Writing in 2021, it is great to see that I am not the only person taking a retrospective look at Star Trek, the Next Generation. When this series was first released in 1987, a little less than twenty years after the end of the Original Series, many people thought that, without Captain Kirk and his crew, it couldn't really be Star Trek. However, original creator Gene Roddenberry, was fully invested in the casting, writing and overall look of the new series, so let's see how it shaped up:
Another Q episode and its a good one. The omnipotent being sets up a complicated game in which the penalty is death and then gives Commander Riker the opportunity to save his crew mates and bestow upon them their most cherished desires.
We get to see a sparse alien landscape, interesting costumes and some "strange, animal creatures". Captain Picard gets to recite Shakespeare and we are treated to several moral conundrums and humorous vignettes as Riker tries to interest the crew in some rapid wish fulfilment. Worf's fantasy girlfriend provides a lot of amusement as we learn that Klingon women take an extremely dominant role in the mating ritual, poor Wesley's grown-up self is a chisel-jawed mannequin and the rest the cast decline to take part. Riker is suitably chastened and Q's experiment pronounced a failure.
A lot of viewers are dismissive of this "Star Trek does Faust" episode but forget that we were being treated to 26 episodes a year; a bounteous serving of entertainment that would be completely impossible today. Not everything in each episodes could work perfectly but the discipline required by such a workload at least meant that we did not have to contend with today's bloated plots and lachrymose characterisations.
(Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5)
Another Q episode and its a good one. The omnipotent being sets up a complicated game in which the penalty is death and then gives Commander Riker the opportunity to save his crew mates and bestow upon them their most cherished desires.
We get to see a sparse alien landscape, interesting costumes and some "strange, animal creatures". Captain Picard gets to recite Shakespeare and we are treated to several moral conundrums and humorous vignettes as Riker tries to interest the crew in some rapid wish fulfilment. Worf's fantasy girlfriend provides a lot of amusement as we learn that Klingon women take an extremely dominant role in the mating ritual, poor Wesley's grown-up self is a chisel-jawed mannequin and the rest the cast decline to take part. Riker is suitably chastened and Q's experiment pronounced a failure.
A lot of viewers are dismissive of this "Star Trek does Faust" episode but forget that we were being treated to 26 episodes a year; a bounteous serving of entertainment that would be completely impossible today. Not everything in each episodes could work perfectly but the discipline required by such a workload at least meant that we did not have to contend with today's bloated plots and lachrymose characterisations.
(Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5)