TNG:Season 3 Episodes 9-

The Vengeance Factor (3x9) November 20,1989

Warring factions,peaceful solutions and Riker and a girl. The episode worked for me. There really hasn't been anything bad this season.

The Defector (3x10) January 1,1990

I remember watching this episode on New Years Night 1990 and being amazing here the series that had to be saved by fans had entered it's 4th decade.

This episode is a good one, who is this Romulan defector ? Is his information to be believed.This is really Next Generation at it's best.

The Hunted (3x11) January 8,1990

Super soliders run amok,wooden acting really made me not care, episode took 2 tries to finish over 3 days. I am glad I am ahead of my episode a day pace. At least if his acting ability was lacking, his character  had a cool name Roga Danar

The High Ground (3x12) January 29,1990

Isn't always disappointing when Vidal Sasson models are driven to acts of terrorism ?

The guest star acting his gotten really bad, the head of government security is equally as bad,wooden acting apparently was running rampant in late 1989 bit part/waiter circles.

The episode is probably best known for having scenes that mention the IRA deleted in Irish and British broadcasts.




Deja Q (3x13) February 5,1990

Q to the rescue of poorly acted episodes, Q has been kicked out of the continuum and is now human,turning up on The Enterprise as they are trying to put a moon that is about to crash into a planet  back in orbit. Corbin Bernson who was a big star on L.A. Law and the Major League movies appears,credited as Q2.

A Matter of Perspective (3x14) February 12,1990

The season hasn't had a Pulp episode yet, I enjoy them, this time Riker is accused of Murder and the holodeck is used to prove his innocence.

Yesterday's Enterprise (3x15) February 19,1990

This is the best episode in a while,or at least since the last best episode of the series. The writing,dealing with Time Travel and outcomes of changing the future/alternate timelines is first rate. The Proper send off of Tasha Yar is touching. It is the best Whoopi Goldberg episode to date.

The Offspring (3x16) March 12,1990

An interesting episode where Data makes an android, which chooses to be a female and calls him Father. Star fleet of course wants to take Lal away from Data and the Enterprise. It ends be a really episode, the writing and ideas are solid, the acting surprising so. Hallie Todd plays Lal and her robotic moments are very well done. The episode was directed by Jonathan Frakes (Riker) who appears only one scene, a comedic scene, that had me laughing out loud.

Sins of the Father (3x17) March 19,1990

Any episode dealing with Klingon culture are the best in the series. This is no different,written by Ronald D. Moore. As I get into the portion of the series where he wrote episodes, I am excited.It is really a sure sign the series has turned around from a rocky start.

Allegiance (3x18) March 26,1990

This episode just kinda misses with me. It is not bad, It is just overly memorable. It follows some really spectacular episodes. I do wonder why the seasons had 26 episodes. I am not sure this episode would have seen the light of day today with 10 to 15 episodes per season like the finer shows do today.

Captain's Holiday (3x19) April 15,1990

The Tax Day episodes have grown to become some of the finest moments in the series. I recall the anticipation surrounding those episodes ......

This is one of the better and more interesting episode, it may be on the best Picard episodes of the series and I doubt few actors could carry this episode off better than Sir Patrick Stewart did.

Picard is forced to take a vacation, on what I gather is a resort planet and gets involved with an archaeologist named Vash who will re appear in the series,Ferengis and a pair of time travelers from the 27th century.

TNG: Season 3, Episodes 1-8

Evolution (3x1) September 25,1989

Ok, start with what is new, and old

-Gates McFadden returns as Dr. Beverly Crusher.
-The Uniforms are new, I believe I read they are 2 piece instead of 1 piece, this is seen most clearly with Deanna who went from Gray to Red.

I watched Star Trek V over the Memorial Day weekend, but otherwise it has been 10 or 11 days since I have watched any TNG, as is the custom, I start a new season on the first day of the month. I lot has happened in the Star Trek Universe since I finshed season 2. Our local Library had an all day Star Trek festival which ended with a showing of the 2009 Star Trek movie. I went,it was nice,several people brought their collections of books,posters,models.I was not there for the trivia contest, I did think I would be really good at everything up to season 2 and lost completely after that. They had a vote on who is your favorite Captain, Interestingly Captain Picard won. Also a new Star Trek movie with the rebooted cast was released.

This episode was frankly unimpressive, again they tried to do too much. Dr. Crusher the mother wondering about her teen age son and how they don't seem to spending any time together.

The main plot was The Enterprise was set to observe a once in 200 steller explosion, a scientist was on board to do tests and weird things begin to happen.It turns out Wesley accidently released Nanities which take control of the ship.

Guinan makes a Frankenstein reference, Picard says he can't get Gulliver's Travel out of his head "over run by Lilliputians." Apparently this season comes with a reading list, I will keep monitoring that list.


The Ensigns of Command October 2,1989

The 50th episode of the series and one of the best to date.

We begin with the Moment of Data, the episode begins with Dr, Crusher and Picard getting ready to watch a String Quartet of which Data is a part of. Soon into the concert Picard gets up and leaves,walking past Data who looks hurt.

The main plot involves The Sheliak message The Enterprise to remove the colonist on Tau Cygini V. Picard figures out it will take 3 weeks while Sheliak are only giving him 3 days. The Treaty between the Sheliak and the Federation is long and plays a key as they refuse to give Picard extra time or even have face to face negotiations until he and Troi find the sub section paragraph that allows a face to face meeting.

Meanwhile on the planet, the colonist do not want to leave their homes and only Data can convince them to leave. In a nicely done sub plot a colonist falls in love (my interpretation) with Data.

The Dialogue is outstanding in this episode

Riker : Gentleman, we are giving you an assignment.I don't want to hear it is impossible."

Later
LaForge; "He wants the impossible" Wesley: "That is the definition of 'Captain'"

Data before vaporizing the water supply with his phaser: "That was the stun setting.This is not."

Picard has just out negotiated The Sheliak and getting the time needed to evacuate the planet
Riker : "You enjoyed that"
Picard "Your Damn Right I did"


LaForge: "Captain, we can do it. We can modify the transporters."
Picard:"Excellent"
LaForge: "It will take 15 years and a research team of a hundred.."
Picard:"Mister LaForge, I believe will postpone."

This episode was strong on every level.

The Survivors (3x3) October 9,1989

The Enterprise answers a distress call and finds only 2 people, a couple in their 80's, played by John Anderson and Anne Henry. The don't want to leave,Meanwhile Deanna Troi is hearing music box music to the point of being hysterical and is more or less put into a coma. Some of the details, of course one or both of them are not human and it is related to Troi's illness. The episode has a sentimental side that is really well done. In total, it works even though at times it seems it won't.

Who Watches the Watchers (3x4) October 16,1989

This is a Prime Directive episode and as I watched it I recalled the episode Justice (1x8) when someone is beamed up from a primitive planet to see God, that was done in an effort to save Wesley's life who was up on the Death Penalty for violating a local law. The concept here is interesting, The Federation in a holographic "duck blind" has been observing a proto-vulcan society. Two of the locals see the away team, one of whom is injuried and taken aboard The Enterprise, and he believes Picard to be their deity (The Picard). Most of the episode is how they get around the Prime Directive and make it ok. I thought the episode was better than a lot of critics did.

The Bonding (3x5) October 23,1989

It should be noted this is the first episode written by Ronald D. Moore who be responsible for the incredible reboot of Battlestar Galactica . This is an episode worthy of the legacy to come. 5 Star,can't miss. New candidate for the best show of the series.

Jeremy Aster is now an Orphan after the death in the line of duty of his mother. The first half of the episode deals with how crew members react to the death. Picard relates he told Wesley similar news about his father, Wesley can relate to losing a parent in the line of duty at that age. Worf as well is an orphan. I will say before I made the connection to Ronald Moore this the best written episode of the series to date. The actors all rise to the material. I particularly enjoyed how the entire cast in some way is involved. Micheal Dorn is great as Worf as he wants to go through a Klingon bonding ceremony with the child.

Suddenly his mother appears in the ship,then we get into spoilers, beautifully written. 5 Episodes into the season and it has been a strong season. The writing,acting and approach to the series is so much better than the first two season.It is almost making the first two seasons throw away seasons.

Bobby Trap (3x6) October 30,1989

The memorable part of this episode is Geordi falling for a holodeck version of the inventor of the warp engines, or propulsion or some techno babble. She is played by Susan Gibney who would return later in the series as the same character.

The Enemy (3x7) November 6,1989 

The plot really rips off Enemy Mine, the 1985 movie staring Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr. Federation and Romulans working together. Other wise it is a pretty good Romulan episode.

The Price (3x8) November 13,1989

This is another in the line of superior episodes that have opened this season. We are finally getting cool names for characters Devonini Ral as a love interest for Deanna,with some fairly hot scenes between the two of them. I suspected in the first two season the show was being written for Children. This evidence is prove it was not.






  

TNG: Season 2 Episode 16-22 and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Q Who (2x16) May 8,1989

Enter The Borg . Q returns, we learn he knows Guinan. Q sends The Enterprise 7,000 light years away where they encounter the  Borg and assimilating race. The Borg of course are the enemy in the whole series,much much more later. I was excited to reach this point in my viewing.

Samartian Snare (2x17) May 15,1989

The net flix guide had a picture similar to this and I took a pass for the day. Look at that horrible 1980's make up. No Way these villains are going to be interesting. Well, not much could follow the introduction of The Borg.

The episode kinda gets interesting at points. The Enterprise answers a distress call, the people seem rather causal about the whole thing, Geordi beams over and the Aliens (Pakleds) are , ahhh "linguistically challenge"  "He is Smart" , "We look for things", "Can you make our ship go" and " we need weapons like you have."

So it does get a little more interesting as it moves on. The other plot is more interesting. Picard and Wesley go to a star base, Wesley to take exams and Picard for his second heart replacement surgery.


Up the Long Ladder (2x18) May 22,1989

The Enterprise beams aboard the cast of The Quiet Man. A Klingon and an Irishman walk into a bar .........

The first half of the episode is fairly entertaining, the second half with the Mariposa colony is not and the result of keeping the Mariposa is interesting and pose some interesting questions on polygamy, if you care to tackle them.

Manhunt (2x19) June 19,1989

Please forgive your blogger. I had planned on watching everything in chronological order and I did not imagine the show would episodes in June. This episode actually aired 10 days after Star Trek V:The Final Frontier was released. My plan all along was to watch that movie after finishing this season. Ooops !

Any way, there is a lot going on in this episode and I think the maturity of the writers show in the fact this was not a bad episode at all even though anything involving Majel Barrett acting and time spent on the holodeck is immediately a prime recipe for a bad episode.

The episode had weird aliens,an unrecognizable Mick Fleetwood , Lwaxana Troi in heat, Picard hiding in the holodeck as Dixon Hill and  a truly hilarious Moment of Data where he is asked to go to a dinner  party and basically bore Lwaxana out of her mind. Some how it all works.

The Emissary (2x20) June 26,1989

Where this season has really shined is in Klingon episodes.You can argue about how good of actor Michael Dorn is, and I think he is suitable for the part. An old flame comes aboard the ship. Really good episode.

Peak Performance (2x21) July 10,1989

War game exercises go awry when a Fergi Vessel shows up. A really good episode on several levels. I liked the obnoxious Federation observer.Riker's command decisions are worthy of Kirk and the Kobayashi Maru. Moment of Data,the observer is a grand master at a 3D Connect 4 type game. After losing to the observer he begins to doubt his abilities, he gets the Grand Master to quit in the rematch by playing for a tie.

Shades of Gray (2x22) July 17,1989

Due to a writers strike, the season was cut short, which might be the reason for the Summer episodes. This is a clip show as Riker's life is in the balance.


Overview of the Season:

I recall my overview of TOS Season 2, I thought it started strong and then on a dime produced some of the worst episodes of that series. This season is the polar opposite, the same season that contained Data wanting to sneeze introduced us The Borg and the amazing episode where Riker was an officer on a Klingon ship. Back in the day, my friends agreed a series from the Klingon perspective  would be great  "These are the Voyages of K'tar, on a 5 year mission ....." The Klingon episodes are the best.

The Acting and the chemistry seems to be coming around in the season. The disappointment was in Dr. Pulaski's character which it seemed like writers weren't that interested in,She does have a lot of worthy moments after a rocky start,I can say she will be missed. I guess a middle aged actor playing a Doctor on a Star Ship was a bit of reach.

All of which brings us to an unfortunate interlude:


Star Trek V: The Final Frontier  Release Date: June 9,1989

It seems to be cruel to think people would actually need to force you into seat belts to see this movie, maybe to keep you in your seats for this 105 minute franchise low point.

Some how William Shatner ends up Directing and writing the story. It starts off well, we meet a renegade Vulcan, awesome idea. He and an army go to the Planet of Peace where the Federation,Klingons and Vulcan are negotiating,awesome idea. David Warner plays the human delegate, he has little to do,unfortunate waste of his talent.

Kirk,Spock and McCoy are camping in Yosemite and singing  Row,Row,Row your boat. Clever plot device "life is but a dream". Silly.

The Renegage Vulcan kidnaps the crew of The Enterprise to go the mythical planet at the center of the Universe. Now here is the problem. There is no payoff when the get to the planet. They meet a God like figure until Kirk asks the question "What would God need with a Space Ship ?" Good point and the major failing of the movie, It has no payoff what so ever.

Think about Raiders of the Lost Raider, OK, we have the Ark of the Covenant. At some point in time the Ark will be opened and we better have a good payoff, we get it, the Ark does what it did in the Bible and lots of Nazi's die. Great Movie. The pay off here is less and it is really where the movie fails. Shatner did a lot of spin control, the studio wouldn't let me do what I wanted to. When I had a chance to do a Director's Cut,I didn't , blah,blah,blah.

On to the next Season ............