May 2013
8 posts
15 tags
278. [TNG] Yesterday's Enterprise
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
Due to the nature of this episode, we get an early (and memorable) scene with Guinan introducing prune juice to Worf. “A warrior’s drink,” he proclaims, and forever more will he be drinking this drink and taking regular shits. But he’s called to the bridge because of a space thing that pops up nearby. They’re not able to accurately...
Anonymous asked: Are you going to review Into Darkness?
10 tags
277. [TNG] A Matter of Perspective
SCORE: (3/5 stars)
It’s a genuine murder mystery as Riker is beamed aboard the Enterprise the split-second that the space station he was on explodes, killing the sole scientist aboard, Dr. Apgar. That’s only the start of Riker’s troubles. You see, the explosion is under investigation as a potential murder… and Riker is the primary suspect. Worse still, this society...
9 tags
276. [TNG] Deja Q
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
While attempting to divert a small moon that is rapidly deorbiting toward an inhabited world, the Enterprise is paid a visit by our favorite naked deity, Q. Naked?! Why is he naked? As he explains after getting some clothes on that he hates, he’s been kicked out of the Q Continuum and stripped of his powers. He’s now as human and mortal as the crew of the...
9 tags
275. [TNG] The High Ground
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
The Enterprise has arrived at Rutia IV to deliver medical supplies in the wake of terrorist attacks. Freedom fighters from the eastern continent have been demanding independence from the western continent and turned violent when their pleas weren’t heeded. When a bomb goes off near Dr. Crusher who’s having lunch, she quickly takes to caring for the injured...
10 tags
274. [TNG] The Hunted
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
Angosia III is applying for Federation membership and Picard’s visiting its capital city to compile a report and recommendation. The leader of the planet is Zefram Cochrane! Well, not really, his name’s Nayrok, but he’s played by James Cromwell. You can actually get a pretty good feel for just how gigantic Cromwell is when he stands a good inch or two...
11 tags
273. [TNG] The Defector
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
Picard observes Data performing Shakespeare’s Henry V, act IV, scene 1 on the holodeck, which is a bonus since Patrick Stewart, renowned Shakespearean actor, is also playing one of the holographic players. As he gives Data critiques on his performance, he advises him not to copy too much from other performances, but to draw from within to find his own inspiration....
10 tags
272. [TNG] The Vengeance Factor
SCORE: (2/5 stars)
The Enterprise is drawn into a tribal conflict within a people known as the Acamarians when an outcast caste (how many casts can an outcast caste cast?) raids a Federation science lab. Picard sets a course for the Acamar system to enlist the aid of Marouk, the Sovereign of the Acamarians. While Picard discusses ways to get the Gatherers brought back into the fold with...
April 2013
14 posts
10 tags
271. [TNG] The Price
SCORE: (2/5 stars)
The Enterprise is serving as the venue for negotiations for the rights to the first discovered stable wormhole, connecting the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants. (Now, I know what you’re thinking, but no, this isn’t the Bajoran wormhole.) Representatives of multiple governments are there to be the highest bidder, and the Federation is no exception. One species, the...
13 tags
270. [TNG] The Enemy
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
Investigating a crashed ship on a Federation world near the Romulan Neutral Zone, they discover an injured Romulan. Because of the intense electromagnetic storms on the planet, they have limited windows to beam out, and Geordi gets separated from the group, falling into a pit. While Worf, Riker and the Romulan beam up, Geordi is left down on the planet to fend for...
9 tags
269. [TNG] Booby Trap
SCORE: (3/5 stars)
The Enterprise trips a thousand-year-old booby trap, and Geordi figures out that he doesn’t need to take girls on dates in the holodeck when he can just have dates with girls on the holodeck. With that snark summary out of the way… Geordi’s struck out with a girl on the holodeck and is all mopey to Guinan about it. Meanwhile, the Enterprise has picked...
10 tags
268. [TNG] The Bonding
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
When an away team led by Worf encounters a proximity mine on a dead world, Troi senses it from the ship and orders them beamed up immediately. Unfortunately, they were too late to save the ship’s archaeologist, Marla Aster. She is survived by her 12-year-old son, Jeremy. Poor kid. Worf feels a sense of responsibility for the orphaned child. He too is an orphan,...
9 tags
267. [TNG] Who Watches the Watchers
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
A research team studying a primitive civilization suffers a rather large explosion at their base, hidden inside Kirk’s Rock and disguised by a holographic barrier. The Enterprise arrives to give aid to the scientists and to repair the systems of the observation post, but unfortunately for them, some local Mintakans coming to check their sundial notice the loss of...
6 tags
April 25th: The Best of Both Worlds in theaters →
http://www.fathomevents.com/#!star-trek-best-of-both-worlds
Just figured I’d let you all know, if you want to see the epic Borg 2-parter, it’ll be in theaters one night only next Thursday in select theaters. Buy tickets now!
10 tags
266. [TNG] The Survivors
SCORE: (3/5 stars)
Responding to a distress call on a Federation colony, the Enterprise arrives to discover the entire planet’s surface has been obliterated… all except for one house with an elderly couple, the Uxbridges. Rishon is a kindly woman who makes tea and is very hospitable, but Kevin is a very private sort who wants to be left alone. They knew that much of the colony...
9 tags
265. [TNG] The Ensigns of Command
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
Data’s about to perform in a string quartet in Ten Forward, the first of many concerts we see in that lounge. (Side note: O’Brien plays cello? How come that never comes up in DS9?) When he sees Picard and Dr. Crusher are in attendance, he recommends they come to the second performance when someone else is on first violin, as he believes his performance is...
13 tags
264. [TNG] Evolution
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
Season three! Collared uniforms! The return of Doctor Crusher! And guest-starring Dr. Kelso! Yes, I know his character’s name is Dr. Stubbs, but that’s a stupid name and he’s Dr. Kelso on Scrubs so he’s also Dr. Kelso here. And any one of you who dares to challenge me on that, we will throw down in the Klingon calisthenics program with safeties...
7 tags
263. [TNG] Season 2 Review
SCORE: (3.55/5 stars)
The growing pains of TNG have begun to subside and we start getting into the real meat of the series. Major ethical questions are raised. Is Data a person? He’s not flesh and blood like the rest of us and certainly he’d be unique if we consider him a lifeform. Do we ascribe him personhood just because he’s made to resemble a man, or is there more to him...
10 tags
262. [TNG] Shades of Gray
SCORE: (1/5 stars)
I’ve found it! The worst episode of Star Trek! (Well, until Voyager when Janeway and Paris have lizard sex.) So the writer’s strike was looming, meaning season 2 was getting truncated. They had very little time to write a script, and because of big-budget episodes like “Elementary, Dear Data” and “Q Who,” Paramount wanted them to save...
8 tags
261. [TNG] Peak Performance
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
If memory serves, the last time a ship named Enterprise engaged in a war game, it resulted in the loss of multiple starships. But hey, that was so long ago, when Constitution-class starships were the soup du jour and if they were in the episode and not named Enterprise, they were dead. Surely if the Enterprise-D engages in such a wargame, nothing bad will happen, right?...
11 tags
260. [TNG] The Emissary
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
This episode, titled “The Emissary,” is not to be confused with the DS9 pilot episode, titled “Emissary” (no “the”). Hope that’s cleared up. We open again on our favorite Enterprise pastime: poker! You know this is an early episode, because Worf clears house. That’s the last time that’ll happen. Worf’s a lot...
8 tags
259. [TNG] Manhunt
SCORE: (2/5 stars)
Lwaxana Troi comes on board to marry any willing (or unwilling) male on board, and Mick Fleetwood is a fish. As you can probably guess from this being a Lwaxana-centric episode, it’s gonna be pretty light in terms of things actually going on, because she’s enough of a nuisance that it would be cruel to throw more at the Enterprise. (Oh God, could you imagine...
March 2013
13 posts
7 tags
258. [TNG] Up the Long Ladder
SCORE: (2/5 stars)
Worf’s come down with the Klingon measles. What an embarrassment! It’s a disease for a child, not a stoic warrior. Fortunately for him, Dr. Pulaski covers and makes up a cover story for him: that he decided he was too much of a warrior for food. In exchange, Worf invites her to a Klingon tea party. Seriously. And it is very much a Klingon tea party....
7 tags
257. [TNG] Samaritan Snare
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
Wesley’s scheduled to take some Starfleet exams at a nearby starbase when Picard unexpectedly announces he has some business at that Starbase too and will be tagging along for the shuttle ride. Riker’s clearly surprised as they were going to be studying a pulsar cluster that Picard had really been looking forward to. For Picard, this is a matter of image and...
8 tags
256. [TNG] Q Who
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
Let’s do a test. Call up a friend, someone you know watches Star Trek. (Or, if you live in the 21st century, text them or message them on Facebook. I know, people who were born in the 80s still use their phone as a phone.) Ask them to name one TNG villain. Go! Ask them! I’ll be waiting here. I’m extremely patient, being a block of text, and I...
7 tags
255. [TNG] Pen Pals
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
While investigating a planet that went from pristine blue-green to volcanic black in a matter of hours, Riker suggests that this could be a good teaching moment for Wesley and proposes that he head up a geological survey team. While this does eventually end up with Wesley inadvertently saving the day, the handling of it is one I’m okay with. He has to grapple with...
7 tags
254. [TNG] The Icarus Factor
SCORE: (3/5 stars)
Not much Trekking through the Stars is done in this episode, which is far more about relationships. Riker has been offered the command of the USS Aries, and a strategic attache is going to come aboard at Starbase Montgomery to brief him on the assignment. Riker is stunned to find out that the attache that materializes on the transporter is his father Kyle Riker. They...
7 tags
253. [TNG] Time Squared
SCORE: (2/5 stars)
The Enterprise encounters a Federation shuttlecraft adrift in space, too far out to have gotten there on its own. They pull it into the shuttlebay but discover a few disturbing things. For one, its registry is NCC-1701-D, USS Enterprise, Shuttlecraft 05. For another, the shuttle with that registry is sitting right next to it in the shuttle bay. For a third, an...
7 tags
252. [TNG] The Royale
SCORE: (3/5 stars)
Investigating ship wreckage in orbit of an impossibly hostile world (see my nitpicks after the cut), they beam aboard a scrap of hull with very familiar markings: NASA. Since this planet is way farther than humanity was capable of reaching in the era of NASA (and the 52 stars of the US flag place the year between 2032 and 2079), this clearly deserves further...
7 tags
251. [TNG] Contagion
SCORE: (3/5 stars)
The Enterprise meets up with her sister ship, the Yamato, deep inside the Neutral Zone. The Yamato was investigating the ancient Iconian civlization, an empire that spanned a good chunk of the galaxy 200,000 years ago. Captain Varley believes he may have found the Iconian homeworld, which explains why he was in violation of the Neutral Zone. If the Romulans found...
7 tags
250. [TNG] The Dauphin
SCORE: (3/5 stars)
The Enterprise is providing transport for the future leader of Daled IV, a girl named Salia, raised her entire life offworld to serve as a uniter to end the warring on her home planet. She’s never left Klavdia III, the planet she was raised on, so there are so many new things for her to experience—if only her governess Anya would allow her the slightest bit of fun or...
7 tags
249. [TNG] The Measure of a Man
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
Before we even begin, I cannot stress enough that if you only watch one episode of Star Trek, make it this one. Of my personal favorites in TNG, the top three are “The Measure of a Man,” “Cause and Effect,” and “The Inner Light.” Each one plays to its strengths. “Cause and Effect” is an extremely fun pure science fiction story, “The Inner Light” is an emotional roller coaster,...
7 tags
248. [TNG] A Matter of Honor
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
The Enterprise receives a couple of new officers participating in the Officer Exchange Program, a cultural exchange that brings in crew from other races. One of them is a Benzite named Mendon, but Wesley mistakes him for the Benzite he competed against when applying for the academy. Mendon corrects him, but then Wesley asks why they look the same. (OH MY GOD WESLEY, YOU...
7 tags
247. [TNG] Unnatural Selection
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
[Small announcement: we have moved from http://chronotrek.tumblr.com/ to http://www.chronotrek.com/. Old links will still work, but now the URL is all cool and standalone.]
So remember “The Deadly Years,” that episode of TOS where a disease was causing people to rapidly age and die, and the cure was only found at the last minute and worked even though it was untested? Me...
7 tags
246. [TNG] The Schizoid Man
SCORE: (2/5 stars)
In a cute but nearly unrelated opening vignette, Data has a surprise for Geordi and Troi waiting for them in his quarters. They arrive to find him spouting a full beard. It’s pretty much the worst-looking thing ever, Deanna can’t hold in her laughter, and neither can I. Data wisely shaves it off before the rest of the episode begins. The Enterprise responds to a...
February 2013
12 posts
7 tags
245. [TNG] Loud as a Whisper
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
The Enterprise is escorting a skilled negotiator by the name of Riva to mediate between two warring factions on a planet. Riva is a very unusual specimen—as part of the lineage of a long royal line, he’s inherited an incurable form of deafness. However, his species has a form of telepathy, and he is accompanied by a chorus of three people who speak for different aspects...
7 tags
244. [TNG] The Outrageous Okona
SCORE: (1/5 stars)
In the only case of a canonical Mary Sue worse than Wesley Crusher, we have this abysmal episode where a rogueish man by the name of Okona arrives on the Enterprise to bed all its female officers (including a young Teri Hatcher) and constantly pose for a Peter Pan portrait. And of course, because he’s a rogueish charming Mary Sue, the other Mary Sue on the show is going...
243. [TNG] Elementary, Dear Data
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
It’s a return to the holodeck as Data and Geordi don 19th century attire, taking on the roles of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. They forgot to check with the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle, though. (For realsies. The writers thought Holmes had fallen into public domain—it had not. There’s a sequel to this episode that doesn’t air until season 7 because they...
7 tags
242. [TNG] Where Silence Has Lease
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
In the cold open, we’re treated to Riker joining Worf in on his daily session of “Klingon calisthenics,” which is a fancy way of saying “Worf punches monsters to death.” Worf was kinda losing his badassitude by getting thrown across the bridge by every single bad guy to beam over, and this does continue, but it’s clear this holodeck program (and later the...
7 tags
241. [TNG] The Child
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
It’s season two! The second season of any show means changes. Riker has a glorious beard. LaForge is now Chief Engineer. Wesley is now wearing a much cooler grey uniform (kind of reminiscent of the later DS9 uniforms) instead of that rainbow sweater. Deanna is impregnated by an alien energy sperm. We’ve got a bar at the bow of the ship with a mysterious bartender...
7 tags
240. [TNG] Season 1 Review
SCORE: (3.23/5 stars)
We’ve arrived. Quite possibly one of the greatest television series in history has begun. Well, okay, maybe it’s not there yet. Wesley hasn’t been shipped off to Starfleet Academy and is still wearing that stupid rainbow sweater, Riker’s got a smooth babyface and no shoulder padding, Worf’s head is gigantic, and their uniforms are one-piece...
7 tags
239. [TNG] The Neutral Zone
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
The Enterprise encounters a derelict 20th century Earth cryoship with 3 bodies aboard. They were dead before they were frozen (obviously, as 20th century technology didn’t have a way to revive cryogenically frozen people) in the hopes that future medical science would bring them back. I know, I know, people who bought into that stuff are crazy and/or Walt Disney, but if...
7 tags
238. [TNG] Conspiracy
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
You may remember a few episodes back, Admiral Quinn warned Picard of a growing conspiracy in Starfleet. Well, no worries. The seed has grown and it’s time to harvest that plot. Picard is summoned to a very secretive meeting by the top captains in Starfleet, spearheaded by his old friend Walker Keel. Keel subjects him to a rigorous grilling about their past, giving false...
7 tags
237. [TNG] We'll Always Have Paris
SCORE: (3/5 stars)
En route to a planet for some shore leave (stock Star Trek setting #381B), the Enterprise begins suffering from some temporal hiccups (though Data would dispute that term) and finds that they weren’t the only ones, with reports from distant systems experiencing the same phenomenon, events repeating themselves, people seeing their immediate past/future selves. The likely...
7 tags
236. [TNG] Skin of Evil
SCORE: (2/5 stars)
Some background before we get this underway. Denise Crosby was feeling underutilized on the show. She felt that her character had absolutely nothing to do except stand behind the captain and fire phasers. So, she decided she wanted to pursue other acting interests and asked to be written out of the show. I wonder if she’s kicking herself for that decision; she certainly...
7 tags
235. [TNG] Symbiosis
SCORE: (4/5 stars)
The Enterprise responds to a distress call, a ship with failing engines that’s breaking up in a planet’s atmosphere. The captain doesn’t seem to have the first clue about basic operations on the ship he claims he’s served aboard for 7 years, and in general he seems pretty out of sorts. When they arrange a beamout of the 6 people aboard the ship, they...
7 tags
234. [TNG] The Arsenal of Freedom
SCORE: (2/5 stars)
The Enterprise is investigating the disappearance of the USS Drake and comes across a planet home to a race of arms dealers. Only something’s gone wrong and all sapient life on the planet has been wiped out. A recorded message hails the Enterprise, boasting of their advanced weapons systems for sale. Naturally, on a planet that had its entire population wiped out but...
January 2013
12 posts
7 tags
233. [TNG] Heart of Glory
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
Investigating signs of a battle near the Neutral Zone, the Enterprise comes across a badly damaged freighter, with no signs of the other vessel. Primary suspects are the Ferengi, or potentially the Romulans (though there’s been little to no contact between the Federation and the Romulans for a generation). There are only three survivors aboard the freighter—and...
7 tags
232. [TNG] Coming of Age
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
The Enterprise is in orbit around Relva VII, where a Starfleet Academy placement test is being held. None other than Wesley Crusher is one of four finalists (by the skin of his teeth; he actually won’t be the required age of 16 until next month), and naturally he’s nervous. His competition is Mordock, a famous Benzite scientist Wes is surpised wasn’t already...
7 tags
231. [TNG] Home Soil
SCORE: (5/5 stars)
The Enterprise is making a routine checkup on a terraforming station set on a planet in the Pleiades cluster, but Mandl the administrator doesn’t seem pleased about this development. “We alarm him for some reason,” says Troi of the shifty administrator who didn’t answer the hail for 2 minutes and then tries to shoo the ship on its way. Really, Troi? You got all...
