“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.
Riker, Yar, and Data beam down to a foggy tropical forest, with the nagging feeling that they’re being watched. They discover advanced weaponry lying around and meet Captain Rice, commander of the Drake, who looks and behaves strangely and lacks life signs. Riker evades Rice’s single-minded questions about his ship and calls him out as a fake, prompting the man’s image to disappear—revealing a hovering drone that zaps Riker into a stasis field. Yar destroys the droid, but Riker is trapped like a mint-in-box action figure.
Picard places La Forge in temporary command and beams down with Dr. Crusher. As Data tries to free Riker from storage, the group’s attacked by another droid. Picard and Crusher flee and promptly fall into a hole, doing a credible impression of the Marx Brothers. The physician sustains a broken arm and bleeding wounds and is unable to heal herself. Even more bothersome, their communicators stop working and Enterprise is barraged by a fast, cloaked enemy. Chief-Engineer-of-the-Week Logan tries to assume command, but La Forge sends him back to Engineering where he belongs.
Data frees Riker and the away team continues to get harassed by the droids, but fortunately the machines are terrible shots and can be destroyed if the Starfleet officers cross phaser beams. Picard keeps Dr. Crusher alive with home remedies, and La Forge concocts a plan to destroy their unseen assailant—which fails. Finally, he decides to separate the ship and puts Logan in charge of the saucer section, while the drive section engages the enemy. La Forge goes into Picard’s ready room to soak up his mojo, and Troi offers him some helpful advice: be inspiring and pretend like he knows what he’s doing.
[Stock footage]
In the underground cavern, Picard stumbles across the computer that runs the whole shebang [moral] and realizes that the people of Minos unwittingly sealed their fates with their own weapons [/moral]. Data joins them and attempts to reprogram the demo mode that is running amok, until Crusher tells them to just turn it off, like many viewers likely did with this episode. Picard pretends he wants to buy the weapons and stops the droids on the planet, but the one in orbit doesn’t get the memo.
La Forge, now in command of the battle bridge, delivers a stirring speech and takes the star drive into the planet’s atmosphere. They successfully lure the droid where they can see and destroy it. Finally able to lower shields, they beam up the people on the surface.
LAFORGE: Relinquishing command, Captain.
PICARD: As you were, Lieutenant.
LAFORGE: Sir?
PICARD: Mister La Forge, when I left this ship, it was in one piece. I would appreciate your returning it in the same condition.
La Forge orders them to rejoin the saucer section, leaving “The Arsenal of Freedom” behind like a bad memory.
Analysis
Stupid, stupid, stupid episode. My first impression was that this is like the TNG equivalent of “Spock’s Brain”: boring, pointless, and nonsensical. This is one of the few I feel is barely worth discussing, because it’s ultimately just a series of unfortunate events, with little going on beneath the surface.
Speaking of which, this episode does continue the trend of throwing Picard and Dr. Crusher together and hinting that there may be feelings between them—but I can’t be sure that I’m not just reading into that because of how their characters interact later in the series, when there’s at least some character development. La Forge is once again given a chance to be more than a navigation officer, and he does a decent job of it. In fact, he handles command so well, I wonder why he’s never put in charge of the ship again. Never mind the fact that he shouldn’t have been left to run things, since it’s ridiculous for Picard to beam down into such a dangerous situation, when his first officer has already been compromised. This is another example of the show setting up rules that it flaunts when it wants to, and a rare instance where Counselor Troi is right about something.
At this point, I suspect most viewers actively hate Tasha Yar, and it seems like the crew does too. Riker asks for her advice on the away team, then tells her he thinks she’s wrong before going along with it. When under attack, Data picks up Yar and tosses her like a rag doll to “safety.” Riker asks her for advice again later, and she comes up blank. Where’s Worf when you need him? Oh, right—saving the Enterprise, because he’s actually a competent tactical officer.
And while we’re on the subject of competence, I was surprised that they were already talking about Riker as command material, that he’d in fact already turned down his own ship to serve on Enterprise. His response to Picard’s question about Captain Rice might also be telling about Starfleet. He describes Rice as “Able. A good officer.” Excuse me, but shouldn’t that apply to every Starfleet officer? Especially if their admission policy is as selective as it’s represented in “Coming of Age”?
Any good moments from this episode come from the characters, which would have been a surprise earlier in the season. The flimsy, drawn-out plot doesn’t even try for coherence. By the time Picard beams down to the planet, Data has somehow figured out the whole back story on the drones attacking them. What, did he find a user manual? A medicinal root just happens to be hanging around, and Picard basically trips over the source of all their trouble. I couldn’t even figure out what Logan’s deal is. At first he demands La Forge take the ship out of orbit, then when he does, he’s aghast that they’re leaving the away team behind on the planet!
And again, I remembered only one thing from this episode: a line of dialogue that I could have sworn came from a much better story. You probably know which one; it’s the one I picked for best of the episode.
Eugene’s Rating: Warp 1 (on a scale of 1-6)
Thread Alert: Not many guest stars in this episode, and Wesley’s nowhere to be seen–even with his mother trapped and dying in a cave with Captain Picard–so I’m just going to put this out there: I have never seen a Starfleet uniform look less flattering than it does on Ensign Lian T’Su. Maybe it’s just her reclining posture and the fact that the actress is probably wearing a costume that wasn’t properly fit for her. Or maybe it’s laundry day and she had to borrow her roommate’s uniform.
Best Line: RIKER: The name of my ship is the Lollipop.
RICE: I have no knowledge of that ship.
RIKER: It’s just been commissioned. It’s a good ship.
Trivia/Other Notes: Robert Lewin intended to develop the budding romance between Picard and Dr. Crusher in this episode, but Gene Roddenberry rejected that idea, as he seemed to eschew character development of any kind.
The sand pit Picard and Crusher end up in was infested with fleas.
Previous episode: Season 1, Episode 20 – “Heart of Glory.”
Next episode: Season 1, Episode 22 – “Symbiosis.”
Seriously, the only thing this episode has going for it other than the “Good Ship Lollipop” bit is an appearance by the marvelous Vincent Schiavelli. And he gives a rather mediocre performance. But I think this makes him the first Cuckoo’s Nest alumnus to appear and maybe the only one for TNG. Other than that? The moral isn’t the least subtle use of a clue-by-four for the season (that’s probably next week) and it isn’t the worst episode of late season 1. Actual, I might even bump it up to Warp 2, just to leave room at warp speed for “Conspiracy” and the season finale. (“Skin of Evil” is definitely at sub-light speeds if it’s moving at all.)
And before anyone beats me to it, of course Schiavelli wasn’t the first. That was Christopher Lloyd in ST: III.
I had absolutely zero recollection of this episode, even as I was watching it. DeepThought was convinced it would come back to me but nope, nothing, totally purged from my psyche the last time around.
Stupendously awful from beginning to end. The arms dealer moral lesson feels like they spun the Wheel of Moral Fortune and came up with “Arms Dealers Get What’s Coming” (and honestly, if Iron Man can figure that out, it’s probably not worth dealing with in Star Trek). I noted all the silliness that Eugene did: Yar getting flung like a rag doll by Data, Ensign T’Su’s ill-fitted uniform, the totally bizarre man-off between La Forge and That Guy From Engineering Hey What Is He Doing Here?? Troi’s little “lesson” about projecting confidence was obviously filler to pad out a bare episode.
But seeing this again… the nadir is definitely the Picard-Crusher interactions. First, the medicinal root thing. Because someone that tastes bitter and is yellow and is ON AN ALIEN PLANET is totally going to be helpful (or even non-poisonous). And we know this because Crusher’s grandmother… needed herbs once. What. Their “conversation” was so strained and awkward I hurt for them. When Picard starts talking about the hypothetical “patient” and looking meaningfully at Crusher, a little part of me died.
Total crap. Warp 1.
P.S. I’m just going to throw this out here because I know it’ll put me in the minority: but I actually really liked the next episode the last time I saw it. Memory is tricky, though…
@ 1 DemetriosX
I love Schiavelli, too, though I remember him most from when he played that circus freak on The X-Files. But his performance here is bland and doesn’t come close to saving the episode.
@3 Torie
Heh, for me he will always be Latka’s religious leader on Taxi. He really did just phone in his performance here, and it by no means saves the episode, but he does keep it from completely scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Schiavelli was awesome, in so many things; I remember him first from Amadeus, where he was one of the two men with candles in the very beginning of the movie, and X-Files, of course, where he was brilliant as the sideshow performer.
What a horrendous dreckfest.
Crapspackle, even (this is the wall residue formed after a faeces-fan interaction).
I admire your intestinal fortitude, Eugene and Torie, swimming through this canal of horrors week after week. Surely there’s something !drecky coming? Please?
@4 DemetriosX
He really did just phone in his performance here
Maybe that’s what he was going for, since he was playing essentially a recorded phone message.
I was more annoyed by his dialogue, “Remember, the early bird that hesitates gets wormed.” Not only is that just a crappy line, it made me wonder why they had the same proverbs we do. Also, it doesn’t make any sense!
@5 CaitieCat
After watching this, Torie did e-mail me to express her displeasure and asked why we decided not to just skip this season. At least it’s almost over! Season 2 has some better episodes!
@Eugene #6
Re: idioms — I assumed that the holographic projection was speaking using the universal translator and had scanned the ship so it could look kind of like them.
Personally I was really uncomfortable at the racial angle of Douchey Engineer wanting to take over from LaForge. I’m glad that we see Geordi stand up to him.
Also, I consider this episode the ultimate warning about the evil of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems. Ick. Though I do think it’s funny that the Peddler acts all surprised when Picard says he’ll buy the system…
One wonders at what point in the series production, during the filming of which episode, the Creative became aware Yar would not continue as a character. Perhaps at that point they just gave up on her development. Perhaps Actress Crosby gave up on her development.
@8 Lemnoc,
IIRC, Denise Crosby wanted out and said so very publicly. She wasn’t happy with whatever the tactical equivalent of “Hailing frequencies are open” was and there had been exactly one Yar-centric episode (the odious “Code of Honor”). We’ll see the consequences of the producers’ reaction to the way she tried to quit in a couple of weeks.
This episode reminds me of “That Which Survives.” Thematically, in terms of a lost ancient civilization with awesome powers running on autopilot, but also structurally in its meandering pointlessness.
The earlier episode was about 20 minutes of plot padded to 50. This one never seems to get off the paper cocktail napkin of rough concept outline.
With TOS, I never got a sense they were just casting around for disjointed crap to fill up an hour the way I get with TNG, flinging plates of pasta against a wall to see what sticks. There was always some larger purpose, some SF trope, to those earlier OS episodes, no matter how feeble. Not here.
I think it’s a good idea to go through this season just so we can all enjoy our shared disgust for the first season and to help us enjoy the next several seasons all the more.
But yes, this episode was craptacular.
It’s like a poo sorbet that helps cleanse the palate! :-)
…but Season 2 is largely wretched, too. :-(
I don’t often read The Other Rewatch’s TNG posts, since it’s so far ahead of us (in the good episodes!) and I don’t want them to affect my own opinions. But I was curious about another take on this episode, so I just checked it out. “The Arsenal of Freedom” was rated Warp 6 (out of 10, but still!), and described as “fun, enjoyable, and diverting.” WHAT.
I’m trying to remember if I ever liked this episode that much, even as a kid, and I don’t think so, except maybe for the saucer separation stuff. *shrugs*
I expect you all to scream at me when I review “Conspiracy” in a month, because I have an odd affection for it, but it’s possible my opinion has changed since I last saw it more than a decade ago.
Now I’m wondering if we’ve missed something; the AV Club gave “The Arsenal of Freedom” a C+, which basically jives with a Warp 6/10. Are we somehow blind to this episode’s clear merits? I must understand! I must read more reviews! Which is a nice distraction from hunting down reviews of my book.
I remembered exactly three things from this episode: the barebones premise, Vincent Schiavelli, and (weirdly) that business with the yellow, bitter, hemostatic root that just happens to be lying around. I don’t think I’m going to bother with re-watching this one.
I ought to hunt up a source for behind-the-scenes information on the filming of TNG because I’m genuinely curious about some of the decisions. Wil Wheaton’s a valuable source but, at least online, he’s commented on relatively few episodes and in any case there’s only so much that he could have seen. Is there a definitive reference?
#8, @Lemnoc: “Perhaps Actress Crosby gave up on her development.”
I do blame some of Lt. Yar’s disappointing showing on Crosby. She could somehow be both strident and wooden at the same time. It wasn’t just the character of Yar because she’s just the same when she plays Yar’s half-Romulan daughter.
On the plus side, the saucer separation actually made sense–unfortunately highlighting the ridiculous need to do it in the first place.
On the minus side, everything that’s been said.
It was straining my credulity that the little drones could be modified to out-horsepower Enterprise. It sort of foreshadows the Borg LOL IMMUNITY adaptation powers later on, I guess.
I thought of this one as the next-gen crossbreed of “The Doomsday Machine” and “Taste of Armaggeddon,” only without all the pathos and characterization. I pretty much take the “War is Bad, mmkay?” message as drawn from the stockpile of Roddenberry themes, as Eugene suggests.
Alternate explanation: we’re all getting older, and turning into cynical assholes.
Commenting from work, thus not signed in – but I wanted to just fix something for our friend Mr. Blount there:
There, that’s better. ;)
@15 etomlins
Is there a definitive reference?
The only one I’m aware of is the Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion by Larry Nemecek, but I think most of the background info has since been worked into Memory Alpha. It has nowhere near the depth of the DS9 Companion by Terry J. Erdmann and Paula Block, who had behind-the-scenes access throughout the show’s production. It’s the most comprehensive series guide I’ve ever seen.
@17 CaitieCat
Aw, cut him some slack. It’s his birthday! (Happy birthday!)
I’ll begin with a comment made by a friend after this episode first aired – “Douglas Adams should have written this one.”
I don’t remember which episode but I do remember McCoy and Scotty questioning Spock’s decisions when Kirk was stuck on a planet. I saw Logan’s scenes as a throw back to that episode.
I have a soft spot for this episode in the same way that I do for the movies Independence Day and Invasion USA. These are stories where you don’t have to think. You just turn off your brain, drink something refreshing and watch the pretty things explode. By the way, J.J.’s Star Trek is also that kind of movie for me.
I believe all the talk in the news (at that time) about Smart Bombs and Smart Weapons may have been the inspiration for this. One other source – of flavoring, not inspiration – might have been that 1974 mess of a movie Dark Star.
Not very helpful comments this time. That’s the problem with turn-off-your-brain stories, they aren’t that interesting to talk about afterward.
@13 Eugene Myers
I don’t often read The Other Rewatch’s TNG posts, since it’s so far ahead of us (in the good episodes!) and I don’t want them to affect my own opinions. But I was curious about another take on this episode, so I just checked it out. “The Arsenal of Freedom” was rated Warp 6 (out of 10, but still!), and described as “fun, enjoyable, and diverting.” WHAT.
Having been following The Other Rewatch, I would point out that he gave the entire first season an overall rating of 5/10 (which was about what the individual ratings averaged out to. I checked). He’s also said several times that the ratings are the least important part of the reviews, so he may not be worrying about getting the number exactly right. I think he also tends to give credit for setting up later characterizations and storylines.
I think it’s quite interesting how subjective art can be. This probably isn’t the best place or context to get into that, though, so I’ll leave it at that.
@ 4 DemetriosX and @ 5 CaitieCat
And don’t forget Fast Times as Ridgemont High.
I think the rest of the season is going to be much better. I recall liking Symbiosis and Conspiracy (despite the abysmal “effects”), as well as “We’ll Always Have Paris.”
Season 2 was pretty terrible, though.
@ 7 DeepThought
The douchey engineer made me seriously wonder how the chain of command worked around there. Surely there’s a chief biologist who’s technically higher ranked than Geordi, but I assume these are non-command paths. Why would the chief engineer be on a command path? And hey, maybe Geordi passed the command test and Sir Douchestein hasn’t?
@ 8 Lemnoc
I’ve been watching it this time with a specific eye towards Crosby, and she had no investment in a character to begin with. Geordi, Worf, Crusher, and Troi all do more with their paper-thin characters than she does. Having seen her in a handful of other things, I’m not sure she could’ve succeeded.
@ 10 And like “That Which Survives,” both feature a guest star who deserves better material.
@ 11 Toryx
We’re all in this together!
@ 13 Eugene
There’s no accounting for taste.
@ 16 S. Hutson Blount
I just don’t buy the drones, period. Why would these arms dealers test out their weapons by attacking potential buyers? (Maybe the economy collapsed before life itself disappeared.) And why do all the drones start out blank slates, having to adapt to each enemy from scratch? Wouldn’t the weapon be valuable if it were pre-programmed with SOME basic armor/adaptability, like resistance to commonplace hand-carried phasers?
@ 17 CaitieCat
Well, yes, but these episodes strain credulity a lot more than later, better ones. But I tend to be a hypercritical, cynical asshole enough of the time that I shake my cane at passing children.
@ 18 Eugene
I was disappointed by the TNG guide. The DS9 guide is excellent, if only because we would open it up and see “OHHHH okay they all KNEW it was shit, thank god.”
@18, 22:
I wonder if the “Cone of Silence” wasn’t dropped around TNG production because to examine and report on its various early problems, you’d really have to pop the balloon of the Great Bird of the Galaxy Cult.
GR’s wrongheaded micromanagement (and the pressures of those around him to please that) are pretty evident throughout.
In defense of Engineer Douche, it was stoopid and derelict of the captain to sign over the bridge to a Lt. JG if there was some other expectation of a chain of command. Which Engineer Douche clearly understood there was. Unless we are to believe he always marches to the bridge and pisses there everytime there’s a shift change.
I’m going to write a little fanfic that proposes it was this very incident (and the desire to avoid it in the future) that prompted the captain to promote his Lt. JG and place him in charge of engineering. **TWO STEPS IN GRADE**, surely the greatest advancement in military history since the promotion of Cadet Kirk to ship captain in JJ’s ST. Talk about a Mary Sue!
OK, my fanfic is now done.
My day job has been blazing busy this last couple of days, so while I’ve lurked I haven’t posted.
Yeah this episode took a double shot from the stupid espresso bar, and then topped it off with pointless low fat no calorie cream of padding. Chain of Command? they never heard of it. While Geordi would be, at times, officer of the deck, during a crisis when all hands are on duty the senior most officer assumes command. Nothing else makes sense.
Hmm the weapon in demo mode killed off the entire planet, and only Picard is smart enough to think to she it down by buying it? (Well of course they planet natives are stupid, they’re arms dealers, that’s worse than holo-pimps.)
And how does this intelligence probe work? It scans your freaking mind, finds out who you trust and then makes a made copy to ask you blunt questions. Hmm you know if I can get into your mind, I’m going to skip on the asking questions and just take what I want, but I’m dickishly direct that way.
Oh and these wonderful terrible and great killing machines can’t hit targets standing stock still. yeah, no wonder this planet is empty, they went out of business and got evicted.
And Troi’s pep talk, what purpose did it serve? he hadn’t been a dick to the lower grades during the crisis, he hadn’t been great but not bad either. (I know bad officers, he wash;t being one.) This felt like, wow Troi hasn’t said anything quick giver her some lines, anyway we’re running 4 pages short.
As to Vincent’s bland performance, I think it was probably directed that way. If he gave it his best then they arms dealers might come off as credible and not cartoonish bad guys.
I’ll admit to this; when it first aired, I rather enjoyed this episode. I agree the story is patchy, the acting is weak ( esecially the guest con and ops personnel ) and some of the dialogue is clunky, but compared to some of the earlier entries, at least this had a little mindless action going on. I would rather watch this 5 times in a row than have to sit through “Too Short A Season” or “Homesoil” once again.
As for Engineer Douchebag, I just wanted Geordi to turn around and bitch-slap him. He was just odious, and must have learned his “How to interact with a commanding officer skills” by watching reruns of “The Tholian Web” and studying McCoy. In other words; whatever the commander in charge says or does, disagree with him and argue about it. He struck me as a jealous queen.
” Why would the chief engineer be on a command path? And hey, maybe Geordi passed the command test and Sir Douchestein hasn’t?”
I think they were just going by the fact that Scotty was third in command on the original series ( except when he wasn’t around, then Sulu would get a shot ).
One minor, but amusing technical blooper I noticed the first time I saw the episode: So Riker’s being held in a “stasis field”, in which everything is held perfectly in position with no change. Well, apparently it doesn’t work with 1980’s hairstyles, because between the time he’s zapped and when he’s freed his blown out combover has fallen flatter.
S. Hutson Blount @ 16 said:
Alternate explanation: we’re all getting older, and turning into cynical assholes.
And CaitieCat @ 17 added:
Alternate Additional explanation: we’re all getting older, and turning into are now cynical assholes.
And Toryx @ 27 laughed out loud at work:
Anyway, I can’t see why this episode would get such decent ratings unless people were just lowering their expectations and watching the episode while munching on magic mushrooms. Heck, I might have enjoyed it more after all those cocktails on NYE in NYC with Torie and Deepthought.
I’m looking forward to Symbiosis and Conspiracy. I think in comparison they’re pretty decent even if they’re not quite good. I always liked the conspiracy idea, even if it didn’t get carried out in the most satisfactory idea.
@27 Toryx
I do not remember “Symbiosis” fondly, but I also barely remember it at all, so I guess I’m kind of looking forward to it, too.
@28
“I do not remember “Symbiosis” fondly, but I also barely remember it at all, so I guess I’m kind of looking forward to it, too.”
Although it has all the subtlety of “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” I sort of liked “Symbiosis”. However, for me, watching it is a sad experience. Unknown to most viewers at the time was the fact that Merritt Buttrick was stricken with AIDS, and died not long afterwards.
Merritt Buttrick may well be the primary reason I liked “Symbiosis.” The added sad note of his death shortly thereafter may also have added to my appreciation.
@ 24 Lemnoc
Yeah, but like, just because the head of IT is technically a senior vice-president doesn’t mean he can take over a sales meeting in a pinch. They seem vastly different skillsets, so even the lower-ranked Geordi would be better suited to the task. Even if that weren’t the case, Engineer Douchenozzle should know better than to violate Picard’s direct assignment.
@ 25 bobsandiego
I hadn’t even thought about the mind scan. Maybe it didn’t actually read Riker’s mind, but had seen that guy before when he crashed on the planet and just replicated his image?
@ 26 Dep1701
Poor Riker gets zapped two episodes in a row: in the next one, you can see his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down when he’s supposed to be “frozen.”
@ 27 Toryx
You’ll have to come back to town when I wind up reviewing “Sub Rosa,” my pick for absolute worst TNG episode. I’ll provide the drinks.
“Sub Rosa”, worst episode? Yeah, I can see that, even though there’s some entertainment to be had from it. Certainly it’s got one of the worst basic premises of any TNG episode. When it comes to sheer lack of entertainment value, though, “Shades of Gray” will always win the contest. (If you exclude the clip episode, I’m not sure what’s the least entertaining, yet. I suppose it’s some episode I’ve completely forgotten.) When it comes to most meretricious and insulting episode, there’s no way to beat “The Outcast”.
@31 Torie
Data theorizes that it pulled the data from Riker’s mind. After all it may have met the guy when it destoryed his ship, but the probe knew that ricker knew this guy, and even had the guy call Riker by name.
That was a good attempt to retcon some sense into a senseless story but it just doesn’t work.
If you are a command officer, it doesn’t matter what your training is, the senior most officer is in command. (On my ship the chief engineering officer had a degree is the soft sciences, it might have been history, and didn;t know jack about technolog. He;s high up the command list and the supply and medical officers, no matter what they know, aren’t in line for command. Now this is StarFleet anf they can whatever rules they want, no matter how silly. By the structure given in this episode Picard could leave Weasly in command and no one could over-rule him.
@ 32 monoceros4
Haha, oh “Shades of Gray.” I don’t even count that one. I will, however, defend “The Outcast.” It’s huuuuugely problematic, don’t get me wrong, but we’re not talking “Turnabout Intruder” level of facepalm.
@ 33 bobsandiego
I think I like your “Weasly” typo even better than my “Lt. Tar” one.
@34 Torie
I saw it after I typed it and like it too so I let it live. :)
Torie @ 31: Hey, let me know when you’re watching it and I’ll see what I can do. I think it’d be a blast to watch that with you guys under the influence of serious alcohol.
Heck, we’d have to indulge in a lot of cheap Scotch for Sub Rosa. :)
Personally, I place Genesis at the low-end for TNG. I really truly hate that episode.
@37 Toryx
Scotch, huh? Ach!
At this rate, we’ll be watching that episode in what, three years? Count me in for an NYC gathering :P
@ 36 Toryx
I’ll pencil it in for 2015.
@ 38 Eugene
Can’t we just skip season 7?
@39 Torie
How can we skip season 7? We’ve already set a dangerous precedent by forging through season 1. Of course, we could be burned out by then.
At least we have “All Good Things…” to look forward to at the end, and that season has one of my favorite episodes, which I hope still holds up. Perhaps, by consensus, we can invite a guest
victimreviewer to cover “Sub Rosa” for us. Otherwise, which of us will end up with that one?@ 40 Eugene Myers
What,
Muppet BabiesBelow Decks?If I got a guest reviewer no one would ever let me live it down.
@41 Torie
Is *that* what you think of me? No, I was referring to “Parallels” :)
What,
Muppet BabiesBelow Decks?Well-played, ma’am. Well-played.
@39 Torie
Does this schedule include time for the Next Gen films?