From: kanamori@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Atsushi Kanamori)
Subject: 3 more reviews (JUSTICE ... HIDE & Q)
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University.
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 13:26:20 GMT

This posting contains reviews for:

           JUSTICE
           THE BATTLE
           HIDE AND Q




JUSTICE
-------



Ugh.

Not one of TNG's smashing successes. I could see what they were trying to do
but it didn't work at all. They botched it on virtually every level.

Almost from the start, this episode screamed "AMATEUR WRITING" at me.
We start with the discovery of yet another "alien" world which turns out to be
an M-class dirtball, populated by aliens that are just like us. We 
have a lot of ado about why shore leave is needed (the crew is wiped out by 
a colony settlement job? Geez... I hope they don't have to face anything more
challenging in those strange new worlds where no man... er, *one* has
gone before.) They've just encountered the planet and they're thinking
of sending kids down there? C'mon folks, these people have been out there
long enough to know that alien worlds aren't often what they appear at
first. Finally, the fourth-wall-breaking "Let's just hope it's not too
good to be true." And that's all before the credits roll!

So much for first impressions. On to bigger issues.

First, there's no better evidence of the plot's thinness than the fact
that the episode gives us TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES of filler before the damn
story even starts! And filler, it is. I can't think of a duller, more
unimaginative and sterile alien society than the Edo. First, the
"utopia" aspect ("No one does anything uncomfortable to them.") There
was no need to go to that length to set up the plot -- yet, the script
makes much ado about it in the first half of the episode. Which isn't
to say you *can't* write an idealized society in an interesting way:
THE MASTERPIECE SOCIETY was a textbook example of a society whose
members could have been Boring with a capital "B". TMS's writers, however,
made those characters into believable and interesting people who I
actually cared about. Not here. The Edo aren't people, they're
caricatures. An overblown portrayal of big-hormoned, tiny-minded 
bureaucrats that act alike, talk alike and elicit more irritation
than sympathy. It didn't help that the most of the actors playing the Edo 
played their roles like automata (Brenda Bakke (Rivan) struck me as especially
lightweight.)

In fact, this script spends an inordinate amount of time making much ado 
about peripheral issues, such as the multi-dimensional existence of the God 
vessel and the amorous pasttime of the Edo -- expertly bogging down the
story with irrelevancies. As a result, the episode drags like all hell
in the first half, then rushes through the meat in the second half
because of all the extraneous junk that was thrown in.

In addition, the script practically TELLS us the plot before we see it: 
we knew the vessel would serve as a physical side of the "justice" thread 
when it said "Do not interfere with my children below", Yar and the Edo 
all but tell us what's going to happen when they go through the "Who tells 
visitors these laws" routine. Not a textbook example of subtle foreshadowing.

Finally, we come to the Issues. Folks, the issues of law and order vs. 
individual justice and the death penalty are neither simple nor black and 
white, yet that's EXACTLY how this episode presents them. Our
administration of justice often seems harsh, absolute and unfair but
the Edo system is a caricature of that unfairness. Let's see, we have a  
society that's ideal in every way except that even the most minor 
transgression carries the death penalty, and sentencing is determined by 
lottery (i.e. if you're in a randomly selected punishment zone.) Nor
is any provision made for extenuating circumstances (e.g. alien visitors
who were never advised of the local customs and could not possibly be
aware of them). Right, folks. Exaggerate the justice system to absurd
proportions and ignore a lot of real issues underneath (e.g. that unjust legal
sanctions are often made for reasons of expediency and self-interest rather
than idealism) and it becomes a lot easier to solve the dillemma, doesn't
it? The treatment of the issue here is black and white and simplistic in the
extreme.

On Picard's side, our captain is torn between saving the boy and following 
the letter of the Prime Directive. This is a murky at best: the
PD was designed to prevent interference with the *natural evolution*
of a primitive society. Given that the Edo are powerless to stop
Picard if he chooses to rescue the kid and given that the Edo had already 
all but given their consent for Picard to do so anyway, such an action can 
hardly violate the spirit of the PD. This moral dillemma is made of tissue 
paper.

The handling of the death penalty issue isn't much better. Whether you're
for it or against it, it's an issue that raises a lot of controversy on both
sides and it's anything *but* a one-sided issue. Yet, that's exactly how
Picard presents it in his little speech. It's one-sided, predigested
TV sermonizing designed to save the viewer from any serious thinking.

The God vessel subplot was simply a distraction. Having botched
the moral dillemma angle, this thread attempts to graft a physical
dillemma angle to it. Not only is a physical threat angle unnecessary
in a premise like this (is this the first appearance of the now-famous
Tacked On Menace?), it too is botched utterly. The mighty God
vessel thread is vanquished by a 30 second speech by Picard about the
need for flexibility in administering justice (something that I'd
been screaming at them for the past 20 minutes, I might add.)
The eleventh-hour conjecture session between Picard and Data is
a perfect example of how to drag down a plot by TALKING about what
an enemy MIGHT be instead of having said enemy DO something so
that we could see what it is by observation. 

On a different topic, I mentioned before I didn't care for the guest
actors -- unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the acting of the regulars either. 
Patrick seemed off the mark when he showed fear in his voice when 
confronting the soap bubble -- c'mon folks, the situation wasn't THAT bad. 
The vessel was threatening sure, but if it wanted to destroy the Enterprise, 
it could have -- instead, it was opening communications with the crew. I'd 
expect Picard to show more composure -- betraying fear to the enemy like 
that was unforgivable.

Gates had the most emotional role, unfortunately her distraught mother
routine didn't work for me. Either she was trying too hard, or it was the
script, but either way, I felt more like slapping her than comforting her.
Wheaton's performance didn't hit any buttons with me either, even
when I could see what he was trying to do - and HEAVENS, that "I'm with 
Starfleet. We don't lie." line was badly delivered. 

On a related note, they wasted another potential angle: this could have 
been a good "what-if/survival-course/character-test" outing for Mr. Crusher
but the writers relegate him to an passive chess piece that does little 
more than react to others. If they hadn't thrown in all that other junk,
they could have fleshed his character out tremendously in this outing
by putting him in a situation where he had to survive without Engineering
Hocus-Pocus. Instead, all we get is a rushed, token  "I think I'm involved
in this decision" bit. Like everything else in this episode, it seems
thrown in with little room to develop.

In all, this episode was a utter loss. The issues of justice and
interference were handled in a pat and black and white manner and
the representative sides were reduced to caricatures. The writing was 
atrocious, the plot was cluttered with distractions, the acting was subpar 
and the characterization non-existent. This episode wasn't fun, it wasn't 
dramatic, it wasn't thought-provoking or instructional. It had not a single 
redeeming feature. None. Zip.

Well okay, maybe *one*. We finally got a good line from Troi: "It's 
understandable. Sharing an orbit with God is no small experience."


GRADE SHEET FOR "JUSTICE"

  Premise:    D  (that's a B for the justice plot, an F for the utopia
                  society and God vessel subplots.)
  Execution:  F- (Execution? What execution?)
  Characters: F- (utterly botched.)
  Acting:     D  (boring Edo and lackluster regulars)
  Music:      F  (didn't do anything for me either)
  
  Overall:    F- (If NEW GROUND was wiped out of existence, this would
                  be the worst of the series.)





THE BATTLE:
-----------



Flawed, fascinating, and frustrating.

This is another episode that's tough to rate. The *premise* was 
fascinating, probably more so than any of the 1st season eps to this date. 
I've been wanting to see a good "psychological intrigue"
show for some time now *and* there was also unfinished business with
the Ferengi. After seeing their "debut" in OUTPOST, my thoughts were 
"Okay. These 4-foot tall jokers will never be a convincing
*physical* threat. But what about a *psychic* threat? By attacking
the *minds* rather than the *bodies* of our heroes, these little trolls
could actually make for interesting and malevolent villains." The Ferengi
David to the Federation Goliath. The ultimate don't-judge-by-the-cover
enemy.

Well, what do you know, *precisely* the angle they took in THE BATTLE! :-)

I'll be kind and say nothing about the acting of the Ferengi this time --
I'll simply note that the new Ferengi managed to tone the horseplay 
down to a tolerable level without losing the basic Ferengi-ness we saw
before. A total retcon would have felt like a cheat, since their 
*physical* appearance wasn't important here. On the other hand, the
antics of the OUTPOST Ferengi really were too much to stomach. They
achieve a nice balance here, I thought.

This was another "director/actor" show, and both were superlative.
In fact, this one really *worked* as an "atmosphere show" for me;
far better than CAUSE & EFFECT did (which I found to be more of an "idea" 
show.) The episode absolutely OOZED a sense of approaching cataclysm and
a lot of seemingly innocent events are shot in a way that enhanced
the feeling of unreality and loss of control (e.g. on the Stargazer bridge --
the power suddenly goes on with no apparent reason; it's only a second
later that LaForge walks on and reveals himself to be the poltergeist;
the Ready Room door opens quietly in the background and it's almost a full 
second before anyone walks through it). Ah... I just checked the Guide:
Rob Bowman. Why am I not surprised? 

The dream sequences are interesting -- despite the heavy action,
the people manning the stations are static and robotic, and the 
dream-Picard's actions are not frantic or rushed -- they are slow
and deliberate. Okay, folks, we've all had nightmares where everything 
seemed to move in slow motion and every action was like performing 
underwater -- that's what I sensed these scenes were trying to project.
It worked about 70%, I think -- I seemed to be theorizing about it more
than feeling it much of the time -- but the long drawn out closeup of
Picard mumbling "Fire... fire..." did the trick for me. Nice.

Patrick Stewart's performance -- gee, I really don't have to say it, do I?
Suffice to say, a fine performance of a captain reliving nightmares in full
view of his crew -- there were so many scenes this time, I can't pick any 
out to focus on. Four good Stewart outings in two weeks -- I'm getting 
spoiled :-)

Superb acting, superb directing. No question about it: on a VISCERAL
level, this episode soars.

Unfortunately, the LOGIC of this episode doesn't stand up as well. In fact,
it falls apart completely. First, a small plot hole: Daimon Bok's entire
revenge plot hinged on the Enterprise-D being the ship chosen to rendezvous
with his ship. How did he ensure this? The script says nothing about his
specifying the Enterprise in his request to Starfleet -- and such a
request would surely raise suspicions.

However, the major problem is that the script requires the crew 
to act like idiots throughout. The Ferengi keep the Enterprise detained for 
THREE days. Picard gets a headache which is supposed to be next to impossible 
in this advanced age. Daimon Bok claims to want to discuss "a mutual problem" 
but his visit to the bridge comes and goes with no mention of said problem.
Picard and Troi suffer seizures during said visit. Troi reads Bok's emotions
and senses deception. Bok clearly shows anger over the Maxia battle 
incident and then offers the Stargazer as a gift to Picard with no
reason given for this generous gesture. 

Doesn't all this all call for a LITTLE more caution than beaming the captain
over to the Stargazer after a cursory inspection by the command staff?
Surely, a rudimentary sensor sweep would have picked up the strange
object in the chest in Picard's cabin (bringing it aboard the Enterprise
without a full inspection was inexcusable under the circumstances.)

Doesn't anyone wonder why the Ferengi continue to hang around like vultures
while all this is happening?

And it's 40 minutes into the episode before anyone realizes it's the
Ferengi that's causing Picard's madness (and it's Rainbow Kid that
has to point this out to them?)

Is anyone wondering how a crew *this* mindbogglingly stupid could have
made it through seven previous episodes with their ship in one piece?

I realize this was an "atmosphere" story rather than a "plot" story but
heavens, this is sloppy beyond excuse. There wasn't even an *attempt*
to make either the framing events or Daimon Bok's approach credible
here. I can overlook flaws. These were gorges.

So much for "fascinating" and "flawed." The "frustrating" part stems
from the fact that this psychic warfare isn't really an integral
part of the Ferengi characterzation after all. Daimon Bok *purchased*
the thought-maker balls from some unknown source at incredible cost --
it's not a tactic they'll be able to use regularly. This isn't really
a *criticism*, since it's a frustration that's part and parcel of
a TV series -- you *can't* have a weapon that powerful so easily
available or the show will end up being a series of excuses as to why
this "super-powerful" weapon doesn't blow up the universe each week.
It's TNG's Genesis -- a nice idea to visit but we can't keep it. Sigh.

To sum up, I liked the ideas in this episode and the episode packed
a powerful suspense and emotional impact. It won't stand up for
repeated viewings, unfortunately, since much of the impact comes
from not knowing what's going to happen next. But gaping plot holes 
aside, it was a fun Twilight-Zone style outing -- definitely a
pleasant change of pace after the letdown of JUSTICE. So, without
further ado, the grades:


GRADE SHEET FOR "THE BATTLE"

  Premise:    A  (I really like this one.)
  Execution:  C  (an A for directing, an F for logic.)
  Characters: C  (no complaints, but nothing spectacular either.)
  Acting:     A  (even the Ferengi can't bring this down.)
  Music:      D  (eh)

  Overall:    C+ (it works on the visceral level but falls apart on the 
                  logical level.)






HIDE AND Q
----------



Eh.

This one had some interesting ideas but wasted much of it. The theme
of power corruption is reminiscent of THE NTH DEGREE. To be sure,
this H&Q's resolution was nowhere near as graceless and abrupt as *that*
episode's was. Most of the crew's action make sense in and of themselves
and once the story gets started, things happen largely without superbeing 
intervention. There's nothing glaringly wrong with the story.

Unfortunately, there's nothing glaringly *right* either. The episode
went through the motions but never seemed to tap the underlying drama.
Part of this is due to the power theme getting only half an episode to 
develop. The first 30 minutes are essentially padding. The only thing
that grabbed in the first two acts was the contrast between Q's attitude
here and in E@F. Unfortunately, this strikes me as another idea that
was underdeveloped -- as soon as they get down to the planet, the
plot degenerates into a pointless sitcom reminiscient of THE SQUIRE OF
GOTHOS. This was definitely the "F" part for me -- the only enjoyable
part being seeing Wesley get shiskebobed (I wonder how loud the cheering
was when this first aired? :-) 

Indeed, much of the tepidity stems from the fact that H&Q seems to
be trying to be both a comedy and a drama, and not doing a very good
job of it either. As a result, the episode's atmosphere feels confused
and schizophrenic. Much of this stems from the lackluster performance
of the regulars. Frakes looks convincingly smug and arrogant as SuperRiker
but everyone else sleepwalked through their roles. After Farpoint, I'd 
expect a second visit from Q to raise far stronger emotions in the crew,
even if it *weren't* in the middle of a critical rescue mission. Similarly,
LaForge shouldn't find it *that* easy to give up his newfound eyesight 
even if it Q he'd have to thank. These are just two examples but they're
characteristic of the episode throughout: no one's heart seemed to be
in this. 

Finally, once Riker gets his superpowers, little is done with it other
than the obvious. The writers seem to acknowledge this by rushing through
Riker's transformation into arrogance and stating the issue up front
in the conference between Picard and Riker -- this happens much too quickly
and abruptly for me to believe. With more time to develop, it could
have been far more satisfying but that damned "game" aboard the planet wasted 
much time that could have gone into strengthening the Riker plot. As it is,
we get little sense of what it's like to be suddenly more powerful
than anyone around you. Worse yet, except for one incident, there are
no tough decisions for Riker to make in resolving the plot; no growth,
no *challenge*. There's nothing to test the character here. The
situation was clear and one-sided. Riker *was* acting like an idiot,
just like Picard said. The idea of exploring the Q-continuum is, in itself,
a fascinating one but like Nick Locarno in TFD, Q lacks the basic
character and three-dimensionality to make this a defensible option.
The conflict is pat and one-sided.

The only really good scene was the one where Riker refused to use
his powers to resurrect the dead kid in the colony. If the rest of
the episode had been of this quality, and if the actors had played
their roles like they *meant* it, this could have been a good episode.
As it stands, however, H&Q is strangely flat.

I don't have much more to say. The episode's faults lie more in what
it *doesn't* do rather than what it *does* do. H&Q was a good premise
in search of an execution. The grades follow:


GRADE SHEET FOR "HIDE AND Q"
   
  Premise:    B  (Two premises actually: a new spin on Q and power corruption)
  Execution:  D- (Very, *very* lackluster)
  Characters: D  (Riker's transformation is much too rushed; Q is just another
                  Trelane.)
  Acting:     D  (Everyone looked bored here.)
  Music:      F  (Music? There was music?)

  Overall:    D  (Very tepid.)


.   :. .       
:.::::.::       
-------------------------- ---------------------- --------------------------
TNG Lifelines: From "Encounter at Farpoint" to "Hide and Q" 

Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.misc