TV Review: Star Trek: The Next Generation (1990-1991)

~ Liam

In what should be a long-term project, I plan to watch and review every Star Trek television show and movie in the order that they were released.

Title: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Release Date: September 24, 1990 – June 17, 1991
Production Company: Paramount Domestic Television
Episodes:  26
Summary/Review:

After a nearly perfect third season, the fourth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation is generally good with a few noticeable flops.  This season is the first of any Star Trek show with a season-long story arc, focusing on the leading to the Klingon Civil War which begins in the season finale cliffhanger.  Some of the best episodes of the season deal with Klingon politics and Worf’s continued dishonor in Klingon society, as well as the Romulans who are secretly supporting a sect of Klingon’s opposed to the alliance with the Federation.  The season introduces some important new characters including the Cardassians, the Trill, Dr. Noonien Soong, the Duras Sisters, Worf’s son Alexander, Keiko O’Brien, Spot the Cat, and the real Dr. Leah Brahm, and Commander Sela.  Lore, The Traveler, K’Ehleyr, Reg Barclay, Vash, and Q, Lwaxana all make important returns to the show.  And Wesley Crusher leaves for Starfleet Academy as Wesley Crusher departs the show’s main cast.

There are a lot of good episodes, many of them quieter and character driven. Some of the best episodes offer experimental points of view, such as the people of a planet encountering the Federation for the first time (First Contact) and an android narrating his typical day (Data’s Day). There are also a few stinkers.  I feel that the Star Trek writers/production team went back to the well too many times, particularly with a crew member having their mind and/or body taken over by some other entity.  This happens to Picard (Locutus of Borg), Data (Dr. Soong’s program), Riker (Barash), Troi (Paxans), Geordi (the Tarchannes), Barclay (the Cytherians), Riker again (Odan), and Geordi (Romulan brainwashing).  Still, I enjoy a bad Star Trek episode more than some of the best shows of most other series.

Top 5 Episodes:

  • The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2
  • Family
  • Data’s Day
  • First Contact
  • Half a Life

And the biggest stinker: Galaxy’s Child

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Episode #: 1
Title: The Best of Both Worlds, Part II
Director: Cliff Bole
Writer: Michael Piller
Thoughts:

After a long summer, viewers got to see how the Federation will survive it’s greatest threat yet.  Turns out, the Borg just needed a nap.  It’s a great twist and I’m impressed by Stewart’s performance as Picard trapped within Locutus.  It’s also a great story for Riker.  It’s a such a great moment in Star Trek history that it’s no surprise that future writers will return to the Borg well, with diminishing returns.

Grade: A+

Episode #: 2
Title: Family
Director: Les Landau
Writer: Ronald D. Moore
Thoughts:

The practicalities of episodic television meant there was a virtual “reset button” where the events of the previous episodes had little to no bearing on what happened in the next.  I like that TNG broke with that trend to show Picard dealing with his trauma by visiting his brother Robert’s (Jeremy Kemp) vineyard in France. Meanwhile on the Enterprise, Worf receives a visit from his adoptive parents Sergey (Theodore Bikel) and Helena Rozhenko (Georgia Brown), finding support from them after his dishonor among the Klingons.  There’s also a short but effective story thread in which Wesley views a holo-message recorded for him by his father Jack Crusher (Doug Wert).  The intertwining family stories offer a catharsis after the dramatic events of the Borg incident.

Grade: A+

Episode #: 3
Title:  Brothers
Director: Rob Bowman
Writer: Rick Berman
Thoughts:

Data mysteriously hijacks the Enterprise, locking the rest of the crew off the bridge and beams down to a planet.  There he meets his “father” Dr. Noonien Soong (Brent Spiner), previously believed to be dead.  Soong has an emotion chip for Data, but his homing beacon inadvertently also brings in Data’s brother Lore (Brent Spiner), who uses skulduggery to get the chip for himself.  This episode is fun for seeing Spiner play three different roles against himself, even if the prosthetic makeup for Dr. Soong is atrocious.  I find it hard to believe after Data so easily takes control of the ship that there’s no concern about having an android whose free will can be so easily overpowered in a position of such great power.  This episode also ends abruptly with Soong’s “death.”

Grade: B

Episode #: 4
Title: Suddenly Human
Director: Gabrielle Beaumont
Writer: Ralph Phillips
Thoughts:

The Enterprise rescues several teenage boys from a Talarian vessel, one of whom turns out to be human.  Jono (Chad Allen) turns out to have been Jeremiah Rossa, whose parents were killed in a Talarian attack on a Federation colony.  Jono was adopted by a Talarian captain Endar (Sherman Howard) and just wants to return to him but the Enterprise crew are intent on returning him to his human family on Earth.  Troi tasks Picard with acting as a father figure for Jono in a plot reminiscent of “Charlie X” in the original series.  I feel Picard and the crew are out of character as they are so insistent on ignoring Jono’s desires and restoring his humanity.  Considering that Worf was a Klingon child adopted by human’s under almost the exact same circumstances, it’s a surprise that they don’t even compare and contrast Worf and Jono’s experiences.  Speaking of Klingons, I felt that the Talarian’s as a warrior race felt a whole lot like they were originally written to be Klingons.

Grade: B-

Episode #: 5
Title: Remember Me
Director: Cliff Bole
Writer: Lee Sheldon
Thoughts:

Dr Crusher welcomes a friend on board the ship only to have him and his possessions disappear.  In fact, the crew can’t find any record of his ever existing.  Soon other crew members disappear and no one but Beverly can remember them.  Another of Wesley’s science projects gone wrong, a warp bubble, may be the cause, but the crew rapidly dwindles as Beverly desperately seeks to recover her colleagues.  There’s a twist that caught me by surprise about halfway through the episode, although in retrospect it may have worked better if they held off that reveal until the final act.  It turns out that Beverly is the one caught in the warp bubble and everyone else is a construct of her mind.  The Traveler (Eric Menyuk), from the season one episode “Where No One Has Gone Before,” returns to help Wesley recover his mother from the bubble, but his appearance feels a bit extraneous here.  Still, this was a cracking, fun mystery.

Grade: A-

Episode #: 6
Title: Legacy
Director: Robert Scheerer
Writer: Joe Menosky
Thoughts:

The Enterprise need to rescue Federation freight crew members held hostage on Turkana IV, a planet torn apart by civil war.  This was Tasha Yar’s home planet and soon meet her sister Ishara Yar (Beth Toussaint), a member of an opposing faction to the one holding the hostages.  She helps the Enterprise crew find the hostages and stage a rescue plan, forming a bond with Data along the way, and declaring her desire to join Starfleet.  But she is secretly using them to gain an advantage for an assault by her faction against their enemies.  It’s a good episode for Data, who despite claiming to not have feelings, appears to have learned a lesson in friendship and betrayal.

Grade: A-

Episode #: 7
Title: Reunion
Director: Jonathan Frakes
Writer: Story by: Drew Deighan, Thomas Perry, Jo Perry  Teleplay by: Thomas Perry, Jo Perry, Ronald D. Moore, and Brannon Braga
Thoughts:

Another big episode for Klingon politics. Chancellor K’mpec (Charles Cooper) is dying from poison and wants Picard to arbitrate who will succeed him, noting that one of the contenders may also be his murderer.  Odd are that it’s Duras (Patrick Massett), who previously framed Worf’s father for his own father’s treason.  Also returning is Ambassador K’Ehleyr (Suzie Plakson) with her son Alexander (Jon Paul Steuer) in tow.  Yes, he is also Worf’s son!  There aren’t any huge surprises in this episode despite the attempts to create intrigue. The biggest disappointment is that they basically fridge K’Ehleyr to enrage Worf to revenge.  But this is a key episode in establishing a lot of continuity for the future of the Star Trek franchise.

Grade: A-

Episode #: 8
Title: Future Imperfect
Director: Les Landau
Writer: J. Larry Carroll and David Bennett Carren
Thoughts:

Riker collapses on a planet and wakes up in sick bay to learn that it is 16 years later.  He’s captain of the Enterprise, has a son, and is negotiating peace with the Romulans.  And he remembers nothing of it.  There are enough things that are “off” that Riker figures out he’s in an elaborate holodeck scenario.  But while the story initially makes you think the Romulans are behind it there’s a great double fakeout.  It’s a good episode for Riker and a fun high concept story.

Grade: A-

Episode #: 9
Title: Final Mission
Director: Corey Allen
Writer: Story by Kasey Arnold-Ince Teleplay by Kasey Arnold-Ince and Jeri Taylor
Thoughts:

After several attempts, Wesley Crusher is finally leaving the Enterprise for Starfleet Academy.  I know it’s in vogue for Star Trek fans to hate Wesley, but as someone who is almost the exact same age as Wil Wheaton, I always thought it was cool to have a teenager on the bridge, and enjoyed Wheaton’s performance even if the writing for his character wasn’t always top notch.  This episode is an example of both good acting and weak writing for Wesley.  He accompanies Picard to mediate a miners’ dispute along with the miner Captain Dirgo (Nick Tate). When their shuttlecraft crashes on a desert planet and Picard suffers potentially fatal injuries, it’s up to Wesley to find a solution.  There’s some good moments for Wheaton and Stewart even if the plot device of the only source of water being defended by a force field feels, well, “forced.”

Grade: B+

Episode #: 10
Title: The Loss
Director: Chip Chalmers
Writer: Story by Hilary J. Bader Teleplay by Hilary J. Bader, Alan J. Adler, and
Vanessa Greene
Thoughts:

The Enterprise gets caught in space with two-dimensional beings which also have the effect of Troi losing her empathic abilities.  Troi’s reaction to this loss is quite overdone especially since it lasts a short time and she’s supposed to be a professional.  I don’t know what direction was given to Mirina Sirtis, but this episode does not make the character look very good. She does have some good moments though when she responds to Picard’s patronizing advice in a way that parallels the ways disabled people get mistreated.

Grade: C+

Episode #: 11
Title: Data’s Day
Director: Robert Wiemer
Writer: Story by Harold Apter Teleplay by Harold Apter and Ronald D. Moore
Thoughts:

This episode is framed as Data narrating a letter to Commander Bruce Maddox about his experiences of learning about human friendship.  The key incidents include the wedding of Kieko (Rosalind Chao) and Chief O’Brien and a visit from a Vulcan ambassador who wants to meet with a Romulan ship in the neutral zone.  But the story is all about Data’s point of view of puzzling human behavior over the course of a day or two.  It’s another great opportunity for Spiner to show his acting chops and to see a slice of life of the Enterprise that we usually don’t get to see.  And this episode includes the famous and hilarious scene of Dr. Crusher teaching Data to dance on the holodeck.  This was the first appearance of Keiko (although it’s all presented as if she was a familiar character and friend of Data’s) as well as of Data’s pet cat Spot.  I’m glad they both will be recurring characters.

Grade: A

Episode #: 12
Title: The Wounded
Director: Chip Chalmers
Writer:  Story by: Stuart Charno, Sara Charno, and Cy Chermak Teleplay by Jeri Taylor
Thoughts:

The Enterprise is confronted by a Cardassian ship threatening a fragile peace just one year after a peace treaty with the Federation (this episode talks a lot about a vicious war even though the Cardassians and the war have never been mentioned in the series before.  I’m going make a fan theory that the fighting of the war ended 5 or so years earlier, it just took a long time for the diplomats to hammer out the terms of the treaty).  The Cardassian commander Gul Macet (Marc Alaimo) insists that one their science stations was attacked by a Federation vessel.  They learn that a Federation starship captain has apparently gone rogue, and Macet boards the Enterprise with two other Cardassians to intercept it.  Since Miles O’Brien once served with this captain he also plays a significant part in this episode.  Eventually, O’Brien has to convince his old captain Benjamin Maxwell (Bob Gunton) to stand down but not before they sing a lovely duet of “The Minstrel Boy.”  With the prominence of Miles & Keiko O’Brien and the Cardassians this episode offers significant background for Deep Space Nine.  Since the premier of that show was still two years away, I’m not sure how much pre-production that they had done for it, but there’s definitely more care for continuity in the series.

Grade: A-

Episode #: 13
Title: Devil’s Due
Director: Tom Benko
Writer: Story by Philip Lazebnik and William Douglas Lansford, Teleplay by Philip Lazebnik
Thoughts:

“You are NOT Fek’lhr!”  Four words shouted by Michael Dorn as Worf, brought back a flood of memories.  30 years ago I went on a ski trip with friends from college on Winter Break, and naturally in the evenings we watched reruns of Star Trek.  This episode must’ve aired early in the week, because for the rest of the week we shouted “You are NOT Fek’lhr!” as greeting whenever we met on the slopes.

Warm memories aside, this is a run-of-the-mill episode where the Enterprise crew solve a global crisis with the intricacies of contract law.  The people of Ventax II believe that Ardra (Marta DuBois) is the devil of their mythology come to claim the people of the planet in slavery after 1000 years of peace and prosperity.  Picard thinks she’s a con artist, and Data has to arbitrate.  It’s an episode that has an original series feel probably because it was first written for the unproduced Star Trek: Phase II series, and you can easily imagine Kirk and Spock in these roles.

Grade: B-

Episode #: 14
Title: Clues
Director: Les Landau
Writer: Story by Bruce D. Arthurs, Teleplay by Bruce D. Arthurs and Joe Menosky
Thoughts:

The Enterprise crew are knocked out for 30 seconds and are informed upon recovering by Data (the only crew member unaffected) that they’d passed through a wormhole.  Yet lots of evidence indicates that a whole day passed, and that the crew was awake for much of it even if they can’t remember.  Data’s suspicious behavior doesn’t help anything.  Turns out that they encountered a planet inhabited by beings who did not want to be found and Picard agrees to have their memories of the planet erased.  But they left behind too many clues, and Data is just shit at lying!  Fortunately, the xenophobic beings are gracious enough to give them a second chance.  This is another episode I seemed to capture multiple times in reruns, and I’ve always loved it for all the little details.

Grade: A-

Episode #: 15
Title: First Contact
Director: Cliff Bole
Writer: Story by Marc Scott Zicree, Teleplay by Dennis Russell Bailey, David Bischoff, Joe Menosky, Ronald D. Moore, and Michael Piller
Thoughts:

Picard and Troi appear to the Malcor III science minister Mirasta Yale (Carolyn Seymour) to make first contact because the Malcorians are about to achieve warp technology.  Yale is delighted but concerned that the planet’s leader Chancellor Durken (George Coe) will be hesitant about meeting extraterrestrials, and Security Minister Krola (Michael Ensign) will be hostile.  A wrinkle in their plan is that Riker has gone missing while doing undercover observation of Malcorian culture.

This is an interesting episode because it shows the perspective of people learning that they’re not alone in the universe for the first time.  Perhaps more than other Prime Directive stories, this story also shows the many unexpected struggles that go with following it. I also think it’s a good example of the type of work the Enterprise crew would be doing to fulfill their mission “to seek out new life and new civilizations” that we don’t see all that often on the show.  It’s also interesting that Durken ultimately decides that his planet is not ready for First Contact, and Picard respects that decision.

This is also the episode where Lanel (Bebe Neuwirth) declares she’s always wanted to have sex with an alien when trying to seduce Riker in exchange for helping him escape, which is really funny and really creepy at the same time.

Grade: A

Episode #: 16
Title: Galaxy’s Child
Director: Winrich Kolbe
Writer: Story by Thomas Kartozian, Teleplay by Maurice Hurley
Thoughts:

Back in Season 3’s “Booby Trap” Geordi worked through a problem with the warp engines by creating a holographic representation of the engineer who designed the engines, Dr. Leah Brahms (Susan Gibney).  Geordi got a little too familiar with the holograph, which is a little creepy, but it was in the heat of the moment and surely Geordi has deleted that holograph program and moved on in the real world.  When the real Dr. Brahms visits the Enterprise, her personality is different from her holographic projection, but this does not stop Geordi from acting overly familiar with her and not even being good at coming up with a believable cover story about how he’s researched her work.  It’s hard to believe that the show’s creators allowed one of their most likable characters look so bad especially since Geordi should know better.  If anything, Leah should be angrier than she was when she discovers the holograph program and Geordi should suffer the consequences, but the show has them coming to an unlikely reconciliation instead.

In the show’s B-plot (or is it the A-plot, since it’s referred to in the title) the Enterprise accidentally kills a large interstellar being that resembles the “tin man” although that episode is never referred to. Turns out that entity was carrying a baby that Crusher delivers by using the ship’s phasers to peform a Casaerean.  Then the baby feeds on the ship’s energy until they can find others of its kind.

Grade: C+

Episode #: 17
Title: Night Terrors
Director: Les Landau
Writer: Story by Shari Goodhartz, Teleplay by Pamela Douglas and  Jeri Taylor
Thoughts:

This is a run-of-a-mill Star Trek plot saved by some good moments and acting.  The Enterprise discovers a ship drifting near a binary star where all of the crew have been murdered except for a Betazed passenger who is catatonic.  Soon the Enterprise is also trapped with the crew suffering the effects of not being able to get REM sleep, except Troi who has vivid nightmares.  There are a lot of horror tropes in this episode as the crew have hallucinations, and I think the episode might have been improved if they leaned into the horror elements.  The ultimate solution is possibly interesting but delivered in an anticlimactic manner.  The cast does a good job of showing the crew suffering the stress of the situation which makes it worth watching.

Grade: B-

Episode #: 18
Title: Identity Crisis
Director: Winrich Kolbe
Writer: Story by Timothy De Haas, Teleplay by Brannon Braga
Thoughts:

Five years after an away team mission from the USS Victory to Tarchannen III, members of that crew are abandoning their post and returning to this planet.  The only ones left are Geordi and his former crewmate Susanna Leijten (Maryann Plunkett) are the only ones left.  Investigating the mystery leads to discovery of alien creatures that are invisible in normal light and can create more creatures like themselves by infecting them with a parasite.  Naturally, Susanna and Geordi begin to transform.  I don’t quite get why the transition starts after five years or how the aliens infected the away team, but this episode is in interesting procedural breaking down the mystery.  And the makeup used to make Geordi and Susanna look alien is very creepy.

Grade: B

Episode #: 19
Title: The Nth Degree
Director: Robert Legato
Writer: Joe Menosky
Thoughts:

After contact with a mysterious alien probe, Reg Barclay (Reginald Barclay) suddenly becomes extremely confident and competent.  Eventually he joins his mind with the Enterprise computer, and transports the ship to the far side of the galaxy.  Turns out he’s merely a conduit for an advanced race called the Cytherians.  This is kind of an awkward episode since Barclay still comes off as creepy, and a lot of elements of this story feel like overused Star Trek tropes.

Grade: B-

Episode #: 20
Title: Qpid
Director:  Cliff Bole
Writer: Story by: Randee Russell and Ira Steven Behr, Teleplay by Ira Steven Behr
Thoughts:

An unabashed comedy classic.  The Enterprise is hosting an archaeological conference marking the return of rogue archaeologist Vash (Jennifer Hetrick).  Also paying a visit is Q (John de Lancie) who wants to do something nice for Picard.  Of course this means he puts all the main crew and Vash into the story of Robin Hood with the very real risk of death.  This episode earns its existence merely to hear Worf say “Sir, I must protest! I am NOT a merry man!”

Grade: A

Episode #: 21
Title: The Drumhead
Director: Jonathan Frakes
Writer: Jeri Taylor
Thoughts:

A Klingon exchange officer J’Dan (Henry Woronicz) turns out to be a spy collaborating with the Romulans. He makes a full confession and for Picard that is enough.  But Starfleet investigator Norah Satie (Jean Simmons) suspects a conspiracy on the ship and begins an increasingly unhinged investigation that soon turns on Picard himself.  Apart from being yet another Star Trek courtroom drama, the characterization of Satie as the crazed consipiracist who goes full Captain Queeg in court lacks any nuance.

Grade: C+

Episode #: 22
Title: Half A Life
Director: Les Landau
Writer:  Story by Ted Roberts, Peter Allan Fields Teleplay by Peter Allan Fields
Thoughts:

A scientist from an isolationist planet, Timicin (David Ogden Stiers), works with the Enterprise crew on a plan to restore the dying star at the heart of his planet’s system.  Also, on board is Lwaxana Troi, and the two soon fall in love.  But the tradition on Timicin’s planet is to commit ritual suicide at the age of 60, meaning that Timicin will neither be able to complete his scientific research nor continue his relationship with Lwaxana.  It’s a good episode that offers a nuanced depiction of some difficult issues, and a sensitive performance by Stiers and Majel Barret.

Grade: A

Episode #: 23
Title: The Host
Director: Marvin V. Rush
Writer: Michel Horvat
Thoughts:

A Trill ambassador, Odan (Franc Luz), joins the Enterprise to mediate a dispute and on the journey he and Beverly Crusher fall in love.  The Trill will go on to be a recurring species in the Star Trek universe, but the audience and the crew only learn the true nature of the species in this episode.  Trill are symbiotic lifeforms with the wormlike Trill living within a humanoid host body.  This is only revealed when Odan’s host body is dying and Riker must become the temporary host.  Beverly is, to say the least, not into it.

Grade: B+

Episode #: 24
Title: The Mind’s Eye
Director: David Livingston
Writer: Story by René Echevarria and  Ken Schafer, Teleplay by René Echevarria
Thoughts:

It’s The Manchurian Candidate, Star Trek-style as Geordi is brainwashed by the Romulans.  He’s programed to assassinate a Klingon leader in part of the ongoing plot of the Romulans and a Klingon splinter group to destroy the Klingon alliance with the Federation.  Luckily, Data figures it out in time to save the day and clear Geordi’s name.  It’s an enjoyable political drama if not all too original.

Grade: B+

Episode #: 25
Title: In Theory
Director: Patrick Stewart
Writer:  Joe Menosky and Ronald D. Moore
Thoughts:

Data begins a dating relationship with crewmate Jenna D’Sora (Michele Scarabelli), with all the awkwardness of an earnest android who can’t experience human emotions.  I found it an interesting story of Data’s ongoing attempts to become human.  Unfortunately, the production crew appears to lack the confidence to spend the entire episode exploring the possibilities of Data and Jenna’s romantic relationship.  Instead it veers into a B plot involving pockets of dark matter causing distortion to the ship and Picard having to pilot a shuttlecraft to help them escape.  I really think the episode could’ve been better with a deeper commitment to the A plot, but the split story weakens the whole episode.

Grade: B+

Episode #: 26
Title: Redemption, Part 1
Director: Cliff Bole
Writer: Ronald D. Moore
Thoughts:

As Picard prepares to install Gowron (Robert O’Reilly), as Chancellor of the Klingon High Council, the Empire is on the verge of civil war.  A faction have united behind the late Duras’ sisters (secretly supported by the Romulans) against Gowron’s leadership and the alliance with the Federation.  Worf leaves Starfleet to join his brother Kurn (Tony Todd) in providing military support for Gowron, earning restoration of his family honor in return.  With the war about to begin, the Enterprise departs, but a mysterious Romulan who resembles Tasha Yar advises the Duras sisters that Picard will return.  To be continued…

While not quite the mind-blowing drama of “Best of Both Worlds” this is definitely a good way to end the season with political intrigue and a good story for Worf. I don’t recall if people at the time though that Michael Dorn would be leaving the show for real, but there’s definitely growth in the character that’s been building for some time that makes his departure believable.

Grade: A

 

Published by Liam

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