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Old 11-07-2019, 05:38 PM
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Nate the Great Nate the Great is offline
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“The Dauphin”

I find it a little icky that Jamie Hubbard was ten years older than Wil Wheaton, but I guess the “half your age plus seven” thing hadn’t been invented yet. Wesley’s quarters contain a TOS-style phaser and communicator.

“Contagion”

First appearance of Picard’s love of archeology, and his first request for “tea, Earl Grey, hot.” Sternbach hid a bunch of Japanese anime references in the Iconian gateway inscriptions.

“The Royale”

Hurley points out similarities to “A Piece of the Action”, but once again I don’t see it. The sins of this episode are much simpler: it’s just another spin on a holodeck malfunction episode.

In the original final draft…the astronaut survivor as actually the last of his crew of seven to die. His image was then kept alive in the macabre setting, to be entertained by the captured Enterprise party. In the end, as with Pike and Vina in the original-Trek pilot, “The Cage,” a dead away team crew woman is retained to keep the astronaut company after the unseen casino manager agrees to tell the story and release the crew.

Yeah, that would’ve been too derivative of “The Cage”.

Larry mentions Fermat’s Last Theorem but not the fact that it had been solved, the version of the Companion that I’m reading is from 1992 and the proof won’t be conceived until 1994 (and finalized until 1995).

“Time Squared”

This story, originally titled “Time to the Second”, began as the first of what Maurice Hurley had planned as two consecutive but stand-alone episodes. “Time Squared” would segue into “Q Who”, in which the mischievous superalien is revealed as the cause of the vortex. That plan was scrapped at Gene Roddenberry’s insistence, Hurley has said, and so adds confusion to the ending. “Why would going into the vortex’s center save you?” Hurley asked. “It doesn’t make sense.”

In theory this makes sense, but two-parters need to be more closely tied together than this. First appearance of the cheaper shuttlepod and set. First appearance of Riker’s cooking hobby.

“The Icarus Factor”

Larry thinks that the Worf subplot almost took the spotlight away from the Riker plot. I wouldn’t go that far. Second time Riker refuses a command on the show. First time the Tholians are namedropped in dialogue in the TNG era. Entertainment Tonight host John Tesh was on set, and cameos as one of the Rite of Ascension Klingons. Sternbach hides anime references again, this time on the anbo-jyutsu set.

“Pen Pals”

Just like Snodgrass’s background in legal stuff came forward in “The Measure of a Man”, her love of horses got plugged this time around. At least Stewart’s equine background dovetailed nicely this time around. First appearance of a Buckaroo Banzai reference in the setwork.

“Q Who”

“If somebody’s interested in gold, they’re not much of an adversary,” Hurley said of the greedy little race. “We can make gold in our replicator.”

I know that gold-pressed latinum hasn’t been invented yet, but that doesn’t mean that another fictional commodity couldn’t have been created by now. Who says it has to be gold? First and only appearance of Guinan’s office; don’t ask me why she needs one.

“Samaritan Snare”

Larry calls the Pakleds “among the most humorously bizarre aliens ever created for Trek.” Okay, Larry. The crimson force field is compared to the corbomite maneuver, but I think they’re different enough to avoid accusations of blatant plagiarism. The budget prevented creation of a captain’s yacht set.

“Up the Long Ladder”

The episode offended the pro-life crowd and the Irish, which might be a record for distance between groups offended by a single episode. The pregnant Bringoidi was actually played by a pregnant woman (as the cast of Miracle on 34th Street might say, she doesn’t need any padding!). More Buckaroo Banzai and anime references in the Okudagrams.

“Manhunt”

Last Tracy Torme episode, and she used a pseudonym for it. She included Raymond Chandler-style narration for Dixon Hill, but they were dropped because of possible confusion with captain’s logs. I wonder if Stewart could’ve pulled off a more Bogart-esque accent for Hill’s internal monologue.

“The Emissary”

The Okudagram of holodeck options presented to K’Ehleyr includes such injokes as the Rite of Ascension Chamber, Vulcan desert survival a la “Yesteryear”, and two new Dixon Hill mysteries.

“Peak Performance”

First appearance of a Zakdorn. I remember the one from “Unification”, but apparently there was a cameo of one in “Menage a Troi” as well. First prominent appearance of the LCARS acronym. More Buckaroo and anime references.

“Shades of Gray”

Shooting only took three days. That much? When most of the episode is a single planet set and sickbay, I would’ve thought they could’ve done it in two. First appearance of tricordrazine, no doubt a refined version of cordrazine from “City on the Edge of Forever.”

SEASON THREE

“The Ensigns of Command”

Apparently a last-minute budget cut cost us more development in the Data/Ard’rian relationship. First episode where Data plays the violin, O’Brien plays the cello. Ard’rian guesses that Data runs on duotronics from the TOS era because that’s the most advanced computer she can think of. A group of Tibetan monks visited the set, I wonder if they would’ve enjoyed “Who Watches the Watchers” more if they’d come a few weeks later.

“Evolution”

This one was made after “The Ensigns of Command”, but aired before it. The “Egg” prop was reworked from the containment unit from “The Child.”

“The Survivors”

First mention of the Andorians in TNG. Actor John Anderson almost didn’t take the role because he had lost his wife the year before.

“Who Watches the Watchers”

Many Mintaka III scenes were filmed at Vasquez Rocks, as seen in many TOS episodes. First appearance of subcutaneous transponders since “Patterns of Force.”

“The Bonding”

Ronald Moore’s first script. He wanted to make use of the families on board.

“Booby Trap”

Originally Picard was to be the one to fall in love with the Brahms hologram, but I question why the captain would be in the holodeck at a time like this. First TNG episode directed by a woman.

“The Enemy”

Another story point, that of Worf letting a Romulan die by refusing to donate blood, met resistance from the writing staff and from Dorn himself when Piller first suggested it. But allowing it to stand reveals how the series was beginning to get an alien perspective on Worf. It also shows that these “perfect” twenty-fourth-century characters could come into conflict with one another after all.

First appearance of Tomalak.
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