30th Anniversary TNG Episode Discussion Marathon

[Nate the Great]

I'm sorry that I haven't been keeping up. Real Life commitments and all that. I'll catch up later.

[DrWho42]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

I'm sorry that I haven't been keeping up. Real Life commitments and all that. I'll catch up later.

no worries! looking forward to it

[Nate the Great]

July 17th, 1989, "Shades of Grey"


No fiver
Transcript
Memory Alpha


For alternate ways to do a bottle show with no budget or time to write a script, I refer you to SF Debris' review. I hate this episode, so let's get this over with and move on to Season Three...


The Episode

Captain's log, Stardate 42976.1. During a geological survey on Surata Four, Commander Riker has become infected by an unidentified microbe.


The survey should've been mentioned in a Captain's Log at the start. Don't ask me why Riker and Geordi are the only two members of a geological survey away team. I get it, no money for extras, but why isn't Data down here?

PULASKI: The Commander's nervous system has been invaded by an unknown microorganism. Not a bacteria, not a virus, but with the elements of both.



From what I know of bacterial and viral structure, you can't really mix them.



PULASKI: The organisms fuse to the nerve, intertwining at the molecular level.
RIKER: That's why the transporter's biofilters weren't able to extract it.



This seems like a time to bring up the Time Squared method, reconstruct his body using a previous transporter pattern. It's not like Will would miss his memories of this planet.


RIKER: Well, these things happen.
PICARD: When least expected.
RIKER: I'm surprised they don't happen more often. After all, we are exploring the unknown.
PICARD: And the unknown can be benign or malevolent.
RIKER: Captain, one of the things I've learned anything on these voyages, on this ship, and from you, is that most life forms act out of an instinct for survival, not out of malice.
PICARD: It's an important lesson, and I admire your lack of resentment, Number One.
RIKER: If you drop a hammer on your foot, it's hardly useful to get mad at the hammer.



A shame there wasn't more time to write scenes like this instead of relying on flashbacks. It's almost like Star Trek doesn't need to have expensive alien makeup or special effects every time and could just be people talking every so often! *massive sarcasm*



PULASKI: Something wrong?
TROI: No, it's just that Commander Riker's emotions are rather passionate.
PULASKI: As in erotic?
TROI: Very much so.


I'd argue about the difference between romantic passion and eroticism, but given that the previous scene was about Minuet, I suspect now's not the time. It's a shame that we couldn't have Troi comment about her feelings regarding Riker's other girlfriends. Plenty of room for character development there.


Nitpicker's Guide

* When Geordi and Data return to the planet, they know that plant thorns are a potential problem. Why didn't Geordi wear leg protection?
* Riker didn't have a single memory not from the previous two years come up?

[Nate the Great]

September 25th, 1989, "Evolution"


SFDebris already made the Scrubs joke, moving on...


No fiver
Transcript
Memory Alpha


The Episode

Captain's log, Stardate 43125.8. We have entered a spectacular binary star system in the Kavis Alpha sector on a most critical mission of astro-physical research. Our eminent guest, Doctor Paul Stubbs, will attempt to study the decay of neutronium expelled at relativistic speeds by a massive stellar explosion which will occur here in a matter of hours.



Ah, Treknobabble. Neutronium comes from neutron stars, which come from supernovas. "Relativistic speeds" means close to the speed of light, which I doubt something as dense as neutronium could achieve anyway. And "a matter of hours" implies less than a day, which the events of this episode dispute.


STUBBS: Over and over again, the intense gravitational pull of the little neutron star sucks up the star material from the red giant, and it builds up on the surface until it explodes, every one hundred and ninety six years. Like clockwork.


It's always nice to see a periodic event that doesn't have lots of zeroes in it's cyclical period. And this Treknobabble contradicts the Captain's Log. I doubt that the neutron star can turn the captured stellar material into neutronium in only 196 years.



STUBBS: The interstellar counterpart to Earth's Old Faithful.



I don't mind blatant Earth references from human civilians. We get the impression that in the Trek universe most non-Starfleet humans prefer to live in predominantly human colonies and planets.



CRUSHER: Computer, fix the food slot.
COMPUTER: The food slot is functioning properly.



Food slot? When did this turn into a TOS episode?


CRUSHER: Does he have many friends? Has he ever been in love?


It's not hard to see why Wesley wouldn't mention Selea, but I'm confused why Picard or Guinan wouldn't have sent a message to her about this at the time.


WORF: Vector. Is gone. And so is the Borg vessel.
PICARD: You're telling me this is another computer glitch?
DATA: It is conceivable that he was viewing a synthetically generated image, sir.
RIKER: That our computer was daydreaming?



Creating an image on the viewscreen is one kind of glitch, fooling Worf's sensors with corresponding trajectory readings is another. This must be a very specific glitch if it can fool that many systems in tandem. Are the nanites conducting an experiment here?

[Nate the Great]

DATA: The system automatically provides for self-correction, Captain. There has not been a systems-wide technological failure on a starship in seventy nine years.

The year is 2366. Subtract 79 years and you get 2287. The only other event in Trek canon in this year is Star Trek V. If that was the intention it's clever, but when I think "systems-wide technological failure" in the 23rd century I think of Scotty's sabotage of the Excelsior, but that was 81 years ago.

GUINAN: I've never been any good at being confined to quarters, as my husbands will attest to.

There are some disturbing implications here. Couldn't she reference her parents instead? Childhood hijinks would be safer and more relatable!

WESLEY: I've been working on my final project for Advanced Genetics. It's on nanotechnology. I've been studying the nanites we have in the Sickbay genetic supplies. They're these little tiny robots with gigabytes of mechanical computer memory. They're designed to enter living cells and conduct repairs. They're supposed to remain confined to the lab.

Gigabytes, ha ha ha. This is why the term "quad" exists, writers!

PICARD: How many generations are we dealing with here?

A question not answered, nor do I think it's particularly relevant. Does Picard know the capabilities of nanites after 1000 generations, 2000 generations, etc.? I doubt it.

STUBBS: It's no more mysterious than watching a strain of the Leutscher virus reproduce itself. And that at least is a bona fide lifeform. How many disease germs and viruses have you destroyed in your time, Doctor Crusher?
PICARD: Doctor Stubbs, we cannot exterminate something that may or may not be intelligent.

Once again we have confusion between "life form" and "Intelligent life form". As of yet we have no evidence that these nanites are any more intelligent than a microbe. And we have no problem killing those.

DATA: They could penetrate the molecular fabric of my hand-covering into my nerve circuitry, and interface with my verbal programs.
WORF: If they have control of a Starfleet Commander, they become an even greater threat.
PICARD: How can we be sure we can get them out of you?

A valid concern. I'd call this an unacceptable risk. Would Picard let a crewmember get infected by a potential deadly disease just to communicate with another race?

CRUSHER: See? Now that is healthy for a boy his age. I mean that as a doctor, not as just a mother. It is so good to see him having fun for a change, with an attractive young woman who obviously looks at him with extraordinary affection. What do you know about this girl?

Haha.

Nitpicker's Guide

* Wesley's spacing of the traps seems suspect. Phil only mentions the improbable number required at the given spacing, I add that replicating all of these suckers would raise some eyebrows in the Engineering crew. And wouldn't Data notice Wesley making these things?

[Nate the Great]

I forgot to tell the blue orange juice story. It's a reference to the hilarious TOS novel "How Much For Just The Planet?" Another starship has problems with their food slots, somehow blue dye keeps getting into the food. Eventually they give up and go with it.