PATRON TAKES - Star Trek TNG - Season 2 Episode 2
Added 2024-01-14 16:41:36 +0000 UTCWe are no longer including the episode title in an effort to go into the episode with as little info as possible.
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Comments
For me, this episode is exactly when the show starts to gel
harrypothead42024
2024-01-25 19:24:55 +0000 UTCI think you will like seeing the self destruct sequence. Overall I found this one forgettable but not terrible.
Crankygrandma
2024-01-17 20:19:07 +0000 UTCThere’s an animated gif of it that I’ve seen used loads as a reply to people who say something outrageous or really stupid.
Smear Campaign
2024-01-17 12:19:12 +0000 UTCMy mistake. I thought TNG was set sometime after 1993.
Smear Campaign
2024-01-16 16:00:45 +0000 UTCHey, I wonder if that's why the funeral hologram of Tasha has the line, "I hope I met death with my eyes wide open"?
Anthony Bernacchi
2024-01-16 15:56:39 +0000 UTCThey couldn't. Encarta was released in 1993 and this episode aired in 1988. It literally didn't exist yet. Plot hole fixed!
Tim b
2024-01-16 15:32:53 +0000 UTCTo me, this one is weird for the sake of being weird. I know that’s ultimately the point, lab rats in a maze, but they never did anything lasting or really interesting in this story, just jump from one weird beat to the next. Not sure how Alex and Josh will like it, especially considering Nagilum is the kind of villain they don’t tend to enjoy (the god-like creatures). Fun Fact: Data apparently hasn’t watched the entirety of TOS. When asked if a “hole in space” has ever been seen, he totally forgets about “The Immunity Syndrome”!
The Game Show Reviewer
2024-01-16 15:19:47 +0000 UTCIt does feel stitched together. I do think there are far worse episodes, or just even more plodding episodes, in season 2......
Numinous2019
2024-01-16 10:40:24 +0000 UTCThis was a decent episode. At the time, I noted how the crew member had an open eyed death and remember one of the things Roddenberry and company would say is how network standards and practices would forbid someone having an open eyed death.
Mike Rogers
2024-01-16 06:35:58 +0000 UTCI think this is an underrated episode and it’s in my personal favorites. I like the mystery atmosphere of trying to figure out what’s going on and the reveal of Nagilum as another cosmic level entity leaves you wondering if he’ll show up again.
Eric Bundy
2024-01-16 05:46:50 +0000 UTCI always thought this was a so so Ep. I really was underwhelmed by the Alien's look. The Opening scene was good with Riker & Worf, also the Later Scene with Picard, Data & Troi in Picard's quarters. I'm curious to see if either of you think Picard was Bluffing! You will like it but just not as much as the last Ep. 😀🖖
Duane Chancey
2024-01-16 02:35:04 +0000 UTCAlso, Pulaski was supposed to be McCoy here, so she had to be antagonistic towards the emotionless, logical Data. But Spock could give as good as he got, and Data does nothing to earn this treatment, so she just comes off as mean-spirited like she was kicking a puppy. You don't earn the trust and affection of the audience by just being a jerk to the crew member who least deserves it.
Ian Westcott
2024-01-16 00:20:48 +0000 UTCI think this is an okay episode, but I never liked Nagilum's rationale for dismissing humanity at the end, criticizing the species' violence. The only time the crew ever acted with hostility here was in pure self-defense, while Nagilum killed, violated people, and threatened to murder most of the crew. And he has the gall to get haughty about humanity's violent side?
Ian Westcott
2024-01-16 00:18:34 +0000 UTCRead Nagilum backwards and you have the last name of the actor who originally was chosen to play the role. This trope will return in a Star Trek movie concerning the name of a certain planet.
Sam Langanke
2024-01-15 12:40:15 +0000 UTCI personally don't really care for these kind of plots anymore, some unknown omnipotent lifeform that is curious about humans, casually killing to test them … it gets kinda old. The tension at the end was good though. Also: still no fan of Dr. Pulaski. Calling Data 'it' and a non-living device and seemingly reluctantly having to accept that he's deemed alive is just not it for me :D Again, I think they tried to recreate Spock/Bones-dynamics here but it comes out all wrong imo.
DataDroid
2024-01-15 11:04:57 +0000 UTCUgh. A boring, poorly paced, meandering hodgepodge of ideas leading to a concept that was cliched by the end of TOS. When we say Season one & two were bad, this is what we’re talking about.
Matthew McKinnon-Gray
2024-01-15 06:33:46 +0000 UTCI think the Haskell shake rattle and roll is going to take you off guard.
Badger
2024-01-15 06:12:49 +0000 UTCDespite being slow-paced, I do appreciate the build-up of the mystery here using some great camera work, surreal visuals and eerie sound effects, which helps liven up an otherwise cliched 'powerful alien experiments on our heroes' plot. The further exploration of Worf and his warrior nature here is also a highlight.
Patrick47
2024-01-15 05:57:17 +0000 UTCMakes a kind of sense. Believing that that level of power is wielded by something... just, aliens and not divinity
James Bottas
2024-01-15 04:52:24 +0000 UTCNot one of my favourites. Considering that he was an atheist, Gene Roddenberry certainly did have a strange obsession with God-like alien entities.
Regan
2024-01-15 03:12:46 +0000 UTCIt's a good solid episode with a better sense of jeopardy than most, however 90% of the things it was curious about could have been satisfied by sending it an MS Encarta CD ROM.
Smear Campaign
2024-01-15 02:28:59 +0000 UTCThis episode was an odd one for me, as it’s a good script that’s well executed, but honestly it was barely memorable. When I rewatched it a couple of months back it was like “oh yeah, this was an episode”..
Glenn Johnson Barnes
2024-01-14 22:57:10 +0000 UTCWhat a wasted opportunity to kill Wesley! 🤡
Silk
2024-01-14 22:52:58 +0000 UTCWhat makes this episode interesting for me is Nagilum. He's a consistent alien with simple motives, and a good voice actor to make him come alive. If he were less interesting, this would have been a boring episode.
Nerd's Gold
2024-01-14 22:22:37 +0000 UTCThis is an underrated episode. Does a fantastic job of creating the sense of unease in both the viewer and the characters. And, at it's core, there's a very classic Trek discussion to be had. I have no doubt you'll both love this one.
Andy Frankham-Allen
2024-01-14 22:13:54 +0000 UTCThat thing was eating entire planets :D
Andreas Schmitt
2024-01-14 21:39:35 +0000 UTCI always thought of that, too - apparently the writers and producers forgot what was filmed in TOS.
Rhett Coates
2024-01-14 21:34:22 +0000 UTCI like the tone this episode has regarding the potential destruction of the Enterprise. In some ways it reminds me of the Corbomite Maneuver. Both Picard and and Kirk face off in a battle of wits against a superior force and in both cases the Enterprise itself is at risk.
Neill Shaughness
2024-01-14 21:10:25 +0000 UTCThe screams in the dark hallways of the Yamato were quite effective. A good creepy episode
James Bottas
2024-01-14 20:43:23 +0000 UTCOne of the best "bottle shows" in all of Star Trek. Some great Worf material too. We MAY see some of that Worf stuff later...
Darin Wagner
2024-01-14 20:38:55 +0000 UTC"With no new sets, this episode is a true bottle show." They already ran out of money by the second episode??? I thought, "No more beaming down to strange new worlds?"
Chtphr Rrr
2024-01-14 20:03:16 +0000 UTCHow do you like the lack of continuity regarding the self-destruct process? In Farpoint, there was allegedly no choice of timings. But here, the computer prompts.
Jovet
2024-01-14 19:56:53 +0000 UTCWorf's mental breakdown on "The Yamato" is pretty hilarious. And then Riker has his when they get back.
Jovet
2024-01-14 19:47:51 +0000 UTCUnpopular opinion: The pre-opening-credits scenes in this episode are the most useless, pointless, and disconnected from the actual story of the episode in all of TNG.
Jovet
2024-01-14 19:46:08 +0000 UTCRock and a hard place!
Jovet
2024-01-14 19:44:14 +0000 UTCTNG has some seriously funny moments... the "Please, demonstrate how this is accomplished" line is up there.
Jovet
2024-01-14 19:43:37 +0000 UTCHere's an simple question: Was Picard bluffing? Or not?
Jovet
2024-01-14 19:42:48 +0000 UTCOn the rewatch I was surprised by how long it took for Nagilum to actually appear
Paul Rymer
2024-01-14 19:40:59 +0000 UTCA sad but interesting fact: Patrick Stewart read Picard’s speech about the nature of death and the afterlife from this episode as part of his eulogy at Gene Roddenberry’s memorial service in 1991, three years after the episode aired.
Anthony Bernacchi
2024-01-14 19:32:08 +0000 UTCI actually liked the first season overall when it aired (being an original Trek fan from the 1960's.) And these first two episodes had me concerned about the dip in quality, but not to worry. Also, Pulaski gets an undeserved rap. I think of her being more like McCoy.
Blane Mather
2024-01-14 19:29:16 +0000 UTCA personal favorite. Nagilum is creepy and dangerous, and the episode has an eerie atmosphere throughout. Nagilum himself is played by the same actor who played the psychiatrist in the Terminator films.
tyranusfan
2024-01-14 19:20:17 +0000 UTCI always see this as an interesting idea stretched too thin across the 42 minutes.
Joe Concepts
2024-01-14 19:05:33 +0000 UTCI love this episode because it's a prime example of quality science fiction. An attribute most modern sci-fi's have long forgotten. The way Star Trek manages to provide a "3rd civilization (person) perspective" into humanity as a whole never ceases to intrigue me.
valen
2024-01-14 19:01:46 +0000 UTCi forgot how slow and plodding this episode is
Narnman
2024-01-14 18:58:36 +0000 UTCFirst red shirt death of the season. Space is a scary place, nice to see a horror episode
SinocTheHodgeheg
2024-01-14 18:57:43 +0000 UTCObviously the question will be “do you think Picard was bluffing?” re: blowing up the ship.. Pulaski is better used here, but I would still have preferred Gates.
Glenn Johnson Barnes
2024-01-14 18:46:46 +0000 UTCThis is actually a fun, WTF episode. Good thing Wesley had to go to the bathroom when the alien decided to start killing people. Kid probably just strolls back onto the bridge saying "Alright guys, what did I miss?"
Nolan
2024-01-14 18:12:41 +0000 UTCThe actor playing Ensign Redshirt clearly watched Scanners before filming his part. I kept waiting for his head to explode! XD
Timothy Hennon
2024-01-14 18:06:38 +0000 UTCI seem to remember during Season 1 one of you mentioned not liking faces appear in space, or something like that. This was the episode I thought of immediately. Not one of my favorites.
KatWithAttitude
2024-01-14 17:40:35 +0000 UTCA bit of head cannon here but Worf talks about a an old Klingon legend of a “Gigantic black space creature which was said to devour entire vessels.” I always took this to mean the old Doomsday Machine from TOS.
Gregory
2024-01-14 17:39:35 +0000 UTCI mean, Riker only vaguely remembered reading about Kirk & Co getting spacedrunk. How many current Naval Captains can recite log entry or missions from specific Cold War-era events? How many are still classified? Eighty-years is a long time even in Starfleet.
StonyD
2024-01-14 17:23:01 +0000 UTCWhile I like the episode as a whole, I don't feel they fleshed out Nagilum's specific scientific curiosity with the crew, outside trying to understand death. But even that came late, as it felt like the majority of the episode was just the cast lost in a dark cloud. Shout-out to making the Enterprise hallway set "creepy" on the illusion-ship, and Muldar's funny spin-acting when Nagilum twirls her around.
StonyD
2024-01-14 17:20:37 +0000 UTCThis one is at least interesting, with the Picard choice at the end, to the weird spacial inconsistencies on the Yamoto. Certainly an episode that exists.
Elway Simpson
2024-01-14 17:18:52 +0000 UTCStar Trek's obsession with godlike aliens is kind of weird, I'm not sure where that fascination comes from, and I don't share it. So from that POV this episode is kind of meh, but it has some decent moments that makes it worth rewatching it every now and then.
Tim b
2024-01-14 17:10:12 +0000 UTCDid Kirk forget to file his log in "Immunity Syndrome?" Because this crew has never heard about a 'hole in space' appearing before...
Adam Reid
2024-01-14 16:49:47 +0000 UTCI always disliked this episode, how the crew basically just gave up and waited to die is so against all the characters and Star Trek in general. This season got off to a rough start but does quickly get better.
Scarpad’s Domain
2024-01-14 16:48:21 +0000 UTCI got a lot of TOS feels in this one, especially with those creatures Worf and Riker were fighting in the beginning of the episode at the Holodeck!
TalynStarburst
2024-01-14 16:48:03 +0000 UTCI really enjoy this one. It reminds me of a TOS episode, in a good way. I could see Kirk handling the situation in a similar way to Picard. Also I echo Colin's remarks, tha topening scene with Riker and Worf is great.
Steven Johnson
2024-01-14 16:46:33 +0000 UTCDid Picard bluff or not? ;)
Andreas Schmitt
2024-01-14 16:44:38 +0000 UTCI like the opening scene with Riker and Worf. For some reason, I thought this was a pretty decent episode when it first aired, though now it doesn't seem to me to have as much going for it. Jack Sowards who wrote this episode was 1 of the writers credited for writing Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Collin Freeman
2024-01-14 16:43:53 +0000 UTC
