The Enterprise is proceeding to a rendezvous with an insect-like alien species who have a very complex language, and who insist on an elaborate greeting in their own language. If the greeting, which must be delivered by Picard, is off in the slightest syllable, the aliens will become massively offended - which, when it happened the last time, resulted in a 20-year rift. Why the Federation is eager to make contact with such an annoying species is only vaguely alluded to. Personally, I quickly found myself wanting to see this insect-like race make first contact with the Klingons. Such a scene would be brief, but very satisfying.
In any case, Picard is over-preparing. On Counsellor Troi's recommendation, he takes a break to try out the new holodeck upgrade, using his personal program - a program modelled after 1930's/'40's pulp detective character Dixon Hill (think Sam Spade, only pulpier). Picard is awed by the realism of the program, so much so that his enthusiasm gets the ship's historian, Dr. Crusher, and Data all going along with him on his next trip. But a probe causes a malfunction in the program. Now the fantasy has become a potentially deadly reality, with no apparent way to stop the program, and no way for the Enterprise crew to access it to get Picard and his companions out again!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Probably the best episode yet for Patrick Stewart, who is very much front-and-center throughout the episode. A relief, after too many episodes with Picard essentially stuck in the background of his own show. Stewart is always good, but he raises his game here. Picard's joy and wonder at the realistic recreation of 1941 is evident in Stewart's face, and you can see him even enjoying the intellectual curiosity of being grilled by the police. His attempts to reason with the villainous yet philosophical Cyrus Redblock (Lawrence Tierney) are well-portrayed, and the hesitant honesty with which he answers Dixon's police friend's final question is a lovely moment - one of two moments I actually remembered from my late 1980's viewing of this episode.
Riker: While Picard, and to a lesser extend Dr. Crusher and Data, get all the "fun" material in the episode, Riker is left to carry the MacGuffin of dealing with the annoying aliens. After a couple of weak showings, Jonathan Frakes is on solid form again here. Mind you, most of what he has to do is convey exposition, but he does so with a reasonable degree of conviction.
Dr. Crusher: Gates McFadden looks lovely in her period dress, and gets to show a bit of leg - never a bad thing. Prior to that, there's a very nice character moment when Picard, carried away by enthusiasm over the realism of the holodeck program, invites her to come with him. She accepts eagerly... only for her face to fall in disappointment as Picard natters on about inviting a historian to accompany them. Clearly, she saw his invitation as a long-overdue date, and in his enthusiasm, Picard was woefully oblivious. An easy bit for almost anyone over the age of about 16 to relate to. Best of all, it's a completely offhand bit that takes all of about 3 seconds' screentime, doesn't slow the episode a jot, and yet shows so much about the characters.
Data: As much as I've enjoyed Brent Spiner's performances, including much of his performance here, I did find Data's attempts to "put on" a Bogie-like accent a bit irritating. When Picard cut off Data's "Sam Spade" narration at the end, I was quite grateful. To a degree, it works with the character. Data is so desperate to be human and fit in on this jaunt that he overdoes it and becomes irritating. But as ever, Spiner is at his best when Data is simply being Data, particularly when he pauses to ask the captain's permission before punching out a thug at one point.
BRATS IN SPAAACE!
With Geordi and other presumably capable engineers working on the holodeck problem, it is of course Wesley the Wonderful who has been studying the holodeck specifications, and who figures out the problem and how to fix it. In absolute fairness to Wil Wheaton and the role he plays, Wesley is tolerable in this episode. He's actually amusing in the briefing room scene (let me stress, in case I haven't made it clear to this point, that Wheaton is not a bad actor, he just got stuck with a really bad role), and his later scenes are brief enough that his presence doesn't actually annoy.
THOUGHTS
The first-ever Holodeck episode (and also the first-ever "holodeck goes wrong" episode). By the time TNG ended, I came to dread most of the holodeck episodes. The thing was always going disastrously wrong, and at a certain point I wondered why they didn't just decommission this hideously buggy, obviously horribly dangerous device. But because it is the first time they've done it, the concept is fresh here. It's as much a vacation for the show to do a riff on 1940's film noir as it is for Picard and company to enjoy wandering through it. The actors seem to be having a good time breaking away from their usual characters, and the fun is infectious.
The production values are lovely. It's all studio-bound, of course. But even the exterior street sets are convincingly rendered, and the main sets - Dixon's office and the police station - would look quite respectable in a 1940's-set movie or television series.
The script plays cleverly with the Maltese Falcon template. Screen veteran Lawrence Tierney, who's given priceless performances in films both bad (Tough Guys Don't Dance) and good (Reservoir Dogs) is in his element playing the philosophical, Sidney Greenstreet-styled heavy. He enters the proceedings fairly late, and probably only has a little over 10 minutes' total screentime. But he dominates from the instant he walks into Dixon's office, creating a character who is simultaneously a walking cliche and yet still a formidable enough one to be a worthy adversary for Picard. Harvey Jason also does a reasonable Peter Lorre, wisely not going too far in trying to mimic Lorre.
It falls down a bit if you spend too much time thinking about the Enterprise's all-important contact with the MacGuffians. After all that fuss, the entire contact lasts about 30 seconds! It hardly seems to have been worth the bother. And I still want to see the Annoying Aliens of the Week pull their crap on the Klingons or the Cardassians or some other aggressive race similarly unlikely to put up with it.
But given that whole subplot really only exists to create some urgency for the main plot, and to give the other regulars something to do, such concerns really don't intrude on the enjoyment of this little gem. I'd still rank Where No One Has Gone Before as the best TNG episode up to this point. But this one wins the title of "Most Purely Entertaining."
Rating: 8/10.
Previous Episode: Haven
Next Episode: Datalore
Search Amazon.com for Star Trek: The Next Generation
Review Index
To receive new review updates, follow me:
On Twitter:
On Threads:
No comments:
Post a Comment