Tom Salinsky

TNG S06E07 Moppets Rascals (). So, for this one, you kind of have to accept that the transporter is magic. It might have been better to give one of those Q-like omnipotent beings that are always hanging around credit for this. A transporter is essentially a 3D photocopier. What happens here is the equivalent of trying to photocopy a page from a book and because of a fault, the machine produces the author’s preliminary notes instead. It’s complete bunk from beginning to end. We also take four fine actors (at least one of whom, Michelle Forbes, we haven’t seen nearly enough of) and have to spend the great majority of the time watching awkward and unconvincing pint-sized substitutes instead. Facing the most daunting task is poor David Birkin as Picard, who rushes through all of his lines at the same pace and with the same (lack of) intention. He was better as Picard’s nephew in Family, playing an actual child. Most successful is probably Isis Carmen Jones as Guinan, who does manage to evoke fragments of Whoopi Goldberg’s wry serenity. So there’s some fun to be had with the what-if nature of the story, but the downside of the problem being scientific gibberish is that the solution is yet more gibberish and so it’s hard to be terribly invested, especially when Riker making up gibberish to fool the invading Ferengi is a plot point. Leonard Nimoy’s little boy Adam directs in what’s a pretty funny piece of stunt-casting.

TNG S06E08 A Fistful of Datas (). Now, this is what confidence looks like. The Holodeck-goes-wrong is one of the clichés minted by TNG and the western setting calls to mind one of the more fondly-remembered TOS episodes Spectre of the Gun. But, with Brent Spiner’s versatility now established, the creative team finds the thinnest of pretexts on which to have him play every part and put Worf, Alexander and a few others in mortal danger. None of this should work, and it all absolutely does. Patrick Stewart directs and conjures some lovely shots of the backlot. They even let Troi have some fun. It’s a bit of a shame that we leave the Holodeck on a homosexual anxiety gag but any points docked for that get put back on with that gorgeous final image of the Enterprise gliding off into the sunset.

TNG S06E09 The Quality of Life (). Oh dear. Yes, The Measure of a Man is a wonderful episode, and I’ve no doubt that further riffs on that theme could be highly entertaining and thought-provoking. But this one is almost entirely undone by the prop design of the Exocomps which look like they could have come from the set of Lost in Space or Buck Rogers. As Data pleads for their right to determine their own futures, all I can hear is Mel Blanc going “wibiwibiwibiwibiwibi” and when they’re hoisted up on wires and start wobbling around the set, they look like something from Doctor Who. To be clear, the problem is not simply that it’s a poorly-executed prop – although it is – it’s that making them cute little robots with big feet and little sticky-up arms was a terrible plan in the first place, which doesn’t mesh with the high ideas the script is going for. I don’t know whether this was director Jonathan Frakes’ error of judgement or whether he had his head in his hands when he saw them. Either way, the script doesn’t have enough new ideas to survive this blunder, but it does build to an effective climax.

TNG S06E10 Chain of Command, Part I (). You know I like a good teaser and this one is absolutely gangbusters. It lasts about 45 seconds and it punches like a jackhammer. “I’m here to relieve you of command of the Enterprise.” Wow. While Picard, Worf, and for some damn reason Crusher are sent off on a secret mission against the Cardassians, now fully established as the resident big bads of the galaxy, Captain Jellico takes over the centre seat. Fans have debated for ages whether Jellicoe is an incompetent hardass who assumes none of the senior staff of the flagship of the fleet have anything to contribute or whether he’s a shrewd operator, deliberately shaking things up to keep the crew on their toes. I appreciate the ambiguity (and Ronny Cox knows exactly what he’s doing) and it’s thrilling to see our cosy family denied their avuncular leader, even if it’s hard to believe it will be in any way permanent — although once Jellico takes over reciting the captain’s log, it does seem that way. I can’t speak to whether four shifts is in any way better than three, but I do greatly appreciate seeing Troi in uniform — she stays that way for the rest of the show’s run. This all feels unbelievably high stakes and exciting, the disruption on board the Enterprise balancing the more significant jeopardy faced by Picard’s team. The chartering-an-under-the-counter-ship sequence feels a bit second hand, but it’s still fun seeing Picard out of his element. This is somewhat all set-up, no payoff, but it’s a pretty faultless set-up.

TNG S06E11 Chain of Command, Part II (). In the third and finest of his three Star Trek appearances, the late and much-missed David Warner is given what looks at first glance like a fairly standard-issue moustache-twirling torturer, but like the wonderful actor he is, Warner’s characterisation flows into the gaps left in the script (let’s generously assume on purpose, to avoid over-writing) and he creates an indelible villain, whose point of view, although abhorrent to us, is not impossible to see. And Patrick Stewart has never been better, not just for mastering the technical challenges of rendering the character so damaged by his brutal treatment but in accurately charting the rise and fall of Picard’s fear, confusion, dignity, intransigence, hope, dismay and eventual seeming capitulation.

The other strand of this story, taking place on board the Enterprise, is more complex in plotting, but far simpler in tone, offering its balancing share of triumphant punch-the-air moments, and paying off all sorts of set-ups from part one. But it’s not without subtlety and complexity either (Jellico continues to reveal layer after layer) and if the reset button is hit fairly hard at the end, it never even threatens to make the journey feel any less than thoroughly worthwhile. This is about as good as this, or any other iteration of Trek is capable of.