It's interesting, the saucer section of the Enterprise takes only about an hour longer to arrive at Farpoint than did the stardrive section, despite having no warp capability of its own.
Until this viewing, I never noticed the Mr. Fusion (actually a Krups model 223A coffee grinder, used on screen presumably as a teapot) on the table in front of Picard after Riker finishes docking with the saucer section. Back to the Future, Alien, and ST:TNG (and possibly more) have this prop in common.
I'm trying to review the first half and the second half of this episode separately, but since the Blu-ray release I have contains the original "two-hour" (92-minute, really) version it's difficult to find the split. I'm considering the corridor scene between Data and Admiral McCoy as the end of Part 1, just based on time, and I hope that's a close enough guess. Without subscribing to CBS All Access just to play the last 30 seconds of their Part 1, or getting much luckier with my google-fu than I did today, it's as close as I'm going to get. Berman help me if the scenes were reordered for syndication (as they probably were)…
For my part, it's hard to decide if this is a more or less cringeworthy opening than DS9's "Emissary". I'll make no bones (sorry, Mr. Kelley) about it: Star Trek has pretty universally bad pilots across the entire franchise, and this (at least, the first half) is no exception in my book.
Character interactions being strained or awkward goes hand in hand with pilots in the Trek universe, but this first half is just the strangest assortment of emotions. Picard immediately jumping to "enemy" mode when Q shows up seems way out of character for the captain I know from later in the series, and is also just a straight-up overreaction even if I ignore what I know about the man. Separating the saucer section comes across as a blatant excuse to show off the new ship's capability, nothing more. Picard's tactical reasoning completely escapes me. Surely, if this new being (Q) wanted to harm the crew, he would have done so. His demonstrated power is already clear, so why leave the majority of the ship's crew stuck at sub-light velocities? The whole thing is just weird.
Without Picard's complete overreaction and the superfluous display of visual effects prowess that is separating the ship at warp, maybe Q's playfulness could have come through more in Part 1.
The scenes that do take place with Q in the room are more bearable, particularly (most of) the courtroom sequence. Some of the Picard I know and love shines through when he's countering Judge Q's points, and that plus John de Lancie's usual verve in the role makes the "court of the year 2079" scene a highlight.
As for Farpoint? Let's just pretend that none of…whatever that was between Riker, Wesley, and Crusher happened. I did, however, enjoy Riker's exchange with Groppler Zorn and the mysterious appearance of that bowl of apples.
In the end, most of my complaints (and I'm sure I'll have more in Part 2) likely trace back to the influence of TOS. As Andrew Bloom points out in his own review, this script draws heavily on tropes from the original Star Trek TV series—tropes that I never liked, and which even now keep me from going back to watch through TOS a second time.
My review of Part 2 (https://trakt.tv/comments/178384) covers the rest of the episode after the corridor scene with Data & McCoy.
Review by dgwVIP 9BlockedParent2018-06-08T03:41:12Z
It's interesting, the saucer section of the Enterprise takes only about an hour longer to arrive at Farpoint than did the stardrive section, despite having no warp capability of its own.
Until this viewing, I never noticed the Mr. Fusion (actually a Krups model 223A coffee grinder, used on screen presumably as a teapot) on the table in front of Picard after Riker finishes docking with the saucer section. Back to the Future, Alien, and ST:TNG (and possibly more) have this prop in common.
I'm trying to review the first half and the second half of this episode separately, but since the Blu-ray release I have contains the original "two-hour" (92-minute, really) version it's difficult to find the split. I'm considering the corridor scene between Data and Admiral McCoy as the end of Part 1, just based on time, and I hope that's a close enough guess. Without subscribing to CBS All Access just to play the last 30 seconds of their Part 1, or getting much luckier with my google-fu than I did today, it's as close as I'm going to get. Berman help me if the scenes were reordered for syndication (as they probably were)…
For my part, it's hard to decide if this is a more or less cringeworthy opening than DS9's "Emissary". I'll make no bones (sorry, Mr. Kelley) about it: Star Trek has pretty universally bad pilots across the entire franchise, and this (at least, the first half) is no exception in my book.
Character interactions being strained or awkward goes hand in hand with pilots in the Trek universe, but this first half is just the strangest assortment of emotions. Picard immediately jumping to "enemy" mode when Q shows up seems way out of character for the captain I know from later in the series, and is also just a straight-up overreaction even if I ignore what I know about the man. Separating the saucer section comes across as a blatant excuse to show off the new ship's capability, nothing more. Picard's tactical reasoning completely escapes me. Surely, if this new being (Q) wanted to harm the crew, he would have done so. His demonstrated power is already clear, so why leave the majority of the ship's crew stuck at sub-light velocities? The whole thing is just weird.
Without Picard's complete overreaction and the superfluous display of visual effects prowess that is separating the ship at warp, maybe Q's playfulness could have come through more in Part 1.
The scenes that do take place with Q in the room are more bearable, particularly (most of) the courtroom sequence. Some of the Picard I know and love shines through when he's countering Judge Q's points, and that plus John de Lancie's usual verve in the role makes the "court of the year 2079" scene a highlight.
As for Farpoint? Let's just pretend that none of…whatever that was between Riker, Wesley, and Crusher happened. I did, however, enjoy Riker's exchange with Groppler Zorn and the mysterious appearance of that bowl of apples.
In the end, most of my complaints (and I'm sure I'll have more in Part 2) likely trace back to the influence of TOS. As Andrew Bloom points out in his own review, this script draws heavily on tropes from the original Star Trek TV series—tropes that I never liked, and which even now keep me from going back to watch through TOS a second time.
My review of Part 2 (https://trakt.tv/comments/178384) covers the rest of the episode after the corridor scene with Data & McCoy.