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Series Overview
Jean-Luc Picard - Patrick Stewart Will Riker - Jonathan Frakes Data - Brent Spiner Kate Pulaski - Diana Muldaur Deanna Troi - Marina Sirtis Geordi LaForge - LeVar Burton Worf - Michael Dorn Wesley Crusher - Wil Wheaton 
OTHER SEASONS Season 1 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 6 Season 7 OTHER STAR TREK SHOWS Star Trek Deep Space Nine Voyager Enterprise OTHER TREKS THROUGH SPACE Babylon 5 The new Battlestar Galactica 
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Series OverviewThe Enterprise continues its ongoing missions. Now that the first stumblings of a new series are over, we ought to be able to see it hitting its stride and there are hints of that happening. The cast are much more at home with their characters (with the exception of Diana Muldaur who plays the new ship's doctor) and there is much concentration on those characters, giving the major members of the cast a chance to show what they can do. The quality of the episodes, however, continues to be shaky. Episodes like The Measure of a Man, Q Who and Emissary show what can be acheived by the series and others like Shades of Gray and Up The Long Ladder are annoyingly lazy. Fortunately, the general quality is on the up and there are very few bad episodes, lots of ok ones and a few really good ones. TopThe ChildA strange energy creature impregnates Deanna Troi and she decides to keep the baby, no matter what it will turn out to be. She won't have to wait long because the baby is progressing at a phenomenal rate. Series two starts off with a character-driven episode that is as exciting as a damp tea bag. Troi accepts the rape (it can't be called anything else) with surprising equanimity and there is very little that can be called real emotion, on show throughout. Humanity may have evolved, but to the extent where rape is casually accepted by all? I don't think so. Not an auspicious start. TopWhere Silence Has LeaseThe Enterprise finds itself in a strange void where there is nothing. This turns out to be the laboratory of a creature called Nagilum who is using the crew to test humanity's reaction to pain and fear and suffering. Picard decides that he will not allow his people to be used this way and sets the auto destruct sequence. Ah, the auto destruct sequence. How many times has a star fleet captain set one of those and not used it? Initially intriguing with a nasty edge, this episode quickly reverts to standard stuff. TopElementary, Dear DataGeordi and Data are passing some time in the Holodeck with the android playing Sherlock Holmes and Geordi the faithful Dr Watson. As Data holds every Sherlock Holmes story every written in his head, the game is not successful until Geordi asks the computer to create an adversary capable of outwitting Data. This adversary, the evil Dr Moriarty, then sets about trying to take over the ship. There are times when THE NEXT GENERATION can be quite fanciful and silly. Those times are some of the best episodes that we’ve seen and this is just one of those. Apart from the ongoing questions as to how the holodeck can function at all, surely the computer would have locks on it to prevent any action that could endanger the ship, including creating a holodeck character capable of taking it over. That said, Daniel Davis makes Moriarty a wonderfully camp and delightful creation and it is with regret that we see him go. We want him added to the crew. TopThe Outrageous OkonaA ship in danger is a call for the Enterprise to get into trouble at every turn. The ship in question this time belongs to one Captain Okona, a rogue and a scoundrel who wastes no time getting transporter chiefs into bed whilst charming the crew into helping him fix his ship. Then an outraged father turns up demanding that Okona marry his pregnant daughter. Frivolous is often great and this episode follows on from Elementary, Dear Data and keeps the frivolity count high. There is never the slightest threat to the ship or anyone on it and it is the character of Okona and the reaction of the crewmembers to him that make the episode. Data’s attempts to learn about humour are an annoying sideline. Superman’s future squeeze Teri Hatcher appears briefly as the beddable transporter operator. TopLoud As A WhisperA negotiator to be ferried to a war zone turns out to be deaf, but able to communicate through three interpreters. When they are killed, the ambassador loses his ability, and will, to negotiate. It is up to Picard and Troi to persuade him to continue his efforts. Triumph through adversity, a handicap need not prevent achievement. There are times when the message is stronger than the episode and times when the message suffocates the episode. Thankfully, this is one of the former and the character work is enough to keep it from getting too preachy. TopThe Schizoid ManA dying scientist is given one last chance to complete his experiments by the arrival of Data. When all efforts to complete the work before his health collapses fail, he transfers his personality into Data and takes him over. The jealous scientist now has Data’s abilities and strength at his disposal. His pretty assistant and the interested Will Riker are in considerable danger. Will Riker can be a bit of a store dummy, but his saving graces are his sense of humour and insatiable womanising. We like these things about him, but have always said that the latter will get him into trouble and here it comes, data shaped. This is a solid episode without ever quite reaching beyond that, fading in memory almost as soon as it is over. TopUnnatural SelectionA group of children have been genetically engineered to the point where even their pheromones can be deadly to others. After being exposed to them, Dr Pulaski starts to age rapidly. The search is on for a cure. Gene manipulation is a bad thing and it will end up with bioengineered weapons, so don’t do it. That’s the message of this episode. Someone clearly wanted to use the makeup kit and thought up a plot to fit it. Dr Pulaski hasn’t been with the ship long enough for her plight to affect us in the way that it would have with Beverly Crusher, but it all resolves itself quite happily. TopA Matter of HonorWill Riker is assigned to a Klingon warship as part of an exchange programme and takes a crash course in all things klingon. Once there, he starts to learn new ways and make new friends, but then things start to go wrong with the ship and the klingons think that the Enterprise were responsible, the same ship that is now chasing them and flying right into an ambush. Riker’s only option is to take control of the klingon ship. The Klingons are one of the more interesting races of the STAR TREK universe and Worf’s place on the ship has given them more prominence. This episode explores their world more and is quite fun. Their cuisine won’t catch on anytime soon, but there is much to enjoy as Riker tries to find his feet in unusual surroundings. TopThe Measure of a ManCommander Maddox arrives from Star Fleet with orders that will allow him to disassemble Data in order to find out how to duplicate him. The procedure is not without risk, so Data refuses and resigns his commission. Starfleet then labels him as ‘property’ and a hearing is set to determine his status once and for all. Picard is his defence and Riker his prosecutor. The prize is his life. There have been episodes in THE NEXT GENERATION that have been so focussed on a point that the story has been lost. Here there is no story, only point, and it is one of the best episodes that the show has yet produced. ‘What is human?’ is the question, although it is couched in terms of sentience for the sake of the show. Can a machine that simulates life in such detail actually be alive? How do you define life. A Vulcan once said, ‘A difference that makes no difference is no difference.’ Courtrooms are made for drama and the one played out here is riveting. This is what THE NEXT GENERATION, and science fiction in general for that matter, can do if it tries hard enough. More like it please. TopThe DauphinA young passenger comes on board ship and her restrictive guardian keeps her in her room, but she has an interest in everything and soon comes to the notice of young Wesley Crusher. They spend time together, hormones start racing, but she is not all that she seems and her guardian would be willing to destroy the whole ship before seeing her charge ‘interfered with’. The teenage fumblings of the human male haven’t changed in the far future, it seems, and actually watching one going through the whole prelude to dating thing really isn’t what we signed up for with this series, even if the girl’s guardian can turn into a big, hairy and completely unconvincing monster at will. TopContagionVenturing into the Romulan Neutral Zone on a rescue mission, the ship's computers are affected by a computer virus that sets about the destruction of the ship's systems. Picard identifies the virus as being from the long-dead Iconian civilisation and the crew beam down to an Iconian planet to look for a solution. Then Data's systems also become infected. It would appear that the Enterprise computer needs to update its Norton Antivirus software. Flippancy aside, this episode is a step up from last week's nonsense with at least a measure of threat and tension. Still, it's only an average episode. TopThe RoyaleAn old NASA ship is found where it has no right to be. The away team beam down to a nearby planet and find a recreation of a hotel. They find themselves unable to leave until the story has played out, a tale in which people are going to die. Now this is bizarre. Bizarre can often be good. We like bizarre. This is bizarre. It isn’t good though. The away team are trapped, but in no immediate danger. There is no threat to the ship and the story in which the crew are trapped is rubbish. The episode isn’t that much different. Time SquaredOne of the Enterprise’s shuttles is discovered adrift, even though it is still in the shuttle bay. Aboard is Captain Picard, which comes as something as a shock to Captain Picard on the ship. The shuttle has passed back in time and brought back news of an impending disaster that Picard himself has caused. Time travel stories are all about paradoxes. Sometimes that’s fun, sometimes it’s not. This is a fine, sturdy episode, but not one to get the pulse racing, or to live long in the memory. Patrick Stewart does well with the role of a man who finds himself second-guessing everything that he does because of information that he should not have. TopThe Icarus FactorWill Riker is given a chance to command his own ship, an opportunity that he doesn't jump at immediately. He also comes up against his father, a man he hasn't got on with for years. Meanwhile, Worf is acting in a very grumpy fashion. Data realises that it is because he cannot complete an upcoming Klingon ritual. An episode in which nothing happens - now that's a novel idea. This is a show all about the characters and they take centre stage here. Worf's situation is unique and provides all the interest whilst Riker's problems with his father are annoyingly facile. It’s a workmanlike episode rather than an inspired one, but the overall quality of the show has been on an upwards curve. TopPen PalsData picks up rogue signal and starts to communicate with a being whose world is being shattered by violent storms. He finds himself unable to stand by and let the girl die. Picard is forced to invoke the prime directive, but the crew isn’t about to stand by without trying to come up with a sneaky way around that particular rule. The problem with the Prime Directive is that it seems to be more of a guideline than a principle rule. It is ignored, bent and twisted beyond recognition as each scriptwriter needs it. For this story, they needn’t have bothered. TopQ WhoQ is back and this time he offers his services as a member of the crew. Picard tells him flat out that they don’t need him. Enraged, Q sends the Enterprise into the far depths of the other side of the galaxy where they encounter a race of cybernetic beings called the Borg, a collective who care nothing for human life and whose technology is beyond anything that the Federation can mount as a defence. The Federation often seem invulnerable, and one of Q’s greatest values is to puncture Picard’s pomposity from time to time. Here, the captain is forced to cast aside pride and admit that he needs Q’s help in order to save his crew, which seems to have been the point all along. John de Lancie is once again on sparkling form as the capricious Q, but here shows a little more of the darker edge that makes him so dangerous. His banter with Picard is the highlight of the episode. TopSamaritan SnareCaptain Picard needs surgery that is pretty routine, but goes horribly wrong and the only surgeon that can save him is the Enterprise’s own Dr Pulaski. In the meantime, the rather dull seeming aliens on a ship that is practically falling apart take Geordi hostage, leaving Riker with the unenviable choice of leaving his engineer behind or letting his captain die. There’s something not quite right about taking slow people and turning them into alien baddies. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth and that mars this episode, which quite frankly wouldn’t have been all that good otherwise. The other part of the episode hints at all kinds of darker things, but is left to dangle, even if there is no to be continued at the end of the episode. TopUp The Long LadderThe ship rescues a lost earth colony along with all its animals and whisky stills. They then encounter a race of clones whose generations are failing because the copies of copies are getting too faint. An infusion of new DNA is required, like that of a lost earth colony… Stereotyping seems to be the thing at the moment. We’ve had stupid people in Samaritan Snare and now drunk irish people in Up the Long Ladder. None of this tosh is believable because the characters of the colonists are nothing more than comic book. Go back and watch The Measure of a Man again instead, because a little idle banter aside, there is nothing else of interest here. TopManhuntLwaxana Troi is back and this time she is in her midlife crisis stage which ups her sex drive by a factor of 4. She needs a new husband and has set her hat at Picard. The Captain runs for his life, hiding in the holodeck, but there can be no escape. If it wasn't for the fact that Lwaxana Troi, as played by Majel Barrett, is great fun and her effect on the Captain even more so, then this would be a very annoying episode. Once again, nothing much is happening on a global stage and the concentration on the minutiae of the characters' lives is less than inspiring. Still, there's some dialogue exchanges taht provide a lot of laughs. TopEmissaryWorf’s ex-lover K’Ehylar comes aboard the ship to defuse a potentially damaging situation. A ship full of deep frozen Klingons are about to awake and start waging the Federation/klingon war all over again. She is there to stop it. Whilst they wait to make contact with the ship, she tries to get through Worf’s stubborn nature. More of Worf’s backstory and this episode is made great by the presence of Suzie Plakson as K’Ehleyr. A klingon with a wry sense of humour and a way of bursting his self-importance is just what he needs and their relationship is just immense fun to watch. The rest of the plot is pretty much there only as an excuse to get these two together. Can we get her added to crew roster please? TopPeak PerformanceA rusting old hulk that can barely move is set up against the Enterprise in an exercise that will test the crew’s readiness. Riker is given the captain’s chair and his team prepare a few surprises for the Enterprise, hoping to at least make a show of it. When the Ferengi attack in the middle of the game and end up disabling the flagship, it is up to the hulk to save the day. I am not sure that setting up a match between the flagship and an old dead ship is a good way to ensure full battle readiness, but that aside this is an OK episode. It’s a surprise that there weren’t any observation ships that could have helped out as well or that the exercise should take place in disputed space rather than safe within Federation territory. The more you think about the story, the more it falls apart, so let’s just move on to the next story, noting only the resourcefulness of the crew of the hulk. TopShades of GrayRiker is attacked by a virus that causes his brain to deteriorate. Dr Pulaski stimulates the nerves, causing him to flash back to events in his past. These negative memories speed up the process, so they try positive ones instead. This is the cheap episode in which the show uses bits of other episodes to hide the fact that it can’t afford to film a full one. Any excuse will do as long as it can fill up 50 minutes with 40 minutes of old footage and only 10 minutes of new stuff. It happens a lot and is the sign of a series in trouble. Let’s hope that’s not the case here and that series 3 will do better than this. Top |
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