From: jtruss@cauchy.WPI.EDU (Free the Expo 67!)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current
Subject: Group Dynamics Review:  Time's Arrow, Part II (*SPOILERS*)
Date: 27 Sep 92 22:39:34 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
NNTP-Posting-Host: cauchy.wpi.edu

Group Dynamics Review of Season 6, Episode 1:  Time's Arrow, Part II.

     (This is the first in a series of reviews written by a collection
of students here at WPI.  These reviews are our collected opinions and
observations regarding the episodes after watching them together, so
dissention among the people involved will probably be quite common.
We tried this last year, but ran rather low on spare time -- hopefully
this year we can keep it going.  Any comments are welcome.)

     Spoilers follow (24 whitespace lines in case I screw up)...


























     Well, that was quite a letdown.  And to be able to say that after
viewing the episode in a living room full of 30 people who were
starving for any Trek at all after a summer of reruns, is a *bad*
sign.  (This being the same group that gave "Redemption II" a favorable
initial review.)

     Let's start out with the bad parts, to get them out of our system.

     Mark Twain was extraneous.  After being an interesting character
in Part I, he became (depending on which of us you asked) extraneous,
annoying, unnecessary, a bad plot device, or all of the above in Part
II.  It's been said before: he was little more than dead weight to
throw back through the rift so that Picard could be retrieved.
(Actually, he served as the only real time constraint on the crew's
activities in the 19th century.  I still don't understand why Riker
and Crusher were in such a godawful hurry, though I think having Worf
go trigger-happy was the proper response.)

     As for the "destroy them, they must be evil" mentality, it's been
brought up so much it's not worth going into yet again.  Suffice to
say that I can't see Picard condoning that activity.  Worf, yes.
Riker...*maybe*, considering the "loss" of his Captain.  But not
Picard.

     A comment no one has made yet (that I've seen) is that in the
first episode, the tone was much darker.  The aliens were a threat to
humanity and possibly the space-time continuum itself, and the writers
wanted to be certain we understood that.  In the second episode, they
tried to mix in heaping quantities of comic relief which didn't do
anything for the storyline at all.  In fact, the aliens themselves
were totally glossed over...what did they recieve, two (maybe three)
scenes?

     I wasn't that upset about the fact that the away team suddenly
acquired 19th century clothes out of nowhere (though I can't
understand for the life of me why they didn't dress up for the time
period *before* going in).  How Beverly got a job as a nurse so
mind-numbingly quickly (or else snuck into the hospital so easily) is
also something I can't figure out.  I'd like to know...as a senior,
that could be useful knowledge in a few months. ;)

     Was it just us, or did they not even *try* to look for Data once
they got back to the 19th century?

     Andrew, at least, was slightly annoyed that they didn.t tamper
with the timeline at all, since previous time travel episodes have
etablished that it can be done.  To put it in his words, "I thought it
was unimaginative.  It didn't turn out nearly as twisted as I was
expecting.  Maybe I'm just weird, but I think time travel stories
should have a big mindfuck in them or else not be written.  They
could've had Data narrowly escape getting his head blown off.  Then,
when the crew returns to their own time they find out they had gone to
the past for some other reason, since the head was never found.
That's kinda what I was expecting to happen."

     While we're on the subject of Andrew's opinions, there was some
disagreement regarding the immense concern the crew had over Data's
decapitation.  Andrew thought it was "incredibly stupid," considering
how easy it was to reactivate him.  Derek felt that the concern was
more due to the loss of his body, not the damage to his head.
Myself...well, I tried not to think about it overmuch, but I thought
it would have been more appropriate to try activating his head, then
asking him how to reattach everything (a la "Disaster").

     What *was* the thing Data built?

     Enough of the bad.  (Although there are some nitpicks that,
comparatively, aren't worth the trouble to discuss.)  Here's what we
came up with for redeeming qualities:

     "It wasn't a repeat.  It didn't have Wesley, Alexander, or
Lwaxana Troi.  It wasn't directed by Bill Shatner." --Andrew ( ;) )

     The comic relief, for the most part, worked.  It did nothing for
the plotline whatsoever, but at least it got a cheap laugh or two.

     Data's decapitation scene was well done...one of the few we all
seemed to like.  Let's face it, sacrificing himself is the kind of
thing Data does best. :)

     The Guinan/Picard interaction was good.  At least, what there was
of it.  Am I the only one who thinks the writers' continuous 'teasing'
regarding Guinan's past is starting to get a little old?

     (Hmmm...considering the lack of text in the 'good' section, do
you get the sense that we aren't in for a stellar rating?)


RATINGS
-------

Derek...."Minus points for screwing up a really good Part 1.  But
          what worked, worked well.  I give it a totally 
          arbitrary 4."

Andrew..."3.  If it wasn't the season premiere and a followup to a
          promising first half, it'd be an ok if somewhat silly regular
          episode. In context though, I thought it bit."

John....."We'd constructed a mini-festival around the premiere, and
          being in a large group helped a lot.  I think I ignored a
          lot of the problems...but I can't say I enjoyed it.  This
          won't age well at all, but for now, 4."

Liz......"It bit.  3."

Jer......"6, but I *like* Dr. Who."

OVERALL RATING:  Let's call it a 4.0.

(Well, at least they took the firetrails off the opening titles...)

Until next week...

				- John Trussell (jtruss@wpi.wpi.edu)
				  Derek Bacon (lightnin@wpi.wpi.edu)
				  Andrew Petrarca (android@wpi.wpi.edu)
				  Liz Stewart (liz@wpi.wpi.edu)
				  Jer Johnson (mpython@gnu.ai.mit.edu)

Comments are always welcome...

--
john trussell       :: TNG Quote o' the Week: 
TNG g.d.r. Compiler ::   "I keep telling you, there *is* no plot!"
jtruss@wpi.wpi.edu  ::     --Madame Guinan (Time's Arrow, Part II)
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