From: jsnell@ocf.berkeley.edu (Jason Snell)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current
Subject: SPOILEReview: "Relics"
Date: 15 Oct 1992 17:54:14 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley Open Computing Facility
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: sandstorm.berkeley.edu

SPOILERama for "Relics"....



The reviewer attrition continues, but it ain't hit me yet...



This episode works wonderfully as a salute to TOS, and so I've
got to say that it would've worked fairly well with me just on
that level. The fact is that, in all likelihood, a large
percentage of this group grew up watching TOS. I know that I can't
really remember a childhood without it... when I was 4 or 5, I
learned not to call it "Star Track"... but even before then, I
was always plopped down in front of the TV at 5 p.m. (or sometimes
6 p.m.) to watch it for a whole hour. Every night. And did so
during most of my (de)formative years.. ;)

Either way, it's a part of my life, a part of my culture, a
part of my worldview. I loved those old shows, so much so that
I could probably quote most of them verbatim from memory, certainly
enough that I can pick out episode titles after seeing 10 seconds
of just about any episode. (Most of you probably can, too).

So of course if an episode makes reference to 4 or 5 TOS shows
("Elaan of Troyus", "The Naked Time", "Wolf in the Fold", and
"By Any Other Name" are the ones I've noted so far, and let's
not forget the "Galaxy's Child" reference as well, in this
reference-crazy episode..), if it uses the old TOS transporter
effect, if it recreates the TOS bridge, I'm going to find a
soft spot in my heart for it.

On that level, this show worked wonderfully well. Scotty was
indeed a fully realized character, an old engineer totally
passed by thanks to 75 years out of the loop. He was suddenly
transformed from being the expert on tech to being a, yes,
Relic.

His exchanges with Geordi were great, from the anger Geordi felt
to his decision to voluntarly go with Scotty to the other ship,
and especially Scotty's directive to never tell the captain the
actual time it'll take you to make the repairs.. :)

On an adventure level, this one worked pretty well, too. The
Dyson Sphere is a concept ST hasn't really hit before, and the
effects of the sphere were great. (Thank god the FX showed the
sphere to be so big as to look flat, and not planet-curved... I
feared they would blow it, but they didn't.) The "countdown to
death" was one I hadn't seen before, so that helped... And the
solution was great fun.

The ending was, I admit, a bit sappy. I would have rather they
just met quietly with Scotty and talked to him, perhaps that
talk about the past Picard had requested, with us knowing that
a ship was on its way to rendezvous with Scotty. But I get the
feeling that we got this ending to make room for later appearances
of Scotty on Deep Space Nine. 

Ah, well. A minor point in an enjoyable episode. Even the reason
for his transport into the future was fairly reasonable.. I mean,
if anyone could do it, couldn't Montgomery Scott?

I could go on and on, but I won't. It was great fun. Even
the title was right on, with multiple meanings...

Grade: A.

Season to date:
Time's Arrow II: B-
Realm of Fear: C+
Man of the People: D
Relics: A

Again, my grades drift with the tide... I've been forgetting
to save them. So sue me.

Next week: Looks somewhat promising, for a change. This episode
obviously notwithstanding, I'm getting the feeling this year's
going to be really lame. But I hope I'm wrong.

By the way, did anyone notice that the two-part TNG episode
slated for January is called "Chain of Command"? Anyone remember
the title of the (rejected) TNG script I co-wrote? Grrr... :)

-jason

-- 
  Jason Snell / jsnell@ocf.berkeley.edu / Cal Graduate School of Journalism
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