(One may fairly ponder why TNG wasn't cancelled during its first season, as the writing was often embarrassingly bad. It's extra baffling, given that roddenberry brought back a number of writers from the classic...justman, fontana, black...but even season 3 TOS never descended into the bouts of unsophistication and melodrama found here. Fortunately, charm, chemistry, and a starving fan base pulled them through, and no TREK would ever be this bad again.)
FOUR-STAR EPISODES: 0
AVERAGE EPISODE RATING: 2.6
-Encounter at Farpoint ***
The most conspicuous TREK cast (numerically, anyway) takes its debut. A wild ride...and not just because hindsight sees the coming seasons (more than double the original), feature films, guest appearances, and general brilliance. The writing is occasionally amateurish (tasha in particular is cringingly written, acted, AND directed), and the characters are not-quite-developed (a captain of picard's stature and personality having no input into the selection of his first officer?), but the chemistry is ready to go. Eighty years after the classic, a new crew takes its first mission on a new Enterprise, as an omnipotent being (john de lancie - LEGEND, THE FISHER KING) puts humanity on trial. A captain with the wrong accent, a blind engineer, a precocious teen, an android, an empath, a klingon, an o'brien, a bridge officer named lt. torres...and deforest kelley in a cameo as a 120-something mccoy. Engage!
-The Naked Now **
Priceless - the best two-star episode you'll ever see. The crew is infected by an intoxicating virus. The chief engineer is a macdougal! In what had to have been the first episode shot, the cast takes baby steps (and missteps). More moments of mawkish melodrama, as stewart may have had a few "I left the RSC for THIS?" moments. The plot follows up the classic "The Naked Time", a direction they would hereafter eschew (at least for a goodly while). But even in the awkwardness, there are glimmers of loveliness...and more than a glimmer, as an eye-popping tasha seduces the hell out of data.
-Code of Honor **
The leader of an alien society claims tasha, and his wife challenges her to a fight to the death. Unlike the pilot, charm can't overcome simplistic writing and racist overtones.
-The Last Outpost ***
Enterprise chases an alien vessel carrying stolen property. They begin a silent face-off as their power mysteriously drains, until they finally find an automated relic of a lost civilization which must be convinced its creators are dead, before it destroys both vessels. Facing an alien telepathic hologram, will riker and Federation ideals save the day. General ferengi lameness notwithstanding, their first appearance (Serpentine! Violent!) isn't so bad, and allows one to appreciate their metaphorical significance. Classic TREK took down racism, religion, tribalism, and warriors/bullies (it also tried to take sexism down a peg, albeit tokenly and contradictorily). What was left of western society's ills? The ferengi are roddenberry's whack-bang at capitalism. The galaxy's ultimate profit-seekers? Amoral trolls. Ain't that a kick? Satisfyingly, armin shimerman (DEEP SPACE NINE, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER) is one of the inaugural batch. The scourge of bad writing continues - witness here a lack of effective natural dialogue, and service dialogue.
-Where No One has Gone Before ***
A scientist (stanley kamel - HILL STREET BLUES, MONK) riker dismisses as a crackpot, has Starfleet permission to use a new propulsion matrix with Enterprise. The ship is launched into another galaxy (300 years away at maximum warp - suck on THAT, Voyager). Only wesley notices that something is amiss, and that the alien assistant (eric menyuk - FEARLESS, THE AIR UP THERE) may be responsible, but then the ship is hurled to the edge of the universe, where thoughts become reality (Rape gangs! A targ on the bridge!). Before returning everyone home, the traveler tells picard that wesley is a genius, and must be gently cultivated. The captain makes him an acting ensign. Plus...chief engineer argyle!
-Lonely Among Us **
While Enterprise transports delegates from two Federation applicant species who can't stand each other, a non-corporeal alien disrupts the ship, inhabiting computer systems and crewmembers. The writing occasionally descends to a 3rd grade level.
-Justice ***
Visiting a utopian culture, wesley commits a minor transgression and faces the only punishment their society offers - lethal injection. Can someone tell me why the crew is interacting with a pre-warp culture?? These people worship a sky god which is actually an alien ship - kudos to the writer for having the locals refer to god as "It". Despite a pitifully-written resolution, they had four-star immortality in their hands, if only they'd presented this hedonistic society as they would logically be - nude. Do you suppose they filmed a director's cut? Starring brenda bakke (HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL), jay louden (OPPOSING FORCE, LAKER GIRLS) and josh clark (BIG, VOYAGER), never imagining that death awaits him in the delta quadrant.
-The Battle ***
A fine tale that takes us aboard the Stargazer, picard's first command. Abandoned and adrift, the ferengi discover it and present it to the Enterprise as a gift (with a deadly secret). Mind control makes picard try to recreate a violent piece of his past. Daimon bok is finally stripped of command for indulging in the non-profitable exercise of vengeance. With no glaring flaws, it's the first NEXT GEN to resemble what the show will become.
-Hide and Q ***
Q returns, to offer omnipotence to...riker? It's another test for humanity (let's ignore the fact that he actually fails). He tries to offer maturity to wes, sight to geordi, humanity to data, and sex to worf. I get the first three rejections, but...anyway, another dandyfine de lancie performance. The continued implication that "animals" are a set which does not include humans, feels a bit 20th-century. But at death's doorstep, tasha comes on to picard. So that's nice.
-Haven **
Dipsy. The word you're searching for is...dipsy. Just one shade away from being a spoof, "As The Galaxy Turns". Troi unhappily meets her arranged husband, as a peaceful planet is menaced by an approaching alien plague ship. The NEXT GEN debut (in the flesh, anyway) of nurse chapel...er, lwaxana troi, as majel barrett arrives as our favorite (and only) betazed mother. The assertion that humans are still crippled by word/thought duality, is probably inconsistent with the notion that we've gotten our act together by the 24th century. Lots of humor over the impending nuptials (much of it forced - yes, writers, we get that betazed marriages are NAKED, you may stop giggling like prepubescents), then the groom runs away. The objectification of feminine beauty strays from subtle to crass. And i'm sorry, but is riker watching...harp porn?
-The Big Goodbye ***
Picard relaxes on the holodeck, as '30s gumshoe Dixon Hill. He brings along beverly, data, and a guy in red (sort of). The local mob boss? Lawrence tierney (HILL STREET BLUES, THE NAKED GUN)! What it lacks in sophistication, it makes up for in charm.
-Datalore ***
Enterprise visits the planet of data's origin, and discovers a copy of him...with a deceptively different personality. With humanlike humor and ambition, lore soon overcomes and impersonates data, attempting to sacrifice the crew to the ravenous crystalline entity. Amateurish writing is (mostly) overcome by the first transcendent performance by a NEXT GEN regular, courtesy of brent spiner (and brent spiner).
-Angel One ***
On a pre-warp world (still working out those prime directive kinks) where the women are larger than the men (who are little more than servants), an away mission team tries to find a lost freighter crew. The planetary leader (karen montgomery - AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON, GOING IN STYLE) takes a shine to riker...given her aggressive defense of the status quo, it's fascinating that she's attracted to his intelligence, assertiveness, and strappingness. A feminist parable in reverse, as the seeds of equality and social unrest are blooming.
-11001001 ***
In for repairs at Starbase 74, the ship is commandeered by a race of aliens so integrated with their computers, they nearly speak binary. After a faked containment emergency, riker and picard are the only ones left aboard. Will's romance with holo-character minuet (carolyn mccormick - ENEMY MINE, SPENSER: FOR HIRE) is provocative and beautiful. To say that this is the best season 1 episode may sound like faint praise, but the fourth star almost falls into place - crisp, exciting, with no obvious flaws.
-Too Short a Season **
Enterprise transports an aged admiral (clayton rohner - THE NAKED TARGET, NAKED SOULS) to a terse negotiation. The admiral takes alien youth-restoring drugs, with lethal side effects. A web of deception and revenge, featuring one of the worst acting turns in TREK history - rohner does a raspy voice and lip pursing to portray old age...and he's only marginally better at playing his own age. How this avoids one star is anyone's guess.
-When the Bough Breaks **
A planet cloaked for thousands of years suddenly asks for trade relations. What they really want is the ship's children. Finally, says picard. Brenda strong (SPORTS NIGHT, STARSHIP TROOPERS) and jerry hardin (1941, THE HOT SPOT) are the leaders of a race whose addiction to technology has left them sterile and without self-reliance.
-Home Soil **
A non-organic life form is discovered on a planet being terraformed. The lead scientist (walter gotell - THE AFRICAN QUEEN, THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL) starts killing them, even though he has suspicions about the light crystals' true nature. The life forms respond by killing an engineer, then endangering the Enterprise when they get beamed aboard for study. A profoundly earnest TREK. Purer science fiction than most, but not much deeper than a puddle.
-Coming of Age **
Wesley and three other brilliant teens compete for admission into the Academy, as a visiting admiral disturbs morale with a top-level investigation. The first plot is dragged down by the childish writing and bad acting of the second.
-Heart of Glory ***
Three klingon warriors are the only survivors on a damaged freighter in the neutral zone. Geordi's visor provides a visual link to the rescue away team. The klingons test worf, and invite him to join them in a life of predation, rejecting the alliance with the Federation. A klingon battle cruiser, of the same vintage as classic TREK, shows up to imprison the renegades. Worf helps them die with honor. Starring vaughn armstrong (ENTERPRISE, CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER).
-The Arsenal of Freedom ***
On a planet long dead, Enterprise discovers a holographic merchant (vincent schiavelli - ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH) selling advanced weaponry, whose "demonstrations" turn deadly. Geordi must assume command of the Enterprise, and he separates the saucer. Chief engineer logan gives him flak (farewell, engineer argyle, we hardly knew ye). Picard's decision to go to the surface seems unjustly rash, and the resolve is perhaps too easy, given that these weapons were supposed to have killed their makers, but a wonderful ensemble effort.
-Symbiosis ***
Enterprise mediates between two cultures, one suffering from a plague and the other providing medicine to treat it. Seeming generosity is anything but, as only one side knows that the plague no longer exists. It's a happy KHANcurrence as merritt buttrick (SQUARE PEGS, ZAPPED!) and judson scott (V, BLADE) are reunited! Future TREK recidivist richard lineback (NATURAL BORN KILLERS, TWISTER) also logs a fine appearance. Tasha tries to explain the allure of recreational drugs to 24th-century wesley. Anyone spoofing me could superimpose my face onto his. A desultory effort lifted to three stars by the first TNG patrick stewart scene of deftness and depth.
-Skin of Evil ***
A crashed shuttle is stranded on a planet where a malevolent oil slick kills tasha. Is the writer a sneaky alternative-energy advocate? It's not very good TREK, as the whole "evil vs. good" thing befits a lesser franchise...and it's more than a little disconcerting to see the Enterprise eradicate a disagreeable life form from orbit (in other words, this is TNG's "The Man Trap" moment). But the holodeck memorial scene is the first TNG to stir a deeper emotional response.
-We'll Always Have Paris ***
Enterprise rescues a couple from a planet which was the emanation point for a time distortion felt light years away. He's barely conscious, and she's the woman (michelle phillips - VALENTINO, KNOTS LANDING) picard left behind twenty-two years before. On the planet's lab, three datas must repair a rupture in time. The brilliant writing tails off in the third act, but otherwise it's tender, touching, and exquisite...the first full TREK flowering of stewart's abilities.
-Conspiracy *
The most hilariously (and schizophrenically) bad TNG ever. It starts out tight and dark, as picard is summoned to a covert summit of captains who believe Starfleet has been compromised at the highest level. One of the ships is soon mysteriously destroyed, and Enterprise heads for Earth. Once there, an admiral friend of picard's transports aboard...and then, like a switch has been flipped, the episode morphs into a 40s sci fi serial - unintentionally hysterical cheese, special effects that make kirk vs. gorn look cutting edge, underdone writing, overdone acting, and mustache-twirling aliens. You may not believe your eyes.
-The Neutral Zone ***
As they investigate disturbances near the neutral zone, the Enterprise finds three frozen 20th-century humans - a housewife, a dissolute but garrulous musician (leon rippy - STARGATE, DEADWOOD), and, if you'll pardon the redundancy, an amoral financier (peter mark richman - NAKED GUN 2 1/2, AGENT FOR H.A.R.M.). The romulans (featuring marc alaimo - DEEP SPACE NINE, HILL STREET BLUES) return, and none too soon, for among it's other shortcomings, season 1 lacked any dangerous presence. The somewhat simplistic interactions are rife with the TREK vision, including a riff on how people once feared death.
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