With the worst behind us, we present our summarized ratings for season 1 and ponder what we ever did to deserve this.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: Season 1 Wrap-Up
– May 31, 2012 12:00 pmPosted in: TNG Re-Watch
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Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “The Neutral Zone”
– May 17, 2012 8:00 amPosted in: TNG Re-Watch
“The Neutral Zone”
Teleplay by Maurice Hurley
Story by Deborah McIntyre & Mona Clee
Directed by James L. Conway
Season 1, Episode 26
Original air date: May 16, 1988
Star date: 41986.0
Mission summary
Because Picard has to attend an emergency conference on Starbase 718, Riker commands the Enterprise when it stumbles upon a decrepit little capsule headed for a mine field. With a few hours to spare before the boss returns, Data suggests investigating the capsule. He and Worf beam down and discover several preserved meat popsicles (and a few corpses) within.
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Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Conspiracy”
– May 10, 2012 8:00 amPosted in: TNG Re-Watch
“Conspiracy”
Teleplay by Tracy Tormé
Story by Robert Sabaroff
Directed by Cliff Bole
Season 1, Episode 25
Original air date: May 9, 1988
Star date: 41775.5
Mission summary
The Enterprise crew is excited about taking yet another shore leave on Waterworld Pacifica under the guise of a “scientific mission.” They’re goofing off and telling inappropriate jokes on the Bridge when a top secret communiqué rains on their parade: a Code 47 on the Starfleet Emergency Broadcast System, for the captain’s eyes only. Riker wakes up Picard to take the important call, which is from one of his oldest living friends, Captain Walker Keel of the U.S.S. Horatio. He has an ominous warning for Picard: Trust no one. They agree to rendezvous in person at an old mining planet, Dytallix B, which is almost as good as a planet of beautiful oceans and beaches, if you’re a Horta anyway.
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Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “We’ll Always Have Paris”
– May 3, 2012 8:00 amPosted in: TNG Re-Watch
“We’ll Always Have Paris”
Written by Deborah Dean Davis and Hannah Louise Shearer
Directed by Robert Becker
Season 1, Episode 24
Original air date: May 2, 1988
Star date: 41697.9
Mission summary
The Enterprise is headed to Sarona VIII for some shore leave, but Picard has gotten a headstart by fencing with a lieutenant. Though he loses the first point he wins the second–twice, as time seems to repeat itself in an eerie deja vu effect. The bridge confirms the temporal anomaly, and they pick up a distress signal from a Paul Manheim, reknowned wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey tinkerer who left Earth fifteen years ago to experiment with multiple dimensions and nonlinear time.
Picard reacts strongly to news of Manheim. Because he’s got a few hours to kill before the ship reaches Manheim, Picard goes to the holodeck to recreate Paris twenty-two years earlier. There he runs into a woman waiting for a man who never shows. She asks Picard why her beau did not come, and Picard tells her it was because of Nazis he was afraid. He then chastises himself for indulging in such fantasies and goes back to the bridge.
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Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Skin of Evil”
– April 26, 2012 8:00 amPosted in: TNG Re-Watch
“Skin of Evil”
Written by Joseph Stefano and Hannah Louise Shearer
Directed by Joseph L. Scanlan
Season 1, Episode 23
Original air date: April 25, 1988
Star date: 41601.3
Mission summary
Since not much is going on, Chief-Engineer-of-the-Week Leland T. Lynch decides to polish the Enterprise’s dilithium crystals; fortunately, chugging along at impulse just means it will take that much longer to pick up shuttlecraft 13, in which Counselor Troi is returning from a conference on “How to Succeed in Starfleet Without Really Trying.” Then sensors read an emergency on the shuttle, interrupting Worf and Tasha’s long-overdue bonding moment—she’s really looking forward to a martial arts competition in a few days, and Worf’s betting on her, even though they don’t have any money in the future. (Or maybe because they don’t have any money in the future.)
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Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Symbiosis”
– April 19, 2012 8:00 amPosted in: TNG Re-Watch
“Symbiosis”
Story by Robert Lewin
Teleplay by Robert Lewin, Richard Manning, and Hans Beimler
Directed by Win Phelps
Season 1, Episode 22
Original air date: April 18, 1988
Star date: Unknown
Mission summary
This week, on a Very Special Episode of ST: TNG…
The Enterprise is investigating some unusual solar flare activity in the Delos system when they receive a distress call from an Ornaran freighter. The freighter turns out to be the galactic equivalent of a Volkswagen minibus and the occupants onboard seem awfully mellow for people whose lives are in danger. The Enterprise‘s bridge crew is dumbfounded by the Ornarans’ lack of initiative to solve their crisis or expertise about the basic ship repairs necessary to save their vessel. The freighter is going to be destroyed as a result of sheer incompetence. The Enterprise beams them over to save their lives, but the Ornarans beam over their cargo first. By the time Yar can lock onto the passengers, only four of the six made it: two died because their cargo got priority. Harsh, dude.
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Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “The Arsenal of Freedom”
– April 12, 2012 8:00 amPosted in: TNG Re-Watch
“The Arsenal of Freedom”
Written by Richard Manning and Hans Beimler
Story by Maurice Hurley and Robert Lewin
Directed by Les Landau
Season 1, Episode 21
Original air date: April 11, 1988
Star date: 41798.2
Mission summary
Enterprise reaches the Lorenze Cluster in search of the U.S.S. Drake, which vanished while investigating the sudden disappearance of all intelligent life on Minos, a planet of arms merchants. As soon as they arrive, Enterprise is hailed with a targeted advertisement from the self-proclaimed “Arsenal of Freedom.” Annoyed that he had to sit through a commercial, Picard sends a small away team to shut everything down.
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Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Heart of Glory”
– April 5, 2012 8:00 amPosted in: TNG Re-Watch
“Heart of Glory”
Teleplay by Maurice Hurley
Story by Maurice Hurley and Herbert Wright & D.C. Fontana
Directed by Rob Bowman
Season 1, Episode 20
Original air date: March 21, 1988
Star date: 41503.7
Mission summary
The Enterprise is called out to the Neutral Zone to investigate a recent battle involving a Talarian freighter. Some life signs are aboard, so Riker, Data, and Geordi beam over to the ship, with Geordi transmitting VISOR-cam back to the Enterprise. The away team pokes through the damaged vessel until eventually they stumble upon the survivors, but they’re not Talarian or Romulan: they’re Klingon.
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Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Coming of Age”
– March 29, 2012 8:00 amPosted in: TNG Re-Watch
“Coming of Age”
Written by Sandy Fries (uncredited rewrite by Hannah Louise Shearer)
Directed by Mike Vejar
Season 1, Episode 19
Original air date: March 14, 1988
Star date: 41461.2
Mission summary
Enterprise delivers acting ensign Wesley Crusher to Relva VII to participate in the planet’s annual Hunger Games Starfleet Academy entrance examination. He meets the other candidates: a girl named Oliana, a Vulcan girl named T’Shanik, and a Benzite named Mordock. They are all incredibly bright, but apparently only one of them will be offered a coveted spot at the Academy.
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Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Home Soil”
– March 22, 2012 8:00 amPosted in: TNG Re-Watch
“Home Soil”
Teleplay by Robert Sabaroff
Story by Karl Guers, Ralph Sanchez, and Robert Sabaroff
Directed by Corey Allen
Season 1, Episode 18
Original air date: February 22, 1988
Star date: 41463.9
Mission summary
The Enterprise pays a visit to Velara III, a Tattooine-like planet chosen by the Federation for terraforming. The leader of the terraforming team, Mandl, looks nervous and tries to discourage the Enterprise from stopping by. Picard knows something’s up (who wouldn’t want a hello from the inspectors?) and sends Riker, Yar, Data, and La Forge down to check things out. The rest of the terraforming team–Malencon, the hydraulics specialist; Luisa Kim, the biosphere designer; and chief engineer Bjorn Bensen–don’t seem to have any secrets. But when Mandl tells Malencon to get back to work, the specialist disappears into a room only to start screaming moments later. The crew finds him too late, badly burned by a ceiling-mounted laser drill. Though they beam him to sickbay, he’s dead, Jean-Luc. Read the rest of this entry »
