Star Trek: The Next Generation
When Q gets exiled from the Q Continuum, he chooses to live as a human. Unfortunately, he also chooses to live on the Enterprise, much to the chagrin of the crew. Data, however, is perfectly set up to be Q’s friend! It doesn’t quite spin off into a buddy cop show, but we do learn a valuable lesson about sacrifice and torturing lesser beings.
The writers of TNG continue to show their unbridled enthusiasm for all things Irish in “The High Ground”! When Dr. Crusher is taken hostage by an alien sect bearing a strong resemblance to the IRA, it’s up to Picard and the crew to rescue her from the dark cave where she’s being held! Clay and I disagree about this one, let us know who’s right!
If the early ’90s needed anything, it was an odd science fiction allegory for the public’s treatment of Vietnam veterans! And to fulfill that need came “The Hunted”! When the Enterprise captures an escaped super soldier, the crew gets more than they bargained for when they have to return him to his planet. Plus, the first time we see the new brig!
When a Romulan defects to the Federation, Picard and his officers must determine if there is any truth to his claims of impending doom! Sean joins us to discuss 24th century gut feelings, Shakespeare, and auto-didactic Klingons! Join us for one of the best episodes of the third season!
When a group of aliens known as The Gatherers start to raid Federation colonies, the Enterprise is called in to negotiate a truce between The Gathers and the race they left 100 years ago. Then, Riker gets the hots for an alien assassin with a deadly touch! Then people perform diplomacy! Then we get vengeance!
A stable wormhole must be auctioned off to the highest bidder, even in a post-capitalist universe. When such a wormhole is discovered, a guy named Ral appears to win the rights to it, and he seems to have a history with Troi. Or does he? Any why, exactly, is he so good at negotiating? And how about we do some testing before we start calling things “stable”, huh?
Another Geordi episode! Two in a row! This episode, however, is pretty good. Plus, Geordi gets to shoot some rocks with a phaser! When a distress call on an inhospitable planet causes Geordi to get stranded from the away team, he must work to find a way to make an ally out of an enemy. Romulans! Tomalak! It’s all here!
Geordi La Forge might be a senior officer on the most powerful ship in the Federation, but that doesn’t mean he’s a hit with the ladies, right? Unfortunately, that’s both true and the focus of this episode. When an ancient trap threatens the Enterprise, Geordi decides to create a holodeck hottie in order to transfigure the anti-matter input velocity delta combine power press. Or something. And then Geordi makes out with the holodeck creation! Noice.
Star Trek: The Next Generation takes a turn towards the dramatic when a failed away mission results in the death of a science officer. The officer’s orphaned son becomes the focus of the crew, as well as the puppet of a powerful alien! Death! Drama! Let’s dive into the first script from Ronald D. Moore! And let’s get Wesley in here to point blank somebody!
The Prime Directive is a fickle mistress! When a failed power generator exposes a Starfleet science team studying a society on a pre-warp planet, the rescue mission ends up causing the aliens to believe that Picard is a god. To make things right, Picard will have to violate Starfleets most sacred rule. Plus, Riker and Troi play dress up!
I didn’t record just one podcast, or a hundred, or a thousand. I recorded them all. When the Enterprise stumbles upon an obliterated world, the crew are shocked to find two survivors amid the rubble. When the elderly survivors refuse to leave their decimated world, it’s up to Picard and company to figure out their true nature! Plus, a tune that’s so catchy you won’t be able to get it out of your head!
When the long lost cousin of Skin of Evil’s Armus demands that the Federation remove 15,000 colonists from a planet, Data is the only member of the crew who can brave the planets intense radiation. Will he be able to convince the colonists to leave? Can O’Brien play the cello? Can Picard read a 500,000 word peace treaty in 45 minutes? All these questions and more, it’s “The Ensigns of Command”!
Season three! When a baseball obsessed doctor uses the Enterprise to launch a space egg into some star dust (or something), Wesley is the only one one board to take the moment seriously! And he celebrates by letting tiny machine loose, potentially ruining the doctor’s chance at scientific immortality. Enter Nanites!
That’s it for season two! We’re out of the weeds and about to embark on a bold new journey into the heart of The Next Generation. In this episode I give my general thoughts about season two, what worked and what didn’t. I also give out a few awards and list the five best and worst episodes of the season.
It’s the Star Trek Clip Show! When Commander Riker is cut by an alien plant, he goes into a coma and can only be revived by watching clips from a 1980s genre television program! A “bottle” episode designed to save Paramount some money, “Shades of Gray” is generally considered to be a terrible episode. But is it?
Have you ever fought someone who had 6 inches and 50 pounds on you? Have you ever played Laser Tag? Have you ever played a RTS game over the internet? If you’ve done any of these things, then you’ll probably enjoy “Peak Performance”, which is Star Trek’s version of them! Plus, one of the worst line readings in the entire series!
We haven’t learned anything about the mating rituals of Klingons in over two weeks, it’s time that we’re due for a little of that, right? Fortunately, a Federation Emissary visits the Enterprise to stop a renegade Klingon sleeper ship, and Worf gets to do the nasty, one growl at a time! It’s a spicy meatgagh!
Man. The most dangerous prey. Some say that the “Manhunt”, to hunt and kill another man, is the ultimate test of a hunters’ prowess, a way to satiate the soul of the beast that resides in the heart of every man alive. A way to — wait, what? This is an episode about alien menopause? And it’s a comedy? And it features Lwaxana Troi? Oh boy.
The Irish need not apply for this episode! You’ll do a double take! When Space Irish take control of one of the Enterprise’s shuttle bays, they do completely un-stereotypical things. On another planet, we learn that Riker hates clones and is willing to kill for what he believes. This description is 75% accurate!
If you want a podcast to “make you go”, then this is the one for you! When Picard needs a new heart, Riker is stuck dealing with an alien race of questionable intelligence. When they take Geordi hostage, only the stupidest of decisions will get him free! Oh boy. Maybe you should just go back and watch “Q Who” again?
Hey, look! It’s the first great episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation! Even the flawed narrative structure can’t ruin the introduction of the Borg! I assimilate Clay and Sean, and together we use our hive mind to break down how the Borg originally appeared, Worf’s clever delegation of duty, and how this is the first time that Trek would utilize a god-like being in a way that actually results in powerful dramatic arc. System J-25, comin’ ‘atcha!
In this episode, Data makes a friend! And Wesley learns how to tell someone to go screw. It’s a time of personal growth for everyone. We also get to debate the merits of the Prime Directive, extensive alien make-up, and the downside of having a planet made of dilithium. Sit down, write a letter, and enjoy “Pen Pals”!
Star Trek: The Next Generation becomes a soap opera when Commander Riker’s scumbag father visits the Enterprise. I guess I’m being too hard on him. He did give Riker 13 years and his wife died, ya know. Plus, he snagged that wonderful Dr. Pulaski! He can’t be all that bad. Or can he? Anyway, Wesley bugs the hell out of Worf and something is wrong with the ship’s computer. And there is blind samurai-karate-sword fighting. Yeah.
Double the action! Double the fun! It’s double mint, double mint… gum! When the Enterprise discovers a Picard doppleganger from six hours in the near future, the crew must figure out a way to avoid catastrophe! They also try to figure out what made the captain such a scaredy-cat that he would run off on his own and leave everyone else behind! Oh, and Picard dies. So much death in this second season!
This is the holodeck, taken to the next level! When the Enterprise discovers some debris from a NASA spaceship, it leads down a rabbit hole of blackjack, desk clerks, and mobsters named “Micky”. This is an episode that has figured out how to avoid the pitfalls of the typical holodeck adventure: don’t go on the holodeck, and use a terrible novel as the basis for the plot!
Ctrl+Alt+Delete. When the Enterprise enters the Neutral Zone and observes the destruction of the USS Yamato, it becomes a race against the clock to find out what happened before the same circumstance befalls another ship! Plus, Riker wants to throw rocks and Data dies! So much action! So much feels!
Dauphin? Do-phan? La Dauphine? However you pronounce it, it means “love”! Or “dolphin”. Or something. When young Wesley Crusher falls for a shape shifting peace maker, hormones start raging and Riker starts a-flirtin’! Seriously though, not much else happens here. I guess the only other fact worth mentioning is that Worf will certainly smack down an old lady if given the chance.
To be a machine, or not to be a machine. That is the question. We all know that Data is “fully functional”, but is that also the case in the eyes of the law? When a driven officer shows up on the Enterprise and demands to dissect Data, Picard must pull off his best Matlock impersonation to save his android officer! Plus, Riker gets shoe-horned into the plot!
The Klingons are back, and this time they’ve brought some space germs with them! When Commander Riker accepts a temporary transfer to a Klingon ship, he learns the importance of laughter, Klingon threesomes and how to take a punch. Seriously, though, this episode is something of a turning point in the series: it’s unabashedly good!
Our first Pulaski-centric episode! Our chief medical officer (at least for season two) takes the reins for an episode that involves genetic engineering, advanced aging, and difficult decisions (made badly)! Is Pulaski really that bad? Is she just Crusher with a slightly grumpier demeanor? Why did they make these genetically engineered children telepathic? We answer all this, and more, in this episode of the podcast!