New kids in the class. Let's watch and discuss, Star Trek: The Next Generation

[KillianHawkeye]

Yeah, this is definitely one of the bottom of the barrel episodes. An easy skip on re-watches. Poor story and poorly done.

[Spacewolf]

Didn't the leader just want the federation to pay attention to the planet? I don't think he really cared about his faction being destroyed because once the federation is involved it'll force the other faction to the negotiating table. I suspect his line of reasoning was Federation Flagship destroyed all eyes to the planet-> Federation kills all his terrorist faction ->Federation Orders both sides to negotiating table and will force some sort of fair settlement which his own side can't get due to being the far weaker faction at the time.

But yea a boring episode

[russdm]

Season 3 Episode 13
deja q
Stardate: 43539.1

[Plot]
the crew have showed up to help a planet deal with a problem with their moon. that goes on before q drops in. q doesn't have powers though. the crew have to deal with him while trying to deal with the meal.

an enemy of q shows up to cause trouble. data puts himself in harm's way for q. q leaves with a shuttle and another q shows
a talk then q gives data a laugh

[Rating]
5 - Excelent episode: Episode excels in most or all ways - major character development, good story and so on

{Episode Commentary}
so this is one of the best q episodes. we learn about the q people and q gives data which is nice. then, we have some really good scenes of q with members of the crew.

we get the immortal line of q saying that picard is q's only friend which makes it look like picard is floored by that

oh and the moon got fixed

So? Do fellow playgrounders agree? Disagree? Comments of your own? Get some discussing going on

Trackers)
I HATE the Borg and wish they were never thought up: 1 (their first episode)
Picard's Gifts: 1
Prime Directive Hell: 1
Q Messes with the Crew, For Laughs: 1
Doctor Who timey-wimey Destructo Enterprise Disco: 1
Klingon Rituals/Rites: 1
Poker Playing: 2
Gene Roddenberry ruins Star Trek: 4 ()
Redshirts Actually wearing a Redshirt Deaths: 1
Hidden Gems: 6
Funny Guest Star Appearances: 6 ()
Rank of Miles: Ensign, Two Gold Pips
Prime Directives: 3
Patrick Stewart Speech: 4 (Did I miss an earlier one? I don't think so)
Riker "Patrick Stewart Speech": 1
Riker Romances Something/Someone: 3
Pithy Aesops: 1
Klingon Proverbs/Beliefs/Sentiments: 1) Drink not with thine enemy; A) Several in the Episode, "Heart of Glory"; Klingons know how to deal with spies
Worfed (Worf loses to establish danger): 2
Holodeck Mishaps/Breakings/Issues: 1
Actually Alien Aliens: 1
Lore's Appearances: 1
*Data's Emotions: 3
*Troi Troubles: 1
*Money Matters: 1
Polarize the Phase Inverters: 1

[DigoDragon]

Q episodes do tend to be pretty fun. I liked this one, serving up some really memorable scenes such as Q and Guinan.

[Velaryon]

My favorite part of this episode was Guinan, specifically the part where she stabbed Q with a fork.

[KillianHawkeye]

This one was great in that it's where Q starts turning from a random omnipotent antagonist into an annoying omnipotent semi-helpful mischief maker.

[Velaryon]

This one was great in that it's where Q starts turning from a random omnipotent antagonist into an annoying omnipotent semi-helpful mischief maker.

I think the seeds of that turn are planted in Q's season 2 appearance where he introduces him to the Borg. Yes, his stated purpose at that time was taking humanity (and Picard in particular) down a peg and humbling them, but at the same time he gave them advance warning of an enemy that was already getting closer, and without Q's assistance they would have been completely blindsided. This episode is arguably Picard returning the favor, and definitely gives me the impression that Q has a special fondness for the Enterprise crew even if he may pretend otherwise (and definitely enjoys screwing with them).

[russdm]

so the guy who played shawn spencer's dad, henry spencer, in Pysch played Q2. That would be corbin benson. He was famous for some things already and was also on an episode of Seinfeld too.

[russdm]

Season 3 Episode 14
A matter of perspective
Stardate: 43610.4

[Plot]
picard is doing some painting when Data shows up. picard asks for data's opinion on his painting; data is honest which makes picard not happy. (guess that it is a little bit bad)

the crew beam up riker from a station which then explodes. an alien guy shows up to arrest riker for murder. the holodeck is used and works perfectly, for showing what happened according to LaForge, riker, the wife of a scientist, the scientist.

the scientist made some device that does something with radiation and krieger waves. it affects the ship and gets solved.

the scientist wanted to get money by selling the device and decided to kill riker. the scientist failed and blew the station up

riker is cleared of the murder charges

[Rating]
2 - Poor episode: Not too bad but has one or two week areas (Poor plot, weak character use, bad effects)

{Episode Commentary}
to be honest, this is a lousy episode

the scientist is given the motive of wanting to sell the device for money, and needs to kill riker because of that. That motive really just doesn't really fly.

The alien guy, the detective guy, just shows up and charges riker with Murder. Except that alien guy never presents any evidence beyond some comments from wife. Apparently, that is all that works here?

of course, once the holodeck replays are done, riker turns out to be innocent of killing the scientist. Which was based some lousy reasoning anyway. the alien guy should have showed up and stated that riker needed to answer some questions, and it needed to be determined if a crime had occurred. That would have worked out a lot better

then, there is the idea that riker would murder someone. Which is not really workable if you had watched any previous episodes so far. Riker has not been portrayed as the murdering type.

then we get the first part with picard doing the painting and asking data about that. I think using that and making an episode about that part, about how Data views Art and etc, given being an android, would have made for a much better story. it would have allowed for some interesting storytelling

As for itself, the murder mystery doesn't work well enough to be a B-plot, much less an A-plot. I don't know why, but when watching about it, I found that I just didn't care at all. Riker has already been established as too much of a goody two-shoes to murder someone and so i just can't ever buy that. With that problem, the murder story fails outright, and feels like a waste of time.

everything about the Krieger waves(?) just feels semi-interesting at best, but it never establishes exactly how important that is. It is supposed to be some kind of new energy source, but only seems to mess around with Radiation some. So it never makes that clear.

Then, as before, you have the motive of selling the device, for an attempt to kill riker. But why? it feels like that motive just got dumped in. It doesn't have enough, oomph, or, well, feeling to motive the scientist.

Then there is the question of consent or whatever with Riker and the scientist's wife and if anything was going there. Sadly, neither the scientist or the wife were made to be interesting enough for me to want to listen to them; I just didn't have an interest in hearing the story

So? Do fellow playgrounders agree? Disagree? Comments of your own? Get some discussing going on

Trackers)
I HATE the Borg and wish they were never thought up: 1 (their first episode)
Picard's Gifts: 1
Prime Directive Hell: 1
Q Messes with the Crew, For Laughs: 1
Doctor Who timey-wimey Destructo Enterprise Disco: 1
Klingon Rituals/Rites: 1
Poker Playing: 2
Gene Roddenberry ruins Star Trek: 4 ()
Redshirts Actually wearing a Redshirt Deaths: 1
Hidden Gems: 6
Funny Guest Star Appearances: 7 ()
Rank of Miles: Ensign, Two Gold Pips
Prime Directives: 3
Patrick Stewart Speech: 4 (Did I miss an earlier one? I don't think so)
Riker "Patrick Stewart Speech": 1
Riker Romances Something/Someone: 3
Pithy Aesops: 1
Klingon Proverbs/Beliefs/Sentiments: 1) Drink not with thine enemy; A) Several in the Episode, "Heart of Glory"; Klingons know how to deal with spies
Worfed (Worf loses to establish danger): 2
Holodeck Mishaps/Breakings/Issues: 1
Actually Alien Aliens: 1
Lore's Appearances: 1
*Data's Emotions: 3
*Troi Troubles: 1
*Money Matters: 1
Polarize the Phase Inverters: 1

[KillianHawkeye]

Yeah, I agree. The thing that never made sense to me was how did they make an exact working replica of the scientist's device on the holodeck without realizing that the machine had been completed? How do they even have the detailed specs for it to begin with when he's trying to hide the fact that he finished it? And why did they leave the simulation running 24/7 even when nobody was using it?

[DigoDragon]

I'm just amazed the holodeck worked as intended. No lethal glitches or mad AIs created. XD

[russdm]

Season 3 Episode 15
Yesterday's Enterprise
Stardate: 43625.2

[Plot]
guinan sees Worf sitting alone and has him try prune juice, which Worf likes. they talk about Worf's love life or lack of one. Worf laughs. he gets called to the bridge.

a wormhole appears and a ship comes through. everything changes, including the uniforms. Worf has been replaced with Tasha Yar

the ship is the Enterprise C. it was damaged by romulan warbirds. it had responded to a distress call from a Klingon colony. the federation is at war with the Klingons and the federation is losing badly

the captain of the Enterprise C is Rachel Garrett. she goes to sickbay. another person is richard castillo who Tasha takes a shine to.

guinan, who knows that everything is wrong, complains to Picard. he is not happy about it but listens to her because he trusts her. with the ship being repaired, picard has to make a decision.

picard decides to share with garrett and explains some about guinan. he lets garrett and her crew decide. picard has a meeting of his staff where it is discussed about how the sacrifice of the enterprise C in defense of Klingons would earn the federation "honor" brownie points

riker doesn't like the idea

tasha, who guinan let share what happened to tasha with her, goes with the enterprise C

some Klingon ships attack the two ships at points. the enterprise D is destroyed while the enterprise C goes in the wormhole

everything is back to normal with Worf being there

guinan, in ten forward, asks laforge about tasha. [laforge is wearing the wrong uniform still]

[Rating]
4 - Good episode: A few parts of the episode are above average - good plot points, clever use of effects and so on.

{Episode Commentary}
so

this is a pretty good episode. it brings Tasha yar back, has Worf start drinking Prune Juice, and it introduces us to how important Klingons view honor. It also helps to push how the federation and the Klingons became buddies. Mostly because of the Romulans, really.

The most important element is how much more we learn about Guinan and that picard trusts her judgement and that guinan is able to spot timeline changes. this makes for some interesting later story ideas.

The bit about the klingons and federation at war, is actually pretty interesting, and could have developed further on, but it goes through a little bit only. That is not a disappointment though, since the events of the episode are pretty good and solid.

the flirtation between Tasha and Castillo works pretty well, and Garrett is a pretty standard cut Starfleet captain. The only useless character in the episode is doctor Crusher, who doesn't do really anything beyond treat Garrett, while we see no sign of other crew aboard the Enterprise C being injured and needing treatment.

The point about Klingons and Honor will have pretty much further major effects through the rest of the franchise. Further into TNG and DS9 and Voyager. It is probably the most foundational brick that just laid here.

The franchise will not be the same afterward.

So? Do fellow playgrounders agree? Disagree? Comments of your own? Get some discussing going on

Trackers)
The Universe/Franchise shook and was changed: 1
I HATE the Borg and wish they were never thought up: 1 (their first episode)
Picard's Gifts: 1
Prime Directive Hell: 1
Q Messes with the Crew, For Laughs: 1
Doctor Who timey-wimey Destructo Enterprise Disco: 2
Klingon Rituals/Rites: 1
Poker Playing: 2
Gene Roddenberry ruins Star Trek: 4 ()
Redshirts Actually wearing a Redshirt Deaths: 1
Hidden Gems: 6
Funny Guest Star Appearances: 7 ()
Rank of Miles:
Prime Directives: 3
Patrick Stewart Speech: 4 (Did I miss an earlier one? I don't think so)
Riker "Patrick Stewart Speech": 1
Riker Romances Something/Someone: 3
Pithy Aesops: 1
Klingon Proverbs/Beliefs/Sentiments: 1) Drink not with thine enemy; A) Several in the Episode, "Heart of Glory"; Klingons know how to deal with spies ; honor matters a great deal;
Worfed (Worf loses to establish danger): 2
Holodeck Mishaps/Breakings/Issues: 1
Actually Alien Aliens: 1
Lore's Appearances: 1
*Data's Emotions: 3
*Troi Troubles: 1
*Money Matters: 1
Polarize the Phase Inverters: 1

[KillianHawkeye]

Agree. This is a pretty big, foundational step for the Klingon culture as shown in the TNG era. It's interesting to see how they try to backfill some of the historical events that led to the current peace between the Klingon Empire and the Federation, between this episode and later in Star Trek VI.

[Gnoman]

This episode is one of the earliest Guinan-focused ones that I can think of, and she gives a good showing. Might even be the one that focuses on her the most - she's much more the driver of the plot than anybody else, because she's the one who's realizing something is wrong.

[Velaryon]

Yesterday's Enterprise is hands down my favorite TNG episode. I'm not entirely sure why, but it does do a lot of things right. In addition to the influence it has on later TNG episodes, it also gives Tasha a bit of redemption for the senseless death she had in season 1 (and plants the seeds for another Denise Crosby return later on down the line). It even somehow makes me long to learn more about the adventures of the Enterprise-C, despite the fact that none of the crew members from that ship are all that interesting.

[DigoDragon]

It is a pretty good episode, giving us a taste of multiverse theory in action. The franchise is gonna really embrace that as time goes on. MY only quibble is it is at odds with Undiscovered Country.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Season 3 Episode 15
Yesterday's Enterprise
Stardate: 43625.2

[Plot]
guinan sees Worf sitting alone and has him try prune juice, which Worf likes. they talk about Worf's love life or lack of one. Worf laughs. he gets called to the bridge.

a wormhole appears and a ship comes through. everything changes, including the uniforms. Worf has been replaced with Tasha Yar

the ship is the Enterprise C. it was damaged by romulan warbirds. it had responded to a distress call from a Klingon colony. the federation is at war with the Klingons and the federation is losing badly

the captain of the Enterprise C is Rachel Garrett. she goes to sickbay. another person is richard castillo who Tasha takes a shine to.

guinan, who knows that everything is wrong, complains to Picard. he is not happy about it but listens to her because he trusts her. with the ship being repaired, picard has to make a decision.

picard decides to share with garrett and explains some about guinan. he lets garrett and her crew decide. picard has a meeting of his staff where it is discussed about how the sacrifice of the enterprise C in defense of Klingons would earn the federation "honor" brownie points

riker doesn't like the idea

tasha, who guinan let share what happened to tasha with her, goes with the enterprise C

some Klingon ships attack the two ships at points. the enterprise D is destroyed while the enterprise C goes in the wormhole

everything is back to normal with Worf being there

guinan, in ten forward, asks laforge about tasha. [laforge is wearing the wrong uniform still]

[Rating]
4 - Good episode: A few parts of the episode are above average - good plot points, clever use of effects and so on.

{Episode Commentary}
so

this is a pretty good episode. it brings Tasha yar back, has Worf start drinking Prune Juice, and it introduces us to how important Klingons view honor. It also helps to push how the federation and the Klingons became buddies. Mostly because of the Romulans, really.

The most important element is how much more we learn about Guinan and that picard trusts her judgement and that guinan is able to spot timeline changes. this makes for some interesting later story ideas.

The bit about the klingons and federation at war, is actually pretty interesting, and could have developed further on, but it goes through a little bit only. That is not a disappointment though, since the events of the episode are pretty good and solid.

the flirtation between Tasha and Castillo works pretty well, and Garrett is a pretty standard cut Starfleet captain. The only useless character in the episode is doctor Crusher, who doesn't do really anything beyond treat Garrett, while we see no sign of other crew aboard the Enterprise C being injured and needing treatment.

The point about Klingons and Honor will have pretty much further major effects through the rest of the franchise. Further into TNG and DS9 and Voyager. It is probably the most foundational brick that just laid here.

The franchise will not be the same afterward.

So? Do fellow playgrounders agree? Disagree? Comments of your own? Get some discussing going on

Trackers)
The Universe/Franchise shook and was changed: 1
I HATE the Borg and wish they were never thought up: 1 (their first episode)
Picard's Gifts: 1
Prime Directive Hell: 1
Q Messes with the Crew, For Laughs: 1
Doctor Who timey-wimey Destructo Enterprise Disco: 2
Klingon Rituals/Rites: 1
Poker Playing: 2
Gene Roddenberry ruins Star Trek: 4 ()
Redshirts Actually wearing a Redshirt Deaths: 1
Hidden Gems: 6
Funny Guest Star Appearances: 7 ()
Rank of Miles:
Prime Directives: 3
Patrick Stewart Speech: 4 (Did I miss an earlier one? I don't think so)
Riker "Patrick Stewart Speech": 1
Riker Romances Something/Someone: 3
Pithy Aesops: 1
Klingon Proverbs/Beliefs/Sentiments: 1) Drink not with thine enemy; A) Several in the Episode, "Heart of Glory"; Klingons know how to deal with spies ; honor matters a great deal;
Worfed (Worf loses to establish danger): 2
Holodeck Mishaps/Breakings/Issues: 1
Actually Alien Aliens: 1
Lore's Appearances: 1
*Data's Emotions: 3
*Troi Troubles: 1
*Money Matters: 1
Polarize the Phase Inverters: 1

This might be my favorite episode. Good plot. Good story arc development. Good action. The design changes to the warshio version of Enterprise were done well also.

Your line, "The franchise will not be the same afterward." is orobably true.

Man, especially seeing it "live" with no clue what an episode was going to be about, this had my jaw hung open.

[Gnoman]

It is a pretty good episode, giving us a taste of multiverse theory in action. The franchise is gonna really embrace that as time goes on. MY only quibble is it is at odds with Undiscovered Country.

It really isn't. Undiscovered Country ended the long Federation-Klingon Cold War, but that doesn't automatically mean everything was sunshine and daisies between the two powers from then on. The film was set in 2293, while Yesterday's Enterprise was 2366, with the war starting sometime after 2344 (the date of the Battle Of Narenda III). That's minimum 55 years. Plenty of time for relations to deteriorate, especially if you assume that the battle somehow caused the war - there's a line on Memory Alpha that the disappearance of 1701-C was interpreted by the Klingons as a cowardly retreat, though I'm not certain what that comes from.

[KillianHawkeye]

Well, we know that the Klingons view any retreat as cowardly. Better to die in glorious battle than to flee like a cowardly targ!

Seeing the Enterprise-C disappear mid battle, after taking some significant damage no less, would have to be seen as retreat by any Klingons who survived the Romulan attack.

And it's basically stated outright in the episode that fighting a hopeless battle to save a few Klingons was how the Federation earned the Empire's respect that day.

[DigoDragon]

My issue isn't that there is a war. I can totally buy the Klingons starting a fight with the Federation over being cowards. But wasn't it explained in Undiscovered Country that the explosion of Praxis was going to cause the Klingon empire a near collapse with the loss of the moon's resources, so they needed peace with the Federation to get help? I guess my question is, if 55 years is enough to recover from that and be able to run a two-front war?

[Gnoman]

The explosion of Praxis meant that they couldn't afford the then-current Cold War with the Federation, because they needed the resources they were dumping into warships to avert economic collapse. It wasn't "whoa, we don't have Praxis anymore so we're broke!", it was "whoa, Praxis blowing up broke a lot of things, so we need to cut military spending to fix it."

[KillianHawkeye]

Seems like long enough to me.

Also, fun fact: The Romulan attack at Narendra 3 from this episode takes place two years before the Romulan attack at Khitomer in which Worf's family dies. Seems like the Romulans were attacking the Klingons a lot during this period, so they were forced to rebuild their military anyway.

[hamishspence]

The explosion of Praxis meant that they couldn't afford the then-current Cold War with the Federation, because they needed the resources they were dumping into warships to avert economic collapse. It wasn't "whoa, we don't have Praxis anymore so we're broke!", it was "whoa, Praxis blowing up broke a lot of things, so we need to cut military spending to fix it."

To be fair, Praxis is also described as "their key energy production facility".

[Wintermoot]

My issue isn't that there is a war. I can totally buy the Klingons starting a fight with the Federation over being cowards. But wasn't it explained in Undiscovered Country that the explosion of Praxis was going to cause the Klingon empire a near collapse with the loss of the moon's resources, so they needed peace with the Federation to get help? I guess my question is, if 55 years is enough to recover from that and be able to run a two-front war?

There is a real life example of a European country waging a second war 20 years after a first crippling loss in a war that devastated their economy and saddled them with sanctions that were supposed to keep it from happening again and didn't. So 55 years for the Klingons to do so doesn't seem unrealistic to me.

[russdm]

Season 3 Episode 16
the offspring
Stardate: 43657.0

[Plot]
Data makes an android. stuff ensues

[Rating]
3 - Average episode: OK to watch, but nothing amazing. This should be the default score.

{Episode Commentary}
so
this episode is not terrible but it doesn't stand out as being really good either. it actually falls into what happens to be considered as being base average for episodes reaching into the next season and on. it feels like how a classic TNG episode should be, with a good amount of heart

to be honest, nothing grabbed my attention and kept it but I didn't feel insulted or a need to turn off the episode. an average episode all round

from the events of this episode, i would say that the quest to make androids like Data and Lore seems to be a rather major thing later on

i think that the episode was a bit of a mess in that it follows yesterdays enterprise and that it has the episode sins of the father following it. which makes it have less of an impact

So? Do fellow playgrounders agree? Disagree? Comments of your own? Get some discussing going on

Trackers)
The Universe/Franchise shook and was changed: 1
I HATE the Borg and wish they were never thought up: 1 (their first episode)
Picard's Gifts: 1
Prime Directive Hell: 1
Q Messes with the Crew, For Laughs: 1
Doctor Who timey-wimey Destructo Enterprise Disco: 2
Klingon Rituals/Rites: 1
Poker Playing: 2
Gene Roddenberry ruins Star Trek: 4 ()
Redshirts Actually wearing a Redshirt Deaths: 1
Hidden Gems: 6
Funny Guest Star Appearances: 7 ()
Rank of Miles:
Prime Directives: 3
Patrick Stewart Speech: 4 (Did I miss an earlier one? I don't think so)
Riker "Patrick Stewart Speech": 1
Riker Romances Something/Someone: 3
Pithy Aesops: 1
Klingon Proverbs/Beliefs/Sentiments: 1) Drink not with thine enemy; A) Several in the Episode, "Heart of Glory"; Klingons know how to deal with spies ; honor matters a great deal;
Worfed (Worf loses to establish danger): 2
Holodeck Mishaps/Breakings/Issues: 1
Actually Alien Aliens: 1
Lore's Appearances: 1
*Data's Emotions: 3
*Troi Troubles: 1
*Money Matters: 1
Polarize the Phase Inverters: 1

[Velaryon]

The thing that bothers me about this episode is how little impact it has on the Trek universe going forward. I think it gets referenced one time ever in later seasons of TNG, and considering how often they make a big deal about how difficult it is to create more androids like Data and Lore, you'd think the fact Data did create one would be treated with a little more importance.

Also, I know Data is incapable of feeling love for Lal, but it also feels jarring that he never tries to improve on her design or even figure out why she died and how to prevent that from happening again if he were to create another offspring.

[Gnoman]

I think it is the opposite. He did care for Lal as a father, and the death of his daughter (caused by his own failure) prevented him from trying again for fundamentally emotional reasons.

[DigoDragon]

I think it is the opposite. He did care for Lal as a father, and the death of his daughter (caused by his own failure) prevented him from trying again for fundamentally emotional reasons.

I agree with Gnoman.

The way Data cares does operate differently than the way we do, but the results do parallel our emotions. It's like in the season 2 episode Peak Performance where Data loses at a game and then questions his infallible programming. His actions paralleled self-doubt and sulking in that episode.

[tomandtish]

I think the seeds of that turn are planted in Q's season 2 appearance where he introduces him to the Borg. Yes, his stated purpose at that time was taking humanity (and Picard in particular) down a peg and humbling them, but at the same time he gave them advance warning of an enemy that was already getting closer, and without Q's assistance they would have been completely blindsided. This episode is arguably Picard returning the favor, and definitely gives me the impression that Q has a special fondness for the Enterprise crew even if he may pretend otherwise (and definitely enjoys screwing with them).

The other side of that coin (which I remember being discussed a LOT at the time and a few years after) was that it also alerted the Borg to the presence of Humans. And since they jacked into the computers they know whereto find them. So it gave the Federation a heads up, but it also did the same to the Borg.

Of course, this was all undone by Voyager and Seven's parents.

[Spacewolf]

The other side of that coin (which I remember being discussed a LOT at the time and a few years after) was that it also alerted the Borg to the presence of Humans. And since they jacked into the computers they know whereto find them. So it gave the Federation a heads up, but it also did the same to the Borg.

Of course, this was all undone by Voyager and Seven's parents.

Didn't they say in the episode that the energy signatures matched some they had found on federation worlds where entire cities had been stolen? I got the impression the Borg where well aware of the federation.