30th Anniversary TNG Episode Discussion Marathon

[Nate the Great]

LAFORGE: It looks like we've blown the entire power converter, Captain.

Power converter? The warp core is specifically designed to produce the exact warp plasma that the warp coils require. The extra power for the rest of the ship would have to be converted for local use, but that has nothing to do with the warp engines.

TROI: I think you're developing an almost obsessive interest in your own inner workings. I'd almost call it the beginnings of a neurosis.
DATA: That is not possible.
TROI: Why not? You've eliminated all the technical explanations. And it makes sense that as your neural net becomes more complex, more human, that you might experience the same kind of psychological complexities as a human.
DATA: Do you really think it is possible?
TROI: Data, you must be the first person who's come into my office and been excited at the prospect of a new neurosis.

Ha ha.

PICARD: Unfortunately, the problem has affected our impulse systems. At the moment, we are adrift.

What? The impulse engines have their own fusion reactors! Furthermore, it's not the impulse engines that prevent "adriftness", it's the stationkeeping thrusters!

PICARD: Have you tried reconfiguring the plasma conduits?
LAFORGE: Yes, Captain. Two hours ago.
PICARD: What about the relays? Are you absolutely certain you don't need a new phase invertor?
DATA: I am currently running a level three diagnostic of the relays, sir. We will have the results of the analysis in approximately ten minutes.
PICARD: I see. Oh, perhaps I could reconfigure these isolinear chips.

Yeah, this one is just stupid. Besides, Picard doesn't want to go to the banquet! Is this just ego about not having control of the ship? That seems more like a Kirk thing than Picard.

WORF: Ever since you gave Alexander that music programme, he's been playing it all night, every night.
RIKER: I just wanted to broaden his horizons. Besides, he likes it.
WORF: It is screeching, pounding, dissonance. It is not music.
RIKER: Worf, it's better than music, it's jazz.

Jazz is screeching, pounding dissonance? Don't you need electric instruments for that? I suddenly wonder how Will and Vic Fontaine would get along...

DATA: Unlike a canine, Spot does not respond to verbal commands. (hands him to Worf who holds him at arms length) Goodbye, Spot. He will need to be fed once a day. He prefers feline supplement number twenty five.
WORF: I understand.
DATA: And he will require water. And you must provide him with a sand box. And you must talk to him. Tell him he is a pretty cat, and a good cat.
WORF: I will feed him.
DATA: Perhaps that will be enough.

You'd think after "Force of Nature" Geordi would've insisted on cat training. I must admit confusion as to Worf's resistance to full pet duties. He had a targ as a kid, and the Roshenkos seem like they would have pets.

CRUSHER: They appear to be extracting our cellular peptides. It's roughly analogous to the way terran leeches consume haemoglobin. If they're not removed soon, our bodies are going to lose all their cellular cohesion. We'll collapse into nothing but a few pounds of chemicals.

A few pounds? Is Beverly implying that the non-water part of our bodies is only a few pounds?

LAFORGE: What we want to do, Data, is link your neural net into the holodeck and have you activate your dream programme, so as you dream we can observe the dream images.
PICARD: Perhaps we can learn more about these creatures by interpreting the symbols and images of your dreams.
DATA: I see. The concept is similar to the method of directed dreaming.
PICARD: Exactly.

I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't be that simple. Plus this has nothing to do with directed dreaming.

PICARD: Mister Data, what kind of cake is this?
DATA: It is cellular peptide cake.
WORF: With mint frosting.

The mint frosting is essential!

LAFORGE: I do recognise that junction they're working on. It's the plasma conduit we installed with the new warp core.

So they replaced ONE plasma conduit? It must've been a broken part that they decided to replace along with the warp core and it's not an upgrade or anything.

LAFORGE: Well, we're going to have to manufacture a new conduit. That's at least six hours work.
PICARD: Six hour? The banquet will be completely over by then. That's very unfortunate.
LAFORGE: I can try and speed things up a bit.
PICARD: No, no, no. I wouldn't want to sacrifice the safety of the ship.
LAFORGE: Understood, sir.

Ha ha. I'm glad that they're implying that there are industrial fabricators on board and you can't just replicate everything.

The Fiver

Data: Excuse me, no repairs were authorized on this deck.
Construction Workers: Damn the bleeping Starfleet regulations. Did you know that in the Maquis, if something's broken, they just fix it?

What does this have to do with the Maquis? This joke seems like a stretch. There really should be a parallel between the Maquis and the episode's events to justify it.

Picard: Well, I'm going. They must hear my fascinating theories on the Egyptian-Hittite battle of 1294 BC.

This is a reference to the Battle of Kadesh, the oldest battle that we know of that actually employed formal tactics and formations. The battle was a stalemate.

Worf: A modified warp core on a Starfleet ship that works? Hah! And targs fly!

He does present a valid point.

Nakamura: Oh Captain, you could always email us your insights into the Egyptian-Hittite battle. Or drop the subject entirely! It was a draw!
Picard: It was not! The Egyptians won! Ramses II says so!
Nakamura: And why should Ramses II be trusted?
Picard: Because he wasn`t influenced by Romulan astronauts, like those deceptive and double-crossing Hittites!

The first reference was cute, but explaining the joke doesn't make it funny. Plus I think the Romulans would be on the Egyptian's side.

La Forge: (over the comm) Okay, let's try out the new warp core again.
Riker: Everyone say Edsel!

I get that this is a Threshold reference, but people who know the history of the Edsel would laugh even more. Basically the Edsel is what happens when people muck around with an established design to "modernize" it without thinking about why the established design is established.

Troi: Lalala... I've got faith, of the heeeart...

What does Enterprise have to do with this situation?

Data: If you encounter a warp core breach and start believing you're impervious to antimatter explosions -- I'm still dreaming.

This one makes sense.

Picard: Sweet nightmares, Mr. Data!
Data: How thoughtful of you, sir.
Picard: Do you perhaps want a little bedtime story? A Stephen King novel? Anne Rice?

This seems like a missed opportunity to riff on scary Trek literature. The autobiography of Neelix, or Wesley's latest fanfic, or whatever.

Memory Alpha

* They kept the modified warp core prop to use for one of the alternate Enterprises in "Parallels".

Nitpicker's Guide

* Why is Data "sleeping" when the warp core is broken?
* Phil has a problem with Crusher saying that the interphasic organisms are attached to their bodies with tendrils, then showing some of them on their uniforms. I question this, is there a reason why the tentrils (and their mouths) can't reach through the holes in the weave?
* The cat used to portray Spot before and after Worf cares for him (he's still a him at this point, FYI) are quite different? This implies that Worf killed the original (male) Spot and replaced him with a new female Spot who will get pregnant for "Genesis".