once the danger had passed and the situation resolved. This just made it all the more imperative to get Hammond reinstated, and showed the great latitude and understanding he has always exhibited, and which O'Neill requested more of!
The plot revolves around the NID, that nasty secret organisation which now needs our Stargate after the team shut down the Russian gate. At last we find out what the events of that episode led to, namely Mayborn accused of treason and sentenced to execution. But he wasn't going to let that happen, and so begins the more interesting era of his involvement in the series as he becomes a partial asset to O'Neill. A kind of dirty agent that can be of use against his former employees, the dark side of control. It's shocking to think Hammond's grandchildren could be abducted, but less shocking to discover Senator Kinsey's connection to it all. I love the way Mayborn retains a sneaking admiration of Jack, even while he is so serious and cliched about spy stuff, while Jack just shrugs it off and pops his pomposity and self-crafted stature as this great spymaster, although you have to give him credit for escaping captivity, and double points for not attempting it on Jack's watch so as not to break O'Neill's trust with the President!
There's also the early signs of the direction the series could go with ultimate enemy of the Stargate, Kinsey, declaring his decision to run for the presidency. Uh-oh! The most interesting part of the tale was O'Neill and Mayborn's runaround after evidence, with black ops types chasing them down: good use of handheld cameras to shoot the sequence where the operatives break into Mayborn's hideaway and he and Jack take their vehicle. There's also plenty of banter from Jack, the best being some 'Starsky & Hutch' references! "I'm Mr. Starsky and he's Hutch." Hammond's blackmailing out of his job is soon rectified and the team can get back to normal, though with the threat of Kinsey and the NID looming larger, things could get tricky. At least Mayborn's status as a rogue agent is an option they might be able to make use of.
***
Like Colonel O'Neill I didn't buy the sudden desire of General Hammond to retire - being a soldier of many years experience he wasn't going to suddenly balk at the thought he might be sending soldiers on missions they might not return from. Knowing that Hammond eventually did leave the series, I did wonder if it could happen at this relatively early stage, but not for long. It did mean we got to see some heartfelt goodbyes from the SG-1 team to their beloved General and friend. It seems that every TV series which revolves around a team with an older leader who sends them off on their adventures has to have an episode in which that trusted leader is replaced by a completely different type of person. This person then goes about wrecking the established equilibrium, breaking up the team and making questionable decisions based on a lack of experience with the exact formula of the series, and this is the episode for 'Stargate.'
Major General Bauer looked more like a man on his way to retirement than Hammond did, and I got the impression he was merely a stooge sent to upset the status quo rather than one with any real hope of staying in command for long - his first plan almost destroys the Stargate programme, and puts Earth at extreme risk, not to mention an unethical destruction of a planet! I also had the sense that, while he regretted his actions (enough to apologise to Carter), he would also be liable to make the same mistake again if he was allowed, once the danger had passed and the situation resolved. This just made it all the more imperative to get Hammond reinstated, and showed the great latitude and understanding he has always exhibited, and which O'Neill requested more of!
The plot revolves around the NID, that nasty secret organisation which now needs our Stargate after the team shut down the Russian gate. At last we find out what the events of that episode led to, namely Mayborn accused of treason and sentenced to execution. But he wasn't going to let that happen, and so begins the more interesting era of his involvement in the series as he becomes a partial asset to O'Neill. A kind of dirty agent that can be of use against his former employees, the dark side of control. It's shocking to think Hammond's grandchildren could be abducted, but less shocking to discover Senator Kinsey's connection to it all. I love the way Mayborn retains a sneaking admiration of Jack, even while he is so serious and cliched about spy stuff, while Jack just shrugs it off and pops his pomposity and self-crafted stature as this great spymaster, although you have to give him credit for escaping captivity, and double points for not attempting it on Jack's watch so as not to break O'Neill's trust with the President!
There's also the early signs of the direction the series could go with ultimate enemy of the Stargate, Kinsey, declaring his decision to run for the presidency. Uh-oh! The most interesting part of the tale was O'Neill and Mayborn's runaround after evidence, with black ops types chasing them down: good use of handheld cameras to shoot the sequence where the operatives break into Mayborn's hideaway and he and Jack take their vehicle. There's also plenty of banter from Jack, the best being some 'Starsky & Hutch' references! "I'm Mr. Starsky and he's Hutch." Hammond's blackmailing out of his job is soon rectified and the team can get back to normal, though with the threat of Kinsey and the NID looming larger, things could get tricky. At least Mayborn's status as a rogue agent is an option they might be able to make use of.
***
Monday, 27 June 2011
New Ground
DVD, TNG S5 (New Ground)
The backdrop of a possible new form of warp propulsion without the use of engines, is only there to provide a framework in which to keep Worf busy as he confronts his most challenging adversary yet: his young son. Until the end in which the wave becomes a major threat to the ship, and specifically to Alexander, it's just one other thing keeping Worf from interacting consistently with him, and imparting the love and guidance needed. The episode title is very apt, as some difficult, and certainly new ground for Worf, is covered - obedience to parents, the behaviour of children, the responsibilities of parenting and pitfalls therein are all tough ground. Worf can take on so many situations, but the personal has always been a little more painful for him than most, and it shows. Deanna helps him see that he's still got some degree of anger and frustration at the death of his mate and Alexander's Mother, K'Ehleyr - it seems vengeance on his enemy, Duras, didn't end the pain, which is a lesson in itself. Though Klingon views are fascinating, they're being watched by humans and judged by human standards, and while we might have cheered Worf on in the dual, we knew it was wrong to seek revenge.
It is heartening to see Worf's crewmates be so understanding, from Deanna's advice, to Picard's understanding, and Riker's staunch assistance in the rescue - I'm not sure we've seen the two burly figures taking on a physical task together since Season 3's 'The Hunted' and they certainly looked formidable charging down corridors. Perhaps they should have used that pairing more often? It was also nice to see Worf's training programme, another Season 3 throwback, only this time we get to see the setting on novice, with the tiny Klingon boy fighting the skull-faced opponent. Notice how at that level of difficulty the computer enemy allows the participant to get up rather than attacking full on.
We also get to hear a little more Klingon lore as Worf reveals the statue of two muscular Klingons wrestling, which he keeps in his quarters, is the well-known Kahless fighting his (lesser known) brother Morath, although sneakily they'd never sported ridges before. Appropriately in a story about a new form of propulsion, Zefram Cochrane is name-checked again. Other connections (or not), are that I thought the name of the planet they were visiting was called Bellana (very suitable for a Klingon-centric story!), though it was actually Bilana III. And the Corvan Gilvos would be seen again in 'DS9' as a pet Quark has during his very short reign as Grand Nagus in Season 1's 'The Nagus.' I also thought Dr. Ja'Dar looked rather like a Grazerite, as represented by the Federation President in 'DS9' Season 4.
As intriguing as this new soliton wave technology was, it was never going to replace warp drive as not only would Geordi be out of a job, but the series would be rather less exciting. I noticed one seemingly major flaw with the idea: if a ship is riding a wave, how do they change course, or turn a corner? As I said, that part of the story only existed to hang Worf's personal problems on. They could very well have killed off Alexander (played here for the first time by Brian Bonsall), as they did his Mother, but this time they decided the time was right to do something different. I have to admit to preferring the warrior persona of Worf, rather than his fatherly one, but the episode remains compelling in small ways, helped by the exciting finale, and wonderful scene with Worf's adopted Mother, Helena Rozhenko, who is just as good as last time she appeared. It would have been nice to see Sergei too (he's got all the diagrams!), but the importance of Worf's decision is the main thing, putting him into a new era for his character that would last to the end of the series, until he joined 'DS9' and began another era.
***
The backdrop of a possible new form of warp propulsion without the use of engines, is only there to provide a framework in which to keep Worf busy as he confronts his most challenging adversary yet: his young son. Until the end in which the wave becomes a major threat to the ship, and specifically to Alexander, it's just one other thing keeping Worf from interacting consistently with him, and imparting the love and guidance needed. The episode title is very apt, as some difficult, and certainly new ground for Worf, is covered - obedience to parents, the behaviour of children, the responsibilities of parenting and pitfalls therein are all tough ground. Worf can take on so many situations, but the personal has always been a little more painful for him than most, and it shows. Deanna helps him see that he's still got some degree of anger and frustration at the death of his mate and Alexander's Mother, K'Ehleyr - it seems vengeance on his enemy, Duras, didn't end the pain, which is a lesson in itself. Though Klingon views are fascinating, they're being watched by humans and judged by human standards, and while we might have cheered Worf on in the dual, we knew it was wrong to seek revenge.
It is heartening to see Worf's crewmates be so understanding, from Deanna's advice, to Picard's understanding, and Riker's staunch assistance in the rescue - I'm not sure we've seen the two burly figures taking on a physical task together since Season 3's 'The Hunted' and they certainly looked formidable charging down corridors. Perhaps they should have used that pairing more often? It was also nice to see Worf's training programme, another Season 3 throwback, only this time we get to see the setting on novice, with the tiny Klingon boy fighting the skull-faced opponent. Notice how at that level of difficulty the computer enemy allows the participant to get up rather than attacking full on.
We also get to hear a little more Klingon lore as Worf reveals the statue of two muscular Klingons wrestling, which he keeps in his quarters, is the well-known Kahless fighting his (lesser known) brother Morath, although sneakily they'd never sported ridges before. Appropriately in a story about a new form of propulsion, Zefram Cochrane is name-checked again. Other connections (or not), are that I thought the name of the planet they were visiting was called Bellana (very suitable for a Klingon-centric story!), though it was actually Bilana III. And the Corvan Gilvos would be seen again in 'DS9' as a pet Quark has during his very short reign as Grand Nagus in Season 1's 'The Nagus.' I also thought Dr. Ja'Dar looked rather like a Grazerite, as represented by the Federation President in 'DS9' Season 4.
As intriguing as this new soliton wave technology was, it was never going to replace warp drive as not only would Geordi be out of a job, but the series would be rather less exciting. I noticed one seemingly major flaw with the idea: if a ship is riding a wave, how do they change course, or turn a corner? As I said, that part of the story only existed to hang Worf's personal problems on. They could very well have killed off Alexander (played here for the first time by Brian Bonsall), as they did his Mother, but this time they decided the time was right to do something different. I have to admit to preferring the warrior persona of Worf, rather than his fatherly one, but the episode remains compelling in small ways, helped by the exciting finale, and wonderful scene with Worf's adopted Mother, Helena Rozhenko, who is just as good as last time she appeared. It would have been nice to see Sergei too (he's got all the diagrams!), but the importance of Worf's decision is the main thing, putting him into a new era for his character that would last to the end of the series, until he joined 'DS9' and began another era.
***
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