The Golden Age of Star Trek: we had the 6th Season of The Next Generation and the 1st Season of Deep Space Nice on our televisions, Generations on view in our cinemas and First Contact due out soon. This season of TNG contains some excellent stand-alone episodes and several spectacular two-parters, with only the occasional make-weight. Despite the length of time it had already been on the air, it still represents some of the highest standard of television Science Fiction ever broadcast.
This is a very special episode, written as a retirement present to James Doohan and intended as a tribute to all fans of the Original Series. The conceit that has Scotty survive for 75 years in a transporter buffer is pretty nonsensical but having him turn up on the Enterprise D is a gift that keeps on giving. His scenes with Data and Geordi are very engaging and the bridge set of the original Enterprise has been beautifully realised. Definitely time for a lump in the throat.
Unfortunately, the producers spent so much money on that set that they rather scrimped on the realisation of the Dyson Sphere, making the exterior of this supposedly gargantuan structure look more like hastily assembled parts of a Dyson* vacuum cleaner than the greatest human construct ever conceived. The idea of a hollow sphere the size of an entire planetary orbit had been batted about the writers' room for some time but this was definitely not the way to do justice to it. Even without the benefit of the internet, anybody who was interested enough in the concept to think it through would have understood that the mathematics of scale made what they were looking at completely meaningless.
It wasn't until the film Star Trek Beyond was made in 2016 that the special effects existed to suggest such an artificial living environment suspended in the vacuum of space, complete with breathable atmosphere. And a lot of viewers hated it.
James Doohan was the third actor from the main cast of the Original Series to appear in Next Generation following on from deForest Kelly's cameo in the pilot episode Encounter at Farpoint & Leonard Nimoy's appearance in Unification. All of the main cast continued to be involved in Star Trek related projects, including voice work, but not all were invited to return to the TV series or the films. There are no doubt stories still to be told about who got which part and why. For example, Nichelle Nichols has graciously supported so many projects and gave such a beautiful performance in the fan production Of Gods and Men, one wonders why something could not have been written for her in one of the 500 plus episodes made during the Golden Era.
Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5
*no relative.
This is a very special episode, written as a retirement present to James Doohan and intended as a tribute to all fans of the Original Series. The conceit that has Scotty survive for 75 years in a transporter buffer is pretty nonsensical but having him turn up on the Enterprise D is a gift that keeps on giving. His scenes with Data and Geordi are very engaging and the bridge set of the original Enterprise has been beautifully realised. Definitely time for a lump in the throat.
Unfortunately, the producers spent so much money on that set that they rather scrimped on the realisation of the Dyson Sphere, making the exterior of this supposedly gargantuan structure look more like hastily assembled parts of a Dyson* vacuum cleaner than the greatest human construct ever conceived. The idea of a hollow sphere the size of an entire planetary orbit had been batted about the writers' room for some time but this was definitely not the way to do justice to it. Even without the benefit of the internet, anybody who was interested enough in the concept to think it through would have understood that the mathematics of scale made what they were looking at completely meaningless.
It wasn't until the film Star Trek Beyond was made in 2016 that the special effects existed to suggest such an artificial living environment suspended in the vacuum of space, complete with breathable atmosphere. And a lot of viewers hated it.
James Doohan was the third actor from the main cast of the Original Series to appear in Next Generation following on from deForest Kelly's cameo in the pilot episode Encounter at Farpoint & Leonard Nimoy's appearance in Unification. All of the main cast continued to be involved in Star Trek related projects, including voice work, but not all were invited to return to the TV series or the films. There are no doubt stories still to be told about who got which part and why. For example, Nichelle Nichols has graciously supported so many projects and gave such a beautiful performance in the fan production Of Gods and Men, one wonders why something could not have been written for her in one of the 500 plus episodes made during the Golden Era.
Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5
*no relative.