The Enterprise travels to the planet Menos to investigate the disappearance of the Drake, a ship that was sent to Menos to investigate the disappearances of the entire population (whew!). After Picard gets a funny answering machine message from the planet (which he figures out is a recorded message at some point after the average 5-year-old viewer will have pegged it as such), he sends an Away Team down to investigate: Riker, Tasha, and Data.
It isn't long before the Away Team inadverdantly triggers automated attacks from the dead planet. Riker is encased in a stasis field. Data manages to free him - just in time for all of them to come under fire from mechanical drones. Picard beams down to take a look at the situation himself, leaving Geordi in charge. No sooner is he gone than Geordi finds himself commanding a starship under attack by an unseen aggressor, whose bombardments threaten to destroy the ship!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Beams down to the planet for no readily apparent reason other than to give Geordi a chance to command the ship in a crisis. He does get some decent scenes opposite Dr. Crusher, then opposite Vincent Schiavelli as a murderously aggressive holographic salesman. As usual, though, there is only a minimal sense of there being a character where Picard is standing. Patrick Stewart is as good, but Picard as a character still isn't up to much. Here's hoping for some improvement in Picard's characterization, sooner rather than later.
Riker: Gave up a chance at his own command to serve as first officer on Enterprise. That's the only new thing we learn about Riker in this episode, though we do get to see a lot of him in "action man" mode, crawling around an unconvincing jungle set dodging what look like old props from the 1950's War of the Worlds movie.
Data: When Riker is encased in a force field, Data is able to analyze the force field and free him relatively quickly. As they are attacked by the mechanical flying killing devices, Data computes the interval between the devices' attacks. Finally, he is very useful to Picard in dealing with the machine at the climax - though not nearly as useful as Dr. Crusher's simple and practical solution ends up being.
Geordi: He is put in command of the Enterprise during the crisis, thanks to Picard's impulsive decision to beam down to the planet. He deals very well with command, struggling at first to counter the attacks from the planet, then getting the bulk of the crew out of harm's way before going back to fulfill his obligations to his captain. Along the way, he must deal with a laughably arrogant Chief of Engineering (a 24th century descendant of Frank Burns, it appears), and a cloying filler scene opposite Counsellor Troi. He gets the last word, too - but more importantly, he gets by far the best material of the episode.
Tasha: She gets a lot of face time, though her scenes mainly amount to dodging plastic models and then ordering Data and Riker to focus phaser fire on them. She shows good tactical awareness in a dangerous situation. First she limits the size of the Away Team in order to reduce the number of crew members at risk, then she organizes their responses to the planet's defenses. Unfortunately, Denise Crosby has clearly given up by this point. Almost every line reading she gives is flat and lifeless, making it hard to be sorry that she's not much longer for this show.
Hot Space Babe of the Week: Julia Nickson is Ensign T'su, who takes over Data's station during the crisis. Nickson is a very beautiful woman, as viewers of shows as distinct as Babylon 5 and (on the other qualitative extreme) Rambo 2 can attest. Unfortunately, here she is saddled with an unflattering green uniform and a horrible '80's hairstyle, both of which make her far less attractive than she's been in other roles. There is no characterization afforded her, and she makes absolutely no impression whatsoever. Still, if any B5 viewers want to know what Sinclair's fiancee got up to about 6 or 7 years prior, here you go...
THOUGHTS
The frustrating thing about The Arsenal of Freedom isn't that it's a weak episode. It is weak. But in terms of relative quality, it stands up pretty well against the likes of When the Bough Breaks, Justice, The Last Outpost, Too Short a Season... Well, against close to half the season, really. This episode is quite watchable, and after a poor start, gets better as it goes. It's an episode I have no memory of at all, and watching it now I'm not surprised I have no memory of it. But it wasn't a chore to watch.
No, the frustrating thing is that there are some genuinely good ideas in this episode. The Away Team being threatened by a dead world's automated defenses, whose attacks adapt and improve with each new assault? A great idea for an action episode. A wounded Dr. Crusher, caved in with Picard, with no ability to call for help, having to talk Picard through treating her while they have a chance to interact without the chain of command to get in the way? That could be an excellent character-based episode, or even a pretty good "B" plot for an episode. Geordi, having to take command of a green crew of second-stringers during a crisis that threatens the ship? Also a pretty good idea for a show.
Blend all three ideas together, though, and the result is just too busy. The Picard/Crusher material could have been a breakthrough in the development of both characters. But after a couple decent scenes, the projection of the salesman has to be uncovered in order to tie the plot together. As a result, we get a couple decent scenes for two pretty good actors, but no substantial character development. The Away Team plot, which has a lot of potential for good "action Trek" fails to generate either tension or excitement. This is thanks in part to uninspired "point-and-shoot" direction, and in part to a jungle set that makes 1960's Doctor Who look almost like Avatar by comparison. Wooden performances by Jonathan Frakes and Denise Crosby don't help matters.
The Geordi scenes do work. Levar Burton clearly relishes his (overdue) moment in the spotlight, and makes the most of his subplot. The attacks are as blandly directed as the planetside action, but Burton brings energy and intensity to bear and actually makes us feel the desperation of the situation, even when the sneering Chief Engineer is brought onstage to play the part of a sitcom villain. If Geordi had been the focus of the episode, this may have ended up being a good show.
Unfortunately, there are just too many elements, further hobbled by uninspired direction and cheap sets. There's enough good here to keep this from being one of the many outright clunkers of TNG's first season. It's just a shame this couldn't have lived up to its potential.
Rating: 4/10.
Previous Episode: Heart of Glory
Next Episode: Symbiosis
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