Yes, good catch.

Just realized that she was the female lead (Vialula) in Doc Hollywood. I thought she was pretty sexy in that role.

ST TNG S3E26: The Best of Both Worlds Part 1



A storming, classic episode to end season 3, with the Borg wiping out a colony and then kidnapping Picard whilst making a run for Earth. I also liked the Riker conundrum (why does he keep turning down commands to stay as Number One?), but the whole business of him and the potential replacement Shelby wasn't quite as good, possibly because Frakes and the actress are middling actors and didn't sell the drama as well as they could have (Frakes fares much better when acting against good actors like Stewart or Spiner).

And it's still exciting to see Picard as his alternate Borg self, Locutus.

Great to see the Borg back, and a rather wonderful cliffhanger - possibly the best in the Star Trek universe.

9/10

It was pretty revolutionary at the time too. While obviously hurt by not being the most popular genre, it was arguably the 2nd best season-ending cliffhanger behind Who Shot JR. Shows just weren't really doing that yet.

Worf's guide to picking up girls is worth the full price of admission. A meh episode, but I do like the fact that Gates McFadden is getting more screen time, as Dr. Crusher was a badly under-used character in seasons 1-2. We get to see more of the sickbay and sci-fi medical technology, but that's not really enough to carry the episode.

If you like obscure ST stuff, this episode introduces the idea that Miles O'Brien frequently suffers from kayaking-related shoulder dislocations, which will become relevant much later in DS9. At this point, that's pretty much all we know about the O'Brien character.

And he built model ships as a younger lad.

Particularly Season 2

I agree Gates is a good actor and more effort should have been put into developing her character. I guess she was hamstrung slightly by being Wesley's mum, so some of her episodes inevitably focused on parental responsibilities, but again, Worf was given a much better premises to explore this with Alexander.

Geordi: That's her
Worf: Which one?
Geordi (excitedly, furtively): The one on the right! (whacks Worf) Don't stare!
Worf: Why not?
Geordi (freaking out): Because she'll see!
Worf: Goooood! You must let her see the fire in your eyes.
Geordi (channeling inner uber-beta): but what would I sayyyyyyy
Worf: (pause) Words come later. It is the scent that first speaks of love.
Geordi: Thanks Worf. That helps a lot.

Geordi doesn't realize this is the best advice he's heard all day, possibly ever.

Riker has GOAT game, but Worf is a close second:



Pretty amazing how much TV has changed; at the time this was pretty incredible stuff to leave the whole show hanging until next season. On rewatching this, the writers did a smart job introducing Cmdr. Shelby as a possible new 1st officer and hinting at Riker taking a command position. Along with Picard's final tour of the ship before battle, the whole episode really does a good job selling the audience the idea that Picard will be leaving the show, only to pull the rug out from under us in part 2.

RIP Anton Yelchin.

wtf

just awful

Terrible news. RIP

Now I'm seeing that his car had been recalled for rollaway issues.

Yep.

"The SUV that rolled down a driveway and killed "Star Trek" actor Anton Yelchin was being recalled because the gear shifters have confused drivers, causing the vehicles to roll away unexpectedly, government records show...

The 2015 model-year Grand Cherokees were part of a global recall of 1.1 million vehicles announced by Fiat Chrysler in April, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration records show.

The agency urged the recall because of complaints from drivers who had trouble telling if they had put the automatic transmissions in park. If they were not in park and a driver left the vehicle, it could roll away."

http://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/cele...cid=spartandhp

Yeah, the shifters on those grand cherokees and most of the new Chryslers are beyond idiotic. There is no tactile feedback or "notches" so you just kind of trial and error until the light lands on the right gear. I could see how it could be a problem. Very sad.

Why is an actor of his caliber and success driving a ****ing Grand Cherokee?

Always the redshirt guys who wind up dying like this.

How can you not know if your car is in park? I'm really curious how badly this was designed if that's the case. It's like not knowing if your faucet is running or not.

ST TNG S4E01: The Best of Both Worlds Part 2



Whilst not quite as good as the first part, it's still pretty great. I like how they made Riker much more captainly as he stepped up to the role, but obviously nowhere near as great or inspirational as Picard. A very enjoyable episode that actually lived up to the promise of the great first part, in the main.

8/10

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Haha, I remember this being so "OMG it's finally here!" after being cliffhung like that.

Can't remember if it's been posted in here or not, but if you use Twitter follow @trekdocs for lots of cool writers notes to each other and story guidelines. Cooler than it might sound.

What's interesting is that the writer didn't bother thinking about how the cliffhanger would be resolved until after episode one had aired. He didn't even know if he'd be on contract to be a writer. Still, the conclusion doesn't come across as being forced or overly kludged together.

Data hacking the Borg collective feels very much like a product of the cyberpunk era of sci-fi that was popular in the late 80s-early 90s.

I saw Star Trek Beyond today. It was a fun movie. Villain was kind of silly but overall, the whole thing felt very Star Trek-y. Especially after the first one, which was an origins story and rehash of The Hero's Journey, and the 2nd one which was a rehash of Wrath of Khan.

ST TNG S4E02: Family

when remembering this episode, I remember it being schmaltzy and unsatisfying. And indeed it does have problems. Each of the 3 plots (Picard, Worf, Wesley) end up not having enough time to build to the payoffs, and there's no Data at all. However, despite this problem where it feels both rushed and unresolved, it's kind of charming. I like seeing Picard, the most English Frenchman ever, go home to France and spend time with his grumpy brother, and I thought the scenes with Picard and his brother settling their differences through violence and drinking was pretty solid. The Worf stuff was also fun, mostly because Michael Dorn sold it so well. The Wesley stuff didn't work at all unfortunately, because it could have been a great scene - the dialogue was fine, the actor's delivery wasn't.

I enjoyed this one way more than I should have.

7/10

I've always thought this episode should have been a two parter. As far as "no Data at all":

S04E03



Brothers continues with the themes of Family, and there's a reason it's right after.