TNG Re-Watch Archive

47

Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “The Big Goodbye”

“The Big Goodbye”
Written by Tracy Tormé
Directed by Joseph L. Scanlan

Season 1, Episode 12
Original air date: January 11, 1988
Star date: 41997.7

Mission summary

The Enterprise is en route to meet the Jarada, an insectoid species whose punctilious nature makes it difficult for the Federation to establish friendly relations.  The Jarada must be greeted by the captain (and the captain alone) in their native tongue with no errors. Any failure on Picard’s part will result in unspeakable consequences. Despite another lengthy cram session with Counselor Troi (reknowned exolinguist?), Picard is at an impasse. Troi suggests he take his mind off the Jaradans for a while and try out the latest holodeck upgrades. Recess! Picard brightens immediately and agrees that a 1940s hard-boiled crime game is just the thing to take the edge off.

He begins the program of  “Dixon Hill,” a sort of 1940s Philip Marlowe-cum-Sherlock Holmes, and discovers a beautiful woman sitting in Hill’s–his–office. Picard’s mildly interested in her flirting but is more fascinated by the cars zooming by outside the window. He only half-listens to her pleas for safety; she’s convinced she’s about to be murdered. But Picard’s really got to be getting back, so he puts the program on hold and calls a staff meeting to tell everyone what an awesome show this holodeck thingy is and I guess there’s some diplomatic thing he should be worried about but LOOK CARS DID YOU SEE THEM? He invites a 20th century historian and Dr. Crusher to join him next time. My instincts tell me it still doesn’t excuse them from the company retreat, but maybe it’ll look good on next year’s review.

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21

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

“Haven”
Written by Trace Tormé (Story by Trace Tormé and Lan O’Kun)
Directed by Richard Compton

Season 1, Episode 11
Original air date: November 30, 1987
Star date: 41294.5

Mission summary

Enterprise visits Haven for a brief respite, but the peaceful planet is no safe harbor for Counselor Troi: Her eccentric Betazoid mother ambushes her there, along with Troi’s long-forgotten human fiancé and his parents.

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40

Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Hide and Q”

“Hide and Q”
Story by C.J. Holland
Teleplay by C.J. Holland and Gene Roddenberry
Directed by Cliff Bole

Season 1, Episode 10
Original air date: November 23, 1987
Star date: 41590.5

Mission summary

The Enterprise is en route to Sigma III, where an explosion has threatened a mining colony.  Hurtling through space at warp 9.1, the ship gets caught in a net–the same stock footage they saw back near Farpoint station. Sure enough and with his usual bad timing, Q blinks onto the bridge and informs Picard that the Q have become impressed by humans, and as such are offering Riker–and only Riker– “the realization of your most impossible dream.”

Alas, he doesn’t mean skipping to season 3.

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30

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

“The Battle”
Written by Herbert J. Wright, Story by Larry Forrester
Directed by Rob Bowman

Season 1, Episode 9
Original air date: November 16, 1987
Star date: 41723.9

Mission summary

Dr. Crusher makes a house call to Captain Picard’s quarters. He has a headache, which is so rare in the 24th century, aspirin is apparently an old folk remedy, and thus no longer an option. The captain’s sudden malaise might have something to do with the Ferengi ship nearby, which summoned Enterprise to the Xendi Sabu system for some unknown purpose and has kept them waiting for three days.

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37

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

“Justice”
Teleplay by Worley Thorne
Story by Ralph Willis and Worley Thorne
Directed by James L. Conway

Season 1, Episode 8
Original air date: November 9, 1987
Star date: 41255.6

Mission summary

After settling some colonists in the Strnad solar system, the Enterprise comes across a Eden-like M-class planet called Edo in the adjoining star system. A small away team has been down to make contact, and the locals are party animals. LaForge describes the Edo as “wild in some ways, actually puritanical in others. Neat as pins, ultra-lawful, and make love at the drop of a hat.” While Riker’s already got his bag packed, Picard thinks there must be some negatives. He allows a small party–including Wesley Crusher, for some reason–to beam down to test the place’s suitability for shore leave, but warns that they should “just hope it’s not too good to be true.”

Right on cue, the sensors start to go crazy–it’s reading that something else is in orbit around Edo, but no one can see it. Oh well. Nothing worth getting in the way of hot sex, right?

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53

Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Lonely Among Us”

“Lonely Among Us”
Written by D.C. Fontana
Story by Mike Halperin
Directed by Cliff Bole

Season 1, Episode 7
Original air date: November 2, 1987
Star date: 41249.3

Mission summary

Enterprise picks up delegates from warring planets in the Beta Renner system, the animal-like Anticans and snake-like Selay, unlikely new candidates for Federation membership. En route to planet Parliament, where their guests can hopefully work out their issues peacefully, perhaps over a nice home-cooked meal, they happen across an unusual energy cloud. They swing by for a closer look, and a powerful electrical discharge from a sensor panel envelops Worf, knocking him out.

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40

Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Where No One Has Gone Before”

“Where No One Has Gone Before”
Written by Diane Duane and Michael Reaves
Directed by Rob Bowman

Season 1, Episode 6
Original air date:  October 26, 1987
Star date: 41263.1

Mission summary

The Enterprise accepts the assistance of a Mr. Kosinski, a propulsion specialist who claims he (along with his nameless alien assistant) can improve the efficiency of the ship’s engines. Data and Riker are not convinced–they’ve run the models, and the models indicate no improvement in speed or performance. Moreover, Kosinski is an arrogant, self-satisfied schmuck (and yet strangely not a commodore!), and both Riker and one of the chief engineers, Argyle, hesitate to allow Kosinski access to their engines at all. They eventually decide that if his calculations are gibberish no harm can come to the ship anyway, and allow Kosinski to go through with his experiment.

Beginning at warp 1.5, the Enterprise steadily accelerates–but something goes wrong. Suddenly the ship is zipping past galaxies at incalculable speeds. Picard orders an emergency reverse of the engines, and when the ship comes to a full stop they realize they are (improbably) in the galaxy M33: 2.7 million light years from home. It will take over 300 years for them to return their own galaxy.

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35

Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “The Last Outpost”

“The Last Outpost”
Written by Herbert Wright
Story by Richard Krzemian
Directed by Richard Colla

Season 1, Episode 5
Original air date: October 19, 1987
Star date: 41386.4

Mission summary

Enterprise pursues a Ferengi starship to recover a stolen T9 energy converter, with the hope that they will also be able to establish first contact with the mysterious race of space traders. Things are off to a rocky start when they face off in the unexplored Delphi Ardu system and the Ferengi open fire on them.

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42

Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “Code of Honor”

“Code of Honor”
Written by Katharyn Powers and Michael Baron
Directed by Russ Mayberry; Les Landau (uncredited)

Season 1, Episode 4
Original air date:  October 12, 1987
Star date: 41235.25

Mission summary

A devastating plague threatens millions of Federation lives and only one planet seems to have abundant supplies of the vaccine: Ligon II. The Ligonians, who are all black, are described as “proud,” “structured,” “ritualistic,” and “honor-based,” because I guess positive adjectives are supposed to make their African tribal vibe seem less racist.

Picard greets the leader, Lutan, and his first officer equivalent, Hagon, aboard the Enterprise. Lutan is immediately taken by Lt. Yar because on their planet “it is the duty of women only to own the land, and the duty of men to protect and rule it.” Picard gifts them some pottery and they get a tour of the Enterprise, then Yar gives them an aikido demonstration as a way to show off both the holodeck and her own physical skills. All seems to be going well, as Lutan appears both pleased by Picard and willing to negotiate for the vaccine. He politely says his goodbyes, but just as he’s beaming out he abruptly snatches Lt. Yar and transports her with them to the surface.

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38

Star Trek: The Next Generation Re-Watch: “The Naked Now”

“The Naked Now”
Written by J. Michael Bingham (D.C. Fontana), story by John D.F. Black (“The Naked Time”) and J. Michael Bingham
Directed by Paul Lynch

Season 1, Episode 3
Original air date: October 5, 1987
Star date: 41209.2

Mission summary

After receiving bizarre messages from the S.S. Tsiolkovsky, a science ship studying a collapsing star, Enterprise races at warp 7 to investigate. They make brief contact with what sounds like the Tsiolkovsky’s phone sex operator just before someone blows an emergency hatch on the ship, killing everyone on board.

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