From: amcmicha@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (Andrew McMichael)
Subject: All New Review(er)  ---- Man of the People
Organization: George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 01:04:32 GMT

Spoilers



 
 
The All new Spoiler Review.  
 
After reading this newsgroup for the past year and seeing
all of the mostly negative comments directed towards Star 
Trek: The Next Generatioin, I have decided to begin posting 
a review that comes from a basically pro-trek source.  I like 
Star Trek.  I enjoy watching the episodes from week to 
week, and even though I find problems with the episodes 
from time to time,  I have only found 2 or three episodes 
that I would consider 'bad'.  So I am going to write this 
review from week to week on this basis.   There will be 
criticism of various parts of each episode, of course, but in 
general it will reflect the fact that I find Star Trek to be an 
entirely enjoyable experience.  So...........
 
 
 
Spoilers may follow
 
 
^L
 
 
Man of the People.
 
	I found man of the people to be one of the better 
episodes, suspense-wise, and if the plot had centered 
around any other actress than Marina Sirtis, it would have 
been one of my favorites.  The problem is that Marina still 
cannot act, and the character of Deanna is still a washout.  I 
thoroughly enjoyed the opening scenes with the 
ambassadors 'mother'.  I thought that that character was 
well played.  Although the 'teaser' was a bit contrived, I 
found the intensity of the confrontation outside of the 
ambassadors quarters to be quite good.   
 
It was quite refreshing to see a male ambassador in Star 
Fleet again.  I thought that the producers had gotten a bit 
too 'P.C.'.    Worf teaching T'ai Chsh 'although y form of combat. 
 
For efficiency, shouldn't the crew evaluations be in 
alphabetical order, both by section and by name?  Maybe 
I'm missing something. 
 
The fact that the ambassador showing no sorrow over the 
death of his 'mother' was a pretty good lead-in.   Deanna's 
look when the link is established, along with her horror 
simply serve to reinforce what a poor actress Sirtis is.  I 
mean, is she reading cue cards?   Is it possible for Deanna to 
have a serious episode that does not involve her 'abilities'?  
Not that I wish to find out.  She just cannot be taken 
seriously.
 
While I felt sorry for the crewman who came for 
counseling, it was nice to see Deanna bash someone.  
However if these are her true feelings [ie, what her 'bad' 
side feels], why does she have a counselor's job in the first place.  The crewman is a better actress than Sirtis as well.
 
Picard breaks the Prime directive in a big way by 
authorizing the autopsy.  And the con between 
tssador and Picard seembit tosupeson the ambassador's homeworld, this type of behavior is 
normal.
 
I cheered when Crusher said that they were gonna have to 
kill Deanna.  And for a moment, I thought they might.  I 
enjoyed the tension of the final scene, and thought that the 
ambassador might actually get his aide to link.  The 
animation that returned Deanna to 'normal' was first class.
 
 
 
Anyway, there it is.  Overall I give it a 7.5 out of 10 on the 
subjective-o-meter.  Good suspense. Decent plot. Good 
dialogue.  Without Deanna as the central character [perhaps 
with Geordi or even Keiko] it would have been a solid 9.
 
 
 
amcmicha@gmuvax2.gmu.edu