30th Anniversary TNG Episode Discussion Marathon

[Nate the Great]

May 2nd, 1988, "We'll Always Have Paris"

Fiver (by KJP)
Transcript
Memory Alpha

The Episode

As a summary, this is another episode that abuses science (at least standard Trek science) but has good character work. Which I suppose is better than the other way around.

DATA: Sensors show nothing, sir, but it appears a moment in time repeated itself exactly for everyone.
LAFORGE: Just like a feeling of deja vu.

Even as a child I found it odd that even after using the term "deja vu" the characters kept using alternate terms, dancing around the slightly foreign word as if afraid that it'll confuse or discourage the viewers from continuing to watch.

DATA: Computers were also affected, which would indicate the phenomenon was not an illusion but occurred in real time.

Now that's an interesting question: how would a computer feel deja vu? Would it record a set of calculations twice? I'm reminded of the Department of Temporal Investigations story "God, Fate, and Fractals", which feature tricorders that are specifically designed to retain data even if timeline alterations change the memories of the DTI agents.

RIKER: Captain, you act as if there's a connection between the time distortion and the distress signal.
PICARD: There is. Paul Manheim. Fifteen years ago he went off to work on experiments relating to non-linear time. It appears he may have achieved some measure of success.

Another interesting question: how much of Picard's knowledge of Manheim is basic scientific interest and how much comes from his connection with Janice?

PICARD: Yes, what is it, Counsellor?
TROI: I think you would prefer to discuss this in private.
PICARD: That's not necessary. Go on.

I do wonder why this conversation had to take place on the bridge. Was the script running long and there wasn't time to move things to the ready room or conference lounge?

COMPUTER: Holodeck three is clear.
PICARD: Location, Paris, Cafe des Artistes, as it appeared twenty two years ago. April the ninth, fifteen hundred hours, three o'clock. Warm spring day.
COMPUTER: Programme complete.

A horrifying thought...sensors keep track of everything that happens in public spaces everywhere on Earth with this kind of precision and distribute the data to all Federation facilities that have holodecks. And somehow records at least basic psychological profiles of everyone at the time of recording, along with recent biographical information to make them seem real. I thought unauthorized holographic recreations of real people was illegal!

Furthermore, it must be remembered that holodeck technology at the time was limited. Maybe Jack Crusher and Noonien Soong could record versions of themselves to stand in one place and talk, but true interactivity was still years off.

DATA: Actually sir, that may be an incorrect analogy.
PICARD: How so, Data?
DATA: A hiccup is a spasmodic inhalation with closure of the glottis. accompanied by a peculiar sound. If we were to continue this analogy to a body function, what occurred would be best represented by a--

By a...what? At best I would equate the Manheim Effect to a form of seizure. If you loosened the definition, maybe amnesia that only goes back a very short amount of time.

PICARD: This is Captain... This is the Captain of the USS Enterprise responding to your signal for help.

I get that Picard is uncomfortable about meeting Jenice right now, but even so, this seems like cowardice. Starfleet captains shouldn't exhibit this kind of weenie behavior when on duty.

JENICE: Paul's always been interested in time. He's never believed that it was immutable, any more than space is immutable. Over the last decade, he came to believe that we reside in one of infinite dimensions, and what holds us here is the constancy of time. Change that and it would be what he called opening the window to those other dimensions.

So altering certain temporal variables would allow us to exist in physical dimensions other than the three we currently occupy. I'm not sure what the appeal would be.

PICARD: Did he anticipate that these experiments might be dangerous?
JENICE: I didn't think so. Now, in retrospect, he probably did. That would explain all the unusual precautions he began taking, even before the accident. The force field, the elaborate security system. Every time he started a new experiment, he insisted that I stay in what he called a protected room.

I'm not sure how you would shield a room to resist temporal effects. You'd probably need to infuse the forcefield with tachyons or somesuch.

(Jenice kisses Picard's cheek and leave)
PICARD: She's an old friend.
CRUSHER: I gathered that.

Understatement of the century. We'll be returning to Beverly later.

DATA: I cannot be sure, sir, but I believe Manheim has developed a method for harnessing energy from the pulsar.

What? I thought Manheim set up shop here because of the gravitational conditions. How do you tap the energy from a star from so far away?

MANHEIM: We were able to locate an energy source in the centre of this planetoid.

What? This brings to mind bad memories of the Icarus Base from Stargate that is on a planet that has a naquadria core that can somehow power a Stargate. Blech.

JENICE: I knew you wouldn't come to me.
PICARD: No, not under these circumstances.

This is good. It's not that Picard is scared that he'll be tempted to have an affair with Jenice, it's that he doesn't want to cause her unnecessary pain or distract her from her husband.

JENICE: I've thought a lot about this over the years, and perhaps you're leaving out your greatest fear. The real reason you left.
PICARD: Which was?
JENICE: That life with me would have somehow made you ordinary.
PICARD: You're wonderful. And am I that transparent?
JENICE: Only to me.

I suppose Picard would've had to give up Starfleet and return to archaeology. I suddenly wonder if Professor Galen would've liked her.

CRUSHER: I don't think I want to talk about what I think you mean.
TROI: Captain Picard
CRUSHER: I can't compete with a ghost from his past. No one could.

You know, if Gene didn't want this relationship to exist, why did it keep showing up? Scenes like this in the first season create questions relating to "Lessons". In that episode Beverly claims that at this point all that there was was vague chemistry. This scene implies more than that.

MANHEIM: She never would admit this, but she has had a terrible time these last years. Had we not been so isolated, she might have left me, and I never would have known. At least, not right away.

"Isolated." Right. The Hansens were isolated, the Manheims were just a little bit off the beaten path. There's a difference.

DATA: In both cases, the time distortions occurred along the same continuum as a preview or a reprise of a specific point in time.
PICARD: Where we are, where we were, and where we will be.

This makes it sound like the distortions aren't altering history (movement is only along the axis of the timeline), which is nonsense. When the loop places two versions of a person in the same place, both retain memories of the encounter, which I would call an alteration (movement goes "off the rails" of the prior timeline).

PICARD: I think it should be only you because you seem more able to control the effects of the time distortion.
DATA: Oh, I see, sir. That is quite true, sir. I see time as a constant, whereas humans perceive time as flexible.

What? It was said earlier that the Manheim Effect appeared on sensors. That means that it affects machines as well. And it will affect Data. And I think Picard should've used something like "cope with" rather than "control." If Data can emit a subspace field that he can tune like a radio to deal with temporal alterations, that's news to me.

[Nate the Great]

The Fiver

Picard: Ah, the Holodeck. No better place to be when there's time warps and spatial anomalies about.

I'll say. Remember "The Big Good-Bye" when a slightly weird alien sensor scan totally broke this thing? And that would have less affect than time warps and spatial anomalies.

Picard: This is the captain of the Enterprise, but definitely not the man who stood you up in a Paris café years ago.
Female Voice: Oh, hi, Jean-Luc.

Using "but" instead of "and" makes it sound like multiple Enterprise captains have stood her up. Maybe she had a date with John Harriman the previous week...

Crusher: It's only the first season -- should I be jealous yet?
Picard: Nothing is outside the realm of the P/C 'shippers.

Fair enough.

Crusher: Dr. Manheim is awake, but not fully aware.
Dr. Manheim: My mind feels like it is floating between two places.
Crusher: He seems to be suffering from an overdose of New Age music.

This sounds like a topical joke that didn't age well. Sorry.

Picard: Now remember, Mr. Data, when fixing a time anomaly, you have to have an appropriate "time" catch phrase to use at the crucial moment.
Data: Okay, how about... "Time to take out the trash"?
Picard: Ugh. I would think any Starfleet officer could come up with something better than THAT.

Janeway sure did...

Riker: [I'm] just wondering how I would have handled the situation of dealing with the attractive wife of an eccentric scientist on a remote space station.
Picard: Right, as if that could ever happen again.

Ha ha. "That's as likely as discovering that Kreiger Waves actually exist!"

Nitpicker's Guide

* Supposedly the recreation of the cafe is accurate, but Jenice said that it rained that day. Even if you posit that there's some sort of Back to the Future II-style weather control in play, there should be wet furniture around.
* The Eiffel Tower jumps around in the holodeck scenes so you can see it as much as possible. It's almost like the studio thinks the viewers are so stupid that the won't remember that this is Paris unless the Eiffel Tower is always in view.
* When Troi takes Jenice to the holodeck when Picard is already inside the computer gives Troi the option to stop the program. Huh? I would think that the occupants of a holodeck should have priority unless the people outside use a security override.
* The computer presents the arch when Jenice uses "exit" in a casual manner, not as a command. Phil comments that this would create all sorts of unwanted side effects when commands don't have to be preceded by "Computer."

TNG Companion

As originally pitched there was a lot more romance, but it was toned down. The writer’s strike affected filming. Many staff members thought that Jenice and Picard lacked chemistry, but actress Michelle Phillips took cues from the script and acted like a faithful wife to Manheim. The menu at the holographic café includes such in-jokes as Croissants D’ilithium, Targ Klingon a la Mode, and Tribbles dans les Blankettes.

YouTube

The Manheim Effect at the turbolift
Data plugs the hole
Jenice wanted a painless lie

[NAHTMMM]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

COMPUTER: Holodeck three is clear.
PICARD: Location, Paris, Cafe des Artistes, as it appeared twenty two years ago. April the ninth, fifteen hundred hours, three o'clock. Warm spring day.
COMPUTER: Programme complete.

A horrifying thought...sensors keep track of everything that happens in public spaces everywhere on Earth with this kind of precision and distribute the data to all Federation facilities that have holodecks. And somehow records at least basic psychological profiles of everyone at the time of recording, along with recent biographical information to make them seem real. I thought unauthorized holographic recreations of real people was illegal!

Picard had to tell it that it was a "warm spring day". So presumably it just took the temporally closest snapshot of the cafe, adjusted the sun for that time of day (almanac), and populated it with, perhaps, a few of the servers who worked there and agreed to be recorded, and added in Generic Parisians.

Data 1: Uh oh, there are three of me now. Hmm....
Data 3: Helloooooooooooooo....
Data 2: ......Hellooooooooooo....
Data 1: ............Helloooooooo....
All Three Datas: Hello.
Data 3: I always wanted to do that.

Now that's turning a problem into an opportunity.

Picard: Before we say farewell and you return to your husband, may I ask what you think of our Holodeck's re-creation of the French café?
Jenice: Very authentic. I haven't seen our waiter in over an hour.

[Nate the Great]

May 9th, 1988, "Conspiracy"

No fiver
Transcript
Memory Alpha

The Episode

LAFORGE: So the guy staggers to his feet and goes back to the girl, right? Well, she smiles, looks him right in the eye and says 'just try that in hyperspace!'

Hyperspace? What's that? If Memory Alpha is to be believed, the only other mention of "hyperspace" in Trek is a "hyperspace physics" question in "Coming of Age."

Seriously, where were the science consultants? This joke would work equally well if you invoked zero gravity instead.

RIKER: Increase to warp six.
LAFORGE: Aye sir. Full impulse.

No comment.

TROI: I know I won't. I've been really looking forward to a nice swim.
DATA: You are aware, Counsellor, that the holodeck can be programmed to recreate an oceanic environment.
TROI: Data, it's just not the same.

How? This is a perpetual problem where the holodeck is concerned. If the simulation isn't perfect, why is it available? Why bother with the thing at all?

WORF: Swimming is too much like bathing.

The season's almost over, and the writers still don't have a firm grasp on his character.

DATA: Commander Riker. I am receiving a Code Forty Seven.

Joe Menosky is the guy who will inflict 47 on the fandom, and he won't show up for a few years, so this instance is just a coincidence.

PICARD: You're using a Code Forty Seven. I have to know what this is all about.
KEEL [on monitor]: Not over subspace, no.
PICARD: Oh, for God's sake, Walker. This is a secured channel--

Why do "secure channels" exist if they're not really secure and people can't trust them?

WORF: Two are frigates. The Renegade commanded by Tryla Scott, and the Thomas Paine, Captain Rixx commanding.
DATA: The third is just coming into range now, sir. It is Ambassador Class heavy cruiser, USS Horatio.

A frigate is a warship that is built for speed. These ships are of the New Orleans class, a modified, smaller version of the Galaxy class. Their sister ship, the Kyushu, was destroyed at Wolf 359.

KEEL: Do you recall the night you introduced Jack Crusher to Beverly?
PICARD: You know full well I hadn't even met Beverly then. You introduced them.
KEEL: My brother introduced them.
PICARD: You don't have a brother. Two sisters, Anne and Melissa. What the hell is this all about?

Nice characterization.

PICARD: Tryla Scott. It's said you made Captain faster than anyone in Starfleet history, present company included.

It's said? Isn't something like that rather easy to verify?

RIXX: Starbase twelve was completely evacuated for two full days. No explanation given.

You'd think the press would demand and explanation for that. Furthermore, what would such a thing accomplish for the bluegills' plan?

KEEL: We're not sure yet. Damn it, Jean-Luc. I tell you that some of Starfleet's top command people are changing. This could affect the very core of our organisation. Officers I've known for years are bluffing their way through talk of old times.
RIXX: That's their weakness, a lack of memory.

A perpetual problems with large-scale replacement plots. It takes much more than what's on the official records to duplicate a person's personality and responses. It's too bad this isn't the last time Trek will attempt to feed us this kind of nonsense.

KEEL: Tell Beverly I said hello.

It's not like this was a meeting that we were attempting to keep secret-oh, wait!

PICARD: I trust Keel completely. If he felt it necessary to violate regulations, he must have had a good reason.
TROI: But you're putting your career at risk for him.
PICARD: Friendship must dare to risk, Counsellor, or it's not friendship.

A good message, but in this case I don't think enough evidence has been presented yet.

PICARD: Take us out of orbit, Mister La Forge.
LAFORGE: Aye, sir.
PICARD: Resume heading to Pacifica, warp factor eight.

Why wasn't the discussion with Troi conducted en route? And why not use warp nine to minimize the delay and the appearance that something strange is going on?

CRUSHER: I understand the Horatio was in orbit around Dytallix. Did you see Walker?
PICARD: No.

A classic example of "do what I mean, not what I say."

DATA: Startling. Quite extraordinary, in fact.
COMPUTER: Directions unclear. Please repeat request.
DATA: That was not a request. I was simply talking to myself.

I know that Data has talked to himself before, but having this appear before he gets his emotion chip seems odd.

DATA: The orders were given with great subtlety. To use an aphorism, Starfleet's left hand did not know what its right hand was doing.

Sometimes it gets annoying when Data understands metaphors during some episodes and not others. Returning to the plot, sometimes I wonder how Starfleet ever keeps everything straight. There are just too many planets and ships to keep track of. Can you imagine the number of middle-management drones filling whole starbases worth of cubicles that would be required for all this coordination?

Captain's personal log, supplemental. While it is quite unusual for a starship to return to Earth, we seem to be left with no other choice. I have apprised the remaining bridge crew of our situation.

And yet the trip from the frontier to Earth didn't seem to take long. The Enterprise has just traveled across almost half of the Federation in a day or so. It's almost like the writer's can't do math...

SAVAR [on viewscreen]: Greetings Enterprise. I am Admiral Savar. This is Admiral Aaron, and I believe you already know Admiral Quinn.

Yes, we keep three admirals around at all time to talk to starships who show up at unexpected times. We apparently have nothing better to do...

AARON [on viewscreen]: Governor Delaplane of Pacifica informs us that you cancelled your scheduled stop there. Is this true?
PICARD: Yes, sir, it is.

Wait a second. Picard defied orders and never bothered telling Starfleet about it? That seems like something needing at least a disciplinary hearing, doesn't it?

CRUSHER: The parasite appears to stimulate the victim's adrenal glands, generate great strength.

Can we all agree that this is nonsense and move on?

(The bowl contains live mealworms. Picard recoils)

What was the point of this? Even if bluegills eat mealworms, their host bodies don't.

LAFORGE: Any idea what the message was, Data?
DATA: I believe it was a beacon.
PICARD: A beacon?
DATA: Yes, sir. A homing beacon, sent from Earth.

It's too bad that this will never be followed up on in canon...

Nitpicker's Guide

* At the end Riker calls for Security, and not only do Worf and La Forge show up instead to save the cost of hiring extras, but they're not even armed. And the weird part is, Crusher is armed when she arrives!
* Wouldn't the biofilter catch these bluegill things?
* Picard is able to dodge a phaser blast. I guess these things don't travel at light speed after all...

[Nate the Great]

"Conspiracy" coverage, part two

Memory Alpha

The viewers didn't like the episode, so there was never a followup. It was too different from what they thought of as "Star Trek." Oh, the irony...

Various expanded universe sources gave different origins for the bluegills:
DS9 relaunch: The Trill discovered them. One of them took over Audrid Dax's husband. Another took over Shakaar, leading to his death.
Star Trek Online: The solanogen aliens from "Schisms" created them on orders from the Iconians. Weird. Furthermore joined Trill are immune to them.

Memory Beta

They make the host want to eat worms and insects, often using Klingon and Ferengi cuisine as a cover.

Cardassians are immune to them.

TNG Companion

Gene didn’t want the bad guys to be real Starfleet officers, we had to wait for The Undiscovered Country for that.

The mail brought some cries against the gory scenes of death and worm-eating, but Torme took issue with Variety for labelling it TNG’s “most notorious” episode so far.

I also disagree. At least this episode is better structured and had better acting than most other Season One episodes.

[Nate the Great]

May 16th, 1988, "The Neutral Zone"

Fiver (by Marc)
Transcript
Memory Alpha

The Episode

I found plenty to riff on with practically every line, so I'll have to go with highlights:

* Riker should've done a full analysis of what the sleeper ship was before deciding its fate.
* The pods were independent of the ship except for power, and the ship wasn't broadcasting any identifying information. This didn't accomplish anything except provide opportunities for Riker and Picard to be grumpy and to pad out the episode. An episode that didn't need padding because the padding was stealing screentime from the Romulans.
* When the people were found they should've been kept in stasis until they could awaken surrounded by counselors, etc.
* This "the people were frozen after death" thing seems to exist only so Riker and Picard can argue that they could've left the dead people alone. Is this supposed to make them look good?
* Okay, so Offenhouse could afford to set up a fund to support this sleeper ship, but what about the others? It seems like Claire's husband and Sonny did a one-time payment.
* It doesn't occur to anyone to keep the ancient humans away from aliens until they could cope with being in the future. And wouldn't this be Troi's job?
* Our heroes look down on these humans, why? Just looking at the other first season races, the Ligonians and the Angel Oneians seem much worse. Furthermore, aren't Starfleet officers trained to deal with races that have barely invented warp and would have such limitations?
* The Romulan plot steals too much from "Balance of Terror". Maybe having two neighbors not know much about each other works in the more frontier-like 23rd century, but these days the Federation would insist on continual diplomatic contact.
* The problem with the frozen people is that, like many other plots in the first two seasons, the writers have to make our heroes look good by making the guest stars look bad. Instead of, y'know, doing their jobs and writing the main cast correctly the first time.
* The frozen people are mainly left alone until our heroes want to spend time with them. Really, there aren't any junior officers around to keep them company? A schoolteacher or two to catch them up on recent events and technological advances?
* Offenhouse is simply let onto the bridge by the computer. Huh? Couldn't the computer be programmed to recognize authorized users and not let anyone else on unless accompanied by an authorized user? Or at least trigger an alert on Worf's board so he'll be prepared for the unauthorized user?
* The Romulans were squeezed into one scene. Absurd. There were plenty of scenes with the frozen people that could've been cut.
* The question of the missing colonies and the Romulans wasn't followed up on early in Season Two. Big mistake.

The Fiver

Ralph Offenhouse: Could I see today's issue of the Wall Street Journal?
Riker: I'm afraid that we don't carry it.
Offenhouse: Well get a copy somewhere! I want to find out how my Enron stock's been doing since 1999.

Wow, topical joke. As I've said before, these things are time capsules...

Data: Would you care for some replicated pecan pie?
L.Q. "Sonny" Clemonds: Gee, I dunno -- this here hunk o' pie looks like resequenced protein. Don't y'all have a chef on board?

Is this just an Enterprise joke, or were you tying this into Janeway in "Prime Factors", too?

Sonny: I need some uppers for the morning and some downers for the evening.
Crusher: Here's a prescription for ice-cold showers and steamed milk with nutmeg.
Sonny: I had something stronger in mind, if ya catch my drift.
Crusher: Sorry, but "Janeway Blend" coffee and Data's poetry are both controlled substances.

Hehe. I suppose you could've thrown in a request for references before giving Sonny a license for such things, but it would've been overkill.

Memory Alpha

* The script couldn't be revised much because of the Writer's Strike. I call this a poor excuse. Furthermore, the industry should have contingencies for such things, among which should be that the writers can only go on strike between seasons (with perhaps another opportunity at the midseason break).
* An extra wore Troi's skant from "Encounter at Farpoint."
* The display of Claire's family tree originally had many pop culture references, but these had to be replaced for the remastered version.
* First of three times when a character welcomes someone from the past to the twenty-fourth century.

Memory Beta

* Offenhouse made the most appearances in the novels, most notably appearing as the Federation Ambassador to the Ferengi Alliance.
* Sonny returned to music and eventually cleaned up his act.
* Claire helped to counsel the similarly time-displaced Bozeman crew.

Nitpicker's Guide

* The Enterprise is sitting around doing nothing while our crew waits for Picard's shuttle to arrive so they can head for the Neutral Zone. Why not just warp over to where Picard is and save time?
* If the commpanels are only for ship's business, how do the civilians on board talk to each other if they don't have commbadges?
* Phil points out that this is yet another situation where the saucer should be left behind because it's known ahead of time that battle is possible.
* Spock's been talking to Pardek for decades, but there's no data more recent than the Tomed Incident for Troi to research?
* It's said that the Romulans have been in hiding for fifty years and nobody's heard from them, yet they attacked Narendra Three twenty years ago! Or are you going to tell me that this is like their attack on Khitomer or the Ferengi's attack at Maxima, where the details aren't known until much later?

[NAHTMMM]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

Returning to the plot, sometimes I wonder how Starfleet ever keeps everything straight. There are just too many planets and ships to keep track of. Can you imagine the number of middle-management drones filling whole starbases worth of cubicles that would be required for all this coordination?

In the enlightened future, middle management is kept to a minimum. That's why there is only one major ship in a sector at any given time, less of this bureaucracy to deal with.

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

* Offenhouse made the most appearances in the novels, most notably appearing as the Federation Ambassador to the Ferengi Alliance.

Debtors Planet is pretty okay, especially given that it features both Wesley and the Ferengi.

[Nate the Great]

I wonder what would've happened had the Romulans found the frozen people first. Would they have killed them outright, or abduct them? Would they provide any useful intelligence as to current human behavior?