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.
Thankfully, we all have different tastes and don't always agree on which are the best episodes or the ones that stick in our memory. This was always one of my favourites and, re-viewing it for this retrospective, I was interested to see that it was not universally popular. I liked the mystery element to the story and especially the way the tension mounted in the holodeck reconstruction scene. And of course, the too-perfect Commander Riker sleeping in and losing his temper was not to be missed. To say nothing of Data's poetry recital.
The coldly malevolent aliens performing terrible experiments on the abductees reminded me of the episode The Empath from the Original Series. I think that such potentially horrific aspects of space exploration are probably too seldom explored in Star Trek, which can occasionally get just a little too cosy. I especially respect storytelling that can make the hairs rise up on the back of your neck without any blood and guts or tricksy camera work. Too many Star Trek aliens have comparable values to us or represent one or other aspect of humanity. These aliens were totally unrelatable, and all the better for it.
In one of the few episodes to show a non-regular crew member working alongside the main cast as an equal, we got to see a mature woman for once in the part of a Star Fleet professional, Lt Kaminer. Although theatrical actress Angelina Fiordellisi was (whisper it) considerably younger than Gates McFadden at the time. Lovely Lanei Chapman, who had been occupying the helm as Ensign Sariel Rager, for several weeks up until this point got little more to do than be dramatically rescued by Riker at the last moment. Fortunately she went on to enjoy a successful career, including a memorable part in Space Above and Beyond. .
Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5.
Thankfully, we all have different tastes and don't always agree on which are the best episodes or the ones that stick in our memory. This was always one of my favourites and, re-viewing it for this retrospective, I was interested to see that it was not universally popular. I liked the mystery element to the story and especially the way the tension mounted in the holodeck reconstruction scene. And of course, the too-perfect Commander Riker sleeping in and losing his temper was not to be missed. To say nothing of Data's poetry recital.
The coldly malevolent aliens performing terrible experiments on the abductees reminded me of the episode The Empath from the Original Series. I think that such potentially horrific aspects of space exploration are probably too seldom explored in Star Trek, which can occasionally get just a little too cosy. I especially respect storytelling that can make the hairs rise up on the back of your neck without any blood and guts or tricksy camera work. Too many Star Trek aliens have comparable values to us or represent one or other aspect of humanity. These aliens were totally unrelatable, and all the better for it.
In one of the few episodes to show a non-regular crew member working alongside the main cast as an equal, we got to see a mature woman for once in the part of a Star Fleet professional, Lt Kaminer. Although theatrical actress Angelina Fiordellisi was (whisper it) considerably younger than Gates McFadden at the time. Lovely Lanei Chapman, who had been occupying the helm as Ensign Sariel Rager, for several weeks up until this point got little more to do than be dramatically rescued by Riker at the last moment. Fortunately she went on to enjoy a successful career, including a memorable part in Space Above and Beyond. .
Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5.