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crack_van2003-12-02 05:59 pm
perclexed.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2003-12-02 05:59 pm
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Star Trek: The Next Generation overview
Star Trek: The Next Generation is exactly what the title implies - it's the next generation of one of the most beloved and popular science fiction television series in history. And as a Trekker who used to be able to identify TNG episodes by season, title and plot within five seconds of seeing it on the screen, trying to do this overview in a way that would make you want to watch and read the show has been quite the...enterprise.
Cast of Characters | Recurring Characters | General Information
Season One | Season Two | Season Three | Season Four | Season Five | Season Six | Season Seven
Major Motion Pictures | Links and Other
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Captain Jean-Luc Picard, of the Galaxy-class USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D and the Sovereign-class USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E
Played by the incredible, the wonderful, the amazing, the man who made bald look sexy way before I knew Michael Rosenbaum existed Patrick Stewart.
Picard is an intellectual, a man of reason, comfortable in diplomatic roles yet coolly confident in battle. He has to be all these things, as he's Captain of the Federation flagship. Born and raised in France, though he speaks with a British accent, his is a life dedicated to Starfleet and his career in it. However, he also has a passion for archeology and enjoys Shakespeare, classical music, and adventures in the holodeck as Dixon Hill. Picard is introspective, uncomfortable around children and overly emotional situations. At times awkward in his personal relationships, he has a long and convoluted emotional history with Dr. Crusher. Jean-Luc is a magnet for some of the most troublesome, mischievous, evil, curious and amazing characters in the galaxy. Like previous Enterprise Captains, Picard prefers to remain in active service on board his ship, turning down a number of promotions, like the one offered to Admiral and Commandant of Starfleet Academy. His bravery, courage, intelligence and honor manage to get himself and the crew of the Enterprise out of very sticky situations time and time again. All that and he manages to sound sexy every time he opens his mouth!
Commander William T. Riker, Executive (First) Officer
Played by "Yes I produced Roswell and there really are Alien Autopsies" Jonathan Frakes
Riker is, in many ways, the complete opposite of Picard. Easy going, with a ready smile and jovial sense of humor, he's dashing, bold and much more of a throwback to the Kirk-ian style of command. He's an unorthodox thinker, finding new and unusual ways of resolving the many crises the Enterprise finds herself in. He's generally an excellent First Officer for Picard, and quite the ladies' man. Or so he thinks. He has an on-again/off-again relationship with Counselor Troi, which either makes him the luckiest bastard in the galaxy, or a really big schmuck.
Lieutenant Commander Data, Second Officer/Science Officer
Played by lean, mean, singing machine Brent Spiner
Data brings an entirely different perspective to the table. He has no emotions (for a good part of the series, anyway), and is in many ways the quintessential Pinocchio. Entirely innocent, he steals the show in a lot of different episodes, is Chief Engineer La Forge's best friend, and has a cat named Spot. He's also a damn fine poker player, and is "fully functional". Yes, in all the kinky ways you might want an android to function.
Commander Geordi La Forge, Chief Engineer
Played by "Reading Rainbow Man" Levar Burton
The character doomed to spend almost seven years wearing a gold banana clip on his face, Geordi is a veritable wunderkind with the warp core. He's blind from birth, though he can see, albeit painfully, with the use of his VISOR. He's Data's best friend, awkward with women, and was once almost transformed into an entirely different species by an alien parasite. He's got a great sense of humor, which in combination with his fascination with the Enterprise's engines, automatically dooms him to the life of the ubergeek. On the upside, who cares when your best friend has a positronic net *and* is fully functional?
Lieutenant Commander Worf, Chief Security Officer
Played by Michael Dorn
One of the most surprising moves by the new Trek series came in the very first episode, by introducing Lt. Worf to the bridge of the Enterprise. A Klingon born on the home world, his parents were massacred by Romulans, and he was raised on Earth by one of the Starfleet crewmembers who found him amidst the rubble. Hotheaded, temperamental, but honorable and fiercely loyal to his shipmates, and is another crew member who's interested in Counselor Troi. He also knows his way around a bat'leth. But just so you know, he is "...not a merry man!" You can add even more Worf to your daily diet by watching later seasons of ST:DS9.
Commander Beverly Crusher, Chief Medical Officer
Played by Gates McFadden
Feisty, elegant, intelligent...Crusher is all these and more. An excellent doctor, she saves the hides of every senior officer at least once (if not five or six or ten) times over the course of their adventures, and has a few of her own to boot. She enjoys dancing, being involved in some of the theatrical productions on board, and shares good times with her best friend on board, Counselor Troi. Oh, and there's that complicated and strange relationship with the Captain as well.
Commander Deanna Troi, Ship's Counselor
Played by Marina Sirtis
Half human, half Betazoid, Troi plays a crucial role in life on board a Federation Starship. She shares her mother's Betazoid talent for inter-species telepathy, though her empathic powers are much, much stronger. She is often at the Captain's side during away missions, especially during first contact situations, and her abilities have managed to save the ship many, many times. She and Riker have a long on-again/off-again relationship that ends up permanently stuck in the "on" position by the end of the TNG movies. The woman is intelligent, exceptionally talented in her chosen field, knows her way around a few less violent martial arts, and has a fondness for chocolate. I so totally hate her! :D
Lieutenant Natasha "Tasha" Yar, Chief Security Officer (First Season)
Played by Denise Crosby
Yar grew up living a life on the streets of a failing colony planet, and made it off-world shortly before the planetary government broke off all contact with the Federation. She enrolled in the Academy and impressed Picard so much the first time he saw her, that he requested her transfer to the Enterprise immediately. Tough and wary of the 'softer' side of her femininity, she nevertheless enjoyed a wonderful night with Data under the influence of the Tsiolkovsky Virus. Sadly, Yar was killed by a giant, sentient black oil slick during an away mission.
Commander Katherine Pulaski, Chief Medical Officer (Second Season)
Played by Diana Muldaur
Filling in for Crusher as CMO while Crusher is away doing a stint as head of Starfleet Medical, she wasn't the best 'fit' on board the Enterprise. She's stubborn, extremely sarcastic, but a good woman under the vitriol. She saves Picard's life after his artificial heart gives out during an away mission, and though she refuses to acknowledge Data as a sentient being when she first boards the Enterprise, she comes around in the end.
Ensign Wesley Crusher
Played by "Look, Stand By Me was a Long Time Ago" Wil Wheaton
Possibly one of the most despised characters in Trek history, Wesley Crusher is the wunderkind son of Dr. Beverly Crusher. Quite literally a "Gene Sue", Mr. Roddenberry often remarked that he saw a lot of himself in Wesley. While that may be true, the hard core Trek fanbase didn't take too kindly to Wes. He saves the ship a number of times after his field promotion to Acting Ensign just shy of the ripe age of 16. Picard later gives him a field promotion to Ensign after further heroic deeds. After entering the Academy, Wes runs into trouble over the death of a cadet and fellow member of the elite flying team Nova Squadron. Disillusioned by his life within Starfleet and the Federation, he turns his back on his mother and Picard and joins the Traveler. They are presumed to be wandering the universe, visiting alternate planes of existence and learning more than our puny human minds can fathom.
RECURRING CHARACTERS
The following is very small selection of recurring characters in the TNG universe.
Guinan
Played by Academy Award, Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony Award Winner Whoopi Goldberg
Guinan is the civilian hostess of Ten-Forward, or the main recreational lounge on the Enterprise. She is a member of the long lived El-Aurian, or "Listener" race, and has had many, many adventures. Some of them on Earth during the 1890s, where she first met Picard, though he doesn't recall this until the events happen in his lifetime. She is a colorful, wise, understanding character, who often wears outrageous hats that look as though they should be accompanied by large fake martini olives. She and Q have a mutual loathing of one another, and she isn't fond of the Borg either.
Q
Played by John de Lancie
The devil may be in the details, but for Picard, it's more like in the Q. Introduced in the very first episode "Encounter at Farpoint", Q (played by the marvelous John de Lancie) is of a race of literally omnipotent beings who has decided that humanity as a whole should stand trial for their very lives. Picard is the lucky bastard who defends humanity at this trial, and though he manages to save the lives of his entire species, Q vows to keep an eye on him and will be checking in frequently to judge humankind's progress, as represented by the Enterprise. He drives Picard absolutely 'round the bend with his arbitrary and completely irreverent, quixotic and often childlike behavior, and an appearance by him usually heralds the start of yet another bizarre adventure. A temper tantrum thrown by Q introduced the Enterprise and the Federation to the Borg, for good or for ill. He is a unique and incredible character, a favorite of fans and fanfic writers, and he pops up again in the Trek universe on both ST:DS9 and ST: VOY.
The Borg
The Borg are the bane to many of the civilizations in the Galaxy. "Resistance is futile" is their motto, and they forcibly abduct and assimilate any viable being they encounter into their Collective. This adds the beings knowledge, technology, talents and memories to the Collective consciousness. In many ways, the Borg mimic the behavior and social architecture of Earth honeybees, with a Queen and worker Drones, with no sense of the individual, but rather that of the unified, collective voice of the hive mind. For species that pride themselves on the individual and unique attributes that so often define their existence, the Borg are terrifying indeed.
Notable 'individual' Borg members include:
Lwaxana Troi
Played by Majel Barrett Roddenberry
Mother of Counselor Troi and the Betazoid Ambassador in the Federation, she's an outlandish, almost-larger-than-life presence every time she boards the Enterprise. A very powerful telepath, she delights in making private thoughts public, embarrassing people and causing chaos and mayhem in her wake. She also has a very serious interest in Picard, and much to his dismay pursues him every time she's on board. She also enjoys flirting with and discomfiting her daughter's sometime lover Riker.
Lieutenant Ro Laren
Played by Michelle Forbes
Born and raised in the refugee camps on Bajor, Ro is our first introduction to the Bajorans and their conflict with the Cardassians that would eventually become a major recurring theme on ST:DS9 and ST:VOY. She eventually resigned from Starfleet in order to join the Maquis forces fighting to free Bajor from Cardassian rule.
Lore
Played by Brent Spiner (no really!)
The fourth of six positronic androids created and built by Data's creator Dr Noonien Soong, he is Data's older "brother". Thanks to the existence of an 'emotion chip', he is more 'organic' and animated that Data, though most of those emotions are dark, self serving and completely without conscience. He was eventually deactivated and dismantled, and the emotion chip was recovered for Data's eventual use.
The O'Briens
Played by Colm Meaney and Rosalind Chao
Miles, Keiko and Molly O'Brien started out on the Enterprise, though they would later play pivotal roles on ST:DS9.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Prior to the first episode of TNG airing on September 26, 1987, the last time we'd seen anything significant and Trek related in the media involved the Original Series (TOS) crew heading a few hundred years into the past to kidnap a couple of humpback whales to save the Earth and Federation Headquarters from being destroyed by a giant phallic galactic probe that sings in ST IV: The Voyage Home (1986).
It's a bit hard to follow that act (Spock in a soaking wet robe swimming and splashing Kirk in San Francisco Gay? Er, I meant Bay?), but the TNG crew premiered with style and spandex that fall, almost a hundred years after Kirk's time with a spankin' new ship, a new Captain, and a new crew that blends enemies-that-are-now-allies, new non-human species, and sentient androids in adventures and places "where no one has gone before"!
And they did it very, very well. Over the life of the series, TNG was nominated for a total of fifty-five Emmy Awards in a variety of categories. It won a total of 16, and was the first syndicated television show in history to be nominated for Outstanding Drama.
Like any good little Trekker, I could go on for ages about the importance of each episode and the more meta-implications of the myriad subplots and how they impact character development, galactic politics and subsequent incarnations of Trek (DS9, Voyager and Enterprise). The Star Trek franchise has spawned hundreds of characters, more species than any other show can shake a stick at, and each and every incarnation has roots in the previous versions. It is truly an international cultural phenomenon.
However, in the interest of expediency, I'll attempt to summarize events by season.
Season One
Having introduced us to the characters in "Encounter at Farpoint", in some of the ugliest and most unfortunate quasi-military uniforms known to network television, most everyone in the crew promptly skins out of them in "The Naked Now" after being infected by something that provokes feelings of intoxication and uninhibited behavior. Highlights from this season include Q attempting to lure Riker into joining the Collective, meeting Data's evil brother Lore, and we are introduced to what some lament as the biggest plot-crutch in the entire history of the franchise - the holodeck. Riker finds out that a female-dominated planet isn't what he's expecting, an alien race attempts to kidnap all the children on the Enterprise, and Yar is killed during an away mission.
Though uneven and obviously struggling to find its feet, Season One provides a good foundation for subsequent seasons and later incarnations of the Trek franchise.
Season Two
Season Two introduces us to a new CMO, Troi has a child, and Data and La Forge enjoy a Sherlock Holmes mystery on the Holodeck that of course goes horribly wrong. Data has further adventures when a scientist attempts to transfer his consciousness into Data's android body, and a Starfleet Commander plans to dismantle him for study on the grounds that he is not actually a sentient being, but merely the sum of his programming. Picard negotiates a few treaties between warring societies and is pursued by the incredibly amorous Lwaxana Troi, while Worf has some romantic problems of his own. Riker serves a stint on board a Klingon vessel and is offered command of his own ship. And Q, in a fit of pique, introduces the Enterprise to the Borg.
Most of the second season, quite frankly, sucked all kinds of ass. Thankfully, however, about halfway through the season, the uniforms change into something far less…stretchy and much more visually pleasing.
Season Three
The third season started out not with a bang but with a whimper. Thankfully, Dr. Crusher is back on board, and the usual run of diplomatic missions and first contact situations abound. Picard is taken for a god by one primitive society. Unfortunately, we don't get to see a demonstration of his sex god powers. La Forge tries practicing his dating mojo on a hologram of his favorite scientist. There are a few encounters with the Romulans, and Crusher is kidnapped by rebels on a planet visited by the Enterprise.
About halfway through the season, however, the series takes an abrupt turn for the better. "Deja Q" is a standout episode in this season, where Q is turned mortal by the Continuum for his shenanigans, and once the word gets out that he's mortal and effectively helpless, all sorts of people he's managed to piss off start showing up. He, surprising just about everyone, including himself, is ready to sacrifice his mortal existence in order to keep the Enterprise and her crew safe from collateral damage by the Calamarian. Q2, an observer from the Continuum, figures Q's sacrifice would raise too many questions back home and gives him back his powers.
Other superior episodes from this season include:
The last episode of the third season is, quite possibly, one half of the best damn episode in the entire TNG lineup. "The Best of Both Worlds - Part One" sets the stage for a Borg invasion of the Alpha Quadrant. They demand Picard's immediate surrender. If he does so, they will spare the Enterprise. Picard, not surprisingly, declines their offer, but after a number of scuffles, the ship is boarded and he is taken from the bridge of the Enterprise with ease. Once he is assimilated into the Collective, the Borg will have access to everything Picard knows. As Captain of the Federation flagship, his loss is catastrophic, and may very well spell the end of humanity and quite possibly the Federation itself.
While preparations are underway to make a last stand at Wolf 359, Riker and the Enterprise go after their Captain. But they're too late. The next time they see Picard, he's been 'Borged', and now goes by the designation of Locutus. The Borg hail the Enterprise, and we see Picard in the viewscreen.
"I am Locutus, of Borg. Resistance is futile. Your life as it has been is over. From this time forward, you will service...US."
The crew of the Enterprise are stunned and horrified. Riker, looking sick but determined, opens fire on the Borg cube.
And then the bastards give us a "TO BE CONTINUED", and my hatred of cliffhanger episodes is firmly established.
Season Four
Over three months later, we pick up where Season Three left off with "The Best of Both Worlds - Part Two". The Borg have taken Picard and humanity is on the brink of annihilation and assimilation by the pitiless Collective. Riker had just ordered the Enterprise to open fire on the Borg cube, but their weapons have no effect. "Your resistance is hopeless...Number One." Aieeeeeeeee!
The Borg resume course for Earth, and a disabled Enterprise affects repairs and gives chase. Federation forces are massing at Wolf 359 in a last ditch effort to defend humanity, the Borg work on assimilating Picard and his knowledge to their best advantage, and Riker gives Data leave to try to find a way to override the bio chip the Borg implant in their victims to make them a part of the Collective. With some wily maneuvers, Riker manages to recover Locutus from the Borg cube to the Enterprise, where it's up to Data, and the remnants of Picard left within Locutus, to overcome the Borg technology before they lose Sector 001 - the Terran solar system.
Data manages to activate a direct link between his neural net and Locutus' connection with the Borg, and desperately tries to send commands to the root Borg consciousness to desist or disarm, to no avail. Riker orders a last ditch, suicidal effort and puts the Enterprise on a collision course with the cube, but is halted by Data before he obliterates every soul on board. Picard manages to break through the imposed Locutus personality long enough to give Data the clue he needs to stop the carnage - "Sleep". At the very last moment, Data manages to send the entire Collective into a regenerative state, ending the attack. The Borg Cube self-destructs, but Crusher and Data manage to save Picard and begin the process of freeing him from the remnants of the implanted Borg technology.
This two-part episode marked a significant change in the quality of the show, and the fourth season begins with a marked emphasis on family relations. Data meets his maker (literally), the rest of the Enterprise bridge crew take some time to reflect on and visit their families, Crusher has a harrowing experience with her son, and Worf discovers he's a father. Wes leaves for the Academy, Troi temporarily loses her empathic abilities, and we get a sort of 'day in the life of Data' episode. The Enterprise also encounters the Cardassians, have their memories erased a couple of times, and have a significant first contact mission. La Forge meets the real life version of the person he used in a holodeck simulation to practice his dating technique, and Crusher falls for a Trill, who changes hosts in the middle of their romance due to a tragic accident.
Standout eps of this season include:
Season Five
The season kicks off with the Klingon civil war raging out of control. Picard is certain that the Romulans are involved, and tries to convince Starfleet to set up a blockade. Riker and Data receive command of their own ships, and the Federation forces wait for a Romulan ship to trip the net they've set up. Picard and crew meet the blonde Romulan that's been organizing one side of the civil war, and they're taken aback to realize that Commander Sela looks remarkably like Tasha Yar. They're further stunned to discover that she's Yar's daughter from a different timeline. Worf is kidnapped by the Duras' sisters, there's a very tension filled battle wherein the Romulans abandon their Klingon allies, and Data does some original thinking while in command of his own ship. Worf is eventually returned to the Enterprise, Riker and Data return to their respective positions, and the Enterprise returns to her normal duties.
If the fourth season was about family, the fifth takes a turn toward galactic politics and interaction with non-Federation species. Ensign Ro is introduced in this season, along with the basics about Bajor and their struggle against the Cardassians that are a major emphasis in ST:DS9 and ST:VOY. The Enterprise has encounters with the Crystalline Entity, Troi has command of the bridge during a quantum filament crisis, Wes saves the ship and crew from a mind control device Riker picked up on Risa. Worf learns more about his adopted family as well as his son, and decides against ritual suicide after he's injured in an accident, for the sake of his son. Guests on board psychically attack Troi en route to an archeological mission, and the ship encounters a genetically engineered society of humans that is not as perfect as they think. Riker falls for a member of an androgynous race, Wes runs into trouble at the Academy
The TNG juggernaut is picking up steam during this season, as you may see by the exceptional episodes listed below.
Season Five rocked my socks off!
Season Six
The storyline begun in "Time's Arrow - Part One" is resolved with a deft hand in "Time's Arrow - Part Two". Samuel Clemens gets an unexpected tour of a 24th century starship, while Data, Picard, Riker, Crusher and La Forge attempt to save the citizens of 1893 San Francisco from murderous aliens. The ep kicks off another excellent season. In subsequent eps we see Barclay overcoming his fear of the transporters (sort of), Troi becoming an unwilling victim of toxic psychic waste that results in such rapid aging that she actually dies, and many members of the bridge crew are abducted and experimented on in an ep that creeped me way the hell out. Q returns to claim the "Q raised as a human" Amanda Rogers that is currently a passenger on the Enterprise, and the situation quickly spirals completely out of control the way it does when Q are involved. Another ep features Picard, Ro, Guinan and Keiko O'Brien trapped in their 12 year old bodies after a strange accident when returning to the ship after shore leave. Data runs amuck in the holodeck during an American Old West storyline, and discovers some unlikely 'cousins' in small robots called exocomps. Riker meets himself on an away mission
Outstanding episodes of this season include:
Season Six was all about teamwork, and showed just how tightly knit the main officers and characters on board the Enterprise have become over the years. It also showed us more about what really makes these beloved characters tick. I also think it's likely the best TNG season in terms of sheer quality of episodes, variety of storylines, and character development.
Season Seven
The season premiere brings us right back to Data, Lore, the Borg and the dire situation Picard finds himself in. Lore pontificates continually, and enjoys needling Picard about how he turned Data to his cause by using his emotions as currency. Crusher is in command of the Enterprise, and after beaming a portion of the away teams back to the ship, makes haste away from the planet and an approaching Borg ship. La Forge, before Data confiscates his VISOR, notices a strange frequency beaming from Lore to Data, while Riker and Worf encounter a splinter Borg group led by Hugh. Picard, La Forge and Troi plot their escape, while Crusher returns to the planet and picks up the remaining away teams, then hides from the Borg in a nearby sun’s corona using some really sweet experimental technology La Forge has been working on. Lore demands proof of Data’s loyalty, and orders him to kill Picard. When he refuses, Lore decides to make Data into an example of his willingness to sacrifice all that is meaningful to him by destroying his brother. Hugh, Riker and Worf enter the chamber and all hell breaks loose. In the end, Data deactivates Lore, everyone gets back to the Enterprise in one piece, and the Borg are left to sort themselves out. Data decides to hold on to the recovered emotion chip for another time, and the seventh season starts out well.
The Enterprise crew adventures continue with an amusing cultural exchange, where even Troi has to admit that there is such a thing as too much chocolate; La Forge loses his mother in a painful episode, Worf enjoys even more complicated family time with his brother and his son, and the Enterprise develops it's own intelligence.
Rockin’ eps of the final season include:
I still, to this day, find it difficult to talk about or recap "All Good Things", the final TNG episode. For the good folks of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
crack_van though, I’ll do my best.
Q is back, and in a mirror of the very first episode of TNG, Picard is defending the human race’s right to exist. Randomly moving through the past, present and future, he must convince Q not to snuff out humanity like a guttering candle flame while simultaneously assuring his crew in multiple timelines that he’s not suffering from the effects of Irumodic Syndrome, and that the spatial anomaly they’re sent to investigate in the Neutral Zone is more than it appears to be. Getting to the anomaly, however, proves difficult, as governments and borders have changed in the 25 years between the present and the future Picard experiences. After some exceptionally well done and disorienting leaps through time, Q admits that he is moving the Captain back and forth through time, and that a verdict has been rendered, but it is Picard, not Q, who is responsible for humanity’s destruction.
Through a series of Yes and No questions, Picard learns that the anomaly is the key to the entire situation. An eruption of "anti-time" that collides with normal time, the effect is wreaking havoc and causing a rupture in space. The effects are incredibly far-reaching, impacting the Enterprise crew in the future, present and past timelines, and indeed, reaches all the way back to prevent the beginning of life on earth. Picard and his crew create a solution, and through their selfless actions, destroy the anomaly and mend the timeline. Because of his actions, humanity is saved, and Q returns Picard to the moment in time where his adventure began. The Captain shares his remarkable experience with his friends, creating an even tighter bond between the command crew, and provides food for thought on how their choices can and will impact the future.
In a related note, I burst into tears and damn television for breaking my heart. :D
The final television season of TNG showed us more about the inner workings of the characters we have come to know and love over the previous seven years, and how a few people can have an larger impact than they ever thought possible.
MAJOR MOTION PICTURES
Though it's been almost ten years since the show bowed, Paramount managed to get a bit more milk from the TNG cash cow in four feature films. Generations in 1994 brought key characters from TOS back to interact with the TNG crew, through an interesting and seductive, but ultimately destructive ribbon of energy called the Nexus. To make a long story short, Kirk's been in the Nexus, living the good life for 78 years, until Picard goes in and hauls his fat, reluctant ass out to help him keep a madman who looks like a really cranky Sting from destroying a few star systems and millions of lives. Picard and Kirk work together to defeat him, though not without consequences. In the wimpiest final scene I think I've ever witnessed, Kirk finally dies for good. Thank god. In related events, Data installs his emotion chip, Geordi gets kidnapped by the extraordinarily busty and very Klingon Duras sisters who are working with Soren, the and in the ensuing battle to get him back, Troi takes the helm and manages to crash the Enterprise, which is something even the Borg never managed. Friends don't let Troi take the helm. Big D, we'll miss ye.
First Contact in 1996, possibly the most commercially successful and well received of the TNG movies, introduces the sexy new version of the Enterprise (NCC-1701E), and brings back old enemies. The Borg are back, and they're gunning for Earth yet again. Resistance is futile. During another battle for earth, a Borg sphere escapes by opening a temporal rift and in a bid to wipe out the Federation problem before it starts, heads back to Earth circa 2063. More specifically, the day before the first warp speed flight, which is what attracts the attention of a passing Vulcan ship, puts humanity on the galactic map and brings about the evolution of humanity into a peaceful and unified race. There's all sorts of Prime Directive issues, but the Enterprise crew is determined to preserve Earth, humanity and the timeline as they know it. Alice Krige is magnificent as the ultra-creepy Borg Queen, with excellent storylines regarding Picard's struggles to deal with his time as Locutus and Data's with the emotion chip and the temptation of the pleasures of the flesh.
Insurrection in 1998 has the Enterprise crew deciding, once again, to disobey Starfleet Command orders to evacuate a unique planet in order to save the inhabitants. Picard has a fling, Troi and Crusher act like they're at a spa, Worf regresses to Klingon puberty, Data has issues, and I can't remember where the hell Riker and La Forge were. A snoozer, though there are some good scenes.
Nemesis, the final TNG film released last year, sends the Enterprise into Romulan territory. They're apparently willing to negotiate a truce, and the Federation wants their best diplomat there to see the deal through. Riker and Troi finally tie the knot, the Enterprise manages to unearth another prototype of Data (Beta-Data, only this time he's more "Simple Simon" than Lore-like), and oddly enough, the new Praetor of Romulus is Picard's clone. Someone let Troi at the helm again, so there's extensive damages to the Enterprise-E, but there's also intrigue, action, the death of my favorite character (*SOB!*), Riker gets promoted and the TNG crew takes it's final bow.
LINKS
It has been many years since I’ve wandered the web looking specifically for TNG websites. This section is skimpy right now, but as I explore the web, looking for fic to rec, I shall update this section of my review throughout the month of December. For now, this section is a bit skimpy, but please return at a later date to see what’s new. Or, if you’ve a link you would like me to include, please leave it in the comments below. Thank you!
General series information:
startrek.com - Considering Star Trek now has five television series incarnations and ten major motion picture films associated with the franchise, you could literally spend days, if not weeks, at the official ST site. A literal encyclopedia of ST information is available at the click of a few buttons. The site is mind-blowingly cross linked, and just about everything you wanted to know, find out or discover about ST can be found here.
If you’d like a less intense website, this really nice site by Andrew Tong provided me with all the information necessary for this summary when ST.com kept crashing my computer.
Character specific sites:
The Q Continuum - Information about all things Q in nature. I am not certain where the fic archive went, but this is a place to start if you're interested about Q.
Fanfic archives:
Trekiverse - This is the official archive for the USENET groups in the alt.startrek.creative group and hierarchy. See, back in the day when I was seriously into Trek, the 'net was just taking off. Most of the fic was found on the (now) old usenet groups. This archive hosts a good portion of the stories I remember reading once upon a time.
Treksearch.com - This link is for Fandom/Fan_Fiction, and is an index of a number of fic sites. I haven’t had much of a chance to explore it, but hope to soon.
Random Trivia:
Season One | Season Two | Season Three | Season Four | Season Five | Season Six | Season Seven
Major Motion Pictures | Links and Other
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Captain Jean-Luc Picard, of the Galaxy-class USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D and the Sovereign-class USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E
Played by the incredible, the wonderful, the amazing, the man who made bald look sexy way before I knew Michael Rosenbaum existed Patrick Stewart.
Picard is an intellectual, a man of reason, comfortable in diplomatic roles yet coolly confident in battle. He has to be all these things, as he's Captain of the Federation flagship. Born and raised in France, though he speaks with a British accent, his is a life dedicated to Starfleet and his career in it. However, he also has a passion for archeology and enjoys Shakespeare, classical music, and adventures in the holodeck as Dixon Hill. Picard is introspective, uncomfortable around children and overly emotional situations. At times awkward in his personal relationships, he has a long and convoluted emotional history with Dr. Crusher. Jean-Luc is a magnet for some of the most troublesome, mischievous, evil, curious and amazing characters in the galaxy. Like previous Enterprise Captains, Picard prefers to remain in active service on board his ship, turning down a number of promotions, like the one offered to Admiral and Commandant of Starfleet Academy. His bravery, courage, intelligence and honor manage to get himself and the crew of the Enterprise out of very sticky situations time and time again. All that and he manages to sound sexy every time he opens his mouth!
Commander William T. Riker, Executive (First) Officer
Played by "Yes I produced Roswell and there really are Alien Autopsies" Jonathan Frakes
Riker is, in many ways, the complete opposite of Picard. Easy going, with a ready smile and jovial sense of humor, he's dashing, bold and much more of a throwback to the Kirk-ian style of command. He's an unorthodox thinker, finding new and unusual ways of resolving the many crises the Enterprise finds herself in. He's generally an excellent First Officer for Picard, and quite the ladies' man. Or so he thinks. He has an on-again/off-again relationship with Counselor Troi, which either makes him the luckiest bastard in the galaxy, or a really big schmuck.
Lieutenant Commander Data, Second Officer/Science Officer
Played by lean, mean, singing machine Brent Spiner
Data brings an entirely different perspective to the table. He has no emotions (for a good part of the series, anyway), and is in many ways the quintessential Pinocchio. Entirely innocent, he steals the show in a lot of different episodes, is Chief Engineer La Forge's best friend, and has a cat named Spot. He's also a damn fine poker player, and is "fully functional". Yes, in all the kinky ways you might want an android to function.
Commander Geordi La Forge, Chief Engineer
Played by "Reading Rainbow Man" Levar Burton
The character doomed to spend almost seven years wearing a gold banana clip on his face, Geordi is a veritable wunderkind with the warp core. He's blind from birth, though he can see, albeit painfully, with the use of his VISOR. He's Data's best friend, awkward with women, and was once almost transformed into an entirely different species by an alien parasite. He's got a great sense of humor, which in combination with his fascination with the Enterprise's engines, automatically dooms him to the life of the ubergeek. On the upside, who cares when your best friend has a positronic net *and* is fully functional?
Lieutenant Commander Worf, Chief Security Officer
Played by Michael Dorn
One of the most surprising moves by the new Trek series came in the very first episode, by introducing Lt. Worf to the bridge of the Enterprise. A Klingon born on the home world, his parents were massacred by Romulans, and he was raised on Earth by one of the Starfleet crewmembers who found him amidst the rubble. Hotheaded, temperamental, but honorable and fiercely loyal to his shipmates, and is another crew member who's interested in Counselor Troi. He also knows his way around a bat'leth. But just so you know, he is "...not a merry man!" You can add even more Worf to your daily diet by watching later seasons of ST:DS9.
Commander Beverly Crusher, Chief Medical Officer
Played by Gates McFadden
Feisty, elegant, intelligent...Crusher is all these and more. An excellent doctor, she saves the hides of every senior officer at least once (if not five or six or ten) times over the course of their adventures, and has a few of her own to boot. She enjoys dancing, being involved in some of the theatrical productions on board, and shares good times with her best friend on board, Counselor Troi. Oh, and there's that complicated and strange relationship with the Captain as well.
Commander Deanna Troi, Ship's Counselor
Played by Marina Sirtis
Half human, half Betazoid, Troi plays a crucial role in life on board a Federation Starship. She shares her mother's Betazoid talent for inter-species telepathy, though her empathic powers are much, much stronger. She is often at the Captain's side during away missions, especially during first contact situations, and her abilities have managed to save the ship many, many times. She and Riker have a long on-again/off-again relationship that ends up permanently stuck in the "on" position by the end of the TNG movies. The woman is intelligent, exceptionally talented in her chosen field, knows her way around a few less violent martial arts, and has a fondness for chocolate. I so totally hate her! :D
Lieutenant Natasha "Tasha" Yar, Chief Security Officer (First Season)
Played by Denise Crosby
Yar grew up living a life on the streets of a failing colony planet, and made it off-world shortly before the planetary government broke off all contact with the Federation. She enrolled in the Academy and impressed Picard so much the first time he saw her, that he requested her transfer to the Enterprise immediately. Tough and wary of the 'softer' side of her femininity, she nevertheless enjoyed a wonderful night with Data under the influence of the Tsiolkovsky Virus. Sadly, Yar was killed by a giant, sentient black oil slick during an away mission.
Commander Katherine Pulaski, Chief Medical Officer (Second Season)
Played by Diana Muldaur
Filling in for Crusher as CMO while Crusher is away doing a stint as head of Starfleet Medical, she wasn't the best 'fit' on board the Enterprise. She's stubborn, extremely sarcastic, but a good woman under the vitriol. She saves Picard's life after his artificial heart gives out during an away mission, and though she refuses to acknowledge Data as a sentient being when she first boards the Enterprise, she comes around in the end.
Ensign Wesley Crusher
Played by "Look, Stand By Me was a Long Time Ago" Wil Wheaton
Possibly one of the most despised characters in Trek history, Wesley Crusher is the wunderkind son of Dr. Beverly Crusher. Quite literally a "Gene Sue", Mr. Roddenberry often remarked that he saw a lot of himself in Wesley. While that may be true, the hard core Trek fanbase didn't take too kindly to Wes. He saves the ship a number of times after his field promotion to Acting Ensign just shy of the ripe age of 16. Picard later gives him a field promotion to Ensign after further heroic deeds. After entering the Academy, Wes runs into trouble over the death of a cadet and fellow member of the elite flying team Nova Squadron. Disillusioned by his life within Starfleet and the Federation, he turns his back on his mother and Picard and joins the Traveler. They are presumed to be wandering the universe, visiting alternate planes of existence and learning more than our puny human minds can fathom.
RECURRING CHARACTERS
The following is very small selection of recurring characters in the TNG universe.
Guinan
Played by Academy Award, Emmy, Golden Globe and Tony Award Winner Whoopi Goldberg
Guinan is the civilian hostess of Ten-Forward, or the main recreational lounge on the Enterprise. She is a member of the long lived El-Aurian, or "Listener" race, and has had many, many adventures. Some of them on Earth during the 1890s, where she first met Picard, though he doesn't recall this until the events happen in his lifetime. She is a colorful, wise, understanding character, who often wears outrageous hats that look as though they should be accompanied by large fake martini olives. She and Q have a mutual loathing of one another, and she isn't fond of the Borg either.
Q
Played by John de Lancie
The devil may be in the details, but for Picard, it's more like in the Q. Introduced in the very first episode "Encounter at Farpoint", Q (played by the marvelous John de Lancie) is of a race of literally omnipotent beings who has decided that humanity as a whole should stand trial for their very lives. Picard is the lucky bastard who defends humanity at this trial, and though he manages to save the lives of his entire species, Q vows to keep an eye on him and will be checking in frequently to judge humankind's progress, as represented by the Enterprise. He drives Picard absolutely 'round the bend with his arbitrary and completely irreverent, quixotic and often childlike behavior, and an appearance by him usually heralds the start of yet another bizarre adventure. A temper tantrum thrown by Q introduced the Enterprise and the Federation to the Borg, for good or for ill. He is a unique and incredible character, a favorite of fans and fanfic writers, and he pops up again in the Trek universe on both ST:DS9 and ST: VOY.
The Borg
The Borg are the bane to many of the civilizations in the Galaxy. "Resistance is futile" is their motto, and they forcibly abduct and assimilate any viable being they encounter into their Collective. This adds the beings knowledge, technology, talents and memories to the Collective consciousness. In many ways, the Borg mimic the behavior and social architecture of Earth honeybees, with a Queen and worker Drones, with no sense of the individual, but rather that of the unified, collective voice of the hive mind. For species that pride themselves on the individual and unique attributes that so often define their existence, the Borg are terrifying indeed.
Notable 'individual' Borg members include:
- the Borg Queen, who has a serious thing for Picard, especially after he is the first known being assimilated by the Borg to escape and recover his pre-Borg identity.
- Locutus, Picard's Borg identity after he is assimilated prior to the battle at Wolf 359.
- "Hugh" (Third of Five), who is freed from the Collective by Geordi La Forge, and later returned with a measure of individuality that wreaks havoc on the Collective.
Lwaxana Troi
Played by Majel Barrett Roddenberry
Mother of Counselor Troi and the Betazoid Ambassador in the Federation, she's an outlandish, almost-larger-than-life presence every time she boards the Enterprise. A very powerful telepath, she delights in making private thoughts public, embarrassing people and causing chaos and mayhem in her wake. She also has a very serious interest in Picard, and much to his dismay pursues him every time she's on board. She also enjoys flirting with and discomfiting her daughter's sometime lover Riker.
Lieutenant Ro Laren
Played by Michelle Forbes
Born and raised in the refugee camps on Bajor, Ro is our first introduction to the Bajorans and their conflict with the Cardassians that would eventually become a major recurring theme on ST:DS9 and ST:VOY. She eventually resigned from Starfleet in order to join the Maquis forces fighting to free Bajor from Cardassian rule.
Lore
Played by Brent Spiner (no really!)
The fourth of six positronic androids created and built by Data's creator Dr Noonien Soong, he is Data's older "brother". Thanks to the existence of an 'emotion chip', he is more 'organic' and animated that Data, though most of those emotions are dark, self serving and completely without conscience. He was eventually deactivated and dismantled, and the emotion chip was recovered for Data's eventual use.
The O'Briens
Played by Colm Meaney and Rosalind Chao
Miles, Keiko and Molly O'Brien started out on the Enterprise, though they would later play pivotal roles on ST:DS9.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Prior to the first episode of TNG airing on September 26, 1987, the last time we'd seen anything significant and Trek related in the media involved the Original Series (TOS) crew heading a few hundred years into the past to kidnap a couple of humpback whales to save the Earth and Federation Headquarters from being destroyed by a giant phallic galactic probe that sings in ST IV: The Voyage Home (1986).
It's a bit hard to follow that act (Spock in a soaking wet robe swimming and splashing Kirk in San Francisco Gay? Er, I meant Bay?), but the TNG crew premiered with style and spandex that fall, almost a hundred years after Kirk's time with a spankin' new ship, a new Captain, and a new crew that blends enemies-that-are-now-allies, new non-human species, and sentient androids in adventures and places "where no one has gone before"!
And they did it very, very well. Over the life of the series, TNG was nominated for a total of fifty-five Emmy Awards in a variety of categories. It won a total of 16, and was the first syndicated television show in history to be nominated for Outstanding Drama.
Like any good little Trekker, I could go on for ages about the importance of each episode and the more meta-implications of the myriad subplots and how they impact character development, galactic politics and subsequent incarnations of Trek (DS9, Voyager and Enterprise). The Star Trek franchise has spawned hundreds of characters, more species than any other show can shake a stick at, and each and every incarnation has roots in the previous versions. It is truly an international cultural phenomenon.
However, in the interest of expediency, I'll attempt to summarize events by season.
Season One
Having introduced us to the characters in "Encounter at Farpoint", in some of the ugliest and most unfortunate quasi-military uniforms known to network television, most everyone in the crew promptly skins out of them in "The Naked Now" after being infected by something that provokes feelings of intoxication and uninhibited behavior. Highlights from this season include Q attempting to lure Riker into joining the Collective, meeting Data's evil brother Lore, and we are introduced to what some lament as the biggest plot-crutch in the entire history of the franchise - the holodeck. Riker finds out that a female-dominated planet isn't what he's expecting, an alien race attempts to kidnap all the children on the Enterprise, and Yar is killed during an away mission.
Though uneven and obviously struggling to find its feet, Season One provides a good foundation for subsequent seasons and later incarnations of the Trek franchise.
Season Two introduces us to a new CMO, Troi has a child, and Data and La Forge enjoy a Sherlock Holmes mystery on the Holodeck that of course goes horribly wrong. Data has further adventures when a scientist attempts to transfer his consciousness into Data's android body, and a Starfleet Commander plans to dismantle him for study on the grounds that he is not actually a sentient being, but merely the sum of his programming. Picard negotiates a few treaties between warring societies and is pursued by the incredibly amorous Lwaxana Troi, while Worf has some romantic problems of his own. Riker serves a stint on board a Klingon vessel and is offered command of his own ship. And Q, in a fit of pique, introduces the Enterprise to the Borg.
Most of the second season, quite frankly, sucked all kinds of ass. Thankfully, however, about halfway through the season, the uniforms change into something far less…stretchy and much more visually pleasing.
The third season started out not with a bang but with a whimper. Thankfully, Dr. Crusher is back on board, and the usual run of diplomatic missions and first contact situations abound. Picard is taken for a god by one primitive society. Unfortunately, we don't get to see a demonstration of his sex god powers. La Forge tries practicing his dating mojo on a hologram of his favorite scientist. There are a few encounters with the Romulans, and Crusher is kidnapped by rebels on a planet visited by the Enterprise.
About halfway through the season, however, the series takes an abrupt turn for the better. "Deja Q" is a standout episode in this season, where Q is turned mortal by the Continuum for his shenanigans, and once the word gets out that he's mortal and effectively helpless, all sorts of people he's managed to piss off start showing up. He, surprising just about everyone, including himself, is ready to sacrifice his mortal existence in order to keep the Enterprise and her crew safe from collateral damage by the Calamarian. Q2, an observer from the Continuum, figures Q's sacrifice would raise too many questions back home and gives him back his powers.
Other superior episodes from this season include:
- "Yesterday's Enterprise", which brings Yar back in an AU version on board the Enterprise-C
- "The Offspring", in which Data decides to procreate and builds his 'daughter' Lal
- "Sins of the Father", where Worf learns of the truth behind the Khitomer Massacre
- Picard endures a mind-meld with an increasingly unstable Vulcan legend Sarak in "Sarak"
The last episode of the third season is, quite possibly, one half of the best damn episode in the entire TNG lineup. "The Best of Both Worlds - Part One" sets the stage for a Borg invasion of the Alpha Quadrant. They demand Picard's immediate surrender. If he does so, they will spare the Enterprise. Picard, not surprisingly, declines their offer, but after a number of scuffles, the ship is boarded and he is taken from the bridge of the Enterprise with ease. Once he is assimilated into the Collective, the Borg will have access to everything Picard knows. As Captain of the Federation flagship, his loss is catastrophic, and may very well spell the end of humanity and quite possibly the Federation itself.
While preparations are underway to make a last stand at Wolf 359, Riker and the Enterprise go after their Captain. But they're too late. The next time they see Picard, he's been 'Borged', and now goes by the designation of Locutus. The Borg hail the Enterprise, and we see Picard in the viewscreen.
"I am Locutus, of Borg. Resistance is futile. Your life as it has been is over. From this time forward, you will service...US."
The crew of the Enterprise are stunned and horrified. Riker, looking sick but determined, opens fire on the Borg cube.
And then the bastards give us a "TO BE CONTINUED", and my hatred of cliffhanger episodes is firmly established.
Over three months later, we pick up where Season Three left off with "The Best of Both Worlds - Part Two". The Borg have taken Picard and humanity is on the brink of annihilation and assimilation by the pitiless Collective. Riker had just ordered the Enterprise to open fire on the Borg cube, but their weapons have no effect. "Your resistance is hopeless...Number One." Aieeeeeeeee!
The Borg resume course for Earth, and a disabled Enterprise affects repairs and gives chase. Federation forces are massing at Wolf 359 in a last ditch effort to defend humanity, the Borg work on assimilating Picard and his knowledge to their best advantage, and Riker gives Data leave to try to find a way to override the bio chip the Borg implant in their victims to make them a part of the Collective. With some wily maneuvers, Riker manages to recover Locutus from the Borg cube to the Enterprise, where it's up to Data, and the remnants of Picard left within Locutus, to overcome the Borg technology before they lose Sector 001 - the Terran solar system.
Data manages to activate a direct link between his neural net and Locutus' connection with the Borg, and desperately tries to send commands to the root Borg consciousness to desist or disarm, to no avail. Riker orders a last ditch, suicidal effort and puts the Enterprise on a collision course with the cube, but is halted by Data before he obliterates every soul on board. Picard manages to break through the imposed Locutus personality long enough to give Data the clue he needs to stop the carnage - "Sleep". At the very last moment, Data manages to send the entire Collective into a regenerative state, ending the attack. The Borg Cube self-destructs, but Crusher and Data manage to save Picard and begin the process of freeing him from the remnants of the implanted Borg technology.
This two-part episode marked a significant change in the quality of the show, and the fourth season begins with a marked emphasis on family relations. Data meets his maker (literally), the rest of the Enterprise bridge crew take some time to reflect on and visit their families, Crusher has a harrowing experience with her son, and Worf discovers he's a father. Wes leaves for the Academy, Troi temporarily loses her empathic abilities, and we get a sort of 'day in the life of Data' episode. The Enterprise also encounters the Cardassians, have their memories erased a couple of times, and have a significant first contact mission. La Forge meets the real life version of the person he used in a holodeck simulation to practice his dating technique, and Crusher falls for a Trill, who changes hosts in the middle of their romance due to a tragic accident.
Standout eps of this season include:
- The aforementioned "The Best of Both Worlds - Part Two".
- "The Nth Degree", where aliens influence crewman Reg Barclay and turn him into a super genius.
- "Qpid" sees Q messing with the bridge crew's heads. Again.
- Data has a relationship with a fellow crewmember in "In Theory".
- Worf is embroiled in Klingon politics again in "Redemption - Part One", and though he officially takes leave from the Enterprise to facilitate the transition of power in the Klingon government, Picard and the Enterprise are sucked into the middle of a Klingon civil war that also has the Romulan Empire in on the action up to their shoulder pads. Of course, this results in another "TO BE CONTINUED"....
The season kicks off with the Klingon civil war raging out of control. Picard is certain that the Romulans are involved, and tries to convince Starfleet to set up a blockade. Riker and Data receive command of their own ships, and the Federation forces wait for a Romulan ship to trip the net they've set up. Picard and crew meet the blonde Romulan that's been organizing one side of the civil war, and they're taken aback to realize that Commander Sela looks remarkably like Tasha Yar. They're further stunned to discover that she's Yar's daughter from a different timeline. Worf is kidnapped by the Duras' sisters, there's a very tension filled battle wherein the Romulans abandon their Klingon allies, and Data does some original thinking while in command of his own ship. Worf is eventually returned to the Enterprise, Riker and Data return to their respective positions, and the Enterprise returns to her normal duties.
If the fourth season was about family, the fifth takes a turn toward galactic politics and interaction with non-Federation species. Ensign Ro is introduced in this season, along with the basics about Bajor and their struggle against the Cardassians that are a major emphasis in ST:DS9 and ST:VOY. The Enterprise has encounters with the Crystalline Entity, Troi has command of the bridge during a quantum filament crisis, Wes saves the ship and crew from a mind control device Riker picked up on Risa. Worf learns more about his adopted family as well as his son, and decides against ritual suicide after he's injured in an accident, for the sake of his son. Guests on board psychically attack Troi en route to an archeological mission, and the ship encounters a genetically engineered society of humans that is not as perfect as they think. Riker falls for a member of an androgynous race, Wes runs into trouble at the Academy
The TNG juggernaut is picking up steam during this season, as you may see by the exceptional episodes listed below.
- "Darmok", which requires Picard and crew to do some mental gymnastics with regards to linguistics in order to break through barriers with a promising race called the Tamarians.
- Ambassador Spock appears to have defected to Romulus in "Unification, Parts One and Two", but it soon comes to light that he is merely attempting to work with underground Romulan factions that favor unification between the Romulans and Vulcans. Picard and Data encounter Sela again, and foil a brilliant attempt by the Romulans to invade Vulcan. Picard and Spock mind-meld as Sarak did, and Spock leaves the encounter enlightened as to his father's true feelings for him.
- A fake 26th century historian, who turns out to be a thoroughly disreputable sort from the past, who attempts to remove technology from the Enterprise in order to make a name for himself in the past in "A Matter of Time".
- "Conundrum" erases everyone's memories in an attempt by an alien race to use the Enterprise as a weapon in their civil war.
- "Cause and Effect" offers a TNG version of the movie 'Groundhog Day'. Everything feels strangely familiar to the crew as they go about the events of their day while caught in a temporal feedback loop. An excellent episode, and we get to see the Enterprise explode about half a dozen times.
- Picard meets his perfect woman, literally, in "The Perfect Mate". This episode breaks my heart every time I see it. Picard is asked to escort a female empathic metamorph to her wedding, in an attempt to settle differences between warring systems. The woman, known as Kamala, unconsciously molds her entire personality to match the desires of the men around her. She will eventually bond with one man, and is on her way to meet her prospective husband and end the war. Of course the Ferengi get involved, and in the midst of the chaos, Kamala bonds to Picard instead. However, with this bond to Picard, she's learned the values he himself holds dear, and goes ahead with the ceremony. Picard escorts his perfect mate to the alter, sees them wed, and departs soon after.
- Everyone is understandably jittery when the Enterprise encounters Borg on a routine mission in "I, Borg". They encounter a damaged drone, and against their inclination, bring it on board for medical attention. Picard, at war with himself, asks La Forge if it would be possible to alter the drone's root command structure before sending it back to the Collective, in essence infecting it with ideas counter to the Collective goal that would spread through the entire Borg hierarchy upon its return. The drone, separated from the Collective, begins to exhibit curious behavior on its own, and eventually transitions from its "Third of Five" mentality into referring to itself as "Hugh". Guinan is forced to confront her own prejudices regarding the Borg, La Forge voices his doubts about their plan, but Picard is determined to see what is effectively an effort at genocide through to the end. The case to allow Hugh to determine his own existence is given more weight when he starts referring to himself as "I" rather than "we". "No, I am Hugh." After being given the choice to remain on the Enterprise, Hugh decides for himself that it is too dangerous for him to remain on board and returns to the Collective.
- Ro and La Forge team up in "The Next Phase" to save the ship from a Romulan attack, and learn a bit more than they ever thought they'd know about how their shipmates feel about them after they're presumed dead and given a memorial service.
- Patrick Stewart gives an amazing performance in "The Inner Light". The Enterprise encounters an unknown probe that alters course to match the speed and direction of the ship. The probe penetrates the Enterprise's shields and Picard faints. Over the course of the next 30 minutes on ship's time, Picard lives through four decades of experiences in an alien culture that died when their sun went nova almost 1000 years ago. I cry every time I see this ep.
- "Time's Arrow - Part One" tells the tale of how Guinan managed to meet Picard almost 500 years before he was born, and helps explain why Data's head was recently found at an archeological dig back on Earth. In another stellar Trek temporal vortex/Prime Directive issues episode, Data gets sucked back through time to 1893 San Francisco, and members of the Enterprise crew follow him. The screen once again flashes the hated "TO BE CONTINUED".
Season Five rocked my socks off!
The storyline begun in "Time's Arrow - Part One" is resolved with a deft hand in "Time's Arrow - Part Two". Samuel Clemens gets an unexpected tour of a 24th century starship, while Data, Picard, Riker, Crusher and La Forge attempt to save the citizens of 1893 San Francisco from murderous aliens. The ep kicks off another excellent season. In subsequent eps we see Barclay overcoming his fear of the transporters (sort of), Troi becoming an unwilling victim of toxic psychic waste that results in such rapid aging that she actually dies, and many members of the bridge crew are abducted and experimented on in an ep that creeped me way the hell out. Q returns to claim the "Q raised as a human" Amanda Rogers that is currently a passenger on the Enterprise, and the situation quickly spirals completely out of control the way it does when Q are involved. Another ep features Picard, Ro, Guinan and Keiko O'Brien trapped in their 12 year old bodies after a strange accident when returning to the ship after shore leave. Data runs amuck in the holodeck during an American Old West storyline, and discovers some unlikely 'cousins' in small robots called exocomps. Riker meets himself on an away mission
Outstanding episodes of this season include:
- "Relics", which brings back Jimmy Doohan as the legendary Captain Montgomery Scott, or Kirk's "Scotty" after being stuck in a transporter buffer for 75 years. He soon finds he's rather out of step with the current timeline, and is unable to adapt well to the change. While La Forge and Scott work together to recover the logs of the ship Scott had been traveling on, the Enterprise lands herself in peril, and Scott and La Forge work together to save the day.
- "Chain of Command - Part One" finds Picard captured by Cardassians after being relieved of his command on the Enterprise. He, Crusher and Worf were on a covert intelligence gathering mission in an attempt to discover whether or not the Cardassians are about to launch an incursion into Federation space with a devastating new biological weapon. Picard is a 'guest' of the terrible and sadistic Gul Madred, and soon discovers the whole thing was a trap specifically designed to ensnare him. And once again, the hated "TO BE CONTINUED" flashes on the screen as Madred issues some terribly chilling threats.
- "Chain of Command - Part Two" opens with Picard being interrogated yet again while heavily drugged. When Madred doesn't get the answers he wants, he orders the dosage increased and begins again. Even under the chemical haze, Picard doesn't answer the questions he's asked. Madred begins to get angry, and strips Picard of his clothing, his name and the other trappings of his identity in a direct violation of the code regarding prisoners of war. Food, water, sanitation and sleep are withheld, and more direct means of coercion applied. Back on board the Enterprise, under the command of Captain Jellico, Riker is denied permission to launch a rescue operation. He and Jellico have words, and Riker is relieved of his duties and confined to quarters. Meanwhile, Madred is still working on Picard, who refuses to bow to the pressure and reveal what he knows. Picard manages to twist the situation in his favor, and even as he's being brutally tortured, mocks and needles his captor. Jellico has to swallow his pride and asks Riker to pilot a shuttle in an effort to turn the tables on the Cardassians and rescue both Picard and the situation. In the end Picard is saved, the Enterprise returned to his command, and he is left to discuss the situation with Troi in his ready room.
- "Ship in a Bottle", which finds the holoversion of Sherlock Holmes' nemesis Moriarty taking control of the Enterprise
- "Face of the Enemy", wherein Troi goes undercover in the Romulan Empire as a Tal Shiar agent, and barely makes it out with her life but her mission complete.
- Picard is dying on the surgical table after taking a direct phaser blast to his artificial heart in "Tapestry". Q makes his first appearance of the season in a strangely "It's a Wonderful Life"-type journey through Picard's past. We find out why Picard has an artificial heart in the first place, and relive the events with him as Q gives him the opportunity to find out how that one, crucial choice shapes his entire future. Picard asks Q for the chance to have his familiar life back, even though it may mean he dies on the operating table from a phaser burst. He survives, and for once, has Q to thank.
- A crossover two-part episode with DS9 entitled "Birthright - Parts One and Two" have Worf tracking down information that points to a revelation that his father may not have died at Khitomer after all, and by allowing himself to be captured may heap further shame upon the House of Mogh. Data, meanwhile, falls prey to an accident while working on a project with Dr. Julian Bashir and La Forge. A power surge temporarily shuts down his neural net, even as he finds himself experiencing a curious vision that shows him his father-creator, Dr. Noonien Soong. Both Worf and Data find themselves on strangely parallel quests to discover more information about their fathers. Worf uncovers a hidden prison camp populated by Klingons captured at Khitomer and guarded by Romulans. Not all is what it seems, however, and Worf soon learns that even enemies can, in time, become friends. Data begins to dream, an seeming impossibility that puzzles him even as his friends delight in the whimsical nature of his father and the ability of an android to grow beyond his programming.
- Picard manages to save the Enterprise from being taken by hijackers while in port for a routine radiation sweep in "Starship Mine". He also manages to find, and lose, a new love in "Lessons".
- Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian and Human are all much more closely related than they ever thought possible, or so they find out in "The Chase". Picard must turn down a unique archeological opportunity when his friend and mentor Professor Galen is a passenger on the Enterprise. However, Galen's quest becomes his own when Galen is murdered, and a molecularly coded computer program provides the clues to a puzzle that Picard must solve before his enemies do. The race to find the missing pieces of the puzzle takes Picard and crew all over the quadrant.
- Riker wonders if he's going insane in "Frame of Mind", an extraordinary Riker-centric episode.
- Picard, Data, Troi and La Forge are en route to the Enterprise after a conference when they find themselves in an area of space with a shattered time-continuum in "Timescape". Will they make it back to the ship alive, and will they find the Enterprise and her crew, responding to a distress call from a Romulan vessel, unharmed?
- The final episode in this season finds Data in the holodeck playing poker with Hawking, Einstein and Newton. His game, however, is interrupted by a red alert and he takes his post on the bridge to find that they are responding to a distress call from a Federation outpost. An away team beams to the surface, only to find Borg on the scene. But these aren't just any Borg, referring to themselves as "I", using energy weapons and making no attempt to assimilate members of the away team. Data also behaves peculiarly, and realizes later that he actually became angry. The Enterprise team realize that their compassionate actions regarding the Borg known as Hugh may be coming back to bite them in the ass. Data, in a discussion with the one Borg left alive, admits that he enjoyed feeling angry and even took pleasure in killing his foes, and confesses that he'd even kill La Forge in order to feel that way again. Data frees the captive, and they escape the ship in a shuttlecraft. Picard follows, and he, Troi, La Forge and a security officer are captured. They discover that the renegade Borg are led by Lore, Data's corrupt brother, who has seduced the Starfleet officer into joining him by using emotions to bind Data to him. Together, they plan on destroying the Federation. And yes, once again, the season ends with a "TO BE CONTINUED". Dammit!
Season Six was all about teamwork, and showed just how tightly knit the main officers and characters on board the Enterprise have become over the years. It also showed us more about what really makes these beloved characters tick. I also think it's likely the best TNG season in terms of sheer quality of episodes, variety of storylines, and character development.
The season premiere brings us right back to Data, Lore, the Borg and the dire situation Picard finds himself in. Lore pontificates continually, and enjoys needling Picard about how he turned Data to his cause by using his emotions as currency. Crusher is in command of the Enterprise, and after beaming a portion of the away teams back to the ship, makes haste away from the planet and an approaching Borg ship. La Forge, before Data confiscates his VISOR, notices a strange frequency beaming from Lore to Data, while Riker and Worf encounter a splinter Borg group led by Hugh. Picard, La Forge and Troi plot their escape, while Crusher returns to the planet and picks up the remaining away teams, then hides from the Borg in a nearby sun’s corona using some really sweet experimental technology La Forge has been working on. Lore demands proof of Data’s loyalty, and orders him to kill Picard. When he refuses, Lore decides to make Data into an example of his willingness to sacrifice all that is meaningful to him by destroying his brother. Hugh, Riker and Worf enter the chamber and all hell breaks loose. In the end, Data deactivates Lore, everyone gets back to the Enterprise in one piece, and the Borg are left to sort themselves out. Data decides to hold on to the recovered emotion chip for another time, and the seventh season starts out well.
The Enterprise crew adventures continue with an amusing cultural exchange, where even Troi has to admit that there is such a thing as too much chocolate; La Forge loses his mother in a painful episode, Worf enjoys even more complicated family time with his brother and his son, and the Enterprise develops it's own intelligence.
Rockin’ eps of the final season include:
- The Enterprise receives word that Picard has been murdered while away on an archeology trip in "Gambit – Part One and Two". Of course Riker and the crew head to the area to do some investigating, and soon discover that things aren’t at all what they seem. Picard is on board a smuggling ship, posing as a trader, trying to find out why the smugglers are stealing Romulan artifacts. Riker discovers this after being taken captive himself, which leaves Data in charge of the Enterprise and defender of the smuggler’s next target – a small outpost on Caldan II. Though a maze of intrigue, we learn that the ultimate goal is reassembly of an ancient, and very powerful *Vulcan* psionic resonator. The device amplifies telepathic powers, and in the hands of a skilled telepath, could prove extraordinarily lethal. Picard and crew save the day of course!
- I end up dropping everything in order to watch the truly trippy and interesting Data-centric episode "Phantasms" every time I see it on my television. Who can resist cellular peptide cake with mint frosting?
- Troi learns a bit more about her mother than she ever thought she might in "Dark Page".
- Picard and Crusher’s relationship gets even more complicated in "Attached" when the two are sent on a diplomatic mission to Kes-Prytt, and the situation goes awry in a way neither of them could ever have imagined.
- Some of Riker’s old ghosts come back to haunt him, and could very well end up killing the entire crew in "The Pegasus".
- Barclay inadvertently causes the entire crew to devolve in a fascinating episode called "Genesis".
- We say goodbye to Wesley in "Journey’s End".
I still, to this day, find it difficult to talk about or recap "All Good Things", the final TNG episode. For the good folks of
crack_van though, I’ll do my best. Q is back, and in a mirror of the very first episode of TNG, Picard is defending the human race’s right to exist. Randomly moving through the past, present and future, he must convince Q not to snuff out humanity like a guttering candle flame while simultaneously assuring his crew in multiple timelines that he’s not suffering from the effects of Irumodic Syndrome, and that the spatial anomaly they’re sent to investigate in the Neutral Zone is more than it appears to be. Getting to the anomaly, however, proves difficult, as governments and borders have changed in the 25 years between the present and the future Picard experiences. After some exceptionally well done and disorienting leaps through time, Q admits that he is moving the Captain back and forth through time, and that a verdict has been rendered, but it is Picard, not Q, who is responsible for humanity’s destruction.
Through a series of Yes and No questions, Picard learns that the anomaly is the key to the entire situation. An eruption of "anti-time" that collides with normal time, the effect is wreaking havoc and causing a rupture in space. The effects are incredibly far-reaching, impacting the Enterprise crew in the future, present and past timelines, and indeed, reaches all the way back to prevent the beginning of life on earth. Picard and his crew create a solution, and through their selfless actions, destroy the anomaly and mend the timeline. Because of his actions, humanity is saved, and Q returns Picard to the moment in time where his adventure began. The Captain shares his remarkable experience with his friends, creating an even tighter bond between the command crew, and provides food for thought on how their choices can and will impact the future.
In a related note, I burst into tears and damn television for breaking my heart. :D
The final television season of TNG showed us more about the inner workings of the characters we have come to know and love over the previous seven years, and how a few people can have an larger impact than they ever thought possible.
Though it's been almost ten years since the show bowed, Paramount managed to get a bit more milk from the TNG cash cow in four feature films. Generations in 1994 brought key characters from TOS back to interact with the TNG crew, through an interesting and seductive, but ultimately destructive ribbon of energy called the Nexus. To make a long story short, Kirk's been in the Nexus, living the good life for 78 years, until Picard goes in and hauls his fat, reluctant ass out to help him keep a madman who looks like a really cranky Sting from destroying a few star systems and millions of lives. Picard and Kirk work together to defeat him, though not without consequences. In the wimpiest final scene I think I've ever witnessed, Kirk finally dies for good. Thank god. In related events, Data installs his emotion chip, Geordi gets kidnapped by the extraordinarily busty and very Klingon Duras sisters who are working with Soren, the and in the ensuing battle to get him back, Troi takes the helm and manages to crash the Enterprise, which is something even the Borg never managed. Friends don't let Troi take the helm. Big D, we'll miss ye.
First Contact in 1996, possibly the most commercially successful and well received of the TNG movies, introduces the sexy new version of the Enterprise (NCC-1701E), and brings back old enemies. The Borg are back, and they're gunning for Earth yet again. Resistance is futile. During another battle for earth, a Borg sphere escapes by opening a temporal rift and in a bid to wipe out the Federation problem before it starts, heads back to Earth circa 2063. More specifically, the day before the first warp speed flight, which is what attracts the attention of a passing Vulcan ship, puts humanity on the galactic map and brings about the evolution of humanity into a peaceful and unified race. There's all sorts of Prime Directive issues, but the Enterprise crew is determined to preserve Earth, humanity and the timeline as they know it. Alice Krige is magnificent as the ultra-creepy Borg Queen, with excellent storylines regarding Picard's struggles to deal with his time as Locutus and Data's with the emotion chip and the temptation of the pleasures of the flesh.
Insurrection in 1998 has the Enterprise crew deciding, once again, to disobey Starfleet Command orders to evacuate a unique planet in order to save the inhabitants. Picard has a fling, Troi and Crusher act like they're at a spa, Worf regresses to Klingon puberty, Data has issues, and I can't remember where the hell Riker and La Forge were. A snoozer, though there are some good scenes.
Nemesis, the final TNG film released last year, sends the Enterprise into Romulan territory. They're apparently willing to negotiate a truce, and the Federation wants their best diplomat there to see the deal through. Riker and Troi finally tie the knot, the Enterprise manages to unearth another prototype of Data (Beta-Data, only this time he's more "Simple Simon" than Lore-like), and oddly enough, the new Praetor of Romulus is Picard's clone. Someone let Troi at the helm again, so there's extensive damages to the Enterprise-E, but there's also intrigue, action, the death of my favorite character (*SOB!*), Riker gets promoted and the TNG crew takes it's final bow.
It has been many years since I’ve wandered the web looking specifically for TNG websites. This section is skimpy right now, but as I explore the web, looking for fic to rec, I shall update this section of my review throughout the month of December. For now, this section is a bit skimpy, but please return at a later date to see what’s new. Or, if you’ve a link you would like me to include, please leave it in the comments below. Thank you!
General series information:
startrek.com - Considering Star Trek now has five television series incarnations and ten major motion picture films associated with the franchise, you could literally spend days, if not weeks, at the official ST site. A literal encyclopedia of ST information is available at the click of a few buttons. The site is mind-blowingly cross linked, and just about everything you wanted to know, find out or discover about ST can be found here.
If you’d like a less intense website, this really nice site by Andrew Tong provided me with all the information necessary for this summary when ST.com kept crashing my computer.
Character specific sites:
The Q Continuum - Information about all things Q in nature. I am not certain where the fic archive went, but this is a place to start if you're interested about Q.
Fanfic archives:
Trekiverse - This is the official archive for the USENET groups in the alt.startrek.creative group and hierarchy. See, back in the day when I was seriously into Trek, the 'net was just taking off. Most of the fic was found on the (now) old usenet groups. This archive hosts a good portion of the stories I remember reading once upon a time.
Treksearch.com - This link is for Fandom/Fan_Fiction, and is an index of a number of fic sites. I haven’t had much of a chance to explore it, but hope to soon.
Random Trivia:
- The number "47" can be found in every single episode of the series, whether spoken by a character or seen on screen in a display or on a PADD.
- Majel Barrett Roddenberry is the voice of the Enterprise computer.
- I manage to find a reference to my newest fandom love in episode 125 when Picard meets with Captain Keel from the Horatio.
Credits and disclaimer
All pictures used in this review are from startrek.com. No copyright or trademark infringement intended, blah blah yadda yadda yadda.
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Rec! Rec like the wind!
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Rec! Rec like the wind!
Alas, I shall have to seek out those few favs I remember online, and in the process discover some new loves! Slash, het and gen fic, here I come!
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wonder if I can get her to trade up for those kickass DVD sets ;-)
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thanks so much for doing this!
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Yay! ::twirls:: I'm really happy to hear that you enjoyed it. Doing this brought back my Trek love in a big, big way. I should mention that the eps are airing on Spike TV every day....
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Hugh, how I've missed you!
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{{{hugs you}}} Thanks for taking a chance on me to do the write up. I loved doing this, and now I want to watch TNG all the time! Wheeeeeee!
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I'm so sorry it's taken me this long to get back to you! I had comments turned off, so it didn't bomb my crappy hotmail box. *G* I hope the RL things are going well now, and that you'll have the leisure time to read some of the TNG recs posted. Or that you'll have a chance to do some reccing yourself? ::looks hopeful::
Your write-up was so brilliant that I feel glad now that I couldn't do it myself
Oh geez. *BLUSH!* I'm glad you enjoyed reading it. I definitely had a good, nostalgic time doing it. Ahhh...those days of warp core conduits, Jeffries Tubes, the deflector array and tachyon particle emissions. How I miss ye! *G*
Seriously though. Thanks for the kind words. I very much appreciate them!
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::loves on you:: Hee! And thank you! TNG was my second hard core fannish love, after the first Star Wars trilogy. I'm looking forward to rediscovering the fic as well. My first rec is P/Q, but I can't wait for the weekend, when I'll be able to peruse some of the archives at my leisure. Whee!
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Great overview, hon! :)
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And thank you! I really enjoyed doing this. I even learned a few new tags. Heh.
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::loves on you too:: Thank you! So much! Seriously. I was awfully nervous about doing this, but I'm glad to see it so well received. Yay!
And I love your Spot icon! So cute! So cranky looking! *G*
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How things have changed.
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And yeah. Wow. Things have *totally* changed since. I'm looking forward to finding the archives and the authors I remember online. December will be quite the nostalgic adventure. *G*
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You are so not alone. I don't have cable right now, so I can't watch the eps on Spike TV. And I don't have the money for the DVD sets, although I really, really want them. *sigh*
But there's always the fic! :D
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Strangely, I have no interest in the fic. Were I to postulate, I'd suggest that it's because when I read fic I'm reading it for the relationships and I don't really have *any* pairings on TNG, let alone an OTP. When I watch the show it's more about character growth and gaining new perspectives on the things around us. Aliens tend to bring a new perspective to things. *g*
Plus, I suspect the fic is a neverending rabbit hole. ;)
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You're welcome! I really enjoyed doing the writeup, and am happy that it may have re-ignited the TNG lurv for some. *G*
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Aww, you're welcome. I miss it so, and hope to get the DVD sets one of these days!
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I actually just started rewatching the series from the beginning myself, though I've been mainlining eps and am up to the middle of Season Four. :D If you can get through the first two seasons, then you're golden. It really does only get better as it goes.
Ahhhh I love me some TNG!