"Star Trek: The Next Generation" Season One Recap/Review
Warning: The following contains spoilers for a show that started airing before I was a year old. If, like me, you've not seen it, go and watch and then come back. Thank you.
As I've mentioned previously, I'm a huge fan of Star Trek, having seen every episode of the original and animated series. (Secret time. I think "Yesteryear" by D.C Fontana is better than Ellis' "City on the Edge of Forever." Just so you know what you're in for here.) However, whilst I'm familiar with the other series, I've only seen bits and pieces. I've decided to remedy that.
Up first is The Next Generation, widely considered the best of all the series. It's won prestigious awards, ran for seven seasons, and birthed a lot of the cliches we know and love. I've tried to come at it with fresh eyes, but this show is ubiquitous in geek culture. I already know about the Worf Effect and that in real life Wil Wheaton is our king. It's hard to avoid. So I decided not to attempt it. (There is some Wesley hate, but I'm not re-starting Die Wesley Die or anything.)
The first season is really, really uneven. There are some really great episodes and some really crappy ones. Some good plot points and some that make me want to rip my hair out. And all the characters can be ball bustingly annoying at times.
The good:
* the production values are fabulous, especially in the first episode. The special effects can come across as very dated at times (due to relying on CGI), but overall, it's really good.
* The uniforms. I *greatly* prefer the style of uniforms used in TNG. At first, I was skeptical about the jumpsuits because I thought they might restrict movement, in addition to looking slightly silly, but overall, they've grown on me. I like that they still have optional skirted uniforms (which is what I would wear), and I *LOVE* that men are shown wearing them. I do wish they had kept the colours the same, though. It's like the Navy suddenly decided to wear olive green and the Army to wear white and blue. It makes no sense and would've been very confusing at first. Also, I think the lighter blue science uniforms of TOS looked better.
* The clothes in general. In my completely impractical dream wedding, my wedding dress is designed by William Ware Theiss. R.I.P. Mr. Theiss, I am sure you're in Heaven making the angels sexy.
* Tasha Yar. She does have some problems. (Why do you keep talking about how you are more moral than the aliens you disagree with? You're from Planet Rape; presumably some of your own people are also morally bankrupt dickbags!) Overall, though, I love the character. She's aggressive and likes to shoot first, but she's still a woman. Tasha is rarely soft, but she does show that side of herself. And unlike most of this type of character, she's not defined by her sex drive. She has one (and I like that Data knows that firsthand) but unlike others of this archetype, it doesn't define her. Also, Yar is a female security chief in the 80s. I'm not 100 percent positive, but I don't think Star Trek ever has another one of those.
* Grumpy Picard. No real reason, other than it amuses me.
* Q. Technically, he's a plot stolen from TOS, but they never had a reoccurring omnipotent being that liked to screw with people. Also, I love how much John DeLancie loves the character. He is having the time of his life in every scene. When a guy is having that much fun, I have to have fun too.
* The saucer separation. It's actually really clever, especially since there are now innocent families on the ship. Apparently, they don't do it so much in later seasons. I can understand why, but I still like it.
* The fastest promoted captain in the entire history of Starfleet? A black woman.
* Those horrible/creepy Yeerk things that body snatch prominent officers as the first wave of their invasion.
The bad:
* How the horrible/creepy Yeerk things were handled. I'll get into this more a little later when I talk about individual episodes, but their episode felt more like a finale more than the actual finale. And in the long run, the build up wasn't worth the payoff.
* Captain Kirk Lite. If I wanted to see Capt. Kirk, I'd watch him. I wanna see Riker. Fortunately, this is only really a problem in the first few seasons.
* The writers don't seem to know what to do with Worf and LaForge yet. There are a few episodes that use LaForge's blindness or Worf's Klingon-ness to their advantage (and the episode about Worf was good), but for the most part, they don't have a handle on them yet.
* Ditto Wesley. There are a few Wesley episodes, and for the most part, they're good. (The exception is "Where No One Has Gone Before." It's a good episode, but I dislike how the Wesley bits are handled.) However, they keep shoving Wesley into episodes where he has no business being. The others either heap praise on him for no reason or dismiss him for no reason depending on what will make Weasley look the best at the time. It's obvious the writers don't have a clue how to write that character and even more obvious that they don't know how to write 15-year-olds. (I would've thought he was much older if he hadn't given his age in an episode.)
* Data. I know this makes a bad geek, but more often than not, he's irritating to me. I do think Brent Spiner did a fantastic job. However, the constant bad jokes; the constant rambling (Hello, Pot. My name is Kettle.); constantly making the same mistakes (every time you recite a time down to the second, some one cuts you off. So why are you still trying to recite things down to the millisecond?); etc. It just makes an annoying character. Since I've previously seen and loved "The Measure of a Man," I'm assuming I'll get over it or he'll be better written next season.
* Troi's uniforms. The first episode isn't bad because she's in the skirted science/medical uniform. After that, though, I hate her uniforms. They make no sense. Why are they so low cut? What's up with that bizarre sash around her waist? Why does no one else wear one? The point of a uniform is that they are *uniform*. Having your own uniform defeats the purpose.
That's my basic overview of likes and dislikes for the first season.
I would like to talk a little bit about specific episodes. Not all of them because there are 25, but some of them.
"Encouter at Farpoint:" The new Enterprise starts her maiden voyage by uncovering the mysteries of Farpoint Station. On the way, they run into Q who puts Picard on trial.
I thought this was a strong first episode. The bit with Q is a bit reminiscent of the multiple omnipotent beings TOS met, which works well for establishing a connection between the shows. I like that they have to think their way out of the problem rather than shooting their way out. It helps show how Starfleet has transitioned over the years and prepares you for a show that is going to rely on nonviolence just as much as shooting and explosions. I love the space jellyfish. Even 25 years later, they still look good. It's a great design. I also love that Q can be read two ways in this episode. The obvious is he's a prick who is putting Picard on trial for his own amusement. The other is that he's trying to save the space jellyfish. Based on other episodes, if Q hadn't been there constantly pissing off Picard by trying to get him to act violently, Picard probably would've shot the space jellyfish. It was violently attacking a Federation ally, attacking it would've been the logical decision. But because Q was pestering, Picard took the nonviolent route which saved the trapped space jellyfish. Maybe Q's just a big old softie at heart.
"The Naked Now:" TOS episode "The Naked Time" but with this crew.
Seriously, TNG? It's your second episode. YOUR SECOND EPISODE. Can't you wait until at least season two before running out of ideas?
"Code of Honor:" Lt. Yar gets kidnapped by a savage alien and is forced to fight his wife to the death.
So the entire race of "savages" who have a strong code of Honour, have multiple wives, and kidnap and steal what they want are all black? And Martin Luthor King Jr. was proud of this franchise! I know Wil Wheaton has talked about this episode and said the casting was all the fault of the original director who turned out to be a horrible racist and had to be replaced, but surely someone should have noticed that before 15 to 20 people had been hired and outfitted in African tribal wear. I do like how they solve the fight to the death (a callback to "Amok Time") and that the wife gets with a man who loves her, but there was so much fail before that.
"The Last Outpost:" The Enterprise is imobilized during their first encounter with the Ferengi who are supposed to be scary.
I don't know what this was like when it originally aired, but since I've seen the Ferengi in other episodes, this was easily the funniest episode of the season. It was hilarious to watch people try to take the Ferengi as a threat when later they have troubles taking them seriously.
"The Battle:" A Ferengi captain brings the Starfleet vessel the Stargazer to the hero of the Battle of Maxia, her former captain, Picard.
I liked this one much better than the previous Ferengi episode. The first officer shows the desire for profit we've come accustomed to in the Ferengi. And the DaiMon's idea was really clever. I love that he was going to have Picard destroy the Enterprise so he'd understand the DaiMon's pain about the destroyed Maxia and his son. It's a clever plan. Also, they all felt like Ferengi in this episode vs. the previous episode where they could've been any race.
"The Big Goodbye:" Picard, Crusher, and Data are trapped in a holodeck malfunction that causes them to live out the events of a film noir.
I love this episode for a couple of reasons. One) Youppi! Proof the animated series is canon! That's where the holodecks came from. Two) I'm a big fan of film noir.
I disliked it for a couple of reasons. One) holy crap! Data is annoying this episode. Every time he uses the accent, I wanted to punch him. Two) This started the trend of holodeck malfunction episodes. They had two this season and approximately a billion over the course of the series.
"11001001:" The Bynars are supposed to be fixing the ship. Instead they steal it in order to save their dying race. Meanwhile, a really skeevy Riker is trapped in a very realistic holo deck simulation.
Holy crap! Riker is skeevy in this episode. He basically has the holodeck make him a sex doll. Augh. That's creepy enough, but Minuet is later shown to be very realistic. She's basically a real person. Who has no choice but to do him if Riker wants to have sex with her. AUGH. And nobody else is the least bit creeped out by this. Picard was totally okay with it and even seemed to be fine when Riker was considering having a relationship with Minuet. The difference between Riker/Minuet and Yar/Data is that Data was designed with the purpose of expanding scientific knowledge and could have said no if he didn't want to sleep with Yar, Minuet was created to flirt with Riker and has no choice. My skin is just crawling.
"When the Bough Breaks:" A planet of sterile individuals forcibly adopts the children of the Enterprise.
First of all, some of my episode summaries are the official ones. This is one of those. Isn't "forcibly adopting" just kidnapping? It looked like kidnapping. This was a good Wesley episode. It made sense for him to be there. Yes, he's the leader of the children (and his friends of equal age that we see in other episodes aren't here) but that's a narrative convenience and makes sense. Since I wasn't being forced to listen to how awesome Wesley was, I actually thought he was fairly awesome this episode. I loved the awkward Picard/children scenes. I liked the way they defeated the "forcible adopters," even if the lady who watched Wesley and Crusher meet was a moron. Seriously? The kid passed a humming thing completely around her body and looked awkward while doing so, but she didn't realize something was up? She deserved to have Wesley run away from her home. Also, Kim "X-Files/Supernatural" Manners directed this episode.
"Heart of Glory:" The Enterprise rescues fugitive Klingons who try to hijack the ship and convince Worf to join them.
I'm a big fan of the "Our enemies are people too" episodes so I loved this. I liked the look into Klingon culture, especially the funeral rites. I thought Michael Dorn did a fantastic job. When Worf had to kill his "brother," I could see how conflicted he was as well as why he decided to do it. Superb bit of acting.
"Skin of Evil:" A being made of pure hate kidnaps Troi and then kills Yar just for kicks.
I felt this was a really good way to do "Anybody can die." Because I really like Yar, I genuinely felt her death. It also reminded us that they are doing really dangerous things and there are no red shirts anymore. I loved that her funeral was supposed to be a celebration and that Data stayed after the others because he was confused about his feelings. It was a nice callback to their relationship. I do wish they had shown a little more of Worf and Tasha's friendship as it was very much in the background previously. But at least it was there.
"Conspiracy:" Previously on TNG, an admiral warned Picard that something was wrong in Starfleet with bizarre orders being given, lots of personnel shuffling, and a lot of people dying in bizarre circumstances. Now, The Enterprise finds out that the reason is that Yeerks are body snatching people.
This is an odd episode for me. I like how epic it is. The episode starts with Picard losing his other best friend (his best friend being Dr. Crusher's husband) after he warns Picard of something strange happening in Starfleet. The episode ends with the realization that they don't know how many Starfleet officers are still possessed and the Queen has sent out a homing beacon revealing the location of Earth. This is a great cliffhanger, and a great setup for a reoccurring bad guy. That we never see again. So much potential and all of it is just wasted.
This especially sucks since i'm confused about the parasites. Were the admirals (and Capt. Black Woman) killed? Or were the parasites just forced out? (Personally, I'm leaning toward the latter. If shooting on kill killed the hosts, Why wouldn't stunning stun them?) was Remmick a normal guy who was taken over, someone working with the aliens, or an android? (Sadly, I'm leaning toward the former with this one. I feel really sorry for Remmick. Who knows what he was like normally? When he was a jerk, it was because he was a Yeerk. Which is why he wanted to be stationed on the Enterprise.) Also, this episode felt like a season finale. But it wasn't. If I had been a viewer back in 1987, I'd have assumed that was the end of the season.
"The Neutral Zone:" While investigating the destruction of several Federation outposts near the Romulan Neutral Zone, the Enterprise comes upon a derelict containing frozen humans from the 20th century. Instead of fighting Wesley Snipes, the unfrozen make a huge pain of themselves.
I like this episode, but story wise it doesn't seem finale worthy, especially coming right after the epicness of "Conspiracy." However, from a thematic standpoint, I understand why it is. It clearly sets forth the philosophy Starfleet (and thus the show) operates under. It also shows more philosophic musings than previous episodes (what is the end? What does that mean? Can death be cheated? Is it worth it if you can?) This episode is really the moment this series sat up and yelled, "I am Star Trek, and if you let me, I will be a damn good show!" So story wise, it fell a little flat for a finale, but thematically, it hit it out of the park. This episode, more than any of the others, said to me, "I'm going to be smart scifi."
Overall, I liked it. It was clunky at times and the quality was a bit over the map, but I could see the first glimmers of what it was to become. If I'm not completely kicked out of the geek community, I will be back with a recap/review of season two.
As I've mentioned previously, I'm a huge fan of Star Trek, having seen every episode of the original and animated series. (Secret time. I think "Yesteryear" by D.C Fontana is better than Ellis' "City on the Edge of Forever." Just so you know what you're in for here.) However, whilst I'm familiar with the other series, I've only seen bits and pieces. I've decided to remedy that.
Up first is The Next Generation, widely considered the best of all the series. It's won prestigious awards, ran for seven seasons, and birthed a lot of the cliches we know and love. I've tried to come at it with fresh eyes, but this show is ubiquitous in geek culture. I already know about the Worf Effect and that in real life Wil Wheaton is our king. It's hard to avoid. So I decided not to attempt it. (There is some Wesley hate, but I'm not re-starting Die Wesley Die or anything.)
The first season is really, really uneven. There are some really great episodes and some really crappy ones. Some good plot points and some that make me want to rip my hair out. And all the characters can be ball bustingly annoying at times.
The good:
* the production values are fabulous, especially in the first episode. The special effects can come across as very dated at times (due to relying on CGI), but overall, it's really good.
* The uniforms. I *greatly* prefer the style of uniforms used in TNG. At first, I was skeptical about the jumpsuits because I thought they might restrict movement, in addition to looking slightly silly, but overall, they've grown on me. I like that they still have optional skirted uniforms (which is what I would wear), and I *LOVE* that men are shown wearing them. I do wish they had kept the colours the same, though. It's like the Navy suddenly decided to wear olive green and the Army to wear white and blue. It makes no sense and would've been very confusing at first. Also, I think the lighter blue science uniforms of TOS looked better.
* The clothes in general. In my completely impractical dream wedding, my wedding dress is designed by William Ware Theiss. R.I.P. Mr. Theiss, I am sure you're in Heaven making the angels sexy.
* Tasha Yar. She does have some problems. (Why do you keep talking about how you are more moral than the aliens you disagree with? You're from Planet Rape; presumably some of your own people are also morally bankrupt dickbags!) Overall, though, I love the character. She's aggressive and likes to shoot first, but she's still a woman. Tasha is rarely soft, but she does show that side of herself. And unlike most of this type of character, she's not defined by her sex drive. She has one (and I like that Data knows that firsthand) but unlike others of this archetype, it doesn't define her. Also, Yar is a female security chief in the 80s. I'm not 100 percent positive, but I don't think Star Trek ever has another one of those.
* Grumpy Picard. No real reason, other than it amuses me.
* Q. Technically, he's a plot stolen from TOS, but they never had a reoccurring omnipotent being that liked to screw with people. Also, I love how much John DeLancie loves the character. He is having the time of his life in every scene. When a guy is having that much fun, I have to have fun too.
* The saucer separation. It's actually really clever, especially since there are now innocent families on the ship. Apparently, they don't do it so much in later seasons. I can understand why, but I still like it.
* The fastest promoted captain in the entire history of Starfleet? A black woman.
* Those horrible/creepy Yeerk things that body snatch prominent officers as the first wave of their invasion.
The bad:
* How the horrible/creepy Yeerk things were handled. I'll get into this more a little later when I talk about individual episodes, but their episode felt more like a finale more than the actual finale. And in the long run, the build up wasn't worth the payoff.
* Captain Kirk Lite. If I wanted to see Capt. Kirk, I'd watch him. I wanna see Riker. Fortunately, this is only really a problem in the first few seasons.
* The writers don't seem to know what to do with Worf and LaForge yet. There are a few episodes that use LaForge's blindness or Worf's Klingon-ness to their advantage (and the episode about Worf was good), but for the most part, they don't have a handle on them yet.
* Ditto Wesley. There are a few Wesley episodes, and for the most part, they're good. (The exception is "Where No One Has Gone Before." It's a good episode, but I dislike how the Wesley bits are handled.) However, they keep shoving Wesley into episodes where he has no business being. The others either heap praise on him for no reason or dismiss him for no reason depending on what will make Weasley look the best at the time. It's obvious the writers don't have a clue how to write that character and even more obvious that they don't know how to write 15-year-olds. (I would've thought he was much older if he hadn't given his age in an episode.)
* Data. I know this makes a bad geek, but more often than not, he's irritating to me. I do think Brent Spiner did a fantastic job. However, the constant bad jokes; the constant rambling (Hello, Pot. My name is Kettle.); constantly making the same mistakes (every time you recite a time down to the second, some one cuts you off. So why are you still trying to recite things down to the millisecond?); etc. It just makes an annoying character. Since I've previously seen and loved "The Measure of a Man," I'm assuming I'll get over it or he'll be better written next season.
* Troi's uniforms. The first episode isn't bad because she's in the skirted science/medical uniform. After that, though, I hate her uniforms. They make no sense. Why are they so low cut? What's up with that bizarre sash around her waist? Why does no one else wear one? The point of a uniform is that they are *uniform*. Having your own uniform defeats the purpose.
That's my basic overview of likes and dislikes for the first season.
I would like to talk a little bit about specific episodes. Not all of them because there are 25, but some of them.
"Encouter at Farpoint:" The new Enterprise starts her maiden voyage by uncovering the mysteries of Farpoint Station. On the way, they run into Q who puts Picard on trial.
I thought this was a strong first episode. The bit with Q is a bit reminiscent of the multiple omnipotent beings TOS met, which works well for establishing a connection between the shows. I like that they have to think their way out of the problem rather than shooting their way out. It helps show how Starfleet has transitioned over the years and prepares you for a show that is going to rely on nonviolence just as much as shooting and explosions. I love the space jellyfish. Even 25 years later, they still look good. It's a great design. I also love that Q can be read two ways in this episode. The obvious is he's a prick who is putting Picard on trial for his own amusement. The other is that he's trying to save the space jellyfish. Based on other episodes, if Q hadn't been there constantly pissing off Picard by trying to get him to act violently, Picard probably would've shot the space jellyfish. It was violently attacking a Federation ally, attacking it would've been the logical decision. But because Q was pestering, Picard took the nonviolent route which saved the trapped space jellyfish. Maybe Q's just a big old softie at heart.
"The Naked Now:" TOS episode "The Naked Time" but with this crew.
Seriously, TNG? It's your second episode. YOUR SECOND EPISODE. Can't you wait until at least season two before running out of ideas?
"Code of Honor:" Lt. Yar gets kidnapped by a savage alien and is forced to fight his wife to the death.
So the entire race of "savages" who have a strong code of Honour, have multiple wives, and kidnap and steal what they want are all black? And Martin Luthor King Jr. was proud of this franchise! I know Wil Wheaton has talked about this episode and said the casting was all the fault of the original director who turned out to be a horrible racist and had to be replaced, but surely someone should have noticed that before 15 to 20 people had been hired and outfitted in African tribal wear. I do like how they solve the fight to the death (a callback to "Amok Time") and that the wife gets with a man who loves her, but there was so much fail before that.
"The Last Outpost:" The Enterprise is imobilized during their first encounter with the Ferengi who are supposed to be scary.
I don't know what this was like when it originally aired, but since I've seen the Ferengi in other episodes, this was easily the funniest episode of the season. It was hilarious to watch people try to take the Ferengi as a threat when later they have troubles taking them seriously.
"The Battle:" A Ferengi captain brings the Starfleet vessel the Stargazer to the hero of the Battle of Maxia, her former captain, Picard.
I liked this one much better than the previous Ferengi episode. The first officer shows the desire for profit we've come accustomed to in the Ferengi. And the DaiMon's idea was really clever. I love that he was going to have Picard destroy the Enterprise so he'd understand the DaiMon's pain about the destroyed Maxia and his son. It's a clever plan. Also, they all felt like Ferengi in this episode vs. the previous episode where they could've been any race.
"The Big Goodbye:" Picard, Crusher, and Data are trapped in a holodeck malfunction that causes them to live out the events of a film noir.
I love this episode for a couple of reasons. One) Youppi! Proof the animated series is canon! That's where the holodecks came from. Two) I'm a big fan of film noir.
I disliked it for a couple of reasons. One) holy crap! Data is annoying this episode. Every time he uses the accent, I wanted to punch him. Two) This started the trend of holodeck malfunction episodes. They had two this season and approximately a billion over the course of the series.
"11001001:" The Bynars are supposed to be fixing the ship. Instead they steal it in order to save their dying race. Meanwhile, a really skeevy Riker is trapped in a very realistic holo deck simulation.
Holy crap! Riker is skeevy in this episode. He basically has the holodeck make him a sex doll. Augh. That's creepy enough, but Minuet is later shown to be very realistic. She's basically a real person. Who has no choice but to do him if Riker wants to have sex with her. AUGH. And nobody else is the least bit creeped out by this. Picard was totally okay with it and even seemed to be fine when Riker was considering having a relationship with Minuet. The difference between Riker/Minuet and Yar/Data is that Data was designed with the purpose of expanding scientific knowledge and could have said no if he didn't want to sleep with Yar, Minuet was created to flirt with Riker and has no choice. My skin is just crawling.
"When the Bough Breaks:" A planet of sterile individuals forcibly adopts the children of the Enterprise.
First of all, some of my episode summaries are the official ones. This is one of those. Isn't "forcibly adopting" just kidnapping? It looked like kidnapping. This was a good Wesley episode. It made sense for him to be there. Yes, he's the leader of the children (and his friends of equal age that we see in other episodes aren't here) but that's a narrative convenience and makes sense. Since I wasn't being forced to listen to how awesome Wesley was, I actually thought he was fairly awesome this episode. I loved the awkward Picard/children scenes. I liked the way they defeated the "forcible adopters," even if the lady who watched Wesley and Crusher meet was a moron. Seriously? The kid passed a humming thing completely around her body and looked awkward while doing so, but she didn't realize something was up? She deserved to have Wesley run away from her home. Also, Kim "X-Files/Supernatural" Manners directed this episode.
"Heart of Glory:" The Enterprise rescues fugitive Klingons who try to hijack the ship and convince Worf to join them.
I'm a big fan of the "Our enemies are people too" episodes so I loved this. I liked the look into Klingon culture, especially the funeral rites. I thought Michael Dorn did a fantastic job. When Worf had to kill his "brother," I could see how conflicted he was as well as why he decided to do it. Superb bit of acting.
"Skin of Evil:" A being made of pure hate kidnaps Troi and then kills Yar just for kicks.
I felt this was a really good way to do "Anybody can die." Because I really like Yar, I genuinely felt her death. It also reminded us that they are doing really dangerous things and there are no red shirts anymore. I loved that her funeral was supposed to be a celebration and that Data stayed after the others because he was confused about his feelings. It was a nice callback to their relationship. I do wish they had shown a little more of Worf and Tasha's friendship as it was very much in the background previously. But at least it was there.
"Conspiracy:" Previously on TNG, an admiral warned Picard that something was wrong in Starfleet with bizarre orders being given, lots of personnel shuffling, and a lot of people dying in bizarre circumstances. Now, The Enterprise finds out that the reason is that Yeerks are body snatching people.
This is an odd episode for me. I like how epic it is. The episode starts with Picard losing his other best friend (his best friend being Dr. Crusher's husband) after he warns Picard of something strange happening in Starfleet. The episode ends with the realization that they don't know how many Starfleet officers are still possessed and the Queen has sent out a homing beacon revealing the location of Earth. This is a great cliffhanger, and a great setup for a reoccurring bad guy. That we never see again. So much potential and all of it is just wasted.
This especially sucks since i'm confused about the parasites. Were the admirals (and Capt. Black Woman) killed? Or were the parasites just forced out? (Personally, I'm leaning toward the latter. If shooting on kill killed the hosts, Why wouldn't stunning stun them?) was Remmick a normal guy who was taken over, someone working with the aliens, or an android? (Sadly, I'm leaning toward the former with this one. I feel really sorry for Remmick. Who knows what he was like normally? When he was a jerk, it was because he was a Yeerk. Which is why he wanted to be stationed on the Enterprise.) Also, this episode felt like a season finale. But it wasn't. If I had been a viewer back in 1987, I'd have assumed that was the end of the season.
"The Neutral Zone:" While investigating the destruction of several Federation outposts near the Romulan Neutral Zone, the Enterprise comes upon a derelict containing frozen humans from the 20th century. Instead of fighting Wesley Snipes, the unfrozen make a huge pain of themselves.
I like this episode, but story wise it doesn't seem finale worthy, especially coming right after the epicness of "Conspiracy." However, from a thematic standpoint, I understand why it is. It clearly sets forth the philosophy Starfleet (and thus the show) operates under. It also shows more philosophic musings than previous episodes (what is the end? What does that mean? Can death be cheated? Is it worth it if you can?) This episode is really the moment this series sat up and yelled, "I am Star Trek, and if you let me, I will be a damn good show!" So story wise, it fell a little flat for a finale, but thematically, it hit it out of the park. This episode, more than any of the others, said to me, "I'm going to be smart scifi."
Overall, I liked it. It was clunky at times and the quality was a bit over the map, but I could see the first glimmers of what it was to become. If I'm not completely kicked out of the geek community, I will be back with a recap/review of season two.