TNG Re-Watch Archive

Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Remember Me”

– June 19, 2014 8:00 amPosted in: Featured, TNG Re-Watch

“Remember Me”
Written by Lee Sheldon
Directed by Cliff Bole

Season 3, Episode 5
Original air date: October 22, 1990
Star date: 44161.2

Mission summary

Dr. Dalen Quaice, an old friend and mentor of Dr. Crusher’s, arrives on Enterprise. Still mourning the recent death of his wife, the elderly man mulls over the worst part of growing old — losing the people you love. This cheery conversation drives Dr. Crusher to visit her son, Wesley, at work in Engineering. The young ensign is messing around with Dr. Kosinsky’s warp field equations. His attempt to create a new field fails, with an unexpected flash of light. On the upside, it seems like his mom didn’t stick around to watch, and all systems are back to normal.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: computers, dr. crusher has a crush, energy vortex, fun with warp bubbles, handwaving mumblemumble, illusions, logic, loneliness, mysteries, parallel universes, the traveler, warp drive, Wesley is a smartypants, wesley saves the day

Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Suddenly Human”

Torie Atkinson

– May 22, 2014 8:00 amPosted in: Featured, TNG Re-Watch

“Suddenly Human”
Teleplay by John Whelpley & Jeri Taylor
Story by Ralph Phillips
Directed by Gabrielle Beaumont

Season 3, Episode 4
Original air date: October 15, 1990
Star date: 44143.7

Mission summary

The Enterprise investigates a Talarian distress call and finds an adrift training ship full of injured teens and children (but no Scoutmaster). Radiation is leaking from the propulsion system and Dr. Crusher beams the five survivors to the Enterprise just in time. Among the survivors, however, is a human boy…

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: bad parenting, daddy issues, forehead ridges, horrible horrible children, picard hates children, troi is useless

Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Brothers”

Eugene Myers

– January 30, 2014 8:00 amPosted in: TNG Re-Watch

“Brothers”
Written by Rick Berman
Directed by Robert Bowman

Season 4, Episode 3
Original air date: October 8, 1990
Star date: 44085.7

Mission summary

Young Jake Potts’ practical joke on his younger brother, Willie, ends in tears when Willie ends up infected with dangerous parasites. That’s it, vacation’s over! We’re turning this ship around. Enterprise has to head to a nearby starbase for emergency medical treatment, or Willie Potts might die; meanwhile, he remains in quarantine in Sickbay, utterly inconsolable. In the midst of comforting Jake, Data abruptly loses interest in the B-plot of the episode and tunes out, running through the next few scenes literally on autopilot.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: androids, asimov, belonging, brothers, daddy issues, emotions, evil doubles, family, horrible horrible children, long-lost relatives, often wrong soong, parents, robotics, someone takes over the ship, this will be important later

Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Family”

Torie Atkinson

– January 2, 2014 8:00 amPosted in: TNG Re-Watch

Family “Family”
Written by Ronald D. Moore
Directed by Les Laundau

Season 4, Episode 2
Original air date: October 1, 1990
Star date: 44012.3

Mission summary

The Enterprise is docked above Earth completing some much needed, post-Borg repairs and upgrades, so everyone onboard uses the opportunity to phone home. Picard packs his bags for La Barre, his quaint little French hometown; Worf reluctantly prepares to receive his adoptive parents, the very kind, very Russian Sergey and Helena Rozhenko; and Dr. Crusher picks up an old box of Jack Crusher’s things from storage, including a holographic message he recorded for Wesley shortly after he was born.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: belonging, daddy issues, fully clothed man-wrestling, identity crisis, klingons, parents, troi is useless, wesley's dad, worf identity crisis

Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “The Best of Both Worlds, Part II”

Eugene Myers

– November 7, 2013 8:00 amPosted in: TNG Re-Watch

“The Best of Both Worlds, Part II”
Written by Michael Piller
Directed by Cliff Bole

Season 4, Episode 1
Original air date: September 24, 1990
Star date: 44001.4

Mission summary

RIKER: Mr. Worf… Fire.

Mr. Worf fires… And not a heck of a lot happens. That’s embarrassing, but it can happen to anyone. In fact, they don’t even scratch the Borg cube, but Enterprise sustains damage from the massive power drain; Locutus’ knowledge of Picard’s former ship and crew has prepared the Borg to deal with them. Deeming the crippled Enterprise unworthy of further attention, the Borg vessel resumes its course for Sector 001 — Earth.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: borg, data plugs into something, Guinan has all the answers, half-naked picard, handwaving mumblemumble, humanity wins, locutus, picard gets an upgrade, riker takes command, single tear, sleep is the enemy, some assembly required, tea doesn't make everything better, technobabble, the borg need a new operating system, troi earns her paycheck

Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: Season 3 Wrap-Up

Torie Atkinson & Eugene Myers

– October 17, 2013 8:00 amPosted in: TNG Re-Watch

Has TNG finally emerged from its turgid first few seasons? I think our ratings speak for themselves.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: wrap-up post

Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “The Best of Both Worlds”

Torie Atkinson

– August 29, 2013 8:00 amPosted in: TNG Re-Watch

“The Best of Both Worlds”
Written by Michael Piller
Directed by Cliff Bole

Season 3, Episode 26
Original air date: June 18, 1990
Star date: 43989.1

Mission summary

The Enterprise investigates a distress signal from Jouret IV, with whom they lost contact 12 hours earlier. When they arrive, not only are there no life signs of the 900 inhabitants, but there are no signs life was ever there at all. What’s left of New Providence, the settlement, is a giant crater. Picard is joined by an Admiral Hanson and young Commander Shelby, who believe that this is an attack by the Borg… an attack that has caught the Federation completely unprepared.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: borg, bureaucracy, handwaving mumblemumble, locutus, picard gets an upgrade, Starfleet is stupid, technobabble, troi earns her paycheck

Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Transfigurations”

Eugene Myers

– August 22, 2013 8:00 amPosted in: TNG Re-Watch

“Transfigurations”
Written by René Echevarria
Directed by Tom Benko

Season 3, Episode 25
Original air date: June 4, 1990
Star date: 43957.2

Mission summary

Worf encourages La Forge to hit on a woman in Ten Forward, in the only way a Klingon can, but the awkward engineer crashes and burns. And he’s not the only one: In the course of a routine charting assignment, Enterprise has detected a crashed vessel on a planet. They investigate and discover a lone survivor in the wreckage of an escape pod. He’s in pretty bad shape, too unstable to transport, so Dr. Crusher whips out a thingey that links La Forge’s nervous system to help regulate the patient’s heart. The interface delivers a weird little shock to La Forge, but he seems fine, and it works. They bring the injured man aboard.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: amnesia, dating advice, diplomacy, dr. crusher has a crush, energy beings, evolution, geordi's a dork, godlike powers, handwaving mumblemumble, mysteries, science!, technobabble, the prime directive is really more of a guideline

Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Ménage à Troi”

Torie Atkinson

– August 15, 2013 8:00 amPosted in: TNG Re-Watch

Menage a Troi “Ménage à Troi”
Written by Fred Bronson & Susan Sackett
Directed by Robert Legato

Season 3, Episode 24
Original air date: May 28, 1990
Star date: 43930.7

Mission summary

The Enterprise is hosting a trade agreement conference while in orbit around Betazed, which means it’s time for another installment of How I Studiously Avoided Meeting Your Mother starring Lwaxana Troi. Lwaxana seems happy at the chance to further berate her daughter for choosing a career over babies on Betazed, but gets derailed when a Ferengi named DaiMon Tog hits on her in the middle of the reception. For some reason “I would pay handsomely for you” doesn’t work on her, and she spurns him in front of the delegation before storming off. But Tog isn’t superficial–he wants her mind, too. To give him an edge on negotiations.

Riker gets assigned shore leave, so he and Deanna go for a walk down Memory Lane–and also the Huntington Library Botanical Gardens–on Betazed. But their little date is spoiled when Lwaxana and Mr. Homn arrive, and start Meddling. Mr. Homn goes off to pick some berries while Riker, Deanna, and Lwaxana get more and more irritated with one another. Just then, DaiMon Tog beams down! He still has the hots for Mama Troi, and won’t take no for an answer–beaming them all back to his ship.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ferengis, Lwaxana Troi Daughter of the Fifth House Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed, Picard acts weird, sexism, shakespeare, troi is useless, wesley and picard are BFFs, wesley saves the day

Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Sarek”

Eugene Myers

– August 8, 2013 8:00 amPosted in: TNG Re-Watch

“Sarek”
Written by Peter S. Beagle
Story by Mark Cushman and Jake Jacobs
Directed by Les Landau

Season 3, Episode 23
Original air date: May 14, 1990
Star date: 43917.4

Mission summary

Picard and Riker are giddy to be hosting a very special guest: Ambassador Sarek from Vulcan, who will be presiding over the first meeting and negotiations between the Federation and a race called the Legarans. Word is, the 202-year-old Vulcan will be retiring soon after, leaving this as the crowning achievement to an illustrious career.

Read the rest of this entry »