I think somebody forgot to budget for the explosion.
Oh, yeah, right...you mean your favorite "Next Gen" episode. Not like the real Star Trek episodes or anything.
The Next Generation is (slightly) superior to ToS.
There. I've said it.
And you know it is undeniably true.
It's totally true.
And this is def. one of my top episodes (slightly behind Inner Light, I think).
I actually still remember where I was sitting, which chair, the time of day, who was in the room, etc the first time I saw this particular opening scene, this wonderful little bit of geek porn.
@1: Special effects for this episode were done by Billy!
What are your top 2 episodes?
My guesses are The Inner Light and Yesterday's Enterprise...but there are a lot of good ones
Man, it's been years since I watched the show...suddenly I have the itch.
Fine, call me a moron, but I can't place this episode. Is this the time loop one?
SpikeTV used to play this in the "extra" 2am-3am time slot when daylight savings time reset in fall. I always thought that was cute.
@5 Are you retarded? This show is from 1992. wikipedia_link, pretty amazing special effects for television. And in fact TNG had the highest budget for a television show for its time.
Its a bit extensive, but I remember reading this in a Playboy circa '94. http://www.webtender.com/handbook/games/startrek-tng.game
I think ill look for the seasons on ebay now.
@9: "...and in episode 6-19, the gravitational damping fields on the holodeck are completely disregarded without even a bit of explanation."
Being retarded would give me an excuse for still living in my parents house. What's yours?
Um, The New Generation can easily and handily shortened to "STT to the motherfuckin' NG." Thanks for your cooperation.
I just watched it again. Man did that explosion suck.
I think they budgeted enough to buy all the Black Cats they needed but it was around the 4th of July and the staff pilfered most of them.
Dirk Benedict used to do that same shit, as you might remember.
@11 Hey dickhead, I only remember that episode because of the mention by Joseph J. Finn of the time loop issue, so I looked up episodes on wikipedia, a total of 30 seconds to figure out which one and from what year/season. I'm not the author of the wikipedia page numbnuts, I just know how to use a computer.
The Sci Fi channel has been playing TNG on Monday nights, this one was just on a few weeks ago. A dormant section of my nerd psyche has been reawakened. I'm hoping my crush on Wil Wheaton won't.
I don't care whether she's Ensign Ro or Admiral Cain. I love you Michelle Forbes. Will you gay marry me??
When I was ten I wanted to be Ensign Ro.
@15: I'm so with you. I adored Next Gen as a kid, and seeing them again after over a decade has seriously re-awakened that. I'm actually surprised at how well they hold up.
Oh my gawd, the Slog is geeking the fuck out today.
Yeah, that was a great episode. I've been thinking lately about how brilliant that series was.
hank you Mr. G and for the reason you cite.
And I bet "Darmok" is on that list along with this one and "Inner Light".
This is your THIRD favorite episode??... Dr. Golob, I realize you're a foot smarter than most of the human race, what with your advanced degrees and all... But, Lord almighty, dude! We need to talk.
"Cause and Effect". Yes, this is a great episode. Although I have to admit, I was never one of those people who hated Voyager.
I admit it. I've been re-wathing TNG from the top by getting it from netflix. This episode is definitely in my top five, along with Inner Light and Darmok. I seem to remember being a pretty big fan of All Good Things... and the one where everyone "de-evolves," because that's just fucking cool.
Slog IS nerding the hell out, and I like it.
@22--Ah! The one where everyone de-evolves! I forgot that one. Someone turns into a spider, right?
@23: I think it was Barclay. And Picard goes all lemur, which is sad.
We should have Slog Happy Hour at a gay bar, but instead of gay porn, we should play Star Trek (nerd porn) on the TV.
The explosion wasn't great, yet the soundtrack and the sound effects people went to town nonetheless.
"Balance of Terror" is the best episode. Sure it is plageristic take-off on all submarine/frigate duels movies to that date but that is part of Star Treks success. People relate to it not because it is truly futuristic sci-fi but rather somehow familiar with mythological themes. The stuff of legends etc, etc.
Re: the cheezy explosion--
Factor in the fact that they had to shoot SEVERAL explosions for this single episode and cut the budget some slack.
I can't do the episode names, and bow down in geek respect to those of you who can, but the episode where Worf shifts through various realities on his way back from a tournament was great, especially the scene of a crazed Riker screaming about how the Born had destroyed the Federation.
That one kept me up nights. That was my big complaint about Voyager--they turned the Born into crap.
I am...old enough.
bitch, don't hate on Voyager. i will cut you.
I believe the producers of ST:TNG referred to this as "the ultimate teaser", and blowing the Enterprise to quarks was a great way to start the episode. Given that the special effects were still somewhat analog, this was a pretty good set of ship-blasting scenes.
However, nothing compares to the field of ruined Starfleet vessels in "Best of Both Worlds", where the might of The Federation simply got slaughtered by Picard/Locutius and The Borg. So much for the doctrine of deterrence...
Explosions in space wouldn't be anywhere near that spectacular, and there'd be no sound.
Trivia: When they made Star Trek ships explode, they were hung from the ceiling and photographed upward from the floor, so the debris appears to fly away in all directions at once. If they'd shot it horizontally, the debris would all fall one direction.
@14: Whoa, tiger. I just took umbrage at the use of "retard" as a reaction to criticizing nearly 20-something year-old special effects for looking dated. Great that it was the best technology money could buy - by today's standards it looks crappy. When you got all defensive about it, you sounded like the dudes in uniform at the conventions who grill the character actors over stupid writing discrepancies. So, relax, we all know how to use computers.
Balence of Terror. Tholian Web. Yesterdays Enterprise. Darmok. All among my favorites.
The Wounded was definitely in the top 3; I wouldn't be able to pick between it and Inner Light.
I almost hate to say it, but 'Darmok', while a good episode, is a tad overrated. TNG really began to hit its stride around the 4th-5th seasons, so I think it benefits from being a strong episode from an overall strong period of the show's run. There are many better episodes from other seasons. However, Paul Winfield's appearance of course kicks total ass.
@3, @2 was correct, there was only one Star Trek series (just as there was only one Raiders of the Lost Ark and only two Star Wars movies - the first two).
The thing you're calling "Star Trek" was an office comedy from the 80s with an ironic sci fi-lite style. Each week, the ensemble cast (with its one actual actor, Patrick Stewart) would argue over memo semantics on their way to a trade show conference.
It's unwatchable now -- has anyone actually tried to watch it as an adult recently? It's like trying to sit through old reruns of Laverne and Shirley.
My fellow nerds, don't forget the show in the sky tonight, it's the annual Perseid shower. I read it peaks around 1-2am in the NW. Something about seeing the all shooting stars always creeps me the fuck out, but I watch anyway.
I am so either buying or renting all the
ST:TNG seasons, I'd forgotten until this thread just how much I used to love that show.
In no particular order...
Cause and Effect
The Measure of a Man
Time Squared
The Inner Light (the ultimate Picard character development episode... cannot be touched)
All Good Things
Yesterday's Enterprise
#3 and #4:
A friend of mine said that NG reminded him of one of those TOS episodes where a transporter accident separated each character into two. I agree:
Kirk = Picard + Riker
Spock = Data + Troi
All you can say about the Federation is that like any good bureaucracy, it is able to expand headcount without adding work or productivity.
@24:
Slog happy with Star Trek? What a great idea! Too bad it'll never happen.
Dr. Golob: sure "Cause and Effect" is a great episode, but there are so many better ones. Is this really #3 in your heart?
@39--Those are all favorites of mine as well, but I have a soft spot for "Data's Day," the one where he and Dr. Crusher tap dance and Chief O'Brien gets married. I like the "average day on the Enterprise" premise, and as far as I can recall nothing explodes.
Dude, no love for Time's Arrow parts 1 and 2??? Guinan meeting Picard in the past hundreds of years before the enterprise?? Mark Twain???
@43--I was watching "Time's Arrow" recently (Data's head!) and my significant other started to get angry because he thought they were portraying Mark Twain as too much of an asshole.
What about "A Fistful of Datas" or "Hollow Pursuits" ? No love for the holodeck?
@44 - I always thought the appeal of Mark Twain was that he's a loveable asshole?
I think Masks is an under-rated episode as well.
@33 Sorry I flipped out. I guess sarcasm doesn't have a well known emoticon yet.
How could I forget Time's Arrow?
Greg, I don't really like those Holodeck episodes (and Barclay is an annoying pissant), but also noticeably missing from my list are Elementary, Dear Data/Ship in a Bottle.
After watching that, I'm gonna have to watch the whole episode when I get home, which is only going to lead to a TNG binge. Thank goodness I have all the DVDs!
WOW! I think we need a Star Trek Slog-Clip-Of-The-Day EVERYDAY!!! Season 5 episode 18 'Cause and Effect' FTW! Sorry, just got really excited about two Trek-posts two days in a row. Thanks!
@28 That's 'Parallels', great episode!
I love you all.
But we know that DS9 owns.
@51: Oh hellz yeah.
Ah, this warms the very chambers of my artificial heart!
But truly, the September Slog Happy, which will occur a mere 3 days after the 42nd Anniversary of the network premiere of TOS definitely needs a trivia component.
And I'll see you "The Trouble With Tribbles" as best overall ST ep, and raise you "Devil In The Dark", or possibly "The Doomsday Machine"
"The Inner Light" tops my list. I love everything about it.
"Measure of a Man is second. :D
And then every other episode mentioned here ties for third!
:nerdgasm:
While I love Data's holodeck adventures, I always thought Moriarty was the worst recurring character ever.
Voyager is my least favorite of the spin-offs (I don't acknowledge Enterprise), but I did like that episode of Voyager where they went to the Q continuum, Death Wish maybe?
Trouble with Tribbles is the best, ever.
If we did Star Trek trivia I'd definitely be Ensign Redshirt.
And DS9's 30th-anniversay riff "Trials and Tribble-lations", whose sole reason for existence was getting Dax in a miniskirt.
Being a young one, I actually started out with Voyager. One of my favourite episodes was the Doctor trying to straighten the record on his ship and crew in an alien culture's war-ridden history.
@59: I never really got that one. Was it supposed to be a possible future? An alternate universe? What?
Well, IIRC, it is the real future.
It fits into whatever happens in the series because they never find out in the episode what did become of Voyager (in the past), so it's left satisfyingly ambiguous for the writers to decide later.
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