TNG S07E04 & S07E05

In this installment:
(viewed Tuesday and Wednesday, April 22-23)

• Star Trek:  The Next Generation, S07E04 & S07E05 - "Gambit"

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"Gambit" (Part 1 & Part 2)

• As with other two-part episodes, I'll cover both parts in a single running commentary.
• Like the sixth season's "The Chase", I've always considered this "mystery in deep space" episode to be one of the highlights of late-season TNG.  I haven't watched it in a few years though, so we'll see how it holds up...
• The man that Riker and Worf interrogate in the bar on Dessica II is Yranac, a Yridian.  They're known as information merchants, smugglers, etc.--sort of a poor man's Ferengi.  We've seen them before on TNG, and we'll see them multiple times on DS9.
• "I told him we were looking for a man who impregnated your sister."
  
  I do believe that's Worf getting you back for that dress comment a couple of episodes ago, Commander :D
• This is one of the few TNG episodes to make reference to gold-pressed latinum as currency, which makes sense given that the crew has ventured outside the credit-dominated Federation.
• Of course Captain Picard would fake his own death.  He's a space-boss.
• Scenes between Riker and Troi can always go either way, but this one where she's yelling at him for being blinded by his anger over the (at this point very much believed) death of Picard?  This is pretty solid.
• "Alright Commander, I'm officially placing the Enterprise on 'detached duty'.  Your mission is...at your discretion.  Good luck."
  
  Whoah.  That's so un-admiral like.  Maybe Admiral Chekote is one of the "good ones"?
• Data is a crazily better first officer than Riker.  Just...so much better :P
• One of the helm operators seen in both parts of this episode is Ensign Giusti, who is played by Sabrina Le Beauf--better known to TV viewers of my generation as the occasionally-seen eldest Huxtable daughter Sondra on The Cosby Show.
• Data's not a half-bad captain, either.
  
  
• The "neural servo" devices used by Artus Baran to control prisoner and crew member alike through the remote administration of painful corporal punishment are reminiscent of the agonizers used in the various Mirror Universe episodes.
• Hey kids, it's Robin Curtis (playing Tallera)!
  
  
  
  
  
  ...otherwise known as "Hot Saavik". Okay, it's possible that I'm the only one who calls her that.
  
  
  
• He's not dead, he's just dressed like an extra from Willow!
  
  
• "It looks like you've got a control logic lockout in your regulator subsystem.  I'm going to attempt to run an active bypass through the plasma flow converter.  You!  Start running a phase-lock feedback through that regulator.  I want about a six-second delay."
  
  That has to be one of the finest pieces of technobabble ever written in TNG.  I'm going to start using it in client emails.
• Data informs us that the Debrune, among whose ruins the crew first encountered Baran's mercenaries, were an ancient offshoot of the Romulan race.
• Captain Picard's chosen alias for his undercover identity as a smuggler, "Galen", is the same as the last name of his (now-deceased) former archaeology professor, Richard Galen.
• Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes sure got to punch each other a lot in this episode :)
• "Yeah, I'm in command now Mr. Worf.  You'll do what I say and you'll like it.  Got it?  Good.  Still friends?  Good.  Carry on."
• SURPRISE!  IT'S VULCAN, NOT ROMULAN!
• "Will, you always seem to be after my job."
  
  :RikerTrollFace:
• SURPRISE!  SHE'S VULCAN, NOT ROMULAN!
• "Tallera" is actually T'Paal (no, not T'Pol), an undercover member of the Vulcan security service known as the V'Shar.
• "Stone of Gol" will make an excellent song title for my hypothetical lounge-funk-industrial-blackened-crust-metal band, the Fissles of Häng.
• The small Klingon ship that the Enterprise-D encounters in the Hyralan Sector, carrying the smuggler Koral, is a Toron-class shuttle.
  
  
• "health and safety inspections"
• Koral, our extra-tall Klingon friend, is played by basketball legend James Worthy.
  
  
• "It's alright, he's only stunned."
  
  "I must admit, I am experiencing a similar sensation."
• "Commander, I believe there is a problem.  We have no operative aboard a mercenary ship."
  
  "Oh, yeah.  That's totally a problem."
• So, the "psionic resonator" feeds on hate, fear and anger?
• "Empty your minds of violent thoughts!"
  
  "What did you do, Ray?"
  
  
  
• "The resonator cannot be stopped by phasers and shields.  But it can be defeated by peace."
  
  That's so Gene Roddenberry.
• "As I'm supposed to be dead, I'm going to go get some sleep.  Data, I suggest you escort Commander Riker to the brig."
  
  
  
  
  
  :PicardTrollFace: