TNG S06E26 & S07E01

In this installment:
(viewed Thursday, April 17th)

Star Trek:  The Next Generation:  S06E26 & S07E01 - "Descent"

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"Descent" (Part 1 & Part 2)

• As with other two-part episodes, I'll cover both in a single running commentary.
• This has generally been one of my favorite late-season episodes of TNG, but I haven't watched it in a couple of years.  We'll see how it holds up.
• This the episode that famously opens with Lt. Cmdr. Data playing poker with holographic representations a trio of the most notable physicists in history:  Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. 
  
  Dr. Hawking  played himself in the episode.
  
  And...Newton is kind of a grumpy prick, which according to historic accounts is pretty accurate.
• The mysterious vessel that the Enterprise-D encounters in orbit around Ohniaka III, later designated by Starfleet as the Borg Type 03, is unusual for a Borg vessel in that it doesn't have a simple or even symmetrical design (e.g. a cube or sphere).
  
  
  
  Of course, it wasn't built by typical Borg either.
• "You have killed Torsus.  I will make you suffer for this."
  
  Uh...say what now, drone?
• Chuck Norris Data is the best Data.
• "What happened?"
  
  "I got angry."
  
  Yeah, that's not really what you want from your hyper-intelligent, hyper-strong and nigh-indestructible android O_o
• "The only Borg who had a name was Hugh, and we gave it to him."
  
  Ding ding ding ding ding!  I think Counselor Troi actually gets smarter as the series progresses.
• "Perhaps you could describe how it feels to be angry.  I could then use that as a frame of reference."
  
  Yeah, but Geordi doesn't really get angry.  He just gets sad and lonely :(
• Oh boy, it's time for another visit from Admiral Nechayev.  That's never good news.
• It only takes two officers' voice overrides to disable the safety protocols on the holodeck?  Only two?
• The "subspace distortion" that the Enterprise-D observes as the Borg Type 03 makes its repeated escapes is the first on-screen example of what we'll later know as the Borg's transwarp conduit technology.
• "What is your designation?"
  
  "I do not have a 'designation'.  My name is Crosis."
• "Did it feel good to kill?"
  
  "Yes."
  
  Again, just...really not what you want out of an android.
• The shuttlecraft stolen by Data during his escape with Crosis is the El-Baz, one of the tiny Type 15 "shuttlepods".  It was named after real-life planetary geologist Farouk El-Baz.
  
  
  
• I adore Dr. Crusher, but I don't know that she'd be my first choice for command of the skeleton-crewed Enterprise-D.  I guess they didn't have a lot of options :P
• "That's not Data..."
  
  
  
• Chief Salazar, who is operating one of the Enterprise-D's transporter rooms during her "skeleton crew" phase, is played by actor Benito Martinez.  Martinez is better-known to most television viewers for his role as Captain Aceveda on the critically-acclaimed series The Shield.
  
  He's also had a small part as "Luis", lieutenant to Danny Trejo's character on the last couple of seasons of another of my favorite shows, Sons Of Anarchy.
• "Counselor Troi herself told me that feelings are not 'negative' or 'positive'. It is how we act on them that makes them 'good' or 'bad'."
  
  Yeah, well...maybe we should stop listening to Counselor Troi so much.
• Lt. Barnaby, who relieves Ensign Taitt at tactical, may look familiar at a glance.  But no, that's not the awesome Marc Alaimo with a fancy hairdo.  It's another veteran Trek guest actor, James Horan--less well-known perhaps, but no less awesome.
• "Here is the VISOR.  May I ask why you wanted it?"
  
  "I thought it might look good on me...whaddaya think?"
  
  Hot damn, Lore pretty funny for a sociopath.
• A carrier wave?  What an a**hole.
• Hey kids, it's Hugh! This episode is like a friggin' family reunion.
  
  
  
• "Tell me about my friend."
  
  "Friend?"
  
  "The human called 'Geordi'."
  
  Oh man, Geordi attracts androids and cyborgs like they're stray dogs.  If only he had that kind of luck with women :P
• Data's voice-imitation of Captain Picard while Geordi is blind is...kind of a d*ck move, really.
• "If he dies, Lore will blame you!"
  
  That's one of the best things and worst about any autocracy (depending on if you're inside or outside of the autocratic system:  You can often use its subjects' fear of their leadership to manipulate them.
• Having trouble with your android's ethical subroutine, are you?
  
  
  
• "Sir, that heading takes us directly into the sun!"
  
  "Well, it's a good thing we just had this episode where I figured out how to handle that sort of thing then, isn't it?"
• I can only assume that the story Geordi tells about Data sinking when he decided to go swimming during a sailing trip is why the writers decided to retrofit him as a flotation device in Nemesis. 
  
  
  
  
  Because the real reason (they needed a cheap laugh)...well, it just makes me too furious.
• "How can actions that are wrong lead to a greater good?"
• "Without me, you will never feel emotion again."
  
  "I know, but you leave me no other choice."
  
  "I...love you...brother..."
  
  "Goodbye, Lore."