The Ferengi were clearly based on a racist stereotype of Jews.

Star Trek TNG S1E08 Justice.

Another stinker that apes several episodes of TOS whilst coming nowhere near them. A mix of Shore Leave and any episode where a benign computer/alien/force watches over a culturally stunted race.

We get Datababble, Wes talking brusquely to Picard and not getting a deserved slapdown, and possibly the most cursory resolution/ending in an episode of ST. I liked the dialogue where Worf complains sex with humans is restraining cos they aren't robust enough...

I liked the fact that when Yar and Worf found out that walking on the grass was punishable by death. They immediately assumed Wesley would screw the pooch..and he did.


but no matter how bad these get, I still want to watch them to the end. I'm not bored.

Wesley haters are teased with the prospect of Wesley getting executed, but alas it's not to be.

The premise here is potentially interesting: would a captain stick to the Prime Directive even if it meant having a crew member die? Unfortunately, after TOS it's pretty clear that the Prime Directive is more of a suggestion than an actual rule.

Also, legendary TOS costume designer William Ware Theiss is back with what may be his skimpiest costume ever:

wtf

Dom has found his Halloween costume for this year!

Something about watching TNG reruns on BBC America at 3 am just gives me confidence. Even the terrible ones are enjoyable somehow.

I hate that BBCA edits them slightly. They'll remove or chop a couple of scenes each episode. I've noticed it many times and it irks me every single time.

Just when I thought I might brave some TNG episodes, this image has frightened me back into avoidance.

Star Trek TNG S1E09 The Battle

A pretty solid episode. I like the premise (though it could have been written a little better, to make the crew more obviously aware there was an obvious trap being laid), Stewart's acting was excellent, and the Ferengi filled out a little more.

Wesley, and dialogue involving Wesley gave me a cringe-on.

Best episode since Farpoint imo.

Not bad, easily the best TNG so far thanks to Patrick Stewart's performance. If you've been reluctant to start watching season one of TNG, this is a decent place to start. I still the the Ferengi are fun bad guys if a little over the top.

According to Wil Wheaton, this is the episode that cemented Wesley hate. There's something about Wesley snap-figuring out a solution that the Enterprise engineering crew couldn't that's just absurd.

Also his 'Adults!' comment was so sickeningly playing to a teen stereotype that you wanted to slap Wesley right there.

Can't wait for the Datalore bridge rant.

WTF, how is the Space Hippies episode not #1?

Wat

The Riker Maneuver:

You know, Riker may be my favorite character after all. Such a player:

Star Trek TNG S1E10- Hide and Q

This is full of good and bad... Q coming back was good, as was John De Lancie's magnificently hammed up delivery, and the acting was pretty good (apart from Denise Crosby, who just can't act), but man there was some bad stuff. The script felt like it was actually a two-parter that had to be cut down, so every bit of dialogue is mostly expositional or functional, with no real to and fro - the characters are just stating what they have to, to make the point they have to make.

Bits I particularly enjoyed: Worf's sex scene (equally good and bad)
Gordie's comment when Wesley gets bigger ('niiiice', like he's thinking 'there's a fine piece of ass')
Riker sitting in his chair like he can't close his legs cos his balls are just too damn big.

Tasha trying to be flirty with the captain gave me a massive cringe-on (I suspect cringe-on will be used to describe many eposides in season 1 btw)

Overall, very enjoyable.

Star Trek TNG S1E11 Haven

Whilst it was overly saccharine, I enjoyed this one a lot, mainly because of Majel Barrett's excellent turn as Lwaxana Troi, played beautifully to the writing as an overbearing, irritating, demanding and self-centred mother of Deanna Troi. I particularly liked her comments to the captain, and Picard's obvious patience and calmness in the face of it. Barrett was always excellent as Lwaxana, and this just worked for me. The whole marriage thing with Deanna was the downside of the episode, but didn't annoy me enough to ruin the enjoyment.

This is the first episode so far where all members of the crew present seem comfortable and real, and not just actors trying to get to grips with their roles.

Hide and Q's premise is pretty shopworn at this point: demigod being dicks around with the Enterprise for lulz. Still, watching John de Lancie's Q is always great fun. Patrick Stewart and de Lancie are both clearly their element as they trade Shakespeare quotes back and forth.

This is also I think the first episode to show the Riker Maneuver. Also, Wesley getting stabbed is another tease.



Re: Haven, the gift box is played by none other than Armin Shimerman (aka Quark). Although I have to say he wasn't nearly as convincing as the box from Is There in Truth No Beauty?

LeVar Burton Reads 'Go The [Expletive] To Sleep'

Star Trek TNG S1E12 The Big Goodbye

The whole captain learning to say things in a certain way to insects being important is a ridiculous plot driver, but otherwise this was a pretty damn good episode - maybe a great one.

Picard was really into it, and Data dicking around with 40s slang and Crusher looking pretty good in 40s attire were also ++ for the episode. As were the Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre characters. All around, a fine piece of writing and acting.

Easily the best episode so far. They are definitely improving.

I love seeing the unguarded side of Picard's personality which we almost never get to see; the captain playing at being his favorite detective is so much like a kid playing pretend, and Stewart pulls it off marvelously.

Holodeck malfunctions are a premise that actually go back to TAS ("A Practical Joker"), and we'll see plenty more in future episodes. It's actually quite rare when the holodeck doesn't malfunction and put the crew at risk. You've got wonder why they even put on one the ship.

Lots of references to detective novels in season one. The fictional Dixon Hill novels will be referenced in again in future episodes and also in a completely badass scene in First Contact.

Star Trek TNG S1E13 Datalore

I liked this one, though I think the Wesley bits are a bit insufferable (though I appreciated Picard's 'Shut up, Wesley').

I benefitted from being mid-run, we'd all got to know and become familiar with Data at this point, despite some of the broad, unsubtle writing for him and characters interacting with him (mostly helped by the great performance by Brent Spiner, but also the good performances from some of his fellow actors, particularly Stewart, Frakes and Burton), so the evil twin brother thing really worked. Very enjoyable episode because I think Data is probably the most interesting character by far at this point.

Shame it had a weak third act imo (especially the stuff with Wesley), but all the brother stuff was solid.

Clearly inspired by the "evil Spock" episode. We learn a bit of Data's backstory and we also learn that Data can't use contractions in his speech, which seemed like a contrived way to resolve the ending. It's a bit awkward too, since Data has actually used contractions in previous episodes.