Riker? I barely had the chance to tell her about Craggus’ Trek Trek Phase II Vol 9
Craggus Trek Trek Phase II Vol 9 offers us banger after banger, covering season 3 episodes 18 to 26 and bringing us to the brink of Star Trek’s best ever cliffhanger.
Star Trek The Next Generation S3E18: Allegiance
In some ways, this is an unremarkable episode of Trek as Captain Picard is secretly kidnapped and replaced by a duplicate. While the doppelganger’s increasingly erratic behaviour raises eyebrows, toasts and eventually concerns the real Picard is trapped in a cell with three other prisoners and faces a series of challenges and tests. It’s not particularly ground-breaking or important in a season-defining kind of way but it’s a superbly crafted episode of entertainment which showcases the character of Picard in new and interesting ways and is quintessentially Star Trek. It’s a real demonstration of how much the writing has improved because this is also the kind of episode you could see being made in seasons 1 or 2 except it would have been terrible and probably had a sub-plot about Wesley learning to shave or something.
Star Trek The Next Generation S3E19: Captain’s Holiday
Having only recently returned to the ship from his kidnap, Picard is pressured into taking a holiday on the pleasure planet Risa. There, all he wants to do is read his book but ends up getting caught up in a time-travelling archaeological adventure with Vorgons, Ferengi hustlers, beautiful smugglers and Riker’s vicarious horniness in the form of a Horga’hn. It’s frothy, swashbuckling fun – and Picard and Vash make an appealing 30s screwball comedy style pairing.
Star Trek The Next Generation S3E20: Tin Man
Star Trek does Farscape almost a decade before Moya made her debut. It’s a great sci-fi concept episode as the Enterprise races against the Romulans to locate and communicate with a mysterious alien object orbiting a dying star. The pairing of Gomtuu the living ship with the troubled telepath Tam Elbrun works as a satisfying end to the episode and the only real shame is that the two of them were never encountered again.
Star Trek The Next Generation S3E21: Hollow Pursuits
An episode in which nearly every member of the senior staff, including Captain Picard, actively participates in or at least turns a blind eye to the systematic bullying of a crew member who suffers from social anxiety. Not only that but both Riker and La Forge are ironically outraged by Barclay creating fantasy versions of real people on the holodeck for his own emotional needs. La Forge especially should keep schtum on this one. Dwight Shultz (The A-Team) makes for a fantastic guest star and a fantastic addition to the crew as a recurring character. The character wasn’t intended as a satire of Star Trek fans and I don’t think it comes across that way but it does nowadays have some resonance for the perils of life on social media versus real life. What really doesn’t age well is how dickish Wesley, La Forge and Riker are to poor old Broccoli.
Star Trek The Next Generation S3E22: The Most Toys
With his charisma and uniqueness having attracted the attention of crooked collector or rarities Kivas Fajo, it will take all of Data’s nerve and talent to escape and return to the Enterprise. It’s a neatly written little mystery with the two parallel plots complementing each other perfectly. On the Enterprise, the grief at Data’s ‘death’ and the refusal to accept events at face value offer some great character moments while Data’s increasing determination to defy Fajo’s control raise some interesting moral and ethical questions about which Data is coyly noncommittal in a deceptively dark ending.
Star Trek The Next Generation S3E23: Sarek
Sarek, and the actor Mark Lenard who originated the role, is an important part of Star Trek’s on and off-screen history. The decision to bring him into the TNG fold could have seemed like a cheap publicity stunt (a la DeForest Kelley in Encounter At Farpoint) were it not for the fact that he’s brought back to deliver a brave and poignant coda to the life of a character who has been integral to the history of the United Federation Of Planets as we know it. There’s resonance too in the idea of an elder statesman slowly succumbing to a debilitating and degenerative condition but having it hidden from the public – and himself – by well-meaning/ self-serving lackeys. Patrick Stewart gets to flex his acting muscles again as Picard takes on a lifetime’s worth of guilt and emotion so Sarek can complete one last treaty.
Star Trek The Next Generation S3E24: Ménage à Troi
It’s hard not to believe the writers hadn’t been planning this title from the moment the character names were set down by Gene Roddenberry. Luckily it’s a fun and light-hearted romp which eventually sees Picard have to pretend to woo Lwaxana Troi by hamming it up to an extraordinary degree, weaponizing his knowledge of Shakespeare. Both Majel Barrett and Patrick Stewart are having so much fun here although it’s now a bit distracting that one of the Ferengi sounds exactly like Neelix from Star Trek Voyager 😉
Star Trek The Next Generation S3E25: Transfigurations
Beverly sure can pick ’em. This time, she falls for an alien who is recovered from a crash site and turns out to be the Zalkonian Jesus. Resurrecting from a shuttle crash after three days, he proceeds to perform a series of miracles as he heals the injured O’Brien and helps the crippled Worf to walk again. Eventually, his own people turn up and demand to be able to crucify him properly this time but instead he completes his transition and ascends to a higher plane of being, telling the Zalkonians to watch for his return. Happy Easter, everyone!
