TNG S05E02, S05E03

In this installment:
(viewed Sunday, July 28th)

Star Trek:  The Next Generation, S05E02 - "Darmok"
Star Trek:  The Next Generation, S05E03 - "Ensign Ro"

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"Darmok"

• This episode is the debut of Captain Picard's new "alternate" captain's uniform, consisting of a grey tunic with an almost suede-looking jacket over the top.
  
  
  
• Hey kids, it's Paul Winfield!
• One of the most well-known TNG episodes, even among non-Trekkies, this episode's "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" catch-phrase is often seen about the Interwebs.  It's also generated one of my favorite faux rock concert t-shirts.
  
  
  
• This episode is also the first time we see the Type 6 shuttlecraft.
  
  
  
• Apparently "Evasive Maneuver Sequence Delta" is "Just sorta turn right-like, real slow."
• "Captain Picard could be dead by then."
  
  "I do not believe so.  I have confidence in his ability as a warrior."
  
  Sometimes I get the impression, that after all they went through together when Picard got tangled up in Klingon politics ("Sins Of The Father", "Reunion", "Redemption"), Lt. Worf kind of has a man-crush on the Captain now.
• At the time of this episode, Lt. Commander Data has encountered 1,754 non-human races during his career as a Starfleet officer.
• "Riker to La Forge!"
  
  "La Forge here."
  
  "How close are we on that transporter?"
  
  "Two hours...maybe three."
  
  "I want the Captain out of there now!"
  
  I don't think Commander Riker knows how to tell time.
• This episode is the first of two appearances on TNG by Ashley Judd, playing Lt. Robin Lefler.
• Lt. Commander Data and Counselor Troi:  An android and a telepath, safely on board the Enterprise, with full access to one of the galaxy's most advanced computers and most comprehensive cultural databases.  These two take forever to figure out the Tamarian's crazy-ass language.
  
  Captain Picard figures it out in one night around a campfire, 13th Warrior-style.
• This is a highly entertaining episode, and finely-written.  But I don't think anyone actually thinks that an entire language based on metaphor is anything other than insanely stupid ;)

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"Ensign Ro"

• After being introduced to the Cardassians in the fourth season, in this episode we're introduced to the victims of much of the Cardassian's aggression:  The Bajorans.  Much of what happens with Cardassian-Federation-Bajoran relations in this episode and others featuring Ro Laren will help craft the initial setting for Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine.
• Lya Station Alpha is a redress of the Earth Spacedock miniature.
• Ensign Ro Laren is played by Michelle Forbes, whose credits in the sci-fi community are too numerous to mention (again).
• I know that the show can only be as progressive as when it was made, but it's amusing to me that Starfleet forbids the wearing of cultural symbols like the Bajoran earring given that even modern day militaries permit the wearing of cultural and religious garb in most circumstances.
  
  (e.g. In the US Army, exceptions have sometimes been made for soldiers whose religious faith requires the wearing of certain garb or particular grooming habits.  Although there remain uniform and grooming standards that conflict with some cultural symbols, one has to believe that the increasingly-progressive attitude toward these things could only be exponentially more permissive by the 24th Century.)
• Throughout this episode, the adjective "Bajora" is used rather than "Bajoran".
• "My name is Guinan.  I tend bar, and I listen."
• Guinan tells Ro that she got into "very serious" trouble once, and implies that Picard helped her out of it.  This isn't the first or last time that she suggests this, but we never get to hear the full story.  I think this is a job for @TNG_S8 ;P
• The plot that Ensign Ro lays out for Captain Picard, in which she was authorized by Admiral Kennelly to offer Orta and the Bajoran resistance fighters weapons and ships in exchange for leaving Federation colonies alone, is vaguely familiar to any American who lived through the Iran-Contra scandal.
• I believe this episode is the first time that the Cardassian Galor class is identified by name.
• Why is it that Captain Picard is always having to straighten out some idiot admiral or another?  I know that it's accepted by fans he intentionally does whatever he can to keep himself in the captain's chair, but I would think that after a while Starfleet would just be all "Hey, you're the only person we have who isn't weapons-grade stupid.  You either retire or accept promotion and run this joint, okay?"