TNG S07E18 & S07E19

In this installment:
(viewed Monday, May 12th)

Star Trek:  The Next Generation, S07E18 - "Eye Of The Beholder"
Star Trek:  The Next Generation, S07E19 - "Genesis"

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"Eye Of The Beholder"

• How is there not a door in between the little control room at the head of the nacelle and the freaking plasma stream?  I mean, there probably is one there that Lt. Kwan opened before Riker and Worf arrive on the scene...but shouldn't that kind of thing require a couple of people's authorization codes or something? 
  
  Just like the ever-present plasma burn (as a result of powering the whole ship on crazily-dangerous high-energy plasma), this is just further evidence that there must be no OSHA in the 24th Century :P
• Following Lt. Kwan's unfortunate suicide, Geordi informs Captain Picard that they'll be able to resume their mission to respond to a medical crisis on Barson II "within the hour".  Picard informs him that the situation there is so dire that Starfleet has authorized them to exceed the warp speed limitation imposed after the events of "Force Of Nature".
• Data's conversation with Geordi about suicide is a great example of the kind of good dialog we get from the writers between those two characters in the last couple of seasons of the show, as their friendship deepens and becomes a more important story point.
• Lt. Kwan was a human/Napean hybrid.  This is the first time that Napeans appear in Star Trek, although they will pop up in the background once or twice on DS9.
• It's nice to know that they at least need the Captain's authorization to access someone's personal log.  Given that Starfleet is a quasi-military organization, one would not expect the same levels of privacy as in civilian life (just as members of the US Armed Forces enjoy some rights provided by the US Constitution, but waive many of them in deference to the Uniform Code of Military Justice).  But even some small measure of privacy, violable only with the express authorization of one's commanding officer, is A Good Thing™.
• A little bit like "Lower Decks", this episode is neat because it shows us life in the parts of this massive flying city called the Enterprise-D that aren't the central hubs like the bridge, sickbay or Ten Forward.  The nacelle tube? Yep, that's a posting.  And people actually feel lucky to get it.
• "He used to look at me and know exactly what I was feeling.  I always loved that about him."
  
  "Well, Napeans are partially empathic.  He may have inherited some of his mother's abilities."
  
  Way to ruin the special bond poor Maddy felt like she had with her now-dead boyfriend, Troi.
• Speaking of whom--and I hate to be crass here--but Ensign Calloway?  Smokin' hot.  I would totally plan my next shore leave with her, and absolutely not kill myself in a plasma stream if I were dating her.  Just sayin'.
  
  
  
  "Hello, Ensign Adorable."
  
  

  The actress who played her, Johanna McCloy, is now an advocate for soy weiners.  True story.
• "It's not like Dan to take his own life."
  
  I hate to get all gloomy and real here for a second, but typically speaking?  It's not "like" someone to take their own life...right up until they do it.
• Lt. Kwan, before being posted to the Enterprise-D, was part of the (presumably huge) crew that helped build her at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, located both in orbit around and on the surface of Mars.  They're one of the largest--if not the largest--Starfleet ship construction and repair facilities in the Federation, possibly second only to San Francisco Fleet Yards on Earth.
• Troi has elevated levels of psilosynine again.  Someone get her a blankie.
• Hey, Worf?  When Troi describes "hearing" her grandfather's voice when she goes back home to Betazed and sits by the fire, I don't think she's talking about the sort of "seeking visions in fire" you're talking about.
• William T. Riker:  Always buyin' fruity drinks for the ladies.
• "Lieutenant Corell seems to be enjoying your company."
  
  "I'd like to think so."
  
  "Are you...involved with her?"
  
  "I'm not sure yet.  Why, are you interested in her?"
  
  "No.  But if I were, I would of course discuss the situation with you first."
  
  AWKWARD.
• Oh hey, there totally is a door.  But apparently you've just got to hit a button to open it up.  Again, clearly no OSHA :P
• The Lifetime movie of the week based on the events in this episode is called Love and Murder at Utopia Planitia.
• "There was a tool crate on the floor.  It was labeled 'Utopia Planitia'."
  
  "The shipyard where the Enterprise was built."
  
  Yes, Data.  I'm sure Captain Picard knows where the ship he's been commanding for seven years was built.
• Walter Pierce?  That's a sketchy name if I've ever heard one.
• "Lieutenant, are you aware that I can sense when someone's telling the truth?"
  
  "I've heard that."
  
  <lawandorder>
  DUN DUN
  </lawandorder>
• "Perhaps we should continue this in the morning."
  
  "Yes, it is late."
  
  "And you must be tired."
  
  "Yes."
  
  "So, I'll...say good night."
  
  WORFKISS
• Worf's kisses have just got to be all teeth and beard.  Like kissing a wild boar or an Airedale Terrier.
• "Why didn't we do this a long time ago?"
  
  "Because your ex-boyfriend is my boss.  And your boss, for that matter."
• Oh, don't be jealous of Ensign Adorable Calloway, Counselor.  It's very unbecoming.
• I do appreciate the fact that, in the later seasons of TNG, they mostly got Troi out of her awful unitards and into a regulation Starfleet uniform most of the time.  But she still likes to put them back on when she's off duty, and they're just as ugly in S7 as they were in earlier seasons :P
  
  
  
• You need to have the Captain's authorization to read someone's personal logs, but apparently you can just barge into someone's quarters whenever you want.
• "I can't believe that everything I experienced happened in just those few seconds."
  
  Yep.  Including your little tryst with Worf.  So he's made out with you in an alternate timeline, you've made out with him in a telepathic flashback. 
  
  Just get on with it already, so he can break up with you and be ready to meet his actual soulmate.

---

"Genesis"

• So, at what point does Cmdr. Riker's incessant fraternizing with officers under his command become an issue?  I know Starfleet doesn't have rules about it, but in just the previous episode he's schmoozing Lt. Corell and then in this episode he's rolling around in the Cyprion cactus with one of the ship's new tactical officers.  I mean, have some sense of propriety dude.  You're the first officer.
• Yay!  Lt. Barclay is back!
• And if something is called "Terellian Death Syndrome", I feel like they're not even trying to not scare people who catch it at that point.  It would be like if pneumonia was called "Drowning Lung Syndrome".
• Dr. Crusher, just jacking around with t-cells like it's no big deal.
  
  NO WAY THAT ONE'S GOING TO BITE US IN THE BUTT.
• No one cares about your cat or her kittens, Data.  In fact, who let two cats on board without having the spayed and/or neutered?  BOB BARKER WOULD BE DISPLEASED.
• No one cares about your baby either, Ogawa.  Save it for your weekly girl talk with Crusher.
• During the tests of their new tactical systems, Worf reports that the explosive yield of their new photon torpedoes has been increased by 11%.
  
  I don't want to say "I told you so", but this does lend at least some credence to my conjecture (see my post on the episode "Parallels") that the yield of 24th Century photon torpedoes is probably much greater than that of 23rd Century photon torpedoes, given that this probably isn't the first boost they've received ;)
• Seriously, Worf?  A torpedo veered off-course?  A malfunction the guidance system that you tweaked?
  
  Damn it, man.  YOU HAD ONE JOB.
• "Captain, the shuttle pilot who's on duty is Lt. Hayes."
  
  "I happen to be a reasonably qualified pilot, Number One.  Besides, these tests hardly require the captain's personal attention."
  
  Also, how else are they going to get him and Data off the ship so you guys can--quite literally--go apesh*t?
• Barclay is the only crew member that Spot likes?  I buy it.  He puts off kind of a crazy cat guy vibe.
• "I'm curious sir, who's the father?"
  
  "I am not sure.  Spot has escaped from my quarters on several occasions, and there are twelve male felines on board."
  
  TWELVE?!?  They've officially taken the "bring your family to the stars" thing too far.  I hope Dr. Crusher is all stocked up on loratadine.
• "DO NOT APPROACH ME UNANNOUNCED.  ESPECIALLY WHEN I'M EATING."
  
  
  
• Seriously, though?  Before we really get into it, let me just say that this is one of my favorite late-season episodes.  Devolving Worf and devolving Riker are like...the greatest things ever.
• Twitchy Barclay is pretty great, too.
• It's not generally considered polite to bite just anyone on the cheek before you mate with them, Worf.  You've gotta ask before you go around biting people.  Safe and consensual, dude.  Safe and consensual.
• Spitting cobras are for sissies.  It's all about the spitting Klingon.
• I've got to wonder if the writers ginned up this episode so the actors would get a chance to play up to their characters' stereotypes:  Worf the brute, Riker the caveman, Barclay the neurotic, Troi the...moist?
• This is the second time in two seasons that Captain Picard has left the ship on an auxiliary craft and come back to find it all jacked up ("Timescape").  At some point, he's going to get paranoid and stop leaving.
• Well, the good news is that now you can just keep Troi in a terrarium.
• "His brain is much smaller, sir.  I do not believe he can comprehend our language."
  
  Are we really that sure he could comprehend it before?  :P
• "Latent Introns" = great band name
• Data surmises that Riker is devolving into some form of australopithecine, a group of related pre-human hominid species that lived between 3.9 and 1.2 million years ago.
• And Captain Picard is going to turn into a pygmy marmoset :)
• The computer in data's quarters has an independent memory and processing unit from the ship's main computer, presumably so he can play Counterstrike without bringing down the holodecks and whatnot.
• The bad news is that your cat is now an iguana.  The good news is that cats suck, and iguanas are way better.  So...bonus?
• It's not often that I get to use the same bad joke for three graphics out of a single season of a show, so I'm sorry in advance for this, but...
  
  
  
• "So, take this tube of Troi goo and go lure the proto-Klingon away so I can finish my magic vaccine."
  
  "Yep, no problem."
• Gotta climb up and out of the turbolift?  There could be worse times to be devolving into a monkey, I guess.
• When Picard zaps proto-Worf with the electricity from the plasma conduit in the Jeffries tube, I wanted to make a "Don't Tase me, bro!" joke.  As it turns out, there are no good "Don't Tase me, bro!" jokes left.
• "Doctor Crusher has determined that the synthetic t-cell she used to cure Mister Barclay's Urodelan Flu initiated the intron virus which swept through the ship.""And I will never investigate this gross act of incompetence.  Ever."
• "So this is all my fault?"
  
  "No.  In a way, it's mine."
  
  In a way?  O_o
• "He transformed into a spider and now he has a disease named after him."
  
  "I think I'd better clear my calendar for the next few weeks."