TNG S06E02, S06E03, S06E04

In this installment:
(viewed September 17th & 18th, 2013)

Star Trek:  The Next Generation, S06E02 - "Realm Of Fear"
Star Trek:  The Next Generation, S06E03 - "Man Of The People"
Star Trek:  The Next Generation, S06E04 - "Relics"

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"Realm Of Fear"

(Seriously..."plexing?")

• In this episode, the Enterprise-D goes looking for (and locates) a missing science ship:  USS Yosemite (NCC-19002).  The Yosemite is of the venerable Oberth class, and its high registry suggests that it's one of the last ships of the class to be commissioned before it's replaced with the comparably-sized Nova-class science vessels.
• Lt.  Reginald Barclay:  You creepy, magnificent bastard.
• "I'll have to beam you over one at a time because of the bandwidth limitation?"
  
  No LTE in this part of space, eh?
• Lt. Worf isn't afraid of a bumpy transporter ride.  A bumpy transporter ride is a warrior's transporter ride.
• "I'm sorry, I just can't do this!"
  
  We know, Broccoli.  We know.
• Talarian hook spiders sound kind of awesome.
• "MY GOD, IT'S FULL OF STARS CLAYMATION SANDWORMS."
• I poke fun at the utopian "Roddenberry-esque" nature of TNG sometimes, but you know what's nice?  No one immediately assumes Barclay must be insane.  They're just like "Okay then, let's check this thing out."
• This episode features the first mention of the Heisenberg Compensator.
• "Transporting really is the safest way to travel."
• So, transporter psychosis seems...not fun.
• "From where did the ionization come?"
  
  Seriously?  Are you telling me that the one sign of intelligence that Commander Riker shows for the entire episode is not ending a sentence with a preposition?
  
  That's something up with which I will not put.
• I understand that she's a trained psychiatrist psychologist therapist "counselor", but who thinks it's a good idea for Counselor Troi to have the authority to relieve people of duty?
• And apparently they don't have Xanax in the 24th Century?  Seems like Barclay just needs some good old fashioned anxiolytics.
• "I'm giving you an order, Mr. O'Brien!"
• Man, that VISOR can do anything.
• I enjoy the fact that, when Barclay grabs a hold of the worm-thing in the matter stream (which turns out to be crew member from the Yosemite) and then comes back through, and tells the security team (headed up by Mr. Worf) that they have to grab the others...the security team is just like "Yep, okay!  No problem!" and jumps right in.
• O'Brien's spider, Christina, is said to be a Lycosa tarantula.  In fact, the spider used in the scene is a Brachypelma smithi.

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"Man Of The People"

• "You think he's attracted to you!  But he's not.  You offer him nothing."
  
  Well, to be fair...this is Counselor Troi, who never offers anyone anything.
• "I let everyone talk until they're exhausted, and then when I start they're too tired to argue."
  
  That's exactly how you work your way into a conversation at a Ferguson family gathering.
• "Have you mated with him yet?"
  
  Well, things were going well but you're here.  So I think we'll wait.
• I can think of no two people that I'd rather weren't doing my performance evaluation than Commander Riker and Counselor Troi.
• "She was 93.  She lived a long life."
  
  Uh...not really--not really, for the 24th Century.
• Psychic vampirism:  Yet another reason to fear and hate telepaths.
• "What kind of woman do you find attractive?"
  
  Oh, you know.  Ones who are drunk on psychic energy and show up at my quarters in their bathrobes."
• It's not so much that I'm a fan of crazy, slutty Troi.  But she's certainly more interesting than regular, proper Troi.
  
  And Riker walking in on the junior officer in Troi's quarters, and the subsequent look on his face?  Worth every second of annoying Troi-isms in this episode.
• "Well, maybe he's just tired of hearing you complain."
  
  "Pardon me?"
  
  "I know I'm certainly tired of it.  How do you think it feels to sit and listen to someone whine about themselves all of the time?"
  
  I change my mind.  I'd forgotten about this part of the episode.  Crazy, slutty Troi is definitely my favorite--but more for the crazy than the slutty.  Pushing Riker's buttons, berating a counseling patient?  WIN.
• Oops.  Minus points for use of the term "Imzadi".  And it was going so well, too!
• ...and then she wins some points back by scratching the crap out of Riker's neck.  It's like a tennis match, this episode.  Back and forth, back and forth!
• "So then, you deliberately used Deanna."
  
  Well, he is a huge toolbag.  So...yeah.
• "You and your security chief will leave."
  
  You guys know that our ship is just, like...lousy with photon torpedoes, right?
• And Riker doesn't get the concept of temporarily "killing" Troi.  He's just all "HAY WAIT A SEC GUYS!"
• "If we could share the funeral meditation..."
  
  WHAT ARE YOU, STUPID?!?
• Worf does not look sympathetic.  He's just like "Yeah, this d-bag is dead."

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"Relics"

• USS Jenolan (NCC-2010), whose distress signal sends our Enterprise-D into action in this episode, is a Sydney-class transport.  The Syndey class is an older design, sharing some design elements (notably the warp nacelles and bridge module) with mid-to-late 23rd Century designs like the refit Constitution class, the Miranda class, the Soyuz class and the Constellation class.
  
  
  
  (borrowed from Ex Astris Scientia)
• The Dyson sphere encountered by the Enterprise-D in this episode is based on a real-life theoretical concept (or, more aptly, a "thought experiment"), credited to 20th & 21st Century theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson.   
• And these sorts of transporter shenanigans could only be courtesy of...
  
  
  
• "The Enterprise?  I should've known.  I bet Jim Kirk himself hauled the old gal out of mothballs to come lookin' for me."
• "Well, I'll say this about your Enterprise.  The doctors are a fair sight prettier."
• When marveling over the size and luxury of his guest quarters aboard the Enterprise-D, Scotty references the pickiness of Elaan, the Dohlman of Elas (TOS, "Elaan Of Troyius") and his run-in with the law on Argelius II (TOS, "Wolf In The Fold"). 
• Later in engineering, after imposing his "help" on Lt. Commander La Forge, Scotty references the incident at Psi 2000 (TOS, "The Naked Time").
• "Yeah, well I told the captain I'd have this analysis done in an hour."
  
  "And how long will it really take?"
  
  "An hour."
  
  "You didn't tell him how long it would really take, did ya?"
  
  "Of course I did."
  
  "Oh laddie, you've got a lot to learn if you want people to think of you as a miracle worker!"
• I believe that Scotty's run-in with the "scotch" in Ten Forward is the first explicit explanation of synthehol.
• "Synthetic scotch, synthetic commanders."
• The non-synthetic liquor that Data produces and pours for Scotty is Aldebaran whiskey, given to Guinan as a gift by Captain Picard.
  
  
  
• "En-See-See One-Seven-Oh-One -- no bloody A, B, C or D."
• "Computer...shut this bloody thing off!"
• "This is not an order.  It's a request, and it's one you must feel perfectly free to decline."
  
  Yeah, 'cause that's going to happen.
• The interior of the Dyson sphere reminds me of the interior of the spacecraft in Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama, one of my favorite science fiction novels of all time.
• After they use the Jenolan to wedge open the hatch of the Dyson sphere and allow the Enterprise-D to escape, Geordi tells Scotty an old story of his own:  The time he and Leah Brahms "soured the milk" to remove "Junior" from the hull of the ship (TNG, "Galaxy's Child").
• You're going to just let him borrow a shuttlecraft?  I guess that's fair, given that he's Scotty and all.  And it's even one of the nicer Type 6 jobs, and not a crummy little Type 15.
• I love that Scotty gives Worf a little sideways glance as he's leaving.  Like "Uh, yeah.  Goodbye to you too, Klingon" O_o