From: kanamori@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Atsushi Kanamori)
Subject: Re: First Duty (Spoilers)
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University.
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 13:51:23 GMT

In article <1992Apr07.115414.25749@orionsci> goodwin@orionsci.uucp (Ben Goodwin) writes:
>Spoilers for First Duty



>First the grade then you can hit <n>
>Grade D




>Sorry, hated almost everything about this one.  I am not kidding.
>Reasons follow.
>
>I couldn't buy the whole premise.  Let's see, Wesley knows that the
>maneuver is dangerous and regardless of whether they pull it off or
>not there is going to be a reprimand at the least.  Joshua whatshisname
>isn't ready for the maneuver.  Wesley stated at sometime that Josh had
>been shakey as of late and yet Wesley decides to risk it all on a stupid
>childish prank.  I couldn't buy this characterization of Wesley.  

I could. In fact, it was one of the few times W.C. was a believable
character. The only part of his characterization I *couldn't* buy
was that he'd be more concerned about loyalty to Nick than his own career --
and that's, IMO, due to the writing/acting of Nick than of Wesley.


>And
>then when the board questions him he lies.  And he refuses to answer
>to Picard.  I am not surprised by Picards actions in the conference room.
>Wesley has shown himself to be a mature person in the last 4 years and
>now this?  Sorry, ruined it for me.

I, for one, HATED that perfect, socially-correct boy-genius. I'm extremely 
glad they finally showed him as a flawed human being.


>The leader of nova squadron was a jerk.  Who would follow him?  OK,
>just kidding.  He was an egotistical selfserving fool who got exactly
>what he deserved.  God, I wouldn't want to serve under him.  His
>attempts at controlling Wesley reminded me of the mind games we used to
>play when we were 10 years old.  His methods would have pushed me the
>other way.  But Wesley, savior of the Universe, fell for his stupid and
>obvious arguments.

Here, I'm with you. The writers seemed to be *trying* to make Nicholas
into an unscrupulous but charismatic leader, which would have been a really
compelling and frightening characterization, IMO. Somewhere between the 
dialogue and the acting, however, it failed to come off -- Nick *was*
a jerk.


>Oh, and to the person who compared the leader of Nova Squadron to
>James T Kirk, I have this to say; NFW (No F*cking Way)!  

I second that.


>Boothby, totally unnecessary waste of time.  The scene with Picard trying
>to thank him, and Boothby saying "you just needed to listen to yourself"
>grated on me.  I didn't like Picard in that scene.

I didn't mind Picard, but I hated the Boothby scenes too. They were
time-consuming and gratuitous.


>One interesting note:  It seemed to me that when Picard went to Boothby
>to ask about Nova squadron Boothby was very cool, as if he knew what 
>had probably happened and was pretty angry at the squad.  Didn't he
>say something to the affect "Ah nova, I know them all" in an angry
>voice and then walk away.  It seemed that Picard picked it up too.  Oh
>well, I may be wrong.

It was quite obvious to me that it was meant to clue Picard in on the
true nature of the Nova squad teammembers. I would have preferred if
those clues had come between the lines from the team members themselves.
OTOH, it's not like Boothby said it straight out -- and it's a BIG
improvement over Troi handing it to us on a silver platter a la
season 1.


>Sorry, I liked the Vulcan.  I was cringing as he cross examined the
>cadets and showed that they were obviously lying.  Said to myself, "gee,
>wouldn't want him on a board of inquiry if I was the accused."

I was cringing too, as in "how can an actor that incompetent find work?"
His behavior was inappropriate, both for a Vulcan and an Starfleet 
officer -- and actors who try to ham their way into scenes like that
are all but guaranteed to get the cold shoulder from me.


>The scene in Picard's ready room was fabulous.  Saved it from an F.
>Stewart was great.  Even Wesley did well in that scene.

Agreed, agreed and agreed.


>Didn't really like the scene where Picard informed Beverly that Wesley
>was OK.  I'm no psychologist, but the wooden, hypnotized manner didn't
>cut it for me.  If my little girl (22 months) was injured and they told
>me she was alright, I'd be overjoyed.  Beat the grim reaper again.

It didn't really work for me either. It may, or may not, be realistic
but dramatically, it just fizzled.


>Oh well, hope the next one's better.

Very, *very* unlikely, given what I've heard about it :-( In fact,
it may just push out NEW GROUND as my least favorite episode of all
time.


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------------ -------------------------- --------------------------
TNG Lifelines: From "Yesterday's Enterprise" To "Cause & Effect" --
  "Captain, we are getting unusual readings 20,000 km off the
   starboard bow." -- Worf, Worf, Worf and Ensign Ro.

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