The final season of Star Trek, the Next Generation gave us some splendid episodes and also a fair share of stinkers. Everyone knew by this stage that they would not be renewed and attempts were made to wrap up various story lines before they said their final goodbyes. There is still a great deal to be enjoyed.
Lower Decks is one of the best episodes of this or any season of The Next Generation. It showcases interesting new characters in a fast-paced and satisfying narrative. The upstairs/downstairs aspect had been considered for a long time but I'm so glad we went with the espionage story rather than a reprise of stuffy old Riker doing crew evaluations with Troi in Ten Forward as they were seen doing in Tapestry (the part of that episode where Picard was just a junior officer).
Guest players Dan Gauthier who played junior officer Lavelle and Bruce Beatty who played civilian bartender Ben are both busy TV actors who have mostly stayed away from Science Fiction, while Shannon Fill, who so successfully played Ensign Sito, left the business soon after this episode to re-train as a social worker. I was not the only one who was left wondering whether this wonderful character had been given up for dead rather too quickly. There had indeed been plans for her to be later discovered alive for an episode of Deep Space Nine and many fans, who had taken her to their hearts, were disappointed that this idea never came to fruition.
By the way, I never took to the idea of "civilian" bartenders on the Star Trek Enterprise. It seemed like an absurdly profligate use of resources when every other similar Space Opera expected the "astronauts" to be able to multi-task at least to the extent of fetching their own drinks. Not since the stewardesses on the moon shuttle in 1968's film 2001, have we seen anything quite so ridiculously out of date.
This is our second view of Alexander Enberg but our first time seeing him as a Vulcan. He, of course, went on to play the much loved, recurring character Ensign Vorik in Voyager. This actor suffered an extremely serious brain injury in 2007 and has only recently been well enough to attend the occasional Star Trek convention. I'm sure that other fans would join me in sending him our very best wishes and look forward to hearing from him again.
Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5.
Lower Decks is one of the best episodes of this or any season of The Next Generation. It showcases interesting new characters in a fast-paced and satisfying narrative. The upstairs/downstairs aspect had been considered for a long time but I'm so glad we went with the espionage story rather than a reprise of stuffy old Riker doing crew evaluations with Troi in Ten Forward as they were seen doing in Tapestry (the part of that episode where Picard was just a junior officer).
Guest players Dan Gauthier who played junior officer Lavelle and Bruce Beatty who played civilian bartender Ben are both busy TV actors who have mostly stayed away from Science Fiction, while Shannon Fill, who so successfully played Ensign Sito, left the business soon after this episode to re-train as a social worker. I was not the only one who was left wondering whether this wonderful character had been given up for dead rather too quickly. There had indeed been plans for her to be later discovered alive for an episode of Deep Space Nine and many fans, who had taken her to their hearts, were disappointed that this idea never came to fruition.
By the way, I never took to the idea of "civilian" bartenders on the Star Trek Enterprise. It seemed like an absurdly profligate use of resources when every other similar Space Opera expected the "astronauts" to be able to multi-task at least to the extent of fetching their own drinks. Not since the stewardesses on the moon shuttle in 1968's film 2001, have we seen anything quite so ridiculously out of date.
This is our second view of Alexander Enberg but our first time seeing him as a Vulcan. He, of course, went on to play the much loved, recurring character Ensign Vorik in Voyager. This actor suffered an extremely serious brain injury in 2007 and has only recently been well enough to attend the occasional Star Trek convention. I'm sure that other fans would join me in sending him our very best wishes and look forward to hearing from him again.
Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5.