TNG S05E06, S05E07-08, S05E09, S05E10

In this installment:
(viewed August 8th-11th)

Star Trek:  The Next Generation, S05E06 - "The Game"
Star Trek:  The Next Generation, S05E07-08 - "Unification" (Parts 1 & 2)
Star Trek:  The Next Generation, S05E09 - "A Matter Of Time"
Star Trek:  The Next Generation, S05E10 - "New Ground"

---

"The Game"

• ...in which Commander Riker's promiscuous, free-love attitude gives the entire ship the electronic equivalent of space herpes.
• This episode is Wil Wheaton's first "guest" appearance as Wesley Crusher since his departure as a series regular in Season 4's "The Final Mission".  He will go on to make three more guest appearances before the series is over, and one heavily-edited cameo in Star Trek:  Nemesis.
• While we never see it on screen* (in this episode, at least), the USS Zhukov which transfers science personnel to the Enterprise-D for its survey mission to the Phoenix Cluster is assumed to be the same Ambassador-class ship seen/referenced in several other episodes.
  
  (* - The Oberth-class ship that we do see later is presumably an unnamed transport carrying Wesley.)
• This episode is Ashley Judd's second (and last) guest appearance as Ensign Robin Lefler (she also appeared earlier in Season 5, in the episode "Darmok").
• "No thanks.  I don't like fudge."
  
  Will Riker isn't a human being.
• ...and Counselor Troi's unnecessarily sensual description of how she eats an ice cream sundae is a little freaky.
• "Chief O'Brien!"
  
  "Welcome back, Wesley."
  
  "Congratulations on little Molly."
  
  "Thank you.  Wait'll you see her.  She's the spitting image of her dad."
  
  No she's not.  Not even a little.
• Worf bakes a cake.  WORF BAKES A CAKE.
• "I would be happy to teach you dancing.  I have programmed a comprehensive 17-part course, with several interesting holographic partners."
  
  "...I'll let you know."
• "Your neutrinos are drifting."
• ...in which Lt. Commander Data wishes he'd never shown Dr. Crusher his "off" switch.
• Wes & Robin:  24th Century Hardy Boys and/or Nancy Drews.
• And of course Riker's chippy from Risa is a creepy alien captain.  His shame knows no bounds.
• Since when did they start letting cadets have access to phasers?
• So, let me sum up:  The first officer, while engaged in sexual congress with a completely unvetted alien, brings aboard the ship an electronic device that interfaces directly with the human brain.  This device's effects are addictive, and it's been further modified by an unknown aggressor in attempt to gain control of the crews of Starfleet vessels--and by extension, the vessels themselves.  Eventually, every single member of the crew of the Federation's flagship falls victim to this plot--including her captain, a celebrated explorer and diplomat.  In the course of executing their orders while under mind control, the crew serious damage the only known surviving Soong-type android in the galaxy and then prepare to turn the aforementioned Federation flagship over to a tart with a big forehead and a purple spaceship.
  
  But...no investigation?  Apparently the Federation Council doesn't do much :P
• The starship on which Wesley transports back to Starfleet Academy is the USS Merrimac, a Nebula-class starship which previously participated in Captain Picard's blockade of the Klingon-Romulan border ("Redemption, Part 2")
• I'll say this for Brannon Braga:  He gave Wil Wheaton a chance to kiss Ashley Judd.  I have to think that a teenage Wheaton had to be pretty happy about that.

---

"Unification" (Parts 1 & 2)

• This two-part episode, one of my favorites, aired shortly after Gene Roddenberry's death in October of 1991 (airdate: November 4th, 1991).  It also has a rather obvious tie-in with the movie Star Trek VI:  The Undiscovered Country (release date:  December 6th, 1991), namely the cameo of Leonard Nimoy as Spock.  The events of The Undiscovered Country are explicitly referenced by Spock in the second half of the episode, even though most fans wouldn't see the movie for several more weeks.
  
  Both the "Unification" episodes and the film The Undiscovered Country bear dedications to Gene Roddenberry prior to their opening credits.
• This episode is the first on-screen evidence of something Trekkies had long assumed:  That after retiring from Starfleet, Spock followed in his father's footsteps and become a Federation ambassador and diplomat.
• We learn from Perrin that Sarek and Spock, as diplomats, had a public disagreement about some facet of the Federation-Cardassian War and subsequent treaty.  We never find out which of them held what view, but I'd love to find out (is there a book that covers that?).
• "This is going to be like putting together a big jigsaw puzzle when you don't even know what the picture's supposed to be."
  
  "Yep."
• The Vulcan version of Alzheimer's is straight-up balls (not that the human version isn't).
• I'm surprised that Worf doesn't just ask Kurn to help them out when Picard and Data need a Bird-of-Prey (or more precisely, a cloaked ship) to cross the border into Romulan space.  The last I check, Kurn commanded a Bird-of-Prey during the Klingon Civil War (fighting for Gowron, the victor and current Chancellor of the High Council).  And as we all know, Bird-of-Prey captains do pretty much whatever they want.
• Klim Dokachin, the administrator of the surplus depot at Qualor II, is the second Zakdorn we see in Star Trek (the first being master strategist Sirna Kolrami, in Season 2's "Peak Performance").
• USS Tripoli, the vanished ship to which the surplus depot has been mistakenly still beaming cargo to, is the same vessel that discovered Data on Omicron Theta.  It's never seen on screen and its class is never stated, but in non-canon literature it's cited as being a Hokule'a-class starship.  As usual, the Advanced Starship Design Bureau has some speculative design for the class.
  
  This is probably my favorite:
  
  
  
• "Sarek is dead." :-(
• "Be careful, android.  Some Romulan beauty might take a liking to you--like that paint right off your ears."
• This episode is both the first appearance, and the most prolific use of, the Romulan greeting "Jolan Tru".  It appears to mean both "hello" and "goodbye", much like the Hawaiian "aloha".
• Romulans love soup.  Beige soup.
• Hey kids, it's Spock!
• "In your own way, you are as stubborn as another captain of the Enterprise that I once knew."
  
  "Then I am in good company, sir."
• "Hey, let's give Frakes a chance to play piano."
• Hey kids, it's Sela!
• The conversation between Spock and Data aboard the Bird-of-Prey is great, as they each compare their own relationships with humanity (which somewhat compliment one another).  It's a great scene between two of Trek's most memorable characters, acted superbly by two of its best actors.
• I think I could really get into Klingon opera.  It's like black metal without any guitars.
  
  Eww, wait.  No.
• "I'm afraid I don't know too much about Romulan disruptor settings."
  
  :pointy-eared-trollface:
• Data mastering the Vulcan nerve pinch?  Epic.
• The three Vulcan ships carrying the Romulan invasion force (destroyed by the Romulan Warbird) are listed as Apollo-class transports, but are sometimes referred to as "T'Pau"-type.
  
  
  
  (image courtesy of Ex Astris Scientia)
• The Picard-Spock mind meld that closes out the episode is a great way to bring closure to the strained Sarek-Spock relationship.

---

"A Matter Of Time"

• So, the Enterprise-D is equipped with state-of-the-art scientific facilities and scientists of every conceivable stripe.  Its primary mission is exploration and research, right?
  
  And yet your chief engineer--as hyper-competent as he may in his own field(s)--is figuring out how to help a planet undergoing catastrophic climactic changes after an asteroid strike?
• Hey kids, it's Matt Frewer!  Please take this opportunity to make your own Max Headroom joke.
  
  
  
  
• Even with his initially-impressive credentials as a 26th Century historian, it's hard to believe that the crew would so readily cooperate with an "historian" with such obviously hypocritical ideas about "polluting" the timeline.  Even with the exposure to time travel that Starfleet has had to date, a 24th Century crew would know that even the act of overtly observing the past can alter the timeline.  I'd think they would toss "Professor Rasmussen" out on his ear.
• During his debate with Rasmussen about temporal ethics, Captain Picard mentions Adolf Hitler and Khan Singh in the same sentence.
• During that same debate, Picard frankly admits that he has occasionally violated the Prime Directive because he thought it was "the right thing to do", imploring Rasmussen to do the same.
• In addition, he asks Rasmussen if he is trying to adhere to a "temporal equivalent" of the Prime Directive.  We actually get a "Temporal Prime Directive" during the awful Temporal Cold War story arc on Star Trek:  Enterprise.
• "If fewer things had disappeared, we might have never suspected you."
  
  
  
  
  
• "Welcome to the 24th Century."
  
  This quote from Picard graced the banner of Ex Astris Scientia, one of the best Trek-related sites on the WWW, from its inception (or at least since I started visiting it, which has been many, many years) until a recent site redesign.

---

"New Ground"

• The Soliton Wave?  Pretty sure that was a popular dance when I was in junior high.
• "We're going to witness a moment in history."
  
  "Every nanosecond in this continuum is a moment in history, once it has elapsed."
  
  Oh, Data.
• Take your kid, Worf.  We don't want him.
• All of the scheduling demands placed on Worf's time as a result of Alexander's arrival in this episode are prime examples of why--despite Roddenberry's best intentions--the idea of having families on a deep space exploratory spacecraft (which may at any time be called into any number of dangerous situations) is a completely pants-on-head idea.
• When discussing the statue of Kahless and Morath, Alexander pronounces Kahless' name "KAH-less" instead of "KAY-less".  Worf uses the same pronunciation in the next scene, when discussing the incident in the turbolift with Counselor Troi.
• The model used for the "Soliton Wave Rider" test ship is the same model first used as a Mars defensive perimeter drone in "Best Of Both Worlds". 
  
  
  
  
  It was constructed using the hull from a model of a Soviet-era Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarine and two hulls from models of American Los Angeles-class attack submarines. 
  
  Hooray for Perestroika and/or Glastnost!
• Face it, Lt. Worf.  Your kid is a d*ck.
• Federation starships must have to carry a butt-load of power couplings.  They seem to have to replace those things like light bulbs.
• "I'm not here to approve of disapprove of the way you raise your son."
  
  Maybe just a little judging...little bit.
• "Are you saying that his misconduct is a result of feeling abandoned?"
  
  Yes.  You sent your poor little bastard kid away right after his mom was murdered by a douchebag.  You didn't think that was going to mess the kid up a little bit?
• "Primary control's shorted out!"
  
  Well then, it's a good thing Worf's super-strong then isn't it?  And that Data isn't here to upstage him.
• So...Alexander sets fire to a bio-lab and he doesn't even get grounded?  When I burned down was accidentally responsible for a fire that destroyed our garage when I was 14, my parents took away everything I owned for like six months.