TNG S02E07, S02E08, S02E09, S02E10

In this installment:
(viewed Sunday, June 2nd)

Star Trek:  The Next Generation, S02E07 - "Unnatural Selection"
Star Trek:  The Next Generation, S02E08 - "A Matter of Honor"
Star Trek:  The Next Generation, S02E09 - "The Measure of a Man"
Star Trek:  The Next Generation, S02E10 - "The Dauphin"

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"Unnatural Selection"

• I love that even Captain Picard doesn't like Dr. Pulaski :)
• The "ship in distress of the week" for this episode is the USS Lantree, a Miranda-class variant (i.e. no "rollbar") that's listed as a "supply ship" (this case, a "Class 6" supply ship).  Its low registry number (NCC-1837) indicates that it's quite an old ship, likely having been commissioned around the same time as other well-known Miranda-class ships like USS Reliant (NCC-1864) and USS Saratoga (NCC-1887).  It's not stated on-screen, but my assumption is that the Lantree served as a light cruiser or research vessel (much like the Reliant) when it was first commissioned, and as the rugged-but-limited Miranda class was outclassed by newer starships she was modified to serve as a supply ship.
  
  (USS Lantree is also listed in background errata as carrying colony supplies at the time of the events of Star Trek VI:  The Undiscovered Country.)
• Trivia about the Lantree aside, this episode is essentially a remake of the TOS episode "The Deadly Years":  Space germs and/or DNA-tampering makes people age prematurely, medical officer risks it all to save everyone else.  Roll credits.
• "Looks like they had a battle with time."
  
  "And lost."
  
  Riker & Worf:  The philosophers of NCC-1701-D.
• It's established in this episode that Dr. Pulaski is an expert in the field of viral theory, and a supremely qualified and dedicated physician.  I guess she just also happens to be a raging douche.
• The genetic research that has apparently been allowed to take place at Darwin Station makes me wonder where the Federation draws the line between "genetic research" and the kind of prohibited genetic engineering that yielded the 20th Century monster Khan Noonien Singh and the 24th Century wunderkind Dr. Julian Bashir.
  
  Picard's and Pulaski's respective reaction to Dr. Kingsley's genetic modifications of the children of Darwin Station indicates that there's a general disapproval of that sort of tampering, but it's apparently not outright illegal.
  
  (It's possible that Darwin Station exists outside of the borders of the Federation and doesn't come under its legal jurisdiction, but there's no on-screen evidence to support that theory.)
• Hey kids, it's Chief O'Brien!
• "And Doctor...I'm not one to discourage input, but I would appreciate it if you would let me finish my sentences once in a while."
• I never much cared for the smooth edges and bulk of the Type 7 shuttlecraft they used in the early seasons of TNG.  They remind me of a 1990s-era Toyota Previa.
  
  
  
• Again with the telepathy!
• Dr. Pulaski's previous assignment, USS Repulse, is an Excelsior-class starship that we'll see on-screen in the fourth-season episode "Brothers".  She would go on to participate in the Dominion War as part of the Federation Alliance Ninth Fleet.
  
  She is likely named after one of several Royal Navy vessels called HMS Repulse, presumably the Renown-class battlecruiser that was sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy along with HMS Prince of Wales off the coast of British Malaya in 1941. 
• "Well, I'd have to get into the biofilter bus and patch in a molecular matrix reader, but that's no problem.  But the wave form modulator will be overloaded without the regeneration limiter in the first-stage circuit."
  
  That's some world-class technobabble, right there.
• "Then I'll...operate the transporter controls myself."
  
  You?  Not, you know, the transporter chief who just hypothesized the solution to your problem and made groundbreaking modifications to your ship's transporter system to make said solution possible to even attempt?  Okay, you then.
• The destruction of USS Lantree is actually kind of emotional.  I like the bit where everyone stands up to pay their respects to her crew before destroying her.
• I think I remember this episode primarily as the a wasted opportunity for the writers to get rid of Dr. Pulaski and bring back Dr. Crusher :P
  
  Joking aside, this is actually one of the few episodes featuring Dr. Pulaski where I don't completely hate her the entire time.  You actually get a glimpse of her background and motivations, and she hardly gripes at anyone (except Captain Picard, which is kind of funny).

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"A Matter of Honor"

• "Hey Mordock!"
  
  Wrong blue dude, Wesley.
• The Officer Exchange Program is really only useful in that it gives us Kurn in the third season episode "Sins of the Father".
• IKS Pagh is the second Klingon ship we see in TNG, this time a Bird-of-Prey rather than a ship of the K't'inga class, as seen in the first season.
• I don't generally like Riker*, but I like him in this episode.  The voracious eating of Klingon cuisine, the butt-kicking he dishes out to Lt. Klag, etc.
  
  (* - Again, my opinion about the character is separate from that about the actor who played the character.  While I've always thought of William T. Riker as a second-rate James T. Kirk, Jonathan Frakes is by all report a wonderful man.  He's certainly demonstrated his fondness for and appreciation of the Trekkie community time and time again, as has most of the TNG cast and crew.)
• Hey, the first officer's chair swivels!  I never noticed that before.  But Data's incredulous expression when he spins around in said chair to address Ensign Mendon is pretty hilarious.
• So...the Enterprise and the Pagh have space herpes?
• "And then I will instruct you in Enterprise etiquette."  <3 Worf
• "If Klingon food is too strong for you, perhaps we could get one of the females to breastfeed you."
  
  I can only imagine that Klingon breast milk probably doesn't taste much better than gagh.
• So Captain Kargan finds the space herpes on his ship, one of his officers tells him that the Enterprise scanned them for like...two minutes.  His immediate reaction is to alter course to intercept and attack the vastly superior Enterprise, without even running it past his superiors within the KDF?
  
  I know Klingons are rash, but it seems hasty even for them.  I just have to assume this is a continuing example of the Klingon Empire being absolutely lousy with Bird-of-Prey commanders who just go off and do their own thing whenever they feel like it (e.g. Kruge, Klaa, Chang). 
  
  Very shoddy command-and-control in that organization :P
• Klingons just looooooove telling people that they would've "killed them where they stood".

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"The Measure of a Man"

• This episode is the first time we see the crew playing poker together, something that would remain a symbol of their camaraderie up through and including the last scene of the series finale.
• The "newly-built" Starbase 173 is a massively-upscaled redress of the Orbiting Office Complex from Star Trek:  The Motion Picture.
• "If we weren't around all these people, do you know what I would like to do?"
  
  "Bust a chair across my teeth?"
  
  "After that."
  
  "Oh!  Ain't love wonderful?"
• Vice Admiral Nakamura's uniform is...something special.
  
  
  
• Captain Louvois and Commander Maddox may be two of the most abrasive, least-likeable people in the pantheon of Starfleet officers.  They're right up there with Captain Styles.
• Although I adore the cast of TNG, for the most part their on-screen chemistry can't touch that between Kirk, Spock and McCoy in TOS (and especially in the TOS-era films).  As I've said before, those relationships are one of my favorite things about Star Trek.
  
  However, the friendship between Geordi and Data comes pretty close sometimes.  This episode is one of those occasions, when Geordi expresses his feelings about Data's resignation from Starfleet to avoid having to submit to Commander Maddox's experimental procedure.
• "Data is a toaster."
  
  No, Cylons are toasters.
• Commander Riker, acting as the reluctant prosecutor in the hearing to determine Data's legal status, states that they will stipulate to Data's decorated Starfleet service record as the computer begins to read the contents of that record.  Picard objects, asking that the record be read in its entirety.
  
  This is very reminiscent of the scene in the TOS episode "Court Martial", where Captain Kirk's highly-decorated service record is read by the computer during his court martial proceedings.
• "Pinocchio is broken; its strings have been cut."
  
  Kind of a douche move, Riker.  I mean, I know you had to do what you had to do...but wow.
• I do love it when Picard finally arrives at the slavery angle.  He has this "Holy crap!" look on his face.
• I also love it when Data drops the bomb that he was "intimate" with Lt. Yar.
• "Prove to the court that I am sentient."
  
  Captain Picard's defense of Data's rights is one of my favorite moments in all of TNG, and one of the really bright spots of the first two seasons of the show.  Rather than quote it word-for-word, I'll just leave this video right here, so you can enjoy it for yourselves.
  
  

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"The Dauphin"

 
"Creepy space Ewoks?  Yeah, we can do creepy space Ewoks."

• It's the "Wesley has a crush" episode.  Hooray.
• "Do not be fooled by her looks.  The body is just a shell."
  
  Creepy Worf is creepy.
• "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  That is how a Klingon lures a mate."
  
  "Are you telling me to go yell at Salia?"
  
  "No, men do not roar.  Women roar.  And they...hurl heavy objects.  And claw at you."
  
  "What does the man do?"
  
  "He reads love poetry...he ducks a lot."
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Don't take romantic advice from Riker.  The man's a walking STD test with one huge positive result.
• "I don't think this is my style."
  
  "Shut up, kid."
• The good news:  She likes you.  A lot.
  The bad news:  She's a bug-eyed wookiee/sasquatch hybrid.