From: hucke@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Matt Hucke)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.misc
Subject: Re: Another 3 in 1 Opinionated Review (OUTPOST...LONELY)
Date: 10 Apr 92 19:41:45 GMT
Article-I.D.: ux1.1992Apr10.194145.22055
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

In article <1992Apr10.143137.27606@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU> kanamori@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Atsushi Kanamori) writes:
>THE LAST OUTPOST
>
>First, the force field causes the Away Team members to beam down in all
>kinds of ridiculous positions, but they all escaped materializing inside
>a rock or 20 feet above the air. Right.

If the transporter could be disrupted enough to turn La Forge upside down,
then how did it still know to connect Carbon Atom #2341933 to Carbon Atom
#2341934?  Ridiculous.  It's like pissing into a fan and expecting 
every drop to fall in the same place. :)

>The idea of the Portal waking up and discovering that his mission is
>obsolete and that his home is extinct had much potential for tragic
>poignancy.

Right, I got absolutely no sense of loss from Portal.  It was more like 
"Oh, my empire was wiped out thousands of years ago?  My race dead?  Gee,
that's too bad."

>Also, I am getting mighty tired of every alien race being an open
>allegory of some human flaw. That's a tried-and-true formula for Trek
>but they don't have to be so OBVIOUS about it. 

They give them one characteristic of humans because it's easier than creating
an alien with a full set of motivations.  Picking a single emotion (greed,
honor, lust, bigotry, and war-lust have all been used) and basing the 
entire race on that is quick and easy.  Few writers are able to create a
psychologically-complete alien.  Single-emotion aliens are the writing 
department's equivalent of the makeup crew's forehead ridges.

> The acting of the Ferengi has to be seen to 
>be believed. Every action is exaggerated to the point of absurdity, complete 
>with waving arms and oohing-and-aahing. Their personalities are interchangable
>and aren't even on a bad cartoon level. Ugh.

Complete agreement here.  Their gestures were ridiculous, and made the race 
into a joke, rather than a dangerous enemy.

>That's about it for the specifics. This episode got off to the best
>*start* of any TNG episode up to that point,

Hostile alien vessel with a previously unseen race, ancient empire, 
the big E helpless against superior weaponry-- it could have been great.

>WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE
>----------------------------
>
>Ah, that's more like it. Now THIS was an episode that was competently 
>scripted and competently executed.

Diane Duane.  

>It had an interesting IDEA of people's thoughts becoming reality as
>well as exploring what amounted to an entirely different universe.
>Unfortunately, neither of these are explored in any depth.

Very annoying that they didn't have much of this, considering that the preview
mentioned 'a place where thoughts become reality' and half the film in that
was about the 'weirdness'.

>theme of exploring an utterly unknown reality carries a lot of basic appeal
>(and is, incidentally, the alleged primary activity of the Enterprise :-). 
>But Picard chooses not to take this opportunity and concentrates on the
>pragmatics of *escaping* instead. As understandable as this is, it's
>frustrating to me as a viewer.

An omen of things to come... "Explore strange new worlds" has become a sick
joke.

>A compelling story with compelling characters does, and when you boil away 
>the cosmetics, WN1HGB is largely a "we're in a jam, how do we escape" 
>story. Tastes great, but less filling.

Uh oh, the Plot Vs Characters thing again...  I disagree here, I think that
what is happening is more important than how Picard feels about it.

>I rather enjoyed the final
>scene where Picard made Wesley an acting ensign (not so much for what

I was groaning when this happened... "The Weasel's going to be on the *bridge* 
now?  Twice as much camera time?  Say it ain't so, Gene..."

>(and heavens, the [Traveler]  has an annoying speech
>pattern.) 

Just about put me to sleep.

>Come to think of it, this thread has a lot of parallels with Scotty and
>the glass spider (damned if I can spell her name) in THE WOUNDED SKY --

Except for the fact that people *like* Scotty! :)

>(Small continuity note: why does Wes think Riker doesn't know his name --
>Riker had him man a bridge station in CoH.)

I'm sure Riker knew his name,  Wesley was simply whining that he'd prefer that
Riker actually use it, rather than the patronizing "the boy."

Overall, I think it was the best of the first half-season, in spite of the
Weasley/Traveler parts.

>LONELY AMONG US
>-------------

I have to leave now, my roommate wants the phone... I'll respond to this
part later.


-- 
   And thither came Conan, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, to tread the jeweled 
   thrones of the Earth beneath his sandaled feet.  --THE NEMEDIAN CHRONICLES 
hucke@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu                                Gene Roddenberry 1921-1991