From: kanamori@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Atsushi Kanamori)
Subject: 3 in 1 Opinionated Comments (1st season episodes)
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University.
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 21:21:05 GMT


 
This post contains reviews for the episodes:

        ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT
        THE NAKED NOW
        CODE OF HONOR





ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT
---------------------


My one line impression of E@F: "technically proficient." There's a lot
more attention to action and FX than usual and the music is hard-hitting and
noticeable. It sounds a lot like Dennis McCarthy's "V" music (the
"SCREEEEEECH-screech-screech-SCREEEECH-SCREEEEEEEEEECH" fanfare being taken
verbatim from that series.) At least a few segments (the opening
starfield, the Enterprise shot after saucer reconnect, the McCoy-Data
exchange) caught my attention; enough so that I played those scenes
several times just to listen to the music. 

The SFX were excellent -- several shots really caught my eye: the glowing 
curtain that blocks the Enterprise, and the Big E doing a U-turn while the 
saucer detaches. 

(You *know*, of course, when I start out a review by praising the technical
aspects of a show, the episode is in trouble :-)

The character bits are okay for a crew who's just getting to know each
other. I especially liked the part where Picard tested Riker. A quick
rundown on the characters:

   Picard: Hmm... he doesn't seem to have changed much over the years.
     At least, he didn't strike me as fundamentally different from season 5.

   Riker: Again, I didn't detect much difference -- other than that he's
     visually unrecognizable without the beard :-)

   Worf: Geez, has he been breathing helium or something? I guess Dorn
     hasn't gotten into the role yet (of course, he has less to do in
     this outing than any other character.)

   Data: A bit more expressive than usual, and I suspect those 
     "word: synonym1,synonym2,synonym3..." recitals are going to get
     mighty tiresome in the near future.

   Tasha: Is Crosby just a bad actress or is she's supposed to act
     spazzed-out? Chill out, lady.

   Geordi: As often, I have nothing to say about this character.

   Beverly: Her head is redder, but I don't detect anything fundamentally
     different.

   Troi: Ehhh... definitely not the SuperTroi we've been seeing lately.
     First, she seems to state the patently obvious ("He's frozen!").
     Second, her very ROLE in this episode is to TELL us (and tell the
     crew) about the emotions and motivations of Q and the jellyfish.
     So much for subtlely acted character drama where the fascination
     comes from trying to figure out the true feelings and motivations
     of the player. Finally, that *outfit*! Geez, guys, can we manage to 
     be a LITTLE more obvious about her "hot babe" role on the show? 

   Wesley: Precocious 14 year old -- yep, I can see why people hated
     this character. He's fun as a foil for annoying the other characters,
     but TFD-style Cadet Crusher he is not.

I haven't even mentioned the plots yet, and that's because they're not much
to crow about. The "Q" plot is a tired one: the self-righteous superbeing
putting humanity on trial is old and obvious, and lends itself to a lot of
sledge-hammer sloganeering about how savage we are in the 20th century and 
how civilized and advanced the TNG generation is ("THIS COURT SHOULD GET ON 
ITS KNEES FOR WHAT STARFLEET STANDS FOR!!!"). The "Farpoint mystery" 
plot wasn't a bad idea *but* it forces the regulars to take too passive
a role. Most of it is spent examining endless tunnels and talking about
how mysterious it all is; the characters react to, rather than drive 
events. It drags, and reminds me of ST:TMP in a vague way, especially 
the conclusion where we're treated to the Handholding Jellyfish and everyone's
oohing and ahhing over how b'yootiful it all is (complete with Troi telling
us how happy and grateful they are, as we couldn't figure it out ourselves.)
Picard's closing line ("I'm sure that [future missions] will be *much* more
interesting.") was rather poor judgement on the part of the writers --
it gives far too much ammunition to the critics.

My overall feeling of E@F is "eye candy." As an introduction to the 
characters, it works -- and except for the tunnel scenes, the episode
moves briskly and pops lots of new and flashy gymcracks at us: this episode 
isn't *boring* by any means. Unfortunately, it isn't particularly *memorable*
either. The plots are frivolous (and "Q" is more campy than threatening)
and no one thread gets sufficiently developed to achieve a dramatic
impact. As a result of focusing on 9 different characters simultaneously,
E@F is diffused and unwieldy; a collection of colorful props and 
scenes that lack a central focus where the drama can collect. It's an okay 
start to the series; something to build upon, but a classic, it's not.


GRADE SHEET FOR "ENCOUNTER AT FARPOINT"

   Premise:    D  (the "superbeing tests humanity" is old stuff, and the
                   "Farpoint mystery" is rather lightweight.)
   Execution:  B  (the character bits are fine and the show is technically
                   proficient, but the Farpoint investigation gets a tad
                   tedious.)
   Characters: C  (okay for a first time outing)
   Acting:     B- (Dorn and Crosby are a little green, the rest are standard.)
   Music:      C+ (noticeable but random; still, it has a few nice segments.)

   Overall:    C  (not great, but a decent start.)




THE NAKED NOW
-------------


I don't know if TNN was intended as a character development story or as
a parody of TNT. Either way, it fails utterly.

First, the plot larceny. I assume Mr. Bingham never copied an assignment
in school because if he'd had, anyone with one eye could have caught him.
They not only stole the basic premise, but major plot elements too.
Insidious water molecules, frozen people, crewman takes over Engineering,
must recover control to save the ship. At least, they included the original 
writer in the original credits but heavens, this showed a lot of gall.

Second, the characterizations. In a word, blechhh. In the original, the
infection at least showed something INTERESTING about Kirk and Spock. Each
one had to do with an inner struggle betwen conflicting demands. It was
a believable struggle and one that *challenged* the characters and gave
them something to work towards. In TNN, what we get is highly superficial. 
Geordi wants normal vision. Aww. Such a problem invites a technological
solution, not a character-growth solution. All this does is make LaForge
look like a whiner. Data wants to be human. Okay, this is a tad better but
it's still a yearning, not a conflict. If he succeeds, he wins. If no,
he's no worse off. Nothing's at stake but himself. 

The portrayal of the women is atrocious. It can be summed up in three words:
sex, sex and sex. Instead of building Troi, Beverly and Tasha, this episode
trivializes them to the worst of TV stereotypes. 

Finally, we get to Wesley. In words of one syllable...

 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Thank you. NOW I know why everyone hated him so. There is nothing even
*remotely* believable, interesting or likable about this Mr. Crusher. 
A 14 year old kid can build a mini-tractor beam and forge the Captain's
voice in his spare time? He can rewire a starship's tractor beam 
by working the plans out in his head??? Okay, I know it's possible --
but it's BORING and trite. Furthermore, what we learn about him from
the infection is as superficial and poorly developed as what we learn about 
Geordi and Data. He dreams of being a starship captain. U.S.S. 
Enterprise-D -- ship full of whiners, sexpots and dreamers. 

Third, the heavy-handed comparison of the infection to alcohol
and open lecturing about its evil effects. Spare us the public-service
messages, please.

THE NAKED NOW was a naked ripoff. It was larcenous and the characterizations
were superficial, self-centered and poorly developed. I'm hard pressed to 
think of anything good to say about it. Well okay, maybe one: composer 
Ron Jones does a pretty mean Fred Steiner imitation. Had me fooled. :-)


THE NAKED NOW:

   Premise:    F  (stealing not just the premise but half the damned script!)
   Execution:  F  (did Roddenberry have *anything* on his mind other than
                   sex? A ship full of trained officers and a 14 year old
                   saves the damn kazoo?)
   Characters: F  (wonderful: we have not one but *three* Ensign Ro's)
   Acting:     B+ (I *hate* rewarding acting of this kind but I must admit,
                   they were supposed to look like idiots and they did.)
   Music:      C  (Ron Jones does Fred Steiner and fools me -- if a "C"
                   was good enough for TOS music, it's good enough for this.)

   Overall:    F  (unbelievable gall)


     
CODE OF HONOR
-------------



Yeah, and...?

I'm still trying to figure out what the POINT of this show was. It
didn't seem to have anything new to say or do. The episode gets off
to a hokey start from the beginning when the "aliens" turn out to be
tribal primitives lifted straight out of Africa. Real imaginative, guys. We 
move from there to a routine action-adventure story that goes through all 
the motions but does nothing even remotely interesting or original in the 
process.

The script is pedantic in the extreme. The characters openly lecture
each other about issues like male superiority, cultural tolerance, 
humanity and honor, and how savage we poor 20th century people are compared
to the peace-loving and enlightened (I might add "stuck up" and "didactic")
24th century. That Picard all but acknowledges this at one point makes
it no less irritating. The Ligonian characters are a cliche among 
cliches -- everyone who hasn't seen these characters on your generic
episode of TARZAN raise your hand. Except for a few lines here and there,
the characters are walking speech-makers; they're not even *remotely*
believable.

The ending is confusing -- how is it that Yareena (Yar vs. Yareena -- how
clever) can suddenly take a husband and declare Lutan as her second? Also,
the fate of the vaccine is left dangling -- who exactly carries the
authority on the planet and why? Perhaps I missed something here -- but
I don't feel like rewatching the show to find out.

There were a few amusing lines here and there: the above mentioned
Picard bit about rambling on about what everyone knows, and Hagon's
repartee about how the Enterprise crew is advanced technologically but
not in civilized behavior. Oh yeah -- Fred Steiner's music added something
too. 

That's about it, though. I really have nothing much to say about CoH.
I've seen worse episodes on TNG, but none so forgettable.


GRADE SHEET FOR "CODE OF HONOR"

  Premise:     D  (I can't recall a story that was so... *routine*)
  Execution:   D- (*very* pedantic script -- a few amusing bits here and
                   there but that's about all.)
  Characters:  D  (Troi is mighty annoying the way she keeps TELLING us
                   about the Ligonian characters -- the Ligonians themselves
                   are cardboard cutouts.)
  Acting:      B  (Not much acting was called for here -- anyway, I didn't
                   notice it.)
  Music:       C  (That's what Fred was worth on TOS, and that's what he's
                   worth here.)

  Overall:     D  (Eminently forgettable.)




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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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