From: kanamori@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Atsushi Kanamori)
Subject: Another 3 in 1 Opinionated Review (OUTPOST...LONELY)
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University.
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 14:31:37 GMT

Reviews below for:

              THE LAST OUTPOST
              WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE
              LONELY AMONG US






THE LAST OUTPOST
----------------



Quick summary:
 
   The first 30 minutes, great. 
   The last 30 minutes... you have GOT to be kidding.



To reiterate, the first half of this episode was marvelous. The Enterprise
is chasing a Ferengi ship and we know nothing about them except the rumor
dropped in EaF about their tastes in associates. The crew work together
as a crew to solve the problems that come up and there are lot of
fun character bits (Geordi and Riker's exchange in the Engine room, Data's
struggle with the Chinese finger puzzle to note two.) After two frivolous
outings and one serious-but-who-cares outing, it looked as if TNG was
finally settling down to some hard-hitting suspense/action drama.

The initial view of the Ferengi commander is impressive -- with his face
filling that enormous viewscreen and the rapidly shifting camera shots 
showing Picard standing diminutively against a backdrop of a giant eye or a 
fang-filled jaw, the Ferengi actually *looked* menacing. That booming gravel 
voice didn't hurt a bit either. Although the first half did have flaws (first,
it was obvious from the start that the Ferengi ship was trapped every bit as 
much as the Enterprise, and second, what kind of security allows two kids
to get into the conference lounge), it was easily the best 30 minutes
that TNG had had up to that point.

Then, they beam down to the planet, and it all turns into uh... 
Slapstick Theatre.

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.

Second, the Ferengi. The great feared enemy turn out to be the Pygmy Pests
from Hell. Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho ho.

Third, all of the exciting buildup in the first half turns out to be a big
ado about nothing. Well not *nothing* exactly: more precisely, a big
pyrotechnics show and yet *another* "escape from death by passing a 
test-of-humanity". Roddenberry optimism is dripping out from the cracks
here as is Bad Drama Routine #101 ("If you're gonna spend 30 minutes 
building up the audience to expect something fabulous, you 
damn well better not tell them at the end, hey! it's just one nobody
out in the middle of nowhere, guarding absolutely nothing.") 

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. Unfortunately, the Portal is so stereotypically raving-wizard
and over-the-top that he comes across as more ludicrous than rather 
than threatening or tragic. 

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. I watch TNG to be entertained,
not to have Picard wag his finger at us every ten minutes about how savage me
and my fellow 20th century people are. Cut the sophomoric moral comparison 
debates between the crewmembers -- it sounds forced and unnatural.

A few words on acting: most the regulars are par for the course, but Frakes 
needs to tone down the barking a bit (he especially got on my nerves during 
the transporter room sequence.) 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.

That's about it for the specifics. This episode got off to the best
*start* of any TNG episode up to that point, but changed its mood
abruptly halfway through and the sheer stupidity of second half
made it all but devoid of meaning. The unveiled premise
was trite, the characterization of the Ferengi was asinine and for all
of the big FX budget, the planet set looked like it came straight out of TOS.
THE LAST OUTPOST is THE LOST OPPORTUNITY.


GRADE SHEET FOR "THE LAST OUTPOST"

  Premise:    D  (The "test of humanity" is getting real old.)
  Execution:  C  (Good first half, disastrous second half.)
  Characters: D  (The Ferengi are a joke.)
  Acting:     C- (The Ferengi are a joke, and Frakes needs some work too.)
  Music:      F  (Sigh, it was too good to last.)
  Overall:    D+ (Better luck next time, guys.)





WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE
----------------------------



Ah, that's more like it. Now THIS was an episode that was competently 
scripted and competently executed. The story was solid and 
looked as if it was presented AS a story rather than a vehicle for 
Roddenberry moralizing.

This episode was definitely a director's show, and to its credit, 
the directing, FX and camerawork are breathtaking. Somehow, I can always 
tell when Rob Bowman is at the helm, even before the credits roll -- and 
this was no exception. The lighting, the editing and the camera shots
all inject a sense of energy into even the most mundane scenes. No
prominent example comes to mind because Bowman applies it so 
consistently and seamlessly -- his contribution is almost sublimal in that
way. 

The music is patterned after ST:TMP -- not my favorite ST theme but
it works well here. This was a grandiose episode with grandious ambitions,
and needed a grandiose theme to make it complete.

Unfortunately, these assets represent both the episode's biggest strength
and biggest weakness. Note I said above that the story was "solid". 
However, this was a case where a solid story wasn't very interesting.
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. The character
revelations brought by the various manifestations are rather superficial
and trite and none of them are developed to a satisfying degree. The
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.

What it boils down to is that WN1HGB is more about splashy FX 
and grandiose notions rather than how those grandiose notions affect
*people*. Splashy FX and atmosphere do not make a good show, however.
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.

Which isn't to say this episode was completely lacking in drama.
The scene with Picard and his mother was poignant (due largely
to poignant acting from Mr. Stewart) and I rather enjoyed the final
scene where Picard made Wesley an acting ensign (not so much for what
happened, but the *way* they did it. Fun dialogue here -- do I detect
Diane Duane?) Not so successful were the Targ and pussycat scenes -- much 
of this was due to the acting of the regulars (especially Crosby.) The other
manifestations were largely irrelevant; they were nice for catching us
off guard but didn't add much to the show otherwise.

There wasn't much characterization called for here, and that's just as
well because the characterization was rather blah. I found Kosinsky's
arrogance overblown and boring in the extreme. The Traveler
fared a bit better, if only because he wasn't so obnoxious, but he
was rather bland (and heavens, the man has an annoying speech
pattern.) The less said about Wesley, the better. Arrogant and 
presumptious -- between him and the Traveler, the "worried kid visits
sick friend" scene failed to work for me, and I wanted it to.
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 --
it's too bad it didn't work here 'cuz I remember being pretty moved
by that part of the book.

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

(Second continuity note: How is it I remember something like that from
such a forgettable episode? :-)

In summary, although I found the episode rather lacking in depth, it was
fun and diverting on its first viewing. That pretty much describes how I 
felt about ST6; and I think I'll give this episode the same grade.


GRADE SHEET FOR "WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE"

  Premise:    C- (Nice ideas but needs more fleshing out as a story)
  Execution:  A  (This was a director's show, and the director was a genius.)
  Characters: D  (The regulars are okay but a blah for the Traveler, two blahs
                  for Kosinsky and a crate of blahs for Wesley.)
  Acting:     B+ (A nice Stewart bit, but a weak Crosby and Dorn.)
  Music:      C- (What I gave for ST:TMP with a tad off for originality)
  Overall:    B- (Good execution; wish they'd apply it to a meatier story.)




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



Um....

Uh... 

Hmm...

I don't know WHAT to make of this one. Except that I rather like it.

For the first three and half acts, it looked like another "Yeah, and...?"
outing; an energy being (yo, log another one) takes over various
crewmembers (blue lightning from the consoles -- ST:TMP, anyone?); 
the regulars spend much time scratching their heads trying to figure
out what we already know. Elsewhere, a bunch of squabbling iguanas
attempt to kill each other while on their way to a peace conference.

Okeydoke.

Then, suddenly it becomes gripping. Okay, Patrick is always interesting 
to watch and his portrayal of the energy being is downright *creepy*;
the way he moves, the way he walks, the way he *slouches*. Then,
there's the shock of hearing him decide to resign Starfleet in order
to explore the galaxy as an energy being. Well okay, we know it isn't
really Picard saying that but his delivery is startlingly convincing --
at least I found myself wondering for a second there or two. In fact,
the episode never comes out and declares otherwise (they leave almost
an hour between beam-out and separation; if the creature was just
using Picard to transport out, why wait so long?). 

The fifth act is a rarity for TNG: a long, suspenseful, drawn out climax 
that leaves me guessing till the last minute. Part of this is because it 
leaves a lot HANGING at the last minute -- some tricky questions are left 
unanswered. But it's also one of those endings that threw one twist and turn
after another and had me watching the clock saying "okay, how the HELL are 
they going to wrap this up by 7:58?" -- and despite the last minute 
transporter solution, *didn't* leave me feeling "Oh, another TNG two-minute 
solution." And those familiar with my reviewing style *know* how
important an ending is with me :-)

The Lizard Diplomats subplot pressed my "Roddenberry Moralizing" button
initially, but fortunately it turned out to be largely comic relief.
And my, but it was nice to see some INTERESTING alien voice and makeup 
design for a change! Plotwise, they weren't necessary at all, but they
added to the show's atmosphere, I think.

My one word summation of said atmosphere is "quirky." TNG had been largely
rather conservative and... well let's come out and say it, STUFFY, up
to this point. Not tonight. A lot of unexpected writing twists here: Data 
behaving like Sherlock Holmes; Bev, Riker and Troi being paralyzed by 
regulations, and Picard's brushoff of the news that one of the ambassadors 
had apparently just become someone's dinner. Some of these characterizations 
(especially the last) border on the questionable -- yet, given the 
characterizations up to this point, they can't really be REFUTED 
either -- not in the way people could refute Data's behavior in IN THEORY, 
for example. It's disturbing, in a way, and it does raise one's eyebrows.

I won't go much into plot or science consistency because... well, because
I don't feel like it. The crew *does* appear a bit dim at certain parts
(e.g. Riker, Bev and Troi seemed to be skirting around coming out and
saying "Picard's been taken over." between themselves.) The notion
of beaming out as an energy being and being reassembled via a stored
matter pattern, I'll leave alone -- I'm sure it sparked a lot of
pseudo-science arguments among fans which I don't feel like getting into.

Like I said, this one's a tough call. It raises a lot of questions
about the characters and the writing; but despite some of the
implausibilities, it was interesting. This is definitely one that'll
need to age, so I'll just toss out a grade and see how it stands.


GRADE SHEET FOR "LONELY AMONG US"

Premise:    C  (that's a B for the main plot, a D for the JOURNEY TO BABEL
                subplot.)
Execution:  B  (a bit slow going in and a few implausibilities, but points
                back for the quirkiness and the final act.)
Characters: ?  (I'm not sure.)
Acting:     A- (Stewart was great (so what else is new) but Dorn and
                Gates had a couple of badly acted bits.)
Music:      D  (we're slipping here.)

Overall:    C+ (as I said, throw out a grade and see how it ages.)



.   :.        
:.::::        
-------------------------- ---------------------- --------------------------
TNG Lifelines: From "Encounter at Farpoint" to "Lonely Among Us" --
  (season 1 doesn't look *that* bad from here.)
Xref: sparky rec.arts.startrek.misc:3462 rec.arts.drwho:2777