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UNCUT REACTION - Star Trek TNG S1E3 - The Naked Now

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UNCUT REACTION - Star Trek TNG S1E3 - The Naked Now

Comments

For me still an S.

jon bolton

I wouldn't say I hate this episode like a lot of people seem to. It's more a matter of just not taking it seriously. I actually think the timing right after the pilot is better than if it happened later. The characters still feel quite off from how they are later. If this episode happened in S3 and the more fleshed out crew were acting like this, it would feel like whiplash. You just accept a lot of the crew feels different especially in early S1, so to me it's a bit more of "anything goes". It's by no means a great episode, but the haphazard feel of the show at this point gives it some cover. I'd also agree that Gates has the most convincing and amusing drunk performance, especially that little whispered "come here" when she was going to test her new formula on Geordi. That harrumph sound Picard did and the whole ready room scene is one of the strangest/most memorable scenes Patrick performed on the show. It's still ridiculous that Data would be affected, or at the very least that he would be affected the same way, but I guess we at least learn just how, uh, thorough Soong was in designing him. This ep also kickstarts the "boy genius Wesley" trope. Definitely a point of contention for a lot of trek fans, especially with how much it's played up in S1. I do wonder if it was an option to beam over to the Tsiolkovsky and try and use that to drag the Enterprise out of the way once they had the tractor beam on it. I suppose their crew may have left their engine room in no better condition than the Enterprise. Pretty silly episode and not as good as the original, and it leans too much on TOS. But in a way it's good that S1 front loads most of the bad eps at the start of the season leaving the better stuff for later. S1 generally moves from weaker to stronger eps, S2 is a noticeable improvement, and S3 is when it really hits it's stride. It's an upward trajectory, arguably the reverse of TOS which was generally giving diminishing returns with each season. Beyond it's faults, if you can learn to embrace the absurdity, there are some decent laughs to be had here. But seriously, WTF was Riker thinking touching Crusher like that? Just call out a bit louder.

Timothy Nikiforovs

I remember that I didn’t like the idea of them recycling stories from the original series. I wanted new stories.

Kobaian Vagabond

The “onesies” were a great design just not yet practical.

Philbot

No this episode like the original is one where they build characters, you define your characters by making them act out of character.

Scarpad’s Domain

As to why the crew were all acting horny when infected.....Roddenberry, was re-writing most of the scripts during season 1.

Numinous2019

Between bong rips, Data was a total womanizer in Starfleet Academy. Seriously, I never understood Data not knowing slang, or rare turns of phrase. He is an walking SSD ffs.

MrDeadstu

Don't mind this episode as much now since I have seen the whole series it just seems silly now. Just feels to early to do a "characters are all acting weird" episode when we barely know the characters. Tasha Yar's outfit probably did accelerate my puberty at the time though. Lol.

Travis Boyle

It’s trivia which occurs to me at 2 a.m. which will never come up in conversation again..

Glenn Johnson Barnes

Data IS fully functional. His and Tasha's little tryst actually means a lot to him as you will find out eventually. Data develops a lot over time and as you earlier surmised he is a fan favorite (Worf is probably #2), but the destination of his character arc - which carries all the way to Picard Season 3 - is stated in the first episode "...I'd give it all up to be human." Dorothy Fontana wanted her name taken off this story after it was heavily rewritten by Gene. I understand that her draft was a much better story. I'm sure this was a big factor in she and Gene falling out, as she soon after disengaged from the show. You guys have to promise not to drop this whole TNG reaction thing after you watch the next episode. It's so toxic you need to wear hazmat suits while viewing.

StealthMomo

Probably "Trivia questions that will never be asked" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

StealthMomo

What is Totally Useless Trivia?

Duane Chancey

Totally useless trivia, but the actress who played the “chief engineer” in this episode worked with Jonathon Frakes wife for years on General Hospital during its late 70s/early 80s heyday.

Glenn Johnson Barnes

The Naked Now, my Comment. I liked the Comedy and there was a fair amount of Character building of Geordi, Tasha, Wesley & Data. This is only Ep.3 but the Original TOS Story was only the 4th aired then. I guess you could say that the Data/Tasha matchup is like the Spock/Chapel one but with the sex! Also Wesley I is like Riley taking over the Engine Room in TOS. Worf and Riker are the only 2 that didn't get as infected, and Geordi was all sad about not seeing like others. The Picard/Crusher was a bit odd but I thought Funny. That is about all...but I never Expect these stories to be way Serious all the time, and I don't think they should be. One other comment is about Denise Crosby aka Tasha Yar.....is she not a Babe Guys? If I Offended anyone with that comment...Tough! You Guys should have fun and Laugh at it too like I did when it first aired and more so this time after not seeing it in close to 20 years. I predict you will like it. I have no fun fact but here are 2 Questions 1: What was your Fav. Part & 2: How are you guys coming along with that P.O. Box? 😀🖖

Duane Chancey

I think I'll give the same comment here as I did on the Patreon Takes for Naked Now & Code of Honor. 😉

Duane Chancey

This was the last time they refer to or mention the original series for a few seasons.

Derek Orr

I like the new upgrade to your recording room, kudos for keeping the construction of it under wraps. Seriously though the background does look nice\

Retro Tom

Riker can hold his liquor. That's just who he is.

StonyD

Gene Roddenberry wanted to call this one "Get Naked Now" but he was overruled by the network. Also, I just made that up.

James H

One of my least favorite episodes of TNG. The Naked Time of TOS was one of that series best episodes. Everything clicked in it. The mystery, the tension and the drama of exploration of the characters' inner selves. This episode has no mystery to it if you had seen the former show. The tension really only happens at the end once the star explodes, and dramatically, with the exception of Geordi's "I wanna see" speech, there's no exploration of any of the characters inner selves. Just people acting goofy. The first season has a few real stinkers and this is one of them. The show starts to get much better by the time you get through the first half of the first season.

Dan Krantz

*cough* Measure of a Man *cough*

Glenn Johnson Barnes

For some odd reason, the version watched by the boys skipped a minute.

Mike Rogers

Mr. Roboto by Styx lol

Tristan Rose

The production of TNG season 1 and 2 was a disaster. Roddenberry had brought friends and TOS veterans DC Fontana, David Gerrold, Bob Justman and Eddie Milkis on staff to help create and run this new show. Gene and his attorney Leonard Maizlish f’ed over those people and ended decades long friendships. DC aka Dorothy Fontana in my opinion got screwed the worst. She should have been credited as the co-creator of TNG along with Gene but that did not happen.

Rich Loga

Deleted my comment. Thanks, Andreas.

Anthony Bernacchi

What would the theme song be? You'd have to have some pop rock song to go with it.

Steven Johnson

I just said TNG has a bigger cast so it took everybody longer to figure out the dynamic between them and for the writers to figure out how to write each character

Andreas Schmitt

Interestingly, despite immediately referencing the original show with the McCoy cameo and a Naked Time sequel, the producers of The Next Generation really did want to avoid too many allusions to the 60's series, to the point they didn't want ANY aliens that had appeared on TOS to be in TNG. It was only late into pre-production on "Encounter at Farpoint" that the idea of a Klingon on the bridge, effectively signifying the time gap between series for a TOS enemy to be on a Federation starship bridge, was even considered. And thus Lieutenant Junior Grade Worf was created. He was the last cast member to be cast, and depite having the longest Make-up time thanks to the iconic Klingon forehead, he had the least to do. This is because he was such a new idea, the writers didn't really know what to do with him at first, hence his VERY supporting role in these episodes.

Nolan

D.C. Fontana took her name off this episode after being heavily rewritten by Roddenberry. Her original outline is online, and would have actually made an interesting and intelligent episode. But I still say I actually like the Tasha/Data hook up. Poor Will Wheaton..

Glenn Johnson Barnes

Data in College- pitch it! That’s totally a Paramount+ series.

Stuart Arbury

It has a few. I think people write off the whole thing, which just isn't fair. There's at least 5 solid entries here.

Steven Johnson

This is definitely an episode of TNG. To be sure.

Steven Johnson

Sure but even the cast were uncomfortable with the racism

Castanea

Loved the extra sync points. It's syncing perfectly for me, but it was great to get confirmation periodically. Please continue this with your future videos!

Bret Kay

You mentioned the whole cast getting things to do instead of just a "big 3". That's something TNG does very well that sets it apart from TOS. It's much more of an ensemble show where every character gets attention. You can argue that if anyone's the "main character" of the series, it's Picard, but even that is often just because his role as captain is almost always relevant to the plot, even if the story of that episode isn't really about him.

Jeff Cornell

But with Farpoint being the extended-length pilot, and this being a sequel to a TOS episode, that makes Code of Honor, in a certain sense, the first real episode of TNG.

Jeff Cornell

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on that one, because I think TOS season 2 is far better. In the end it's a matter of preference, if you enjoy TNG season 1 more power to ya, I say! I'll try to keep an open mind now that I'm rewatching it. Maybe by the end we'll both be praising it!

Captain Proton

I think season 1s only weakness is that due to the bigger cast the writers need some time to figure out what to do with each character. Other than thst season 1 is no worse than TOS seasons 2 and 3

Andreas Schmitt

Even that one has great aspects. People shit on it just because the cast is embarrassed of it. The episode isn't as bad as claimed.

Andreas Schmitt

I like season 2 a lot more but I think once 3 hits you really get peak TNG (and the basis of all 90s Trek).

Captain Proton

Oh common, the first season isn't that bad, it has some great stuff and I love season 2

Andreas Schmitt

just get through the stack of Rodenberry Scripts. the next episode is the only one I refuse to acknowledge as canon

Castanea

The first season still has some great episodes I feel

Andreas Schmitt

Bad writing all over the place this episode.

Ken R

for how bad the first season is they did a really good job of trying to introduce the characters, why they became so iconic

Castanea

just pretend the NEXT episode never happened.

Castanea

I would like to say a few things after having watched the episode with you. In my previous post I said that I consider the first two seasons to be pretty bad, especially the first. However I would like to offer some perspective and to present my opinion more fully: TNG was not an easy project; it's easy for us to think of Star Trek as a big franchise where you can create all sorts of stories and introduce new characters, lore, aesthetics, tone and so on because we know that there are many shows and movies who have achieved these things. This is was absolutely not the case back in 1987. Back then Star Trek was not a franchise of different crews, ships, races and all the things I mentioned above: Star Trek was Kirk, Spock and McCoy; Star Trek was the Enterprise; Star Trek was Klingons and Romulans and Khan. This is all the audience knew and this is all the studio, Fontana and Gene knew. This is what directors who would be hired to direct new episodes knew. This meant that to create a new show you could go one of two ways: either waddle in the murk of trying to recreate old Trek with new actors and face the very real possibility of creative stagnation or try to do something completely new. I think Roddenberry had the right idea by going into the far future: I am not saying that trying to keep the old feel wouldn't have worked but I find his to be a more daring, more experimental and overall more creative enterprise (heh). But this comes with many difficulties because you are really trying to create a new show: you gotta think of the characters, how you write them, how you cast them, what tips do you give for the director, or the script writer or even the lighting professionals; you gotta think about the lore, the setting, the ship and the overall tone. How do you write dialogue? What themes are you going to explore? It's a difficult task, and it's even more difficult because even though it's all new it still has to be Star Trek in some way, which forces you to deal with the question of what Star Trek is and what you want it to be. This is a very confounding question because even though Roddenberry originally created Star Trek, art tends to escape the intentions of its creator and acquire a life of its own, something that holds especially true for cinema and television, a collaborative form of art if there ever was any. I think that this is also partly the reason why TNG struggled so much in its first season: grappling with the question of what Star Trek had been up to that point, what it was becoming and what it should become presented a big challenge for everyone involved. I also think that Gene acquiring semi-mythical status in the industry gave him a lot of power to shape Star Trek the way he saw fit which was not necessarily what was best for TNG or even the franchise as a whole. I personally feel like the success of TOS can be attributed to a great vision by the man but a vision that was nevertheless molded by all sorts of external factors whether those be studio executives, actors, crew, technical limitations and so on. Give the visionary too much room and you risk cutting of alternative avenues that the creation may follow. Finally while I think that with a few exceptions season one (and to a lesser extent 2) are kind of a slog to get through the rewards of the following seasons make it so much worth it. TNG is really, really good television. No doubt one of the best shows of all time.

Captain Proton

Makes sense though If she can pull THIS off, she can do anything in the role lol

Andreas Schmitt

Feel free to extend your discussion if you have enough to say. After your movie discussions I'm spoiled and want more :)

Andreas Schmitt

Love the new outro. I do like the movie uniforms, but I agree that it's good to have the color back in the TNG uniforms, though the "onesie pajamas" criticism is hard to argue with. The uniforms are one very concrete example of the show improving in season 3 onwards. They're pretty much the same, just made to look like actual clothes instead of pajamas.

Jeff Cornell

Rewatching this episode, I liked it better than the first time. I think it's because I've already seen the whole show and know the characters very well, that it works better.

FireBall_IA

Pretty sure it is a green screen of the enterprise bridge

FireBall_IA

the scene between beverly and picard was Gate Mcfadden's read during her audition and she was under the impression that start trek was a comedy

Castanea

Thanks for the info. I am not surprised. His antics date back well before Star Trek. He even cast 2 of his girlfriends in TOS while he was still married to Eileen. Such a horn-dog.

Collin Freeman

i'm listening to another ST podcast who is watching the show and they really never got over these first few episodes in terms of the Crushers. I tend to pretend the first season didn't happen

Castanea

I’m watching on Paramount with commercials so the sync points are very needed.

Aramis Calcutt

Was the abrupt ending intentional?

Aramis Calcutt

Wait. Is it a fake backdrop? Green screened?

Aramis Calcutt

Why is the focus so shallow? I want to see what’s on the shelf behind you.

Aramis Calcutt

this show will get better i promise

Castanea

This is the origin of the phrase, 🎶DRUUUUNK SHIMODA!🎶

Adam Reid

Alex and Josh….Its a bit of a rough start. Agreed. However, there will be some interesting episodes. This show will eventually give us stories and moments TOS, dare I say, could only dream of. I guess Im giving it the “hang in there” speech lol. But yes, it’ll be a rough start, and well worth watching it grow.

Chris S.

I was looking to see if anyone was gonna comment about Picard being the overseer lol

Tristan Rose

So the whole idea of Data having biological functions that let him be affected by intoxicants or whatever is pretty much only a first-season idea, it's used once or twice more and then abandoned for the rest of the series and he becomes fully electronic.

JD Nevesytrof

The close-up of Tasha's derriere, which Alex and Josh seemed to blame on the DOP, is specified in the script for this episode, and it was almost certainly Gene Roddenberry who wrote that scene as part of his rewrite of D. C. Fontana's script: "CLOSE ON A VERY SHAPELY REAR END moving down the corridor with a most provocative sway. CAMERA PULLS BACK TO REVEAL the shapely rear end belongs to Tasha, and she is moving with the sexiest walk imaginable -- quite unlike her usual straightforward stride." (The Star Trek Minutiae website has the scripts of the first ten movies and every episode of TNG and DS9, as well as a handful of Voyager episodes and a draft of the Enterprise pilot.)

Anthony Bernacchi

The TNG version of the rank insignia is the only one I ever understood or paid attention to. (For example, in the previous episode we know Q was wearing a captain's uniform for the climactic scenes because it had four pips, like Picard's.)

Anthony Bernacchi

I just looked up which episodes were in S2 and there are some really good ones in there.

Captain Proton

That's 48 eps to slog through. They barely made it through 12 of Buffy. And S2 is when that becomes one of the best shows on TV ever.

Ross43

Watching this just made me appreciate The Naked Time even more and reminded me of how much I dislike the kid. A rough two seasons for sure but it's growing pains. Once season 3 hits it becomes one of the best shows on TV ever.

Captain Proton

I put this episode on the low tier, definitely. No, it’s not even fun. Not to me. It’s silly, goofy, trite, superfluous, even lame. (Sorry if any of the words in that list are too synonymous.)

Tom Occhipinti

The horniness in this script was probably a Gene Roddenberry idea. After TOS, he became more interested in doing projects that were more overt about sexuality. See the film Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971) which he wrote and produced. He also had a script ready for Star Trek: Phase 2 in which some of the characters' minds were overtaken by some alien force and they lived out their sexual fantasies (how he expected that to make prime time TV in 1977 is beyond me). I think the way he went about it felt cheap, sleazy, and played to the lowest denominator.

Collin Freeman

Yes, I remember this. I think this is the only episode she calls Riker Bill and not Will.

Collin Freeman

I love the movie uniforms but I also love the "pyjamas" :) The pyjama's will get redesigned and evolve over the course of this show and future ones, mostly to make them more comfortable for the cast.

Andreas Schmitt

I never hated this one, but it isn't great. It's...there. One thing about TNG I haven't seen anyone comment on yet are the rank insignias. I apologize if anyone else has posted these. On TOS the rank insignia was the braid on the sleeves. Here on TNG it's the gold pips or buttons on their collars. Picard has 4 solid pips, which is for Captain. Riker is a Commander, which is 3 solid pips. A Lieutenant Commander has 3 pips, 2 solid and 1 outlined. A Lieutenant has 2 solid pips. An Ensign has 1 solid pip. There are other ranks accounted for and will be seen later on, but these are the major ones seen early. Just something to look for.

KatWithAttitude

Agreed with the added sync points. I pulled out the BluRay set for this episode and the sync was 100% on point, but the added sync points are great for the Netflix and I assume Paramount+ crowd as well due to the extra time during the ad break transitions.

Ca$hWednesday

Would have been less awkward if there was some exaggerated movement in Crusher's arm to make the crotch grab more obvious. Maybe I'm slow, but it took me until someone else in these comments mentioned Picard was getting his junk fondled that I clued in. I can't help but laugh every time i see that scene because the sound is so strange.

Ca$hWednesday

Thanks for the added sync points! Watching it on Netflix and it's always a few seconds off so this helped a lot. Great reaction! Honestly love rewatching all these old episodes with you, even the bad ones. Always nice to see other perspectives.

Elizabeth N

I always figured it was to imply that as the camera zoomed in, Dr. Crusher, erm, crushed his junk.

Nolan

Pretty sure that grunty laugh of Picard's was Dr. Crusher grabbing his junk just below frame... "Picard is like the overseer." He really is. It's funny, as a fan who LOVES ship designs in Sci-fi and can pick em out of a line, it's minorly strange to me that you guys seem to be a bit ship-blind. The other ship wasn't like the "Reliant" in Wrath of Khan, but was a reuse of the model of the "USS Grissom" in "Search for Spock." They reuse models a LOT from here on out. It's probably why they started using ship classes as an explanation. The original show's ship was labelled "Constitution Class" in this episode, while the Enterprise of this show is a "Galaxy Class," as stated early in the pilot. It's an okay episode. Still not firmly established as its own show, but I do like how it is also aware of its history and, as Alex would say, "The Lore."

Nolan

I think at the time there was DEFINITELY a feeling of being scared if this could ever work, if the fans would just hate it, if Star Trek could even exist without Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Most of the main cast didn't think they'd make it out of the first season so they just tried to have fun with it while it lasted. Nobody expected TNG to eventually outperform TOS. If you listen to interviews with Johnathan Frakes, he says it openly: They thought this was a bad idea and that it was impossible to remake Star Trek. Not sure if this episode was written as the second one, but I can see a network being nervous as the reason to broadcast this as the second one, to keep all the TOS refrences up front

Andreas Schmitt

I’m a fan of the episode for the fun. I enjoy the TOS callback and bringing in the writer to do the sequel but I also agree with all the criticism. Don’t take the Data stuff seriously from a continuity standpoint though they do sprinkle in fully functional jokes in the future. You know the cast had to have had fun with this.

Jonathan

Oh, and as someone who asked for some help with syncing, thanks!

Joe Concepts

Less sync issues on this one though. It only desynched on the very first ad-break. The others were just fine.

Andreas Schmitt

In regards to data being "fully functional" and "being affected": A big part of his identiy is that he was built to be as human-like as possible. So yes he has indeed a "sexuality routine" programmed into him and is indeed anatomically fully intact hehe.

Andreas Schmitt

I love the new background :)

Andreas Schmitt

Sync with Paramount+ was very good this episode! BTW why this video ends early? looks like it cut mid sentence!

Jiri Luza

So can data apparently

AzoriusMage

I'll agree with you guys that Naked Time did a better job of having a "variety" of reactions to the intoxication that were meant to teach you fundamentals of each character and it therefore did more lifting from a writing standpoint... however, I think Naked Time underplayed the horniness element, for lack of a better term. Frankly, that many attractive, prime specimen adults experiencing the least inhibitions they've ever experienced, the most amplified base desires they've ever experienced... everybody gettin' it on would have been the single most common outcome LOL. So to me, this time around the "drunkenness" virus or whatever it is feels more believable than it did before. Naked Now feels less like a writer is trying to inform me of character traits, which is a good thing

James Bottas

So, interesting personal story regarding this episode. This is the first TNG episode that I saw as a kid. I saw movies 2 and 3 and a bunch of TOS episodes before. I hadn't heard anything about Star Trek TNG being made and thought the only Star Trek out was with William Shatner and the original cast. A lot of movie and TV news was not always easy to come by in those days. I was watching TV on the day this first aired and I changed channels to this sometime after the intro and never saw the "Star Trek" logo, instead I saw characters walking around in what looked something like Star Trek uniforms. When James T. Kirk was mentioned I remember getting really excited because it confirmed that this was some new Star Trek series that I was watching. For whatever reason (I don't remember now whether I just missed them by accident, I was about 8 years old at the time) I missed most or all of the episodes of the first season the first time through, and only started watching the show every episode in Season 2. It was only when the DVD box set came out when I was an adult that I saw most of the Season 1 episodes for the first time.

Michael Ducharme

The weird Picard sound is legendary, there are still discussions in the fandom what was going on there, why did Patrick Stewart make that noise? Was it supposed to be a laugh, did he try to clear his throat, was it a mating call? Nobody knows.

Phillip Grischa

Because it sucks

Rich Cirivilleri

Not one of the best but not sure why people have such a downer on it.

AzoriusMage

Yes, and the audio description version I was playing had two scenes swapped between the first and second half for runtime Which created massive synchronize issue and issues for me as a viewer of the target audience

Thicketdweller

Note that Troi calls Riker "Bill." But then going forward he's known only as "Will." Kind of weird little continuity hiccup. Like they decided Will sounded better.

Joe Concepts

2 words..fully functional

Badger

The show definitely needed some time to separate itself from TOS. It will happen, over two seasons, and there are some good episodes along the way.

Stephen Wright

Yeah I noticed Farpoint kept getting out of sync, thanks.

MrDeadstu

Well they at least got the answer to one question about Data out of the way in this episode…

Dion James Pitman

Yes, morning TNG with TA

James Bottas

Yup.......yup......

Dale Gonyea


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