TNG S07E25-26: "All Good Things..."

In this installment:
(viewed Wednesday, May 21st)

Star Trek: The Next Generation, S07E25-26 - "All Good Things..."

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So, here we are at last:  The TNG series finale.  It was bittersweet when I first watched it at the age of 14, even though DS9 had already begun its run and I knew that I had "other" Star Trek to watch.  Although I cut my teeth on TOS re-runs and the original cast films (and those movies remain some of my favorite Trek), the TNG/DS9 era in the early 1990s is when I really became a Trekkie. 

It's when I was transitioning into adolescence and finding my voice as a "nerd".  It's the era when there was loads of new Trek being made (television programs, video games, board games, novels, etc.) and the convention scene was pretty lively.  Yes, I went to a couple of them.  Yes, I dressed up.  I even briefly participated in a fan film project with some friends from school.

No, there are no surviving photographs or video footage ;)

But TNG coming to an end--because it had been on the air since I was a kid--was kind of a big moment.  It still kind of gets me "in the feels", so to speak, even though it's been 20 years since it aired and there's been plenty of Trek since (and plenty to come, I'll wager).
Speaking of which, it has actually been almost 20 years exactly since this episode aired.  It first aired on May 23rd, 1994.  I'd wait a couple of days to do the re-watch and write-up so I could nail the anniversary precisely, but I want to get to the films feature the TNG cast his weekend and then start DS9 next week :)

Okay, enough nostalgia.  On with the show...

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"All Good Things..."

• "It was...very stimulating."
• Hey, Worf.  This whole thing about having to ask Riker's permission before you date Troi is starting to get pathetic.  I know Klingons do the whole honor thing to the extreme, but typically--among human beings (at least in the 24th Century)--I think it's probably considered rude to spend so much of your time worrying whether or not your date's ex-boyfriend is going to approve.  Even if he is your boss.
• "Counselor! Do not kiss that Klingon!"
• "I'm not sure how or why...but I'm moving back and forth through time."
  
  I enjoy that, by this time on the show, this doesn't surprise either Worf or Troi.  They're just kind of...concerned.
• <forrestgump>
  "Lt. Dan Lt. Cmdr. La Forge...you got new legs eyes!"
  </forrestgump>
• The possible future presented in this episode, Geordi not only gets new eyes but has also apparently married Dr. Leah Brahms--who had not only apparently divorced her first husband (or who knows, maybe it's a three-way poly thing?), but had also taken a position as the director of the Daystrom Institute.
  
  Geordi has apparently also had three kids and started writing sub-par fiction :P
• "Hey guys, let's get Denise back for one more episode."
• "Personally, I think you just like waking everyone up in the middle of the night."
  
  "Actually, I enjoy running around the ship in my bare feet."
• Dude, you're getting Irumodic Syndrome.
• Admiral Nakamura:  Sure, he's a friendly face than Nechayev...but also less reassuring somehow.
• 30 warbirds?  That's a lot of warbirds.  And Starfleet is deploying 15 starships along the border in response (plus the Enterprise-D actually going to the edge of the Neutral Zone to investigate the goings-on in the Devron System).
  
  Assuming all 30 of these warbirds are of the familiar D'deridex class (and there's no reason to believe they're not), that seems like a very...measured response on the part of the Federation.  Each of those warbirds is a match for a Galaxy-class starship in size (it's actually almost twice as long, although it's pretty much never portrayed that way on-screen) and firepower (if not maneuverability), and they each have that ubiquitous Romulan cloaking device.  And I doubt that every ship they're sending is as powerful as the Enterprise-D (probably a lot of Excelsiors, as Starfleet always seems to have those in spades).
• "Well, okay then.  Alright.  Let's go see Data."
• "You see them, don't you?  They're everywhere.  They're laughing at me.  Why are they laughing?"
  
  This is probably the worst possible thing you can say to people that you're trying to convince that you're not insane.
• This alternate timeline, Data holds the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics position at Cambridge University.  Former holders of this chair include Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage and Stephen Hawking.
• Also, Data has apparently become a crazy old cat android.
• I wonder how everyone felt about squeezing into their old uniforms and make-up for the scenes set in the past (before their first mission to Farpoint Station).
• "Yeah, I'm not dead yet.  Totally still the security chief, dude."
• "It's okay O'Brien.  I know you're a genius.  And don't you worry about the fact that I just said that your Starfleet records include mention of you playing with model starship engines when you were a kid.  That's not creepy at all (if it were true)."
• "We'll all be burning the midnight oil on this one."
  
  "That would be inadvisable."
  
  "Excuse me?"
  
  "If you attempt to ignite a petroleum product on this ship at zero-hundred hours, you will activate the fire suppression system--which would seal off this entire compartment."
• Part of the charm of this series finale is the wistful looks on Picard's faces when he "meets" all of his loyal crew members--now almost like family to him--for the first time.  His smile as Data is explaining to O'Brien why he shouldn't "burn the midnight oil" makes me smile :)
• "It appears we will be required to ignite the midnight petroleum."
  
  I still say this sometimes when faced with a task that's going to take all night.  Seriously.
• "Deanna, it's going to be a late night.  Would you like to have some dinner first?"
  
  "Actually, I...we have plans."
  
  "Oh, I see.  I'm sorry."
  
  AWKWARD
• Hey Riker, you can't afford to be distracted by your ex-girlfriend dating your security chief.  Your captain is shifting back and forth through time, and becoming disoriented when he does so.  And the Romulans may be up to no good.  KEEP YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME, MAN.
• "Get some rest, or I'll have you relieved and sedated."
  
  I think that's the most romantic thing anyone could say to anyone else.  I mean, that's the dream--a partner who will look at you with love and tenderness in their eyes...and then tell you that they're going to drug you and order you to bed.
  
  Well, it's my dream.  DON'T JUDGE ME.
• Dr. Crusher's feelings for Picard in this episode--in the present, before he finds out that they get married (and then divorced) in the future--couldn't be more obvious if some aliens hooked their brains together.
  
  While I generally find romantic entanglements between characters tedious (like the forced situation between Troi and Worf), I've always been somewhat dissatisfied that Crusher and Picard never "make it official".  That they got married (and then divorced) in the alternate future in this episode doesn't really count.
  
  Rumor has it that the writers always wanted to keep Picard available for romance with new characters--which they did a few times (Vash, Nella Daren and most dreadfully, Anij).  But all of those were really shallow compared to the obvious connection he had with Beverly.
  
  It just bums me out, that's all.  WHY CAN'T THE TWO KIDS JUST KISS AND BE HAPPY?
• In the alternate future of this episode, the Klingon Empire has invaded and completely conquered the Romulan Star Empire.  And apparently they're not so happy with the Federation, either.
  
  
  
• "Well, if we're going to the Devron System, we're gonna need a ship."
  
  "Also, please stop hitting me in the arm."
  
  
  
  
• Admiral Riker?  See?  STILL NOT A CAPTAIN.
  
  Still kind of a douchebag, though ;)
• Arrange passage on a medical ship?  If only you knew a doctor...
• Captain Doctor Crusher's ship in the future, the USS Pasteur, is the first dedicated hospital ship that we seen on Star Trek.  The Olympic-class starship is also the only canon starship design besides the pre-TOS Daedalus class to feature spherical (rather than the typical saucer-shaped) primary hull.
  
  
  
  (image courtesy of Ex Astris Scientia)
  
  Although the Olympic class appears on-screen only in this alternate future, it's considered to be a real Starfleet design.  Its silhouette appears briefly on a computer monitor during one episode of DS9, and the USS Nobel--a hospital ship mentioned several times on DS9--was an Olympic-class starship (according to the Star Trek Encyclopedia). 
• "But he's Jean-Luc Picard.  And if he wants to go on one more mission, that's what we're going to do."
• "Counselor, do you sense an alien presence?"
  
  No, but you're kind of freaking me out.
• "What...is a 'Q'?"
  
  "It's a letter of the alphabet, so far as I know."
• Hey kids, it's Q!
• "The trial never ended, Captain.  We never reached a verdict.  But now we have.  You're guilty."
  
  "Guilty of what?"
  
  "Of being inferior."
• "It's time to put an end to your trek through the stars; to make room for more worthy species."
  
  "You're going to deny us travel through space?"
  
  "You obtuse piece of flotsam.  You are to be denied existence.  Humanity's fate has been sealed.  You will be destroyed."
• "I think he has more than a passing interest in what happens to me."
  
  "That is true.  Q's interest in you has always been very similar to that of a master and his beloved pet."
• When the Enterprise-D arrives at the Neutral Zone, there are four warbirds holding position on the Romulan side.  Lt. Worf informs Captain Picard that USS Bozeman and USS Concorde are holding position on the Federation side (along with the Enterprise).
• You really can talk Worf into anything if you question his honor.
• When they finally get permission to cross the border, the USS Pasteur proceeds to the Devron System at Warp 13.  This assumes that either the Federation has developed some type of transwarp technology in this alternate future timeline, or that the warp scale has been recalibrated once again.
• The footage of young, beardless Riker on Picard's computer console is a re-use of footage from the S1 episode "Arsenal of Freedom".
• The Romulan commander of the lead warbird, IRW Terix, is our old friend Commander Tomalak.
  
  
  
• Oh, those pesky tachyons.
• "It appears to be a multi-phasic convergence in the space-time continuum."
  
  "In English, Data."
  
  "It is, in essence, an eruption in anti-time."
  
  That doesn't sound good.
• The Klingon "attack cruisers" that appear and fire on the Pasteur in the alternate future are not given a name in this episode, but the design will appear later on DS9 as the Negh'Var class--a massive warship, larger than the Vor'cha class (which was previously the most powerful warship of the Klingon Defense Forces).
  
  
  
  (image courtesy of EAS)
• And wait for it...wait for it...
  
  THREE-NACELLED ENTERPRISE, F**K YEAH!
• The alternate future version of the Enterprise-D, complete with three nacelles and a massive phaser canon mounted on the dorsal side of her primary hull, is a fan favorite.  And I get it--more nacelles, more phasers, whee!
  
  
  
  (image from ShipSchematics.net)
  
  But personally, I think it's a bit of an abomination.  It's the "hot rod" version of the Enterprise-D, and while I enjoy watching it kick some butt on-screen I'm not really a big fan of the design.
• Aww, Nurse Ogawa loses her baby.  Stupid anti-time :(
• "Strange, isn't it?  Everything you know--your entire civilization--it all begins right here, in this little pond...of goo."
• So Troi dies in this alternate future?  I'm okay with the three-nacelled Enterprise, then.
• "IT'S LIKE THE CHICKEN AND THE EGG, WILL.  THE CHICKEN AND THE EGG!"
• A static warp shell is just, like...the best kind of warp shell.
• Well, if you're going to blow up the Enterprise for series finale, you might as well do it three times.
• "Goodbye, Jean-Luc.  I'm going to miss you.  You had such potential.  But then again...all good things must come to an end."
• "You just don't get it, do you?  The trial never ends."
• "See you...out there."
• When Picard comes out at the end (again) in his robe and asks Troi and Worf what the stardate is, I half expect him to say "Then I've not missed it!" (a la A Christmas Carol).
• "I just thought that I might join you this evening, if there's room."
  
  "Uh, actually...we've already got six.  And this is a pretty small table."