#TNGWatch #S02E02 #WhereSilenceHasLease

Well, this is a very mysterious cold opening, innit?

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This was an interesting episode. Nagilum tests the Enterprise crew to find out more about them, including sending a fake Romulan warbird after them, presenting them with a fake USS Yamato for them to explore, and killing one poor redshirt (who at least got a name before he died). But nothing much happened in this episode except some philosophizing, and Worf showing off a bit more Klingon.

Pulaski continues to refer to Data as “it” and “a nonliving construct”, which is annoying as hell.

#TNGWatch #S02E01 #TheChild

Second season starts now! Riker has his glorious beard, Worf is Chief of Security, and La Forge is Chief Engineer! But, what’s this?! Pulaski?! I thought she came in during the third season! Well, I guess the countdown to Crusher’s return starts now!

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Guinan! Ten-Forward! Troi has a better jumpsuit!

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Woah. That was a really weird discussion between Picard, Riker, Worf, and Data about Troi’s rape and subsequent pregnancy, while Troi just kind of sat there.

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Miles O’Brien is back on the transporter controls!

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That was a weird episode to open the season with. Really, not much happened, except that we were introduced to Pulaski and Guinan, Troi had a really weird pregnancy and child (and while she described it as rape, nobody ever called it that), and The Boy decided to stay on the Enterprise even though Crusher became the Chief Medical Officer at Starfleet HQ. Also, that medical guy with all the viruses had amazing hair and an even more amazing moustache. Let’s get better, hey?

PS. The reason Crusher was replaced by Pulaski was due to more behind-the-scenes stuff. Gates McFadden was actually fired because one of the head writers didn’t like working with her. When Pulaski’s character didn’t really work out in the second season, Gene Roddenberry invited McFadden to come back. She was originally going to say no, but then Patrick Stewart called her and convinced her to come back, so we got Crusher back from season three onwards.

#TNGWatch #SeasonOne #WrapUp

This was an incredibly uneven season. It had its moments of brilliance, and a few shades here and there of what it becomes in the future, but it was mostly filled with meh episodes, and a fair amount of truly terrible episodes. I am fairly impressed that they very rarely relied on what had come before, however. The Klingons and Romulans, aliens that were known from the OG series and films, only show up in one episode each, and Vulcans only show up once or twice (I only remember that Admiral from the body horror episode). Everything else is quite new and fairly different. OG Trek was getting into scrapes all the damn time, while TNG tries really, really hard not to.

The cast mostly gels into what I remember by the end of the season, though Worf and La Forge are still in command red, and Riker’s face is still naked, but there’s a lot less grumpy Picard, and Data kind of steals the show every time he shows up. Tasha Yar gets the boot, and The Boy really disappears from the last few episodes, showing up almost as an extra only a few times since the episode in which he took the Starfleet exam and didn’t make it.

Now, onward to Season Two!

#TNGWatch #S01E26 #TheNeutralZone

The last episode of the first season! Finally! Also, will we finally see some Romulans? Maybe!

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Haha! Worf just walked into a door that he assumed would open for him automatically.

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Gul Dukat is in this episode! I mean, not Gul Dukat, but Marc Alaimo, the actor that plays Gul Dukat in DS9. He’s a cryogenic survivor from the 20th century and wants to read a copy of The Wall Street Journal. Adorable.

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I was wrong! Gul Dukat is a Romulan commander, not a 20th century obnoxious human!

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This was a pretty meh episode to end a season on. Don’t get me wrong, the Romulans saying, “We are back,” is a pretty good end-of-season stinger (delivered by Gul Dukat cosplaying a Romulan, no less), but they only showed up at the very end (though at least this Neutral Zone episode wasn’t a tease like the the last one was). This episode was mostly about the cryogenically frozen 20th century American humans and their hilarious misunderstanding of how things work now. It felt like an undercover Very Special Episode about how we’re too materialistic. Still, better than most season 1 episodes.

#TNGWatch #S01E25 #Conspiracy

Wait, is this a follow-up to that one episode with the Admiral shenanigans?

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Holy shit, this episode is super disturbing.

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Holy shit! Why am I suddenly watching a Cronenberg movie?! Ahhhh!

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This was a really good episode, but it was super horrifying! That conspiracy that one Admiral talked about is picked up here. We find out that various key Federation personnel are infested with these horrible parasites. I mean, they are super horrible to look at.

The conspiracy is quickly unraveled (because we only have one episode to deal with this), and it ends with some body horror worthy of Cronenberg. The main host has a Raiders of the Lost Ark face-melting scene before his entire ribcage is exposed and this huge parasite comes out of him, Alien-style (only bigger and with less chest left on the host). This is after a bunch of admirals eat some crawly grubs and the main host swallows a smaller parasite.

The whole episode is such... urgh (that onomatopoeia is not strong enough for the sounds of revulsion I am actually making). After seeing the main host’s insides, I got a flashback to the first time I saw this episode as a kid (when I promptly freaked the fuck out) that I had clearly suppressed.

#TNGWatch #S01E24 #WellAlwaysHaveParis

I have no idea what this episode is about, but Picard is fencing and there are timey-wimey shenanigans, so I’m excited.

Also, how come every time the Enterprise wants to take shore leave, some bullshit happens?

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Wait, why is Denise Crosby still on the credits? Is Tasha Yar gonna show up because of timey-wimey shenanigans?!

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That look Riker and Data gave each other when seeing Picard’s ex for the first time is 100% the look friends give each other when they meet their other friend’s ex for the first time. Possibly the best acting in both Frakes and Spiner’s careers.

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What’s better than one Data? Two Datas! Manheim Effect FTW!

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Jenice Manheim, what are you wearing?!

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What’s better than two Datas? Three Datas! Wait, isn’t “Data” already the plural? Whatever! Manheim Effect FTW!

Also, how you gonna keep anti-matter in a pod made of matter, Star Trek? That shit should be exploding all over the place.

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This was a decent episode, but unfortunately more attention was paid to Picard’s romantic escapades than to the awesome time “hiccups” and alternate dimensions. Like, how are Jenice Manheim and Jean-Luc Picard gonna flirt with each other when her husband is dying in the next room? Also, why is Crusher getting jealous? At least she focuses on her job instead of satisfying Troi’s apparent need for gossip.

Fashion Talk: Seriously, what was Jenice Manheim wearing? It was a pair of floofy pantaloons with a weird top that had slits on the sides and a full back, and all of it was in a very shiny, rainbow silver. The fashion of the future is awful.

PS. Tasha Yar did not show up; I just forgot this show premiered in 1987 and they couldn't anyhow change the titles, so Denise Crosby's name will remain until the end of the first season.

#TNGWatch #S01E23 #SkinOfEvil

The episode we’ve been waiting all season to watch: the death of Tasha Yar! Whee!

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Holy crap, that was a super shit death! I thought she would at least put up a fight! Dang, Denise Crosby got done dirty.

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Armus is a psychopathic dick. He bullies everyone else and blames other people for his actions. Presumably, Republicans will nominate it for President.

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Worf, you have pronounced the word “Prieto” three different ways, all of them wrong.

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There was a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that led to this episode. Even though Tasha Yar was the focus of a few early episodes, Denise Crosby felt the character was getting shunted to the background, and ultimately decided to leave. Unfortunately for everyone involved, this turned out to be a really pointless episode, remarkable only because they killed a main character. And Tasha Yar had the cringiest lines all the way to the end, meaning the writers really did have no idea what to do with her.

Tasha Yar does return in a later season, thanks to timey-wimey shenanigans, and Denise Crosby also plays Sela, the half-Romulan daughter of Tasha Yar (timey-wimey shenanigans), in some of the best episodes of TNG (at least from what I remember), so it’s not all doom and gloom for Tasha Yar (I mean, I have three Denise Crosby personnel cards from the Decipher Star Trek CCG - Tasha Yar, Tasha Yar-Alternate, and Sela - so Denise Crosby is well-represented).

Hopefully, she’ll get way better lines.