{"id":3127,"date":"2022-08-21T12:00:57","date_gmt":"2022-08-21T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/?p=3127"},"modified":"2023-03-06T11:10:48","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T11:10:48","slug":"trekaday-041","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tomsalinsky.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2022\/08\/21\/trekaday-041\/","title":{"rendered":"Trekaday 041: The First Duty, Cost of Living, The Perfect Mate, Imaginary Friend, I Borg, The Next Phase, The Inner Light, Time’s Arrow"},"content":{"rendered":"

TNG S05E19 The First Duty <\/strong>(\"2.5). Yay, Wesley\u2019s back, victim of an accident too expensive to portray on-screen. High class guest star Ray Walston (My Favourite Martian<\/em>, The Apartment<\/em>, Silver Streak<\/em>) appears as Boothby the gardener and future Voyager <\/strong>regular Robert Duncan McNeill makes his Star Trek <\/strong>debut as Tom Paris<\/span> Nicholas Locarno. Picard\u2019s chats with Boothby are detailed and well-acted but seem irrelevant as they don\u2019t impact the present. Wesley\u2019s handwringing over whether or not to listen to Tom<\/span> Nick also doesn\u2019t play particularly strongly as the outcome is never in doubt (\u201cI know you were telling the truth, but the satellite data makes it look as if you were lying,\u201d bleats Beverly inanely). I honestly fail to see what\u2019s so special about either this character or this actor, but we\u2019ll get to Voyager<\/strong> another day.<\/p>\n

TNG S05E20 Cost of Living <\/strong>(\"2.5). In an almost James Bond-like move we join the bridge crew in the middle of their last mission and smash into the titles as soon as they\u2019ve finished the job. The real story is about Lwaxana who is taking Alexander under her wing, and planning her wedding onboard ship (because this is the story we tell with this character). Marina Sirtis has developed an easy chemistry with Majel Barrett who always brings her A-game. But in a trope that goes back to the very earliest episodes of TOS <\/strong>(and which we\u2019ve seen more than once this season) a visual effect has snuck on board the ship, no doubt with malign intent. While we wait for them to get up to their pixelated mischief we have to suffer through Lwaxana and Alexander\u2019s sojourn on the Holodeck which is aggressively tedious. \u201cThe higher the fewer\u201d is Carroll-esque nonsense from late 19th century Britain. Troi\u2019s parenting contract sounds like the kind of thing a male writer with no kids would come up with.<\/p>\n

TNG S05E21 The Perfect Mate<\/strong> (\"2). Whew, it\u2019s all go for the Enterprise<\/em>. Warring factions, distressed miners and a Ferengi shuttle seemingly in distress. One of the rescued Ferengi is Max Grod\u00e9nchik who we\u2019ll be seeing more of before long. Ambassador Briam of the Zagbars has brought some valuable cargo on board with which to broker the peace with the Zoobles. This cargo turns out to be Xenia Onatopp who is being offered as a mate to secure the agreement. This is obviously ick, and luckily the bridge crew seem to understand this and raise some (fairly feeble) objections to this kind of \u201chuman\u201d trafficking before Riker shows her to her quarters \u2013 what could possibly go wrong? Cue much handwringing and soul-searching about whether she is a victim of exploitation or a willing participant in a necessary political alliance. The usual patriarchal bullshit is all present and correct (Famke\u2019s trip to Ten Forward would make Sean Connery look politely deferential), and the debate is given a token amount of depth and complexity. There\u2019s precious little drama though and it is hard to avoid just how ick it all is. Famke Janssen was offered the part of Dax on DS9<\/strong> but turned it down, although Terry Farrell ended up inheriting her makeup.<\/p>\n

TNG S05E22 Imaginary Friend <\/strong>(\"2). Moppets. Now stop me if you\u2019ve heard this one, but one of the Enterprise<\/em>\u2019s youngest inhabitants is having mild emotional issues when a strange glowy thing that looks like Automan<\/em>\u2019s cursor appears on board and suddenly what were previously just fantasies become real and solid while the Enterprise<\/em>\u2019s systems start behaving oddly. While new combinations of old ideas can feel fresh and exciting, this has a real \u201cwill this do?\u201d energy to it, which I haven\u2019t felt before. Early episodes failed sometimes because they were trying too hard. An episode which has dated badly like The Perfect Mate<\/em> at least has its heart in the right place. This isn\u2019t trying to do anything except use up another 45 minutes. After the shot of vinegar which I so appreciated in the first episodes of this season, the mawkish sentimentality of this outing is even more disappointing. I\u2019m tempted to mark it down even further, but it\u2019s competent enough and if you picked an episode of TNG <\/strong>to watch at random, you probably would like it more. I just feel let down because of how few new ideas are present and because of how strongly this season started.<\/p>\n

TNG S05E23 I, Borg<\/strong> (\"5). In a reversal of my feelings about the previous episode, here we have an idea which now feels like it\u2019s been done to death \u2013 actually that implacable foe, the very essence of evil, turns out to be a future ally we just haven\u2019t made friends with yet \u2013 but which at the time, Klingons notwithstanding, still felt very fresh. The real achievement of this outstanding episode is humanising the Borg while not reducing the threat which they represent. It\u2019s a remarkable piece of storytelling which portrays the Borg as both victim and aggressor, while positioning Picard as pulled between his compassion and his personal hatred in a genuinely fascinating way. In fact, almost everyone on board has an interesting reaction to the presence of a tame Borg, from Crusher to Guinan. \u201cHugh\u201d calls himself \u201cThird of Five\u201d which prefigures the name of a regular character on Voyager<\/strong>, but she was \u201cSeven of Nine\u201d not \u201cSeventh of Nine\u201d.<\/p>\n

TNG S05E24 The Next Phase<\/strong> (\"4). Once again Ro Laren is pissing off everyone around her before a rescue mission to bail out some Romulans goes pear-shaped and she and Geordi are seemingly lost beaming back on board the ship. In fact, she and Geordi are \u201cout of phase\u201d with the Enterprise<\/em> and the rest of the crew, able to walk its corridors but not be seen or interact with anyone. If you think this sounds familiar, that\u2019s because it\u2019s a virtual remake of the TOS <\/strong>episode The Tholian Web<\/em>, even down to funeral arrangements being made for the two missing crew members. The choice of Ro is an inspired one. By this stage, she feels like a regular member of the crew, but by the rules of television she could die<\/em> and that raises the stakes enormously. You do have to wonder why people \u201cout of phase\u201d are solid to the Enterprise<\/em>\u2019s floors (and shuttles) but not its walls or view screens, but that seems like an uninteresting thing to worry about when the story is this good, with the resolution provided by a very nifty twist that\u2019s hard to seeing coming. About the only thing I don\u2019t like is how professional everyone is. I thought we\u2019d got to the point where we could see our characters let the guards down a bit more under extreme stress (like losing two colleagues or being thought dead).<\/p>\n

TNG S05E25 The Inner Light<\/strong> (\"5). It\u2019s barely a minute before the bridge of the Enterprise <\/em>vanishes and Picard finds himself in a domestic setting he doesn\u2019t recognise. On its face, this is another one of those \u201ccover of a comic book\u201d set-ups which we know can\u2019t be the truth. But the details of Picard\u2019s new life as he gradually learns to forget the man he was are intricately woven. It\u2019s almost a loss when he does snap back to Star Fleet and it\u2019s easy to imagine that the life he lived over several decades is going to be something he carries with him forever \u2013 indeed, future episodes show him playing that flute. I\u2019m only mildly disappointed that we cut back to the bridge and see the crew desperately trying to recover the captain at all (I\u2019d forgotten that this happened), but this is still a truly remarkable hour of television. I\u2019m amazed that anyone pitched it and I\u2019m astonished that anyone as risk-averse as Berman allowed it to proceed, but I\u2019m incredibly grateful that they both did. By any measure, this is a masterpiece.<\/p>\n

TNG S05E26 Time\u2019s Arrow<\/strong> (\"4). How about this for a teaser? Picard and Data are poking about in a cavern on 24th century Earth, looking at relics from the 19th century. Among the haul \u2013 Data\u2019s lifeless disembodied head! Boom. Inevitably, the crew\u2019s attempts to unravel this mystery cause the circumstance they are desperate to avoid to come about. Data is translated to San Francisco of 1893 and there\u2019s some budget left at the end of the season to give us some lovely-looking location filming. His adventures in the past are highly entertaining \u2013 \u201cI am a Frenchman\u201d \u2013 and it\u2019s one of those great intractable problems that are so much fun. It’s a different approach to the end-of-season cliff-hanger as well. Instead of massive jeopardy for people we care about, it’s just a question of “Gosh, what will happen now?” Which is cool if a little bit under-powered.<\/p>\n

TNG S06E01 Time\u2019s Arrow, Part II<\/strong> (\"3.5). Compared certainly to The Best of Both Worlds<\/em>, this feels far more purposeful and planned with arbitrary details in part one that don\u2019t pay off at all until part two (like that couple who go around zapping vagrants with a handbag) and the general tone of levity is engagingly maintained. Picard, Riker, Crusher, Geordi and Troi have integrated into 19th century society with appealing ease (Geordi\u2019s visor notwithstanding) and it\u2019s great fun to see for example the doughty landlady not taking any more nonsense from that silver-tonged \u201cMr Pickard\u201d. However, the writers of this episode seem to have forgotten that Sam Clemens not only overheard Data and Guinan talking about their true origins, but also that he fessed up to them immediately. Additionally, the final act depends enormously for its impact on the about-face performed by Clemens, but this isn\u2019t really given the space or time it needs, what with all the other time-hopping and technobabble. Ultimately, while it\u2019s enjoyable enough, it feels a bit low-key for both a season opener and a resolution to an epic two-parter.<\/p>\n

Season 5 wrap-up<\/strong><\/p>\n