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Old 11-06-2019, 03:02 PM
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Nate the Great Nate the Great is offline
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BOCHRA: You can be sarcastic now, but in a few millennia, when humans are extinct and the Romulan Empire spans the galaxy.

I fail to see why humans would be extinct and the Romulans wouldn't. Even if the Romulans devastate Starfleet and lay waste to Earth, would they really track down every human colony everywhere and destroy them?

OMALAK [on viewscreen]: And my officer?
PICARD: He is alive.
TOMALAK [on viewscreen]: His life remains in jeopardy?
PICARD: Yes.
TOMALAK [on viewscreen]: And yet you will still not permit me to cross into your precious Federation space to retrieve him?

I don't like this. If Picard wants to avoid a war handing over Patahk wouldn't be a bad idea. If necessary he should ask for a substitute prisoner while Starfleet and the Romulans hash things out.

Meaningless aside, but we never get a definitive answer to the question of what the Romulan military is called. The Federation has Starfleet, the Klingons have the Imperial Fleet and Defense Forces (presumably the former is for the outer Empire and other nations and the latter is for the core worlds), the Bajorans have the Militia, etc. The expanded universe gives various names like Imperial Guard, Star Navy, Imperial Fleet, Grand Fleet, Imperial Armada, etc.

RIKER: For what it's worth, I understand your bitterness.
WORF: With respect, sir, you cannot. I am asked to give up the very lifeblood of my mother and my father to those who murdered them.

I don't like this kind of thinking. An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind, after all. At best this is a necessary step in Worf's character arc which will lead him to "Redemption".

RIKER: Forever? What if some day the Federation made peace with the Romulans.
WORF: Impossible.
RIKER: That's what your people said a few years ago about humans.

Yeah, yeah, the Khitomer Accords haven't been invented yet. In fact, "Yesterday's Enterprise" suggests that peace didn't happen until the 2340's after the Enterprise-C vanished.

WORF: My Starfleet training tells me one thing, but everything I am tells me another.

Like I said, a necessary step, if a bit hamfisted and insulting to Worf himself.

PATAHK: I would rather die than pollute my body with Klingon filth!

A good line, and a moral question not addressed. Doesn't a patient have the right to refuse treatment? Or are we treating Patahk as a prisoner who has no rights until after the trial?

LAFORGE: My synapses must be turning to jelly. The Visor's fine. I just can't see a thing.

It stands to reason that since these storms affect technology, and there's technology literally tied to his optical nerve, that this would happen. I just wish that there was a gradual dimming or increase in static in Geordi's vision, not just an on/off switch.

PICARD: Assemble an away team.
RIKER: Yes, sir.
WORF: Captain, the Romulan warship has crossed the Neutral Zone border. It is in Federation space and heading toward us.
PICARD: Belay that order, Number One. Red alert.

Why can't Riker go down before the battle? Furthermore, are you telling me that they don't have enough information on the storms by now to rig an environmental suit to filter out the worse effects of the storm?

WORF: If you order me to agree to the transfusion, I will obey, of course.
PICARD: I don't want to order you. But I ask you. I beg you to volunteer.

This is one balancing act that I think Picard calculated wrong. Worf's reasons are rather petty, and not the result of deep-seated religious beliefs or similar. If this conversation had to exist, it should've been before Patahk refused the procedure. Picard orders Worf to do it, Patahk refuses, Crusher refuses, Worf is off the hook.

PICARD: Do not continue to enlist the cooperation of Lieutenant Worf.
CRUSHER [OC]: I won't have to, Captain. The Romulan has died.

Doesn't this seem like the sort of thing Crusher should report to Picard at once?

TOMALAK [on viewscreen]: You have one chance to escape destruction, Picard. Return my officer at once.

So Tomalak is willing to start a war over one man? The clever bit is that this is actually reasonable from the Romulan's point of view, even if it's warped by our sensibilities.

DATA: There are still numerous ghost images, but I believe we are picking up two life forms near the beacon.
RIKER: Another Romulan?

What an idiot. All Enterprise crewman except Geordi are accounted for, so unless you're going to postulate a THIRD party at Galordan Core who just so happens to have crashed within spitting distance of the Romulan shuttle, Riker's statement is asinine.

The Fiver

Riker: This planet's electromagnetic storms make Ceti Alpha V look like Risa by comparison.

Sorry, but this doesn't work. Ceti Alpha V was just sandstorms, nothing EM related.

Riker: We weren't able to find La Forge before our beam-up window closed. He's lost somewhere on the planet.
Picard: This is a grave development indeed. I don't suppose that the injured Romulan you brought back happens to be an unemployed engineer?
Riker: No such luck, I'm afraid.

I get the joke, but I personally don't like it. It stretches credulity too far, even by fiver standards. I would've done a bad news/good news joke, probably involving switching to Geico.

Worf: I refuse to donate my precious bodily fluids to this Romulan pahtk!
Romulan: And I refuse to receive a transfusion from this Klingon veruul!
Crusher: We seem to have reached an impasse.
Worf: What impasse? We are in complete agreement.
Romulan: I concur wholeheartedly.

Exactly. Although "pahtk" is usually spelled "petaQ." "Veruul" was only used by Riker against Jarok in "The Defector."

Bochra: Very well. I have now connected your devices.
La Forge: Are they working?
Bochra: Yes, but you should see how ridiculous your tricorder now looks.

It did look silly.

Tomalak: (on viewscreen) Then cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!
Data: Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene 1.
Tomalak: You cannot fully appreciate Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Romulan.
Picard: It would take a large quantity of Romulan ale to make me believe that.
Tomalak: Pfft...what makes you think you are such an expert on Shakespeare?

Ha ha. Incidentally, aside from Picard's numerous Shakespeare connections, Patrick Stewart has performed in King of Texas (a setting update of King Lear) and a TV version of Hamlet.

Memory Alpha

* It's mentioned that Riker and Crusher could've also ordered Worf to do the transfusion. I understand that Riker wouldn't do it for similar reasons to Picard, but Crusher not doing it is a mystery. She wouldn't let different ideologies get in the way of saving a patient's life.
* Michael Pillar puts this episode in the top three of the third season, along with "The Bonding" and "Yesterday's Enterprise." "The Bonding", really? For me the top three of the third season are "Who Watches the Watchers", "Yesterday's Enterprise", and "The Best of Both Worlds."

Nitpicker's Guide

* In the first volume of the guide, Phil found nothing wrong. The readers were sure to correct him for the second volume! Quoth Phil "Other nitpickers certainly didn't have any trouble finding plenty of nits in it! In fact, I do believe that since the chief nitpicker couldn't come up with anything, all of the other nitpickers out there made it their goal to do so. (Wink, wink.) Actually, I feel sorry for this episode in a way. A tremendous amount of energy went into chainsawing it apart." Furthermore, he quotes the "no good deed goes unpunished" bit as relevant to his entry in the first volume.
* Crusher finds no cranial trauma in Patahk? Worf punched him in the face with his palm, banging his head into a rock!
* Phil thinks Troi should've informed Picard that she was evaluating Tomalak based solely on body language, since he's too far away for empathy. I think that this was obvious. Troi's not a Q or Douwd or Traveler!
* How come the Romulans can enter the Neutral Zone without permission, but we can't?
* Phil questions how Geordi can see the neutrino pulse if it's pointed straight up into space. My immediate reaction is that of course this "neutrino source" was set to disperse a small amount of neutrinos all around alongside the main beam. Geordi notices that suddenly there's an increase in neutrinos, then looks around for where most of them are coming from.
* Phil also doubts the Klingon versus Vulcan compatibility. He jokes that maybe Romulans are a hybrid of Vulcans and Klingons from way back.
* Crusher hassled Worf too much for ethical considerations.
* Phil also asks why Beverly wouldn't inform Picard of the death immediately.
* Why didn't Picard send for reinforcements? I would add why didn't he ask for orders from Starfleet Command? Surely there'd be an admiral about who could order Worf to do the transfusion. Of course, said admiral would also chew out Picard, so maybe Picard didn't mention it.
* I stole the disfunctional tricorder nit from Phil, but I had a point to make.
* Phil's query on why LaForge came down if they knew it was hazardous to Data is silly to me. Different technologies, Phil!
* As made the spikes have a flat side (the top of the grooves, etc.), but as used they are round. This is one I'll give to Phil, they couldn't have smoothed one side?
* Phil asks why Geordi couldn't cut handholds in the cliff with his phaser. My reply is that Geordi doesn't know what the rock is made of, nor can he see well enough to adjust the phaser that finely to cut handholds even if he knew the setting for this kind of rock.
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