6-7. Rascals.

Ro and Guinan, age 12.

THE PLOT:

Picard, Guinan, Ensign Ro, and Keiko O'Brien are returning from a relaxing botanical/archaeological expedition when their shuttle is engulfed in an anomaly. The Enterprise beams the four to safety - but when they materialize, the four are transformed. Their minds remain intact, as do their memories and experiences... but they now have the bodies of twelve year olds!

Dr. Crusher pores over medical scans of the four, trying to determine what happened and how to reverse it. Meanwhile, the ship responds to a distress call from a Federation science station. It's a trap, however, and theEnterprise has soon been incapacitated by a band of renegade Ferengi, who begin beaming all able-bodied adults to the surface of the planet below to act as slave labor.

All able-bodied adults, however, does not currently include Picard and his companions, who set about making a plan to retake the ship!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: Deals with the situation with even more intellectual detachment than is his norm. The 12-year-old Picard (David Tristan Birkin) hesitates to relinquish command, his first impulse being to go straight to the bridge. He does relinquish command with a nudge from Dr. Crusher, acknowledging that no one will be able to take a 12-year-old captain seriously. Even then, he ponders what he might do while waiting to grow to an adult again. Taking a sabbatical from Starfleet to focus on archaeology is tempting to him, but not enough for him to even hesitate about returning to normal once a solution has been found using the transporter.

Riker: Takes over command of the Enterprise, only to lose it to a bunch of Ferengi. That has to be a bit embarrassing for him. He deals deftly with the Ferengi, however, learning that they are not affiliated with the Ferengi government and playing along with Picard's ploy to retake the ship. The scene in which Riker bamboozles a Ferengi with Technobabble is quite funny, both as a screwball comedy nod and as a send-up of Trek Technobabble in general.

O'Brien/Keiko: It goes without saying that having his wife returned to him as an early adolescent (Caroline Junko King) makes things awkward for O'Brien. It doesn't help matters that Keiko goes into denial about the situation, trying to resume their marriage as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Only when their daughter calls for "mommy" to read her a story, then rejects the youthful Keiko for not being her mother, does Keiko realize how untenable this new situation is. Of the four, she's probably the one most eager to return to normal at the end.

Guinan/Ensign Ro: The young Ro (Megan Parlen) and Guinan (Isis J. Jones) make an entertaining pair, and their scenes are my favorites in the episode. Ro reacts to this situation as she does to just about everything: with outrage. Something altered her body without her consent, which she views as a violation. Guinan looks at the situation in a healthier way. She's a kid again, so she might as well have fun and play. She stubbornly sticks with Ro, refusing to allow the Bajoran the luxury of brooding alone. She coaxes Ro into actually letting herself be a child for probably for the first time in her life, given the state of her actual childhood, in scenes that are the most natural-seeming of the episode.


THOUGHTS

I was dreading Rascals. I've rarely been fond of child-centered episodes of Trek in the first place, and after Season Five's overload of them, I was gritting my teeth when this one came up in rotation. Child actors are brought in to playact the parts of the regulars. Wonderful. There's a return appearance by Worf's irritating son. Even better. And Ferengi too? A perfect storm of crap!

So it was actually a very pleasant surprise that the episode ended up being fairly enjoyable. 

Don't get me wrong: Rascals is not very good Star Trek. The plot progression is obvious, with both the situation and its resolution depending on Technobabble involving anomalies and transporters. The Ferengi were always weak when used as villains, and it begs a huge suspension of disbelief that they can so easily take over theEnterprise, only to be so easily defeated themselves thereafter. 

But the episode moves along briskly. The first half even has some intelligent writing, as we see the impact of this situation on the four. I liked that each of the four had a different response. Picard intellectualizes it, and comes around to thinking of alternative paths for himself if it can't be reversed. Keiko's situation is the worst, as all of her life's major aspects - marriage, motherhood, and career - are unavailable to her in this state. Meanwhile, Ro and Guinan are the least affected - Guinan, because of her general outlook on life and the perspective granted by such a long lifespan; Ro, being given the chance at a childhood that life denied her the first time around.

It's all surface-level, with any serious exploration of these issues curtailed by the Ferengi plot in the second half. Still, Rascals has a handful of charming moments, including a lovely little tag between the adult Guinan and the child Ro, and it's never actually unenjoyable. It's certainly a lesser episode. But to my surprise, it is a highly watchable one.


Overall Rating: 5/10.

Previous Episode: True Q
Next Episode: A Fistful of Datas 


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5-15. Power Play

A hostage situation on the Enterprise!

THE PLOT

An ancient distress call from the Essex, a 200-years-lost Deadalus-class starship, leads the Enterprise to an M-class moon. Storms surrounding the moon make transport unsafe, so Riker, Data, and Troi take a shuttle to the surface. When the intensity of the storm causes them to crash, some improvisation on Chief O'Brien's part allows him to transport down to boost the signal, so that they can all transport up again - but not before an electromagnetic strike leaves the entire landing party unconscious.

They wake up in Sickbay, apparently unharmed save for Riker's easily mended broken arm. Everything seems back to normal until they return to the bridge. Then Data, Troi, and O'Brien make a sudden and almost successful attempt to take control of the ship. They are thwarted, but evade capture and manage to take hostages in Ten Forward. Then the aliens who have taken control of these three bodies make their demand: Take the ship to the moon's southern pole, or hostages will die!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: Maintains his cool in the presence of the alien invaders. I suppose once you've been assimilated by the Borg, a few standard body snatchers are less than terrifying. He is courteous at all times to the aliens, but doesn't believe their story about being the disembodied Essex crew for a heartbeat. As he observes to Worf, if these truly were Starfleet officers, he would expect far better behavior from them. He doesn't hesitate to give himself up as a hostage in exchange for medical care for the wounded. He also promises Riker to provide "an opportunity" - a promise he makes good on at the end.

Riker: Saved from alien possession by a broken arm, in one of the bits of story logic it's best to just squint at. This allows him to take command once Picard joins the hostages. He coordinates the efforts to neutralize the invaders. He also knows the Enterprise about as well as Picard does, and quickly recognizes Picard's plan at the end when it goes into effect.

Troi: Is possessed by the leader of the three entities, which allows Marina Sirtis to break away from her usual touchy-feely persona. This entity is ruthless and extremely intelligent - a cold-blooded counterpart to Picard. Sirtis' performance is quite good, and the episode showcases just how much the Troi part has stifled her own acting talents.

Data: Brent Spiner indulges his hammier side, playing the most violent of the three alien entities. Spiner always seems to enjoy playing villains, throwing himself into it with glee. By this point in the series, though, we've already seen him trot out his "psycho villain" routine on multiple occasions. The novelty value just isn't there anymore, and his performance ends up being the least interesting of the three "possessed" crew members'.

O'Brien: While Spiner simply taps into his inner ham, sneering like a silent movie villain who's been granted the power of speech, Colm Meaney provides the episode with a far more disturbing presence. The entity who has taken over O'Brien taps into O'Brien's love for Keiko and responds by gravitating toward her throughout the hostage crisis. He selects her as his victim if he is called upon to kill someone. He also keeps talking to her about O'Brien's memories of her, and at one point goes in for a kiss, ignoring the frightened woman's cries to stop. Meaney doesn't overact these scenes, which makes him more frightening, despite having less to do than the other two.


THOUGHTS

I note a story credit for long-departed TNG story editor Maurice Hurley. Things I've read about Hurley and the production team leave me doubting that this was a pitch he made to the show he had left years earlier. This was more likely a leftover Hurley concept, radically reworked by the current writing staff to suit the show in its current (much improved) form.

Power Play melds the Star Trek standby of having regulars' bodies taken over by aliens with the all-purpose television standby of the hostage episode. The results certainly won't win awards for originality. But originality matters less than entertainment value, and this episode is very entertaining. I particularly enjoy seeing the "chess match" between the Enterprise crew and the entities. Riker and Geordi take steps to neutralize the invaders. Then they tap the knowledge of the people they've possessed to counter those moves. It's well-structured and easy to follow at every turn.

The "ghost story" aspect never really works. It actually would have been a good twist had the aliens been telling the truth, given that neither Picard nor we actually believe them. Since they are lying (as expected), it just results in a few throwaway lines that neither add nor detract. The only interesting thing to come of this cover story is another look at Worf's superstitious nature, as he is far more prepared to believe in spirits than Picard is.

In the end, this is a case of rapid pace, strong production values, and a tight script overcoming a lack of originality. There isn't a single surprise in this piece. It really is a stock episode. But it's a good stock episode, and as such merits a solid rating.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Conundrum

Next Episode: Ethics

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5-05. Disaster

Data gets zapped.

THE PLOT

The Enterprise is struck by a quantum filament, which leaves the ship crippled, its power reserves unstable. Reading a hull breach, automated protocols go into effect. Bulkheads seal off the bridge from the rest of the ship, leaving those on the bridge trapped. With the ranking bridge officer dead, Troi finds herself in command, with O'Brien as her sole support and Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes) all too clearly seeing her as unsuited to command.

As Troi, O'Brien, and Ensign Ro begin re-establishing power to the bridge, we look in our other regulars. Picard is caught in a turbo-lift with three children - a nightmare scenario for him. Dr. Crusher and Geordi are stuck in a cargo bay, where a plasma fire threatens to set off chemicals being stored there. Riker and Data attempt to get through to Engineering using a service shaft. But their route is blocked by an electrical charge, leading them to drastic action. And in Ten-Forward, which Worf has converted into a makeshift sickbay, the pregnant Keiko (Rosalind Chao) begins going into labor...


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: Has somehow been roped into giving a tour of the ship to the winners of the school science fair (I sense a certain meddling counsellor's hand in this). He is clearly uncomfortable, and neither he nor the children seem likely to be having a very good time. Once the disaster hits, he switches into command mode. By simply being himself, he is able to not only save himself and the children, but also bond with them. Very standard stuff, which Patrick Stewart nevertheless manages to bring to life by really hitting on the pain Picard is in as a result of a broken ankle.

Riker: Once again shows confidence and pragmatism in a command role. When Data reports that the bridge has been sealed off, he decides that they must assume that the bridge crew are dead, then makes gaining control of Engineering into their top priority. With no access to sickbay, he puts Worf in charge of converting Ten-Forward into a temporary sickbay, then takes Data to help get him to Engineering.

Troi: When O'Brien points out that she is the senior officer on the bridge, she gets an utter deer-in-the-headlights look, then instantly starts fishing for suggestions from O'Brien and Ro. O'Brien is supportive of Troi's command, while Ro clearly feels that the counsellor is not qualified. Troi gradually gains confidence in listening to suggestions from both O'Brien and Ro while making the final decision about which path to take. Still, she admits at the end that she doesn't feel "cut out for command."

Data: His body is able to absorb a considerable charge without being irreparably damaged. His head is also detachable, so that he is able to assist Riker even after sustaining damage.

O'Brien: Cut off from Keiko and with no way to check on her safety, O'Brien focuses on his job. He retains a level head throughout, dealing with each new task as it comes. Still, he refuses to believe that the people in the drive section (which would include Keiko) could be dead, and in an episode of a less optimistic show, O'Brien's insistence on inaction might have had a very different outcome.

Ensign Ro: The episode presents her as the inverse of O'Brien, reacting more emotionally and more driven to do something (anything) to act on the situation. In one respect, though, she's actually more like Riker. Faced with a situation in which the entire ship might be destroyed, she makes the same pragmatic call: That they simply can't assume that people in the other part of the ship are still alive. She would rather save the saucer section and the hundreds of lives that go along with it, rather than risk having the entire ship destroyed. The episode largely presents her in a negative light. Still, as Troi notes, Ro "easily could have been right," and the character does stay on the right side of the line of insubordination. She may dislike Troi being in command, but she sticks to voicing her opinions, obeying Troi's orders when they are given.


ZAP THE REDSHIRT!

When we open the episode with two never-before-seen crew members on the bridge, I knew it was only a matter of time before at least one of them would be dog food. The script's need to put Troi in charge means that the honor goes to Lt. Monroe (Jana Marie Hupp), who has the con when the disaster strikes. We see just enough of Monroe to register that she's very competent. After the first impact, she manages to warn the ship to brace for a second impact. Then her station literally blows up in her face, killing her and sending us into the credits.


THOUGHTS

Star Trek tackles the Irwin Allen disaster movie formula - with surprisingly enjoyable results!

Disaster is a very well-made episode. The cast are divided into different parts of the ship, and each area has its own distinctive look and lighting scheme. By giving each character set and each situation its own feel, it makes cutting between all these strands flow much better than might have been the case. Director Gabrielle Beaumont deserves credit for handling the visual aspect of the show so well.

The Irwin Allen formula is pretty well adhered to. A disaster affects different but connected characters, grouped in different but connected settings. As they attempt to deal with their situations, crises continue to pile up. There's even a bit with a character giving birth near the climax! If you were to mix in a few celebrity cameos and up the on-screen body count, this would fit right in with Allen's 1970's output.

One benefit of this formula is that it not only is easily adapted to a large ensemble - It's literally made for this purpose. As a result, this is a rare TNG episode in which every regular gets something to do. It's nice to see every member of the cast get some good scenes within the same episode, and the performances are strong across the board.

That's not to say I'd want episodes like this one to become a regular fixture of any of the Star Trek series. One time is fun; more than that would quickly become lazy and tedious. But as a one-off, I found Disaster to be a very enjoyable change of pace for the show.


Overall Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: Silicon Avatar

Next Episode: The Game

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4-12. The Wounded

Memories of war.

THE PLOT

The Phoenix, a Federation ship under the command of the highly-decorated Captain Maxwell (Bob Gunton), fires on a Cardassian science station, an act that appears entirely unprovoked. To avoid renewed hostilities between the Federation and the Cardassians, Picard is ordered to pursue Maxwell - and to bring aboard a Cardassian delegation, under the supervision of the icy Gul Macet (Marc Alaimo), to participate.

By the time Picard catches up with the Phoenix, the renegade starship has destroyed two Cardassian vessels, killing more than 600 Cardassians. With Maxwell refusing to simply stand down, Picard finds himself in the position of firing on a Federation starship. Unless Chief O'Brien - who was previously Maxwell's tactical officer - can convince Maxwell to end his one-man war!


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: Ever the good diplomat, he insists on allowing the Cardassians access to every phase of his decision making during the pursuit of the Phoenix. Openness, he reasons, will prevent this incident from reigniting the war. But he remains a pragmatist. He refuses worf's advice to assign a security team to the Cardassians, but he approves Worf's second request, to post security teams at sensitive areas to limit the Cardassians' access. Though he strongly condemns Maxwell's actions, he refuses to allow Gul Macet to dismiss Maxwell himself or O'Brien's loyalty to Maxwell, the value of which he extolls in a terrific little speech near the end.

O'Brien: O'Brien's hostility toward the Cardassians arrives fully-formed in this first-ever Cardassian episode. He fought the Cardassians with Captain Maxwell. Though he insists to Keiko and Picard that he holds no animosity toward them, his manner belies his words. He talks to Picard about how "he knows (the Cardassians)," and that "they must be up to something," refusing to side against Captain Maxwell even after Maxwell destroys more than 600 Cardassians. He refuses to share a drink with the Cardassian engineer, snapping that he will choose his own company off hours. He apologizes later.  His candid revelation about the massacre on Setlik III is particularly well-played, recalling the first Cardassian he killed after never having killed anyone before, and ending by telling the man that "It's not you I hate, Cardassian. I hate what I became because of you."

Cardassians: This is the episode that introduced the Cardassians to the Trek universe. Some refinements were made for later appearances. They lost the stupid-looking helmets - a good move - and tweaked the makeup to allow a greater range of expression. Still, even in this first appearance, they work. There is something genuinely intimidating about the icy coldness with which they deliver their lines. Cardassians don't shout and cry like Klingons - They are calm, icy, like a cobra eternally poised to strike.


THOUGHTS

"When one has been angry for a very long time, one gets used to it... It becomes so familiar that one can't remember feeling any other way."

A Picard Sledge-Hammer moment, perhaps, as Picard sums up the moral of the story for Chief O'Brien. But it's a thoughtful bit during a suitably quiet moment. Tucked into the middle of the episode rather than crowbarred into a tag at the end, and wonderfully played by Patrick Stewart and Colm Meaney, it ends up adding to the texture rather than distracting. Picard's words echo through the rest of the show, from O'Brien's denial, then acknowledgement, of his anger, to Maxwell's Oliver North moment in Picard's ready room. As such, a scene that might have been heavy-handed becomes part and parcel of a very good episode.

After letting O'Brien develop from a prop to a distinct background character over the first three seasons, the series finally gives him the spotlight in this episode. Colm Meaney is well up to the task, with two of the three best scenes in the episode belonging to him: the scene in Ten-Forward, in which he recalls Setlik III, and his final scene with Maxwell are both splendid scenes. Both O'Brien's decency and loyalty and his resentment toward the Cardassians come through strongly, and both character beats would be expanded on in Deep Space 9.

The episode's other great scene is its final one, the scene between Picard and Gul Macet. Two intelligent adversaries/allies, talking calmly about what has happened and about its implications. Patrick Stewart is particularly good, moving from thoughtful and pleasant to quite cold in a heartbeat. There's a touch of Locutus there when he tells Macet that Starfleet "will be watching."

Significantly less great is the scene between Picard and Maxwell. Bob Gunton is a solid veteran of television and film, and he's terrific in his closing scene with O'Brien. But the scene with Picard is too rushed. Maxwell goes from appearing reasonable and confident to giving the full Oliver North within a two-minute span. Likely a result of there being just a touch too much story for the episode's 45 minutes, but this scene does knock an otherwise excellent episode's score down - not substantially, but by one point.

A good show in any case, and it's easy to see why the Cardassians would become fixtures of the franchise from this point on.


Overall Rating: 8/10

Previous Episode: Data's Day
Next Episode: Devil's Due


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4-11. Data's Day

Data is bewildered by the emotional Keiko (Rosalind Chao).

THE PLOT

Data is recording a log for Bruce Maddox of the Daystrom Institute, to assist the scientist in his research. The goal of his log is to record his activities and reactions during a normal day. But the day he has selected proves to be far from normal.

It starts off simply enough. Chief O'Brien is getting married, and Data is to give away his bride, Keiko (Rosalind Chao), as he was the one who introduced the couple. Keiko has developed cold feet, however, leaving Data bewildered as to how to handle a situation that presents so many emotional contradictions.

This minor personal crisis quickly takes a back seat when T'Pel (Sierra Pecheur), a Vulcan diplomat, comes aboard on a top-secret mission from Starfleet. She orders Picard to a secret rendezvous in the Neutral Zone, to engage a Romulan war bird in negotiations. But when she prepares to beam aboard the Romulan ship, there is an apparent accident, leaving T'Pel dead and the negotiations scuttled. Picard orders Data to investigate - and it isn't long before the android discovers that more than a simple malfunction may have been at play...


CHARACTERS

Capt. Picard: Does not like T'Pel (Sierra Pecheur)'s insistence on cutting the command crew out of her mission briefing, but silently accepts it as her prerogative. He does not allow her judgment to override his in other matters, however, including his insistence on going to red alert when the ship makes its rendezvous with the Romulan war bird.

Data: His dance lesson with Dr. Crusher shows something about how Data masters skills. He is excellent at imitating what he observes, hence his rapid mastery of tap dancing. Slow dancing is much more challenging for him, because here he is called upon to "lead" and to improvise, rather than simply repeating the same pattern of steps. The dancing becomes a metaphor for Data's interactions with humans; the seemingly difficult, highly technical and expert work that he does comes quite easily to him, while the seemingly simple matter of dealing with people in a social setting is extremely challenging.

Dr. Crusher: Was known as "the dancing doctor" because of her skill as a dancer, something which she has kept buried because of her disdain for the nickname. She agrees to teach Data how to dance, provided he keeps it a secret.  I suspect this scene largely exists to make use of Gates McFadden's background as a dancer/choreographer, though it does allow the doctor and Data a different type of interaction to that normally seen.


THOUGHTS

The episode begins with an amusing continuity nod, in that the entire episode is framed as a log Data is keeping to assist with the research of Bruce Maddox - showing that Data was entirely genuine when he encouraged Maddox to continue his research in The Measure of a Man, and that the two have remained in contact since. It's nice to see that, by this point in its run, the series has developed its own internal continuity to the point of mining it for extra details such as this.

Data's Day is a well-made episode, very well put-together. The script, by Harold Agler and Ronald D. Moore, does an excellent job of balancing an "A" plot and a "B" plot that might have been badly at odds. By filtering both plots through Data's perspective, they don't clash at all. Instead, we see that Data reacts to Keiko's last-minute wedding jitters and to the mission involving with the Romulans with exactly the same seriousness. To him, one is not more important than the other. Each is simply a challenge to be confronted.

The Romulan plot takes an interesting turn in the final third of the episode, ramping up the tension and allowing for some strong scenes between Picard and his Romulan counterpart. One interesting aspect is the respect the Romulan captain clearly shows toward Picard. He compliments Picard several times, and not with the sarcastic sneer that Tomalak would have used.  It's obvious that he finds Picard a worthy adversary.  This sense of respect among enemies creates an interesting undercurrent, and I wouldn't mind seeing this particular Romulan captain a second time. In any case, TNG continues to use the Romulans particularly well, drawing on cues from their two TOS appearances to create a truly dangerous and intelligent adversary.

The subplot is less gripping, though the scenes in which Data attempts to comprehend the incomprehensible interactions of O'Brien and Keiko are amusing, and the episode is noteworthy for introducing Keiko (the lovely Rosalind Chao) to the series. She doesn't get much of a personality yet in this episode, but later episodes - particularly on Deep Space 9 - would show her to be a valuable addition.


Overall Rating: 7/10

Previous Episode: The Loss

Next Episode: The Wounded

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