THE PLOT
Riker and Geordi are on an Away mission to an unexplored planet, when Riker is jabbed in the leg by something unknown. Dr. Pulaski determines that whatever stung Riker, "it left something behind." A microorganism, rapidly reproducing along Riker's nervous system, moving toward his brain.
Pulaski works tirelessly, but cannot find a way to neutralize the organism before it reaches Riker's brain. The only way she can keep him alive is to stimulate his brain directly with electrical impulses. This results in the unconscious Riker reliving images from his past - images which ultimately may prove to be the key to saving him!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Present.
Riker: His first reaction to being jabbed by an unknown entity on a swamplike alien world is to... shrug it off and insist he's fine? Apparently, he is unfamiliar with the word "infection," and needs a remedial course in basic health and safety protocols. He tries to set an example for the crew, even as he is dying, by making nonstop jokes. When Troi appears and starts babbling about his feelings and how he's her "Imzadi," he wisely collapses into unconsciousness.
Troi: Marina Sirtis deals with the horrible material she's given by overacting every line to its fullest camp potential. She stands by Riker's bedside, wailing like a banshee to take us in and out of every set of clips. Sirtis hasn't been this bad since early Season One, so I find myself blaming the material more than her for this lapse.
Dr. Pulaski: Any doubts that Diana Muldaur is a far better actress than Gates McFadden should be erased by an episode that puts clips of both of them side-by-side. Dr. Crusher is staggeringly bland and flat in her line readings, while the early scenes of this episode proper and the clips of some of Pulaski's appearances show Muldaur putting a lot more nonverbal beats and character tics into even very similarly-scripted scenes. Not that Muldaur comes out of this episode unscathed. Once the "clip show" phase of the episode begins, she allows Sirtis to carry her along into the overacting, resulting in some unintentional comedy... though not enough of it to redeem this mess.
THOUGHTS
An overspend on Q Who? combined with the writer's strike to leave the show with little money and minimal production time at the end of the season. The solution? A time-honored method of dealing with low funds: a clip show! To the best of my knowledge, the only traditional clip show ever seen in Star Trek. I'd say The Menagerie doesn't count, as The Cage had not previously been broadcast and was therefore all new to viewers of the time.
In the late 1980's season finales were still basically "just another episode." There was the odd exception ("Who shot J. R.?"), but the tradition of the season finale being something BIG didn't really take hold until the 1990's. One of the key season enders in creating the tradition of the "big" season finale was actually this series' third season ender. "Locutus of Borg" is one of a handful of Star Trek: The Next Generation moments that the casual man on the street (at least, over the age of 30) is almost guaranteed to remember, because it did generate mainstream conversation.
But this is one year before that, when the last episode of the season was produced on the pocket change that Gene Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Maurice Hurley could find underneath their respective sofa cushions. The first season finale was weak. This one is absolutely wretched.
I'd question some of the clip choices. All right, even though it was a badly-shot scene in a terrible episode, obviously Tasha's death is going to go in there. But the Playboy Planet in Justice? The first-ever holodeck scene? Anything with Wesley, or anything at all from Angel One or The Last Outpost? These aren't exactly the series' highlights. They're recycling many of the blandest scenes from the weakest episodes! What are the producers trying to do, make the original material in Shades of Gray look good by comparison?
Oh, and apparently negative emotions, such as fear and anything that kicks in the survival instinct, will drive back the infection. So upon learning that he's dying, Riker throws off the infection instantly, right? I mean, surely his survival instinct would kick in and drive back the infection? No - apparently not. I guess when Troi comes in and starts lecturing him about what he's feeling, it saps his will to live. Actually, I can sort of see that.
An episode which starts off badly, and then gets worse as it goes. A clip show that insists on showing mostly bad clips from bad episodes. Bits from Angel One, The Last Outpost, and Up the Long Ladder? Check. Bits from Q Who? or The Measure of a Man? Strangely absent. That's not even mentioning that these clips are supposedly Riker's memories, which makes it odd that an extended clip from Heart of Glory is shown in which there are many cutaways to scenes Riker was not present for!
Meanwhile, in the main plot, stopping the infection's growth magically eradicates it instantly, with no lingering side effects. Yay!
To summarize: It's bad. A particularly bad capper to a mostly pretty bad final six episodes. I'm half-surprised the viewers returned for Season Three.
Rating: 2/10.
Riker and Geordi are on an Away mission to an unexplored planet, when Riker is jabbed in the leg by something unknown. Dr. Pulaski determines that whatever stung Riker, "it left something behind." A microorganism, rapidly reproducing along Riker's nervous system, moving toward his brain.
Pulaski works tirelessly, but cannot find a way to neutralize the organism before it reaches Riker's brain. The only way she can keep him alive is to stimulate his brain directly with electrical impulses. This results in the unconscious Riker reliving images from his past - images which ultimately may prove to be the key to saving him!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Picard: Present.
Riker: His first reaction to being jabbed by an unknown entity on a swamplike alien world is to... shrug it off and insist he's fine? Apparently, he is unfamiliar with the word "infection," and needs a remedial course in basic health and safety protocols. He tries to set an example for the crew, even as he is dying, by making nonstop jokes. When Troi appears and starts babbling about his feelings and how he's her "Imzadi," he wisely collapses into unconsciousness.
Troi: Marina Sirtis deals with the horrible material she's given by overacting every line to its fullest camp potential. She stands by Riker's bedside, wailing like a banshee to take us in and out of every set of clips. Sirtis hasn't been this bad since early Season One, so I find myself blaming the material more than her for this lapse.
Dr. Pulaski: Any doubts that Diana Muldaur is a far better actress than Gates McFadden should be erased by an episode that puts clips of both of them side-by-side. Dr. Crusher is staggeringly bland and flat in her line readings, while the early scenes of this episode proper and the clips of some of Pulaski's appearances show Muldaur putting a lot more nonverbal beats and character tics into even very similarly-scripted scenes. Not that Muldaur comes out of this episode unscathed. Once the "clip show" phase of the episode begins, she allows Sirtis to carry her along into the overacting, resulting in some unintentional comedy... though not enough of it to redeem this mess.
THOUGHTS
An overspend on Q Who? combined with the writer's strike to leave the show with little money and minimal production time at the end of the season. The solution? A time-honored method of dealing with low funds: a clip show! To the best of my knowledge, the only traditional clip show ever seen in Star Trek. I'd say The Menagerie doesn't count, as The Cage had not previously been broadcast and was therefore all new to viewers of the time.
In the late 1980's season finales were still basically "just another episode." There was the odd exception ("Who shot J. R.?"), but the tradition of the season finale being something BIG didn't really take hold until the 1990's. One of the key season enders in creating the tradition of the "big" season finale was actually this series' third season ender. "Locutus of Borg" is one of a handful of Star Trek: The Next Generation moments that the casual man on the street (at least, over the age of 30) is almost guaranteed to remember, because it did generate mainstream conversation.
But this is one year before that, when the last episode of the season was produced on the pocket change that Gene Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Maurice Hurley could find underneath their respective sofa cushions. The first season finale was weak. This one is absolutely wretched.
I'd question some of the clip choices. All right, even though it was a badly-shot scene in a terrible episode, obviously Tasha's death is going to go in there. But the Playboy Planet in Justice? The first-ever holodeck scene? Anything with Wesley, or anything at all from Angel One or The Last Outpost? These aren't exactly the series' highlights. They're recycling many of the blandest scenes from the weakest episodes! What are the producers trying to do, make the original material in Shades of Gray look good by comparison?
Oh, and apparently negative emotions, such as fear and anything that kicks in the survival instinct, will drive back the infection. So upon learning that he's dying, Riker throws off the infection instantly, right? I mean, surely his survival instinct would kick in and drive back the infection? No - apparently not. I guess when Troi comes in and starts lecturing him about what he's feeling, it saps his will to live. Actually, I can sort of see that.
An episode which starts off badly, and then gets worse as it goes. A clip show that insists on showing mostly bad clips from bad episodes. Bits from Angel One, The Last Outpost, and Up the Long Ladder? Check. Bits from Q Who? or The Measure of a Man? Strangely absent. That's not even mentioning that these clips are supposedly Riker's memories, which makes it odd that an extended clip from Heart of Glory is shown in which there are many cutaways to scenes Riker was not present for!
Meanwhile, in the main plot, stopping the infection's growth magically eradicates it instantly, with no lingering side effects. Yay!
To summarize: It's bad. A particularly bad capper to a mostly pretty bad final six episodes. I'm half-surprised the viewers returned for Season Three.
Rating: 2/10.
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I wouldn't say the season finale being a big deal was only the odd exception in the 80s. It wasn't just "Who Shot JR?"; it was every season finale of numerous prime time soap operas, such as DALLAS, KNOTS LANDING, DYNASTY and FALCON CREST. Also, there were notable season finales for MAGNUM P. I., MOONLIGHTING and MIAMI VICE.
ReplyDeleteSeason finales may have become a bigger deal across the board from the 1990s on, but even with shows from TWIN PEAKS to THE X-FILES -- one still goes back to the 80s for the age of the season ending cliffhanger!