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

[tomandtish]

Season 1 Episode 24

But then, Starfleet is mildly military, and never before has the suggestion that Starfleet is staffed by trained morons and run by morons and led by idiots come up. It does here, so very very much.

There will be other times when it becomes blatantly obvious, and some occurring in the past will be referenced as moments of genius.

Case in point: The Picard Maneuver.

The Picard Maneuver is a battle tactic invented by Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard. In 2355, Picard was in command of the USS Stargazer when it was attacked by an unknown alien vessel, later determined to be of Ferengi origin.

During the engagement, the Battle of Maxia, the Stargazer, which was holding station several million kilometers away from its adversary, suddenly accelerated to warp 9 directly towards the Ferengi ship. Because the enemy was only equipped with light speed sensors, they had no way of knowing that the Stargazer had moved until it was too late. When the light from the newly-moved ship reached the Ferengi ship's sensors, the light from its previous position was still arriving, so the Ferengi saw two Stargazers. Even if they had figured out that the new image was the genuine one in time, it would have been too late, as the Stargazer opened fire as soon as it dropped out of warp, and the Ferengi ship had no time to maneuver out of the way before the phasers and photon torpedoes hit. The Ferengi ship was destroyed. This technique was so successful that it was named after Picard, and there was no known defense against it until 2364.


Note that this is basic stuff, and should be a standard tactic when used against anyone without FTL sensors, which existed in Kirk's day. That no one figured this "tactic" out until Picard does not speak well of the intelligence of Starfleet.

[Gnoman]

For the Picard Maneuver to make sense, you need a very specific scenario.


1. You need to have reliable FTL drive. Not just something you can travel with, but something you can spin up at a moment's notice.
2. You have to be fighting at sublight.
3. You have to be fighting somebody that does not have FTL sensors, and be aware of this fact
4. You have to be fighting at a long enough range that the lightspeed sensors will have meaningful delay.
5. You must be losing at this range, despite the difference in sensor speed theoretically giving you a huge advantage.

It is quite plausible that that exact scenario rarely shows up, and Picard's encounter was the first time somebody faced it and came up with a solution instead of dying or fleeing.

[Arcane_Secrets]

I always questioned why teleporters didn't pick the parasites up. I always thought teleporters had a built in decontamination cycle. Like if you beamed up from a planet with an Alien tick on your leg, the teleport isolated the tick or at least notified the person at the panel that something was wrong.

They do but its not omniscient although its pretty powerful. (This comes up actually a bit in some later episodes). If something is completely unknown to it, or there's a really good simulation or false generation of signals effect, the decontamination cycle might miss it.

[Peelee]

For the Picard Maneuver to make sense, you need a very specific scenario.


1. You need to have reliable FTL drive. Not just something you can travel with, but something you can spin up at a moment's notice.
2. You have to be fighting at sublight.
3. You have to be fighting somebody that does not have FTL sensors, and be aware of this fact
4. You have to be fighting at a long enough range that the lightspeed sensors will have meaningful delay.
5. You must be losing at this range, despite the difference in sensor speed theoretically giving you a huge advantage.

It is quite plausible that that exact scenario rarely shows up, and Picard's encounter was the first time somebody faced it and came up with a solution instead of dying or fleeing.

Bolding mine, because it's probably the single most salient point.

And, as an aside, I prefer the other Picard Maneuver.

[russdm]

Note that this is basic stuff, and should be a standard tactic when used against anyone without FTL sensors, which existed in Kirk's day. That no one figured this "tactic" out until Picard does not speak well of the intelligence of Starfleet.

For the Picard Maneuver to make sense, you need a very specific scenario.

1. You need to have reliable FTL drive. Not just something you can travel with, but something you can spin up at a moment's notice.
2. You have to be fighting at sublight.
3. You have to be fighting somebody that does not have FTL sensors, and be aware of this fact
4. You have to be fighting at a long enough range that the lightspeed sensors will have meaningful delay.
5. You must be losing at this range, despite the difference in sensor speed theoretically giving you a huge advantage.

It is quite plausible that that exact scenario rarely shows up, and Picard's encounter was the first time somebody faced it and came up with a solution instead of dying or fleeing.

Regarding the Picard thing: It is actually said during the episode that Picard was traveling at WARP 2 when the Ferengi ship opened fire. So the Ferengi had FTL sensors or they couldn't have targeted Picard's Ship. That means they should not have problems scanning the real ship. Nothing about how the battle happened makes sense as a result.

The second issue happens to be that the visual of the ship, shows it moving towards the ship. Which should have been a clue of where to fire, without using the sensors.

Apparently, everyone forgot about the Eye and Eyeball, that humans get issued two of at birth.

I really think it was put in to explain some kind of victory thing and with a set up to make Picard as good a fighter as Kirk was, rather than anything else. Gene might have wanted to show how Picard was somehow better than Kirk.

Moving on....

So, I said that I would do a Season Review and so here it is)

The first season of TNG is...

Not very good

The show is trying, but it is really falling flat. I was never excited to see another episode, the way I was/am when watching DS9 and I was not that much impressed with what I did see. There were a few episodes that were really good, but the bulk of the episodes where just "meh" at best. Not good, not bad, just "meh".

I fully blame Gene and the writers because the characters are pretty terrible to me, aside from Data and Worf and Q. I actually think that losing the entire rest of the cast but those 3 characters would not be any loss.

Picard -- The Captain of the ship, Picard has no heart and no soul. This is not the character that would be affected by his experience with the Kataan Probe, nor the Picard that had been facing death by fighting 3 Nausicans. The man who had been shaped by a near death experience as suggested by Q in the Tapestry episode. The one that took advantages of opportunities. This Picard is too much of a ninny, too much of a party line follower. He lacks anything that makes him an interesting character to watch. To much of a fussy bureaucrat. I can't see this Picard being the sort that could actually teach Data about Humanity.

Riker -- Basically Kirk as first officer instead of Captain with bits stapled on. No beard either yet, but just...just...boring. I don't get it. Riker comes across as boring. I think it's how much he just Kirk-clones (Like Char Clones)

Beverly Crusher -- A doctor, I guess, and a mother. She suffers from the fact there is considerably plot reasons for her to show up, since the Crew Can't Fight Anymore (As Gene Commands). Incredibly boring as result.

Wesley Crusher -- Marty Sue or part Marty Sue part super Creator's Pet. Gene made himself a self-insert Fanfic character. Actually could have huge potential thanks to that Travele/o/r guy episode, but it gets wasted later on.

Deanna Troi -- She of how Gene wanted to have 6 breasts, but Thank Heaven Gene's wife talked him out of that. Or we would have seen Troi running around with extra boobs. Is half-alien and that makes her able to sense emotions or lies or something. Barely came up on using that majorly important development, because it could have been used for some amusing plots. Meet some alien or presence or whatever with feelings of rage or something, have Troi lead the Captain to help give said alien some therapy and make it work to help explore. That potential? promptly wasted.

Geordi La Forge -- the blind guy. Why is he blind? doesn't it matter that he has a special tool that lets him see in a unique way, that could be helpful in some plots. They could have made him be a seeing fellow and it would meant nothing. Geordi's visor and what it can do, doesn't really come into play much. which is a bad use of what could have included some interesting plots.

Natasha Yar -- A lady that does things. Basically space cop. I just don't know what makes having her instead of some guy really does for the series.

Worf -- The better version of SovietUnion Chekov from TOS. Where Walter Koenig played a character that was the SovietUnion Enemy and Sulu was the Japanese Enemy characters, so Michael Dorn's Worf is the latest version of "Your real life enemy is present as an in-character friend". Being a Klingon allows us to explore someone with a entirely different set of moral beginnings and moral philosophy. I really love all of the Klingon stuff in the Series.

Data -- The other breakout character besides Worf. Pretty amazing, worth watching.

That's the main characters. Who aside from Worf and Data, are expected to be better future humans than any currently living humans. Gene's super Future Humans, the Marty Sue ones.

Gene, to be honest, let the time period between TOS went off the screen and TNG began into development, and slightly before the Motion Picture, have a trait of letting the years then, just promptly go to his head, go on a real ego trip. The same way that George Lucas did.

So, Gene has his Ego TRIP, and ends up deciding on he wants the future humans to be: better than current humans, SUPER-WOKE, and ultimately super boring. Not like the TOS characters way of being WOKE and considerably less in your face about how horrible you, the viewer, is in general. The characters in TOS, you wanted to know and be friends with and hang out with.

None of the TNG characters have that, frankly, besides Worf and Data. This is a real problem.

I didn't care anything about what was happening most of the time.

TNG suffers heavily from the Babylon 5 problem, I think. It tries to make you care about the different characters but I think the ones that I liked in that show was Londo and G'Kar, because the Actors were so good at that. It made the Narn-Londo'sFunnyHairPeople have a meaning and realness to what was happening compared the plunky Shadow-Vorlon conflict/debate/childishTantrums. Having Delenn and everything always acting so OMINOUS & DRAMATIC about those two groups, the Shadows and Vorlons, make it hard to take them seriously when they showed up in full form.

Then both shows have that massive "Monster of the week" style of TV. That didn't help it any. When the kids got kidnapped in that one episode, we should have gotten an episode before that let us meet the kids, in a less kidnappy plot, something that just featured them in the background, so we saw them before and know that they were present, since that would have made a much better result of Drama when the kids got kidnapped.

It is mentioned in George Takei's autography book about how the original cast (besides Shatner) though that the new TNG was pretty bad. Then it got better. I would agree on George's point on how bad TNG is. It is pretty bad so far. It will get better. Picard will get a heart and soul (metaphorically, since Picard has an artificial one), Riker will grew a beard, and ah, oh, the other cast members besides Worf and Data will be just as boring as they have been.

And in Season 2, we will get introduced to one of the writing room group's worst of all possible ideas: Recreating the Spock and Bones dynamic, with A doctor and Data. Ms Doctor Pusalki. (Whatever the hell her name is)

And it will require some new counters/trackers be made:

1) Dr. P is mean to Data

2)Dr. P verbally belittles Data or treats him with contempt

3) Dr. P acts and treats Data like some fancy shmancy tool device that needs to be put into its proper place.

4) Dr. P acts racist towards Data

5) Dr. P does what she does to Data and NO ONE calls her out on her disrespectful behavior towards an officer of Starfleet that has been commissioned

Yeah, those will be high numbers (If I am remembering my impression of the dialogues and events correctly, as I may not be)

[Manga Shoggoth]

I think you are a little harsh on the characters and the series.

IIRC, the Picard/Riker setup was put in to answer the question "Why is the captain - the most important person on the ship, going down to the dangerous planet", by splitting the old "Kirk" role into two characters. But the writers found out that this didn't really work in practice, so over time it got abandoned.

Deanna Troi came across as a wet mess. The characterisation improved in later seasons when they stopped focussing so much on her abilities and started giving her more of a character.

Wesley Crusher was frankly a waste of time. My problem with him wasn't the "Marty Stu" accusation (at the time I didn't even know the term "Mary Sue"), my problem was that he was a very obviously inserted to give younger viewers a viewpoint character. Shows like Star Trek don't handle such characters well as permanent cast, and I don't think the writers really knew what to do with him.

Natasha Yar? I'm not sure why you feel that her being female is an issue - In fact I don't ever recall the gender balance of the TNG series really being an issue, at least for me.

The show may have been more progressive than you like - but even TOS was for it's time (Nyota Uhura, anyone?). "Woke" isn't an accusation that would have been made back then, and I don't think it's a fair accusation now.

And the Monster of the Week thing? Well, that was pretty much Sci-Fi at the time. You didn't get a plot that lasted longer than an episode or two, and as I recall it was B5 that broke the mould by starting to introduce a background story arc. Star Trek (DS9 especially) improved dramitically once it started doing the same, and that in turn forced B5 to up it's game.

(Of course, Dr Who got there first, since the from the beginning the stories tended to be four to six part; and later on they had a few multi-story arcs like the Key of Time and Trial of a Time Lord.)

But yes, over all the first couple of seasons had more in potentia rather than realised, but at least had enough potential to be worth working on. Even then, the early seasons of TNG were still good for their time. They look worse looking back because the quality of Sci-Fi has improved markedly since then.

[russdm]

My problems with the "WOKE" is how in your face about it, the Series happens to be, and Not by making it a natural part of the story. The WOKE about Racism in "Let this be your last battlefield" (The one with the two guys with black/white skins on different sides of their bodies) worked well because it incorporated the message it was going for in a way that felt it came up naturally. It wasn't suddenly dumped in using some comment. Even more important, The characters in TOS are human.

TNG goes with with SUPA-FUTURE HUMANS. Who are portrayed as being as perfect as they can and everybody else can't measure up. And then they (Gene) goes out of the way to have Riker comment about how amazing it is that our 20th century race survived, after meeting a mother (Clare-Homemaker), a musican (Sonny) and a guy that works with money (Ralph). Then we get comments at points too.

TOS in my opinion was very "Hey, you should pay attention to this", and explore what "This" was supposed to be.

TNG (Under Gene) was very "Hey, YOU MORON! You are a horrible person and should do this instead" and said what "This" was supposed to be.

TOS never felt like it was trying to actively insult me the way TNG (Under Gene) did. This is best exemplified in the episode in Season 3 with the Mintakans, with Picard treating Religious belief as being absolutely horrible, like the worst thing ever. He doesn't approach it from what the Mintakans experienced or what he could have learned about their culture. He treats the Religious stuff as going to Backwards Fear and Superstition and General Idiocy and that Religious types/stuff makes you incapable of living above being a cave dwelling person without technology, that it dumps you back into Stone Age living.

Gene let his personal philosophy heavily influence how stories went. Rather than getting that checked over by writers, they just went with his ideas and they totally accepted his design that none of the Human characters would have drama amongst themselves or independent thought. All of the main cast agree quite heavily with whatever the Federation is, and others (not main cast) should be begging to join the Federation because it is absolutely wonderful in every possible way. It just comes across as disjointed.

It was like what Master Complex of Paranoia would really by like or something.

I would suggest that people ought to watch the Honest Trailer for Star Trek the Next Generation.

I stand by that this Season is being not good. It is not as bad as it could have been, and it is not as good/great as it could have been but how could have it been better? There are areas definitely for improvement, areas that would make for a better show.

What I think is the most sad or ironic, is simply how much the show ends up improving in general after Gene leaves. It is a real tragedy of sorts, that fact.

As for the characters))

Yar: The most of what we know about her is that Picard knows her from some previous encounters, and that she had to hide from rape gangs. Beyond that, we don't know why she picked security when she joined Starfleet. Why she decided that was the path her life was to go on. What makes her the way she is? We never find out. It feels too much like that just made a female character pick because they needed a female character. She gets little characterization. Then she dies and only comes up again once.

Troi: I have to agree about Troi.

Wesley Crusher: To be honest, Wesley would have worked had the writers worked to remove or cripple Gene's ability to make Wes such a writer insert. The concept of Wesley as a kinda of Audience Surrogate of a fan being in Star Trek as it were, that would have worked. Then Gene decided that Wesley had to be Mr Solve-it, Mr Know-it-all. Wesley figures out the solution to the problems being caused in the Battle episode. Way before any of the main cast even figure out something may be going on. Gene made him into basically a self-insert, and a character that was super awesome. No effort was made to make him what he was, a teenager growing up. Instead, Gene had to make him essentially Star Trekkian Space Jesus.

What they could have:

1) Conspiracy: Make Quinn one of Picard's old friends. Someone that means more to Picard than just as some admiral. They introduced Walker/Walter Keel as Picard's old friend, they could have done the same with Quinn. Make Rimmick less annoying, less of a general Prick.

The big one -- Go with the Militant Faction plot, and if you have to, appeal to the head of the studios or whatever to overrule Gene. Give us a chance to see how and why Starfleet works better with those like Picard than a bunch of Militants or Militarists. Show us how the difference would be.

A smaller one -- Insert references to past weird orders or background events of Starfleet in the earlier episodes. Get a sense made of something weird, just happening, then tie in the Conspiracy part. It would have worked out better.

2) The Kids -- Have an episode that showcases them and has them doing things, something pretty basic. Then do the kidnapped episode. Let us have the chance to meet the kids and spend an episode with them, then have another episode to kidnap them. Let us see the kids in episodes in between the two episodes.

Just because at the time Scifi Shows are doing "monster of the week" doesn't mean that you can't have character moments or things that pay off in a later episode. Non Scifi shows frankly do "Problem of the Week" type of stories way better.

As to the above not being doable...The TOS movies did this. Star Trek 2 and 3 and 4 are a movie and that movie's two sequels following up. that could have been copied some in the Series.

Even the TOS actors (George and Walter) thought the show was bad. Then they both thought the show had gotten good. I think that should really say it all

[Bohandas]

I don;t know why there's so much hate here for episodic TV. Personally I prefer shows that remain watchable even if removed from the context of Netflix, which rules out all arc-based programs. I'd rather watch a proper series than a glorified miniseries any day

[russdm]

I don;t know why there's so much hate here for episodic TV.

Hey, I love MASH, which is episodic and a few others that are. It is just...Science Fiction doesn't always work out when doing Episodic TV style (Case in point, see Star Trek Voyager).

Some times the Episodic TV Plot is just too much, like in Conspiracy or in the Kids getting kidnapped episode. We got introduced to the kids earlier and then they get kidnapped. We don't get to meet the kids in another episode, so we at least know them briefly, and see how things are for the kids normally. Instead, we meet them and then they get kidnapped, and then we never see how it is normally. So, no emotional connection really. It undercuts, unintentionally, the tension of the kids having been kidnapped, because we have not seen them before yet. It is a little too much, too fast.

TOS was strictly entirely Episodic TV, and it was considered pretty good (Aside from those Nelson/Nielson ratings) and was campy but loved. By then, TOS didn't take itself seriously the way that TNG does. This may be one of the problems TNG has. It is too self-serious.

or maybe Shatner's hammy acting did something?...

I don't know. Both TOS and TNG are episodic TV, but yet have ended up with completely different tones that affect how likable they are.

[Lord Vukodlak]

TOS never felt like it was trying to actively insult me the way TNG (Under Gene) did. This is best exemplified in the episode in Season 3 with the Mintakans, with Picard treating Religious belief as being absolutely horrible, like the worst thing ever. He doesn't approach it from what the Mintakans experienced or what he could have learned about their culture. He treats the Religious stuff as going to Backwards Fear and Superstition and General Idiocy and that Religious types/stuff makes you incapable of living above being a cave dwelling person without technology, that it dumps you back into Stone Age living.

Does he?
Whether or not are religious or not. You can not argue with Picard's statement that by pretending to be a deity and laying down scripture he would be encouraging superstition and ignorance and fear not because its a religion but because its a lie. Picard is not a god.

At no point does Picard ever disparage Worfs religious beliefs even in the episode where those beliefs could lead him to commit ritual suicide.

You want to be mad at Picard for his actions in that episode you should be upset that he was willing to let that Mintakan die in order to preserve the prime directive.

[russdm]

Does he?
Whether or not are religious or not. You can not argue with Picard's statement that by pretending to be a deity and laying down scripture he would be encouraging superstition and ignorance and fear not because its a religion but because its a lie. Picard is not a god.

At no point does Picard ever disparage Worfs religious beliefs even in the episode where those beliefs could lead him to commit ritual suicide.

You want to be mad at Picard for his actions in that episode you should be upset that he was willing to let that Mintakan die in order to preserve the prime directive.

He actually has one of the other survey team guys in that episode die. Like the character ends up dying and he shows the Mintakan lady that he (Picard) beams up to convince her that he is not a God.

But whenever he rejects the Survey Team Leader's suggestions about Impersonating a God, Picard doesn't mention how it is wrong under the Prime Directive to do and that Picard will not break the Prime Directive. Or does Picard mention that Impersonating a God goes against Starfleet's principles which Picard learned. That even suggesting to Picard to consider it is basically going against one of Picard's core values/beliefs.

But, instead, Picard makes no mention of any of that as his reasons or part of them for saying "No". Lying by impersonating a god goes against his beliefs. the principles he learned and applied through Starfleet. That impersonating a god goes against the spirit of the Prime directive as well as the letter of its law.

No. all that comes up, from my recollection, is backwards religious beliefs make people, because Picard just doesn't apply that reasoning to the Mintakans but to humans as well.

Could they have made it more clear that Picard is solely talking about the Mintakans and their views of religion and such? Yes, the writers could have been very much clearer.

Also, despite the questionable ness over the religious, that particular episode is a still pretty good episode.

Like how the Darmok episode is another really good episode. Even if Darmok is a little bit daft.

But still, Darmok and Jalad at Tanegra!

Oh, and about letting the Mintakan die...

That is actually the right call to make, from based on what or how I understand the prime directive has been applied. after all, the Prime Directive got interpreted at points to allow entire pre-warp Civilizations to die if some natural diaster occurred that caused some kind of damage, and that the starfleet crew could have prevented.

So, kinda shifty on the prime directive thing.

[Manga Shoggoth]

TOS was strictly entirely Episodic TV, and it was considered pretty good (Aside from those Nelson/Nielson ratings) and was campy but loved. By then, TOS didn't take itself seriously the way that TNG does. This may be one of the problems TNG has. It is too self-serious.

or maybe Shatner's hammy acting did something?...

I think that is probably the fairest criticism against TNG. It took itself very seriously, where TOS wasn't afraid to ham it up when necessary. I think it was trying too hard to distance itself from other sci-fi of the day.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Yar: The most of what we know about her is that Picard knows her from some previous encounters, and that she had to hide from rape gangs. Beyond that, we don't know why she picked security when she joined Starfleet.

I think you answered your own question here. If I grew up having to dodge rape gangs, I’d definitely want a career path that let me go around armed!

[Lord Vukodlak]

But whenever he rejects the Survey Team Leader's suggestions about Impersonating a God, Picard doesn't mention how it is wrong under the Prime Directive to do and that Picard will not break the Prime Directive. Or does Picard mention that Impersonating a God goes against Starfleet's principles which Picard learned. That even suggesting to Picard to consider it is basically going against one of Picard's core values/beliefs.

“Doctor Barron, I cannot, I will not, impose a set of commandments on these people. To do so violates the very essence of the Prime Directive.”
-Picard.

[Gnoman]

Hey, I love MASH, which is episodic and a few others that are. It is just...Science Fiction doesn't always work out when doing Episodic TV style (Case in point, see Star Trek Voyager).

M*A*S*H is an excellent example of a show that does episodic well. You can watch pretty much any episode in any order as long as you know about the cast changes -Col. Potter replacing Col. Blake, Charles Emerson Winchester replacing Frank Burns, etc- without being confused or missing key plot details.


But the characters evolve significantly and are allowed to have meaningful change. The relationship between Hawkeye and Houlihan is probably the most dramatic example - they go from acrid enemies through a complicated phase to a genuine friendship based on mutual respect.

[Velaryon]

I think I'm in the minority opinion, in that I think TNG's first season isn't really bad. It's definitely still finding its footing, and there are a few major swing-and-miss moments, but the overall result was still mostly entertaining to me.

My understanding is that Denise Crosby left because she got tired of being background decoration on the bridge and somewhat rarely getting to do anything significant. I can kinda see where she was coming from but to me the greater issue (and one that I have with Worf as well) is that her primary function seems to be to stand there and suggest the military course of action - raise shields, fire on the unknown vessel, etc. - only for Picard to shoot down that idea and show that violence isn't the answer. There's nothing wrong with that message, but it just seems to be a point that gets hammered over and over again in the first couple seasons.

The number of times season 1 Worf gets relegated to agreeing with Tasha on these things also drives home a) how redundant the two characters were in most ways, and b) how odd it was for him to be at the conn instead of part of the security team. On more than one occasion it feels like his true role was assistant security chief all along.

On the other hand, that means when Worf is shifted over to security chief after Yar's death, it feels very natural. Contrast that to Geordi becoming chief engineer, which feels very much like they did it just to give him something to do. I had forgotten about the revolving door of forgettable chief engineers in season 1, and in retrospect that seems very strange to me. Considering that Scotty was almost inarguably the 4th most important TOS character behind Kirk/Spock/McCoy, the idea that they apparently thought they just didn't need a character in that role is really hard to wrap my brain around.

I do agree that Geordi's extra abilities from his visor are often underutilized. Narratively the visor's main purpose is to serve as an exposition device for scientific stuff in the way that Troi's empathic powers are a device to indicate antagonists' intentions and provide Picard a sounding board for making decisions on the bridge. The problem is that the visor overlaps a lot with tricorders in that respect, and also that Data is a much better source of technobabble explanations for various phenomena the crew encounters than Geordi. I do find Geordi very likable and I think the disability representation he provides is worthwhile regardless of its plot value, but I cannot deny he's underutilized.

[russdm]

I agree with what you are saying, Velaryon

[russdm]

So the second season was starting up with the writers' strike that was going on. This meant that some of the filming scripts come from the Star Trek Phase II. Those were modified for the Next Generation and it's characters.

also, Gates mcfadden (dr. beverly crusher) left the role that she was doing so a replacement character was put together. Then, they needed to cast a new person for the role. And then that Bones and Spock was popular.

Thus was born the character of dr. catherine pulaski, a character played by Diana Muldaur, who featured in the original series. She played a few roles there and also elsewhere. Shows that she has some good acting talent.

So, we get to see how it goes. Well, to spoil it, not very. The Bones and Spock dynamic of Dr. P and Data doesn't actually end up working through the season. But we will get to that later.

Now, onward to Season 2! Onward!

Season 2 Episode 1
The Child
Stardate: 42073.1

[Plot]
the crew are picking up some things to take elsewhere. we learn that Laforge has been made chief engineer and that Worf is wearing his new silver baldric. it is pretty cool looking.

a little glowy thing appears and goes off to explore the ship. the glowy thing visits the corridors, where it sees follows some guys towards a turbolift. it ends up floating to visit miss Troi.

The picked up stuff goes to the planet and things happen with it a little.

The new doctor is in Ten forward, talking with Troi, who had the glowy thing make her become with child. Said doctor is Dr. P, who is abrasive and not friendly. She also talks down to Data, and even gets his name wrong. She does acknowledge that he insists on how his name is pronounced. she makes comments about him having cold metal parts and not being able to do any comfort for troi giving birth but troi asks for him.

Troi is with child and it is going fast through development, then she has the kid. then the kid is older and then the kid reveals about wanting to learn about human life. the glowy thing is responsible for making the stuff that got picked up earlier being changed up some.

during this episode, wesley is making considerations about starfleet, but stays with the ship.

we also meet guinan as played by whoopi goldberg

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

{Episode Commentary}
so we have the first episode of the new season. two characters are moved to new jobs. we meet the new doc.

the plots are basic in terms of how they come across. don't break any new ground but are not bad either.

pulaski starts her time out bad and she acts pretty abrasive to people, maybe she will get better...


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

Trackers)
Gene Roddenberry ruins Star Trek: 1 ()
Hidden Gems: 3
Funny Guest Star Appearances: 2 (marc alaimo plays a romylan here)
Rank of Miles: Ensign
Prime Directives: 2
Patrick Stewart Speech: 3 (Did I miss an earlier one? I don't think so)
Riker "Patrick Stewart Speech": 1
Riker Romances Something/Someone: 1
Pithy Aesops: 1
Klingon Proverbs/Beliefs/Sentiments: 1) Drink not with thine enemy; A) Several in the Episode, "Heart of Glory";
Worfed (Worf loses to establish danger): 2
Holodeck Mishaps/Breakings/Issues: 1
Actually Alien Aliens: 1
Lore's Appearances: 1
*Data's Emotions: 1
*Troi Troubles: 1
*Money Matters: 1
Polarize the Phase Inverters: 1
1) Dr. P is mean to Data: 1
2)Dr. P verbally belittles Data or treats him with contempt: 1
3) Dr. P acts and treats Data like some fancy shmancy tool device that needs to be put into its proper place.:
4) Dr. P acts racist towards Data:
5) Dr. P does what she does to Data and NO ONE calls her out on her disrespectful behavior towards an officer of Starfleet that has been commissioned:

[Velaryon]

I was actually much more bothered about how accepting Troi is of this alien being forcing itself inside of her than I was with Dr. Pulaski's comments toward Data. It makes sense that someone who wasn't familiar with him might react how she does. She takes it a bit far a couple times (the holodeck episode with Moriarty is the worst of it, as I remember it), but outside of a couple bad incidents I wasn't bothered by their dynamic. It definitely didn't recapture the Spock/Bones dynamic as well as they were trying, but I didn't hate it.

[russdm]

I was actually much more bothered about how accepting Troi is of this alien being forcing itself inside of her than

Yeah, I tried to avoid Rating the episode based on this and how much Rape-y in feeling the episode's plot is. It's just hard to accept that Star Trek would make an episode like this and nobody would bring up how Troi is being treated before the show was finished and aired. But then there is one possible answer...

Gene Roddenberry and his mixed...attitudes...towards women. After all, this is a Phase 2 script that had been approved or submitted to Gene that was dusted off some.

[Lord Vukodlak]

Yeah, I tried to avoid Rating the episode based on this and how much Rape-y in feeling the episode's plot is. It's just hard to accept that Star Trek would make an episode like this and nobody would bring up how Troi is being treated before the show was finished and aired. But then there is one possible answer...

Gene Roddenberry and his mixed...attitudes...towards women. After all, this is a Phase 2 script that had been approved or submitted to Gene that was dusted off some.

Gene wasn't even involved in the writing of either the Phase 2 script or The Child. And given how they doubled down on this fiasco in the Enterprise episode Unexpected. I think the this is a general attitude towards consent and not women.

[russdm]

That may be true. I just recall either reading on tvtropes or memory alpha about Gene having things related to women. I may have confused it in.

To be honest, I think that Star Trek has had issues in relation to women and how it treated them. Some in TOS were products of being the 60s. I don't think that TNG could employ that same excuse.

Plus time and society too have gone on. The Troi plot would be unlikely to happen today. It just threads to close to unacceptable actions and wouldn't have been today

[GloatingSwine]

Gene had some weirdness around sex that made it into a few early TNG episodes.

This wasn't part of it though.

It was, however, a plot that popped up from time to time. Usually complete with literally nobody taking the bodily autonomy of the female character involved seriously at all. (See also: Avengers #200).

(The one time I can remember it not being treated as no big deal was in The X-Files where it was a multi-part arc and treated as a big deal for the entire mythos of the show and the character.)

[Bohandas]

To be fair, I can't really imagine pregnancy still being a big deal with star trek level medical technology. If it still poses any inconvenience or health risks at all in the year 2367 then something has gone seriously wrong with the advancement of medical technology.

[Gnoman]

The pregnancy subplot would probably have been alright if it had been the episode's only plot and was given more agency from Troi (there's potential valid reasons for her to act the way she does, but doesn't give any of them). As it was, they shoved the "Pulaski meets Data" in enough to cripple it.

[Wintermoot]

To be fair, I can't really imagine pregnancy still being a big deal with star trek level medical technology. If it still poses any inconvenience or health risks at all in the year 2367 then something has gone seriously wrong with the advancement of medical technology.

The fact that you see the issue with forcing an unwanted pregnancy on a woman being purely the medical hardships and health risks is indicative of the overall problem.

[Bohandas]

What other problem could it possibly cause her?

Is this a bodily autonomy purely on principle for it's own sake thing? Because this episode has nothing on the ending to Phage, which basically ends with Janeway selling Neelix's organs at a loss, and I've never heard this kind of vitriol about Phage (is it because it's Neelix?)

[Ionathus]

Fun story. The only thing I knew about Star Trek: TNG when I started my first watch-through, four years ago, was the phrase "Growing the Beard" came from here, and specifically at the start of Season 2 when Riker has a beard now. And then I watched The Child, and almost stopped watching the series, because I was worried people thought this was the best it had to offer.

I hated The Child so much. The plot was rapey, maudlin, overwrought drama that didn't make any sense. Nobody acted like themselves, which is impressive given the writers only had a single season of characterization to mess up. The alien was supposed to be portrayed sympathetically I guess, but I just hated every second of its screentime. I'll admit a bit of this vitriol comes from reading the Twilight series and having a bad taste in my mouth about fast-growing babies, but it was poorly done by any standard I can put to it.

And then there's Dr. Pulaski, who I only liked for half of one episode (the one where she's supposedly about to die due to her own mistakes). I'd liked Dr. Crusher a lot and they replaced her with this stuck-up jerk with absolutely zero charisma and bad, half-formed pseudo-intellectual opinions about Data that made her seem callous (understandable given the context you provided about wanting another Bones) and idiotic (inexcusable for a high-ranking Starfleet medical officer). Nothing about her character ever worked for me. I gritted my teeth through this entire season, waiting for Pulaski to go.

Anyway, I've been lurking on this thread for awhile and waiting for you to hit an episode I had strong feelings about. Be careful what you wish for, I guess

What other problem could it possibly cause her?

Is this a bodily autonomy purely on principle thing? Because this episode has nothing on the ending to Phage

Yes, it's a "bodily autonomy on principle" thing. Men in sci-fi (with the exception of Futurama) never get hit with a surprise pregnancy for cheap drama, so it's something that almost only ever happens to women...because they're women.

Pregnancy in real life is a deeply complicated topic for people -- some don't even want kids, some want lots, some can't have them, some feel conflicted. But "supernatural pregnancy" storylines in TV never seem to give a **** about any of this -- they just see a female character and make her pregnant, because wouldn't that be interesting? It's the same mentality that gets female characters raped for drama or to set up their backstory, without spending any amount of time to unpack it and give the topic the attention it deserves. A pregnancy arc in a long-running series can be good, but forcing it upon a character via weird alien stuff is creepy to the extreme, because it never treats the subject with any amount of nuance, and it almost always strips the mother of any agency or personality in the story.

[DavidSh]

In this particular episode, Troy doesn't treat the pregnancy as unwanted once it occurs. The rest of the crew, as best I remember, was incredulous at this, but ultimately backs down.

Was it really mind control by the alien?
Is this normal behavior by a half-Betazoid who has been effectively raped?

Ordinarily, Troy acts much more human than Worf does, but she is not human.

[Ionathus]

In this particular episode, Troy doesn't treat the pregnancy as unwanted once it occurs. The rest of the crew, as best I remember, was incredulous at this, but ultimately backs down.

Was it really mind control by the alien?
Is this normal behavior by a half-Betazoid who has been effectively raped?

Ordinarily, Troy acts much more human than Worf does, but she is not human.

As I remember it, there was some mental influence from the alien, but not full mind control. I think Troi really did "want" the baby...whether the writers were being truly honest to her character in having her want it is another matter.

And oh look, I just checked Wikipedia and the episode was written by three men. Shocker.