Try not to get too excited too quickly, but it’s time for Craggus’ Trek Trek Phase II Vol 16
Craggus’ Trek Trek Phase II Vol 16 sees season five of Star Trek The Next Generation finish strong with a great run of episodes before season six gets off to an average start.
Star Trek The Next Generation S5E22: Imaginary Friend
What would life on the Enterprise look like through the eyes of a child? And what if an alien visitor to the Enterprise encountered that child first instead of one of the main cast? Despite its cutesy premise being ripe for cheesy naffness, the episode is actually pretty good thanks to a likeable performance from Noley Thornton as Clara, whose vivid imagination gives the alien visitor form and information. The best thing about the story, though, is that what starts out as an E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial retread takes a sharp left turn into pseudo horror story territory when Clara’s imaginary friend Isabella goes from playfully mischievous to purposefully malevolent. Elsewhere, there’s a Blake’s 7-style web in space that gets thicker and thicker, slowing the Enterprise and luring them into a trap, keeping those pesky grown-ups away from the action.
Star Trek The Next Generation S5E23: I, Borg
Picard might be channelling the fourth Doctor as he questions whether or not he has the right, but this is genocide of the Borg rather than Genesis Of The Daleks. Recognising the popularity of the Borg but the importance of not just retreading The Best Of Both Worlds, TNG brings back the big bad to use as the springboard of a moral dilemma of the kind which forms the heart of Star Trek. Although it’s Crusher and Geordi who propel the plot forward, the story really favours Guinan and Picard who find themselves each confronting their history with the Borg, pushing both characters to darker places than usual. The long dark night of the soul for both Picard and Guinan is helped by a sympathetic performance by Jonathan Del Arco as Hugh, the Borg who learns to refer to himself as ‘I’ a little ahead of the point where it becomes a plot point, but you can’t have everything.
Star Trek The Next Generation S5E24: The Next Phase
Exciting sci-fi action with a dash of philosophical Bajoran soul-searching as the producers continue trialling pairing the character of Ro Laren with various main cast members to see which pairings work best. While assisting a crippled Romulan vessel, La Forge and Ro Laren are presumed dead after a transporter accident but, in fact, have been knocked out of phase by an experimental new cloaking device gone awry. As they try to find a way to return to the land of the ‘living’ they must also evade some Romulans who have found themselves similarly knocked out of alignment with the rest of space/ time. It’s a solid action episode with an interesting story (which hints at future Enterprise-ruining episode The Pegasus) but the pairing of Ro and LaForge fails to provide any notable chemistry.
Star Trek The Next Generation S5E25: The Inner Light
An episode that’s not as good in concept and perhaps execution than it is in memory, it’s still an indisputable top tier episode of Star Trek The Next Generation and a tremendous showcase for Patrick Stewart. When an ancient probe encountered by the Enterprise seemingly knocks Picard unconscious, the crew race against time to save their captain. Meanwhile, Picard finds he has all the time in the world – enough for a lifetime. Utterly devoid of any action, this is a thoughtful, experimental slice of sci-fi television. It’s a quietly absorbing family drama wrapped up in the cautionary environmental tale of a world on the brink of collapse and while the ending is one of bittersweet optimism, it’s still a tragic tale. Beautifully written and well-performed, there’s a lot to enjoy in the theatricality of the last days of the settlers of Kataan. In many ways, while the series doesn’t dwell on it too much, this experience was probably every bit as traumatic – if not more so – for Picard as his brief assimilation by the Borg, something Deep Space Nine would explore in more detail in the O’Brien episode Hard Time.
Star Trek The Next Generation S5E26: Time’s Arrow
Summoned back to Earth to answer questions about Data’s head (he’s had no complaints), the mystery then takes our heroes to the remote world of Devidia II where they discover a phase-shifted portal to the past, 19th century Earth to be precise. Thrown back in time, Data encounters an unexpected familiar face in 19th century San Francisco while back in present-day 24th century, Guinan finds that she must encourage Picard to close a five-century-long causality loop. With Redemption marking the last time TNG would gradually build a story arc towards a season finale, Time’s Arrow ends up being more of a standalone romp, with special guest star Mark Twain and an expanded role for Guinan too. It’s all good fun in and of itself but seems to lack any kind of gravitas after the previous couples of season finales. In many ways, it feels like a Doctor Who story rewritten for Star Trek, not that that’s necessarily a bad thing and it doesn’t suffer as badly as previous two-part stories from the set-up/ pay-off imbalance.
Star Trek The Next Generation S6E01: Time’s Arrow Part II
It’s almost a case of never the Twain as the crew of the Enterprise, stuck in 19th Century San Francisco must locate Data, attempt to prevent his decapitation and stop the sinister Devidians from interfering with history. Star Trek continues playing Doctor Who as the crew bumble around the past trying to be inconspicuous and avoid messing up the timeline while hunting aliens who are feeding off the life force of terminally ill humans. It’s still a frothy costume dramedy with plenty of hi-jinks even if the new HD transfer is particularly unsympathetic to the use of stunt doubles, particularly “Data” driving the getaway carriage. It’s resolved in a suitably wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey way and, as of this moment, Data becomes an old head on young shoulders as his noggin becomes permanently 500 years older than the rest of him.
Star Trek The Next Generation S6E02: Realm Of Fear
Guess who’s back? Barclay’s back and this time he’s forced to reveal that he has a pathological fear of using the transporter, despite having been in Starfleet for years and it never coming up. This time, however, he’s right to fear the beamer as lurking inside the sparkly matter stream are giant bitey maggots. It’s a fun episode and it’s always nice to see Barclay back but it’s a bit aggravating to have all the command crew dismiss his concerns so readily given the way the character has grown over his previous appearances. The transporter effects are nice too, even if it feels a little unlikely that someone would remain cognizant and aware of the transporter process during their molecular disassembly. Gene Roddenberry was always against stories which explained exactly how 23rd and 24th-century technology worked and this story gets perilously close to proving his point for him.
Star Trek The Next Generation S6E03: Man Of The People
After the tone deaf psychic rape trauma of Violations, you’d think the writers would have been keen to give Troi a break but no, in this sci-fi spin on A Picture Of Dorian Grey, our favourite counsellor finds herself a veritable emotional sports sock for a renowned intergalactic diplomat to dump his negative emotional load into while keeping his peacekeeping calm. Apparently the key to being a good diplomat is to take all your jealousy and horniness and give it to someone else, leaving you to live your best life. Once again, the crew of the Enterprise seem curiously powerless and slow to act in the face of an obvious and egregious assault on one of their own but thankfully they eventually twig that something might be up with their Counsellor and manage to reverse the emotional sewage pipe. The psychic shock kills the bad guy while simultaneously rejuvenating Troi’s youthful skin and hair with a rapidity that would make Oil of Olay weep.
