Just out of curiosity...what does it mean to "Shane" someone? I feel like it's a reference to something that I'm not getting.

Similar to the pilot, the idea behind this episode isn’t new to Star Trek. Something mysterious makes the crew act strangely, and they have to discover what it is and how to stop it. At the same time, I enjoyed this episode for the most part. I liked how the solution had to do with Kirk’s Enterprise, even the solution wasn’t as easy they thought it would be. It was entertaining to see these people, who are all trying really hard to stay professional, act more and more drunk. Data falling over has to be the funniest part of the episode for me. I also appreciate the fact that Ricker’s response to Deanna flirting with him was to bring her to sickbay. He could tell she wasn’t herself, and he wasn’t going to take advantage of her. On the flip side, Tasha seducing Data makes me really uncomfortable every time. I don’t know if it’s the dialogue, or the fact that she’s essentially drunk, or just that Data doesn’t seem to have a good understanding of human interactions, but that scene has never felt right to me.

However, I did enjoy the episode, and I especially liked that the solution came about as a team effort, with a lot of characters helping out at least a little. Ricker remembers hearing about a similar case, Data researches it, and Doctor Crusher using the information he finds to develop a cure. In fact, one of my favorite things about this show is how it takes advantage of the ensemble cast. It never feels like the Picard show, or the Picard and Riker show. In this episode alone, Picard, Doctor Crusher, Tasha, Geordi, Data, Ricker, Deanna, and Wesley all have important roles in the story, with Worf still being present but having a smaller role. I also loved seeing another women in a command position. Now we have a female chief engineer, chief medical officer, and chief security officer.

Getting to the negatives, though, there’s Wesley. When I was younger, I think I identified with him a little more, but even then, he wasn’t my favorite character or anything. He’s just annoying. There’s no real way of getting around that. I mean, I get that we’re supposed to sympathize with him and think that’s he’s really smart and Picard is being unreasonable by not allowing him on the bridge, but really? He may be smart, but he’s still a kid. The people on the bridge are adults doing their jobs. They’re busy running a starship. They don’t need a kid around, distracting them. Plus, he says there’s “nothing there [on the bridge] that I don’t understand.” Seriously, kid? Nothing??? I’m not sure I buy that, and I certainly don’t appreciate his arrogance.

Re: Gbz Cnevf. Zr gbb! V unq vg fb onq sbe uvz. Vg'f avpr gb xabj V jnfa'g gur bayl bar.

I agree with you completely. Holodecks are amazing! If I never get another piece of science fiction technology, I at least want a holodeck. Forget hoverboard and jetpacks - holodecks are way more awesome. You can create whole worlds! And explore them!

Now that we’ve seen both parts, we can talk about the plot. It’s alright. It’s not bad by any means, but it’s nothing great, either. A lot of it is devoted to introducing the characters and dropping vague, clunky hints about backstories. I mean, I want to learn more about these characters, but there must be a better way to do it than some of the wooden dialogue used in this episode. I enjoyed hearing Picard and Q argue over humanity’s savagery, though, and the mystery of Farpoint Station kept me interested for the duration of the episode. I have to admit that I did not see the ending coming. The glowing purple space jellyfish were definitely a surprise.

The message is pretty obvious, although it’s one I generally agree with, so I don’t really mind. It’s nice to see peace and diplomacy win the day. The Enterprise crew, Picard in particular, seem to view violence as a last resort, and one that’s not needed in this situation. Once they are able to gain a greater understanding of the unknown life forms they encounter in this episode, they are able to devise a solution that works out well for all parties involved. I think that’s an important message because people too often react with violence and mistrust when they encounter something new and different. A lot of problems could be solved if everyone involved just understood each other better. There’s a real optimism to this episode, too, revolving around the idea that humans will eventually become more peaceful and tolerant.

My favorite parts were the ones with Q. All of his pomp and dramatics are just endlessly entertaining to watch. Even in the end, when the humans have passed his test, he is unable to admit that he was wrong. Besides those scenes, the most interesting parts of the pilot for me were the parts that gave us more information about the Star Trek universe. There’s a mention of an atomic horror in the twenty-first century, and we get a glimpse of the courts that came after it. We also learn about a new alien species, the Betaziods, who can apparently read thoughts, and another species, the Ferengi, are mentioned in passing. Finally, the Klingons have a new design, complete with forehead ridges. Since I saw TNG first, this is what Klingons look like to me. The Klingons in TOS were always the weird ones from my perspective, even though technically, they were the original Klingons. Regardless, I like these Klingons more, for pretty obvious reasons. They now look like aliens, and not just guys in brownface.

All in all, this is an okay pilot and an okay episode. I don’t remember loving it when I first saw it, and I still don’t. Even so, it’s a decent introduction to a wonderful show. I can’t wait to see Mark fall in love with TNG the way I did.

It’s finally time for TNG! I can’t tell you how excited that makes me. Besides the few odd episodes of Star Trek: ToS, including, of course, “The Trouble With Tribbles,” as well as all of the movies, this was the first Star Trek I saw. In many ways, this *is* Star Trek to me. This is the crew and the ship I fell in love with. I’m too young to have seen the episodes when they aired, but I had all seven seasons on DVD, and I watched all of them with my mom. I still consider it to be one of my favorite TV shows ever.

Anyways, onto the actual episode!

Listening to the theme music made me surprisingly nostalgic. I forgot how much I loved this show. And a new theme song isn’t all we get - there are new uniforms, a new ship, and most importantly, a new cast. I love all of these characters, but I especially love Captain Picard. And Data. And Worf.

Actually, it’s really weird seeing everyone in this first episode, because they aren’t themselves yet. (Gnfun’f urer, Jbes vf va n erq havsbez, Evpxre qbrfa’g unir n orneq, naq gurer ner yvggyr zbzragf jurer crbcyr frrzf bhg bs punenpgre). It’s especially interesting to see because I don’t remember the early episodes much at all. I spent the episode mostly going “Oh, hey! It’s that guy! I didn’t know he was in the early episodes.” Pnfr va cbvag: Zvyrf B’Oevra. Frrvat uvz va guvf rcvfbqr znxrf zr ernyyl phevbhf gb svaq bhg jura ur orpbzrf n ovttre punenpgre. Nyfb, D. V unq ab erpbyyrpgvba jungfbrire gung ur jnf va gur svefg rcvfbqr. Ur’f cebonoyl zl snibevgr erbppheevat punenpgre - nf vs V’z havdhr va gung ertneq - ohg V jnf fhecevfrq gb frr uvz fubj hc va gur cvybg.

I won't get into the plot much, seeing how we're only halfway through the episode, but I will say that I like the mystery surrounding Q. You don't know who or what he is, what his motivations are, or even how he does the things he does. And while omniscient beings certainly aren't a new idea in the Star Trek universe, Q is different, and I like that.

Also, Bones. Bones forever. Like I mentioned earlier, I haven't seen much of the original series, but from what I have seen, Bones is one of my favorite characters. To have him here, comparing Data to Spock makes me happy on so many levels. It's also a nice moment when viewed as him passing the torch on to the new Enterprise and her crew.

Overall, I’m psyched to finally be watching Star Trek: TNG with Mark!