In the twelfth episode of the first season of The Next Generation, Captain Picard tests the new holodeck upgrades and SHENANIGANS. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.
This was an unexpected delight.
It’s unexpected because I did not think the show would throw in a story like this barely halfway through the first season. This is the kind of story that an episodic show like The Next Generation waits years to give us. But here it is, and it works. It works because Tracy Tormé’s script is unafraid to be geeky, hilarious, and deeply odd. There’s a lot of shit here about the nature of computer-created beings that makes this kind of sad and uncomfortable, and I like that. I like that we have to think of those things as we’re watching it.
But right from the start, “The Big Goodbye†is about having fun. I’m sticking to the assertion that this is basically how the future does cosplaying and roleplaying because ISN’T THAT EXACTLY WHAT THIS IS??? That’s the joy we see here: these characters get to be other people within the holodeck. For Captain Picard, that means he gets to lose himself in the world of Dixon Hill, Private Eye. Y’all. A EARLY 1940S NOIR UNIVERSE. It’s an absolute treat to watch Picard have so much fun here, and you know, I think it’s pretty rare that a show would put it’s lead into something so geeky. I know that word has had negative connotations in the past, but I love it personally, and I think there’s an unabashed geekiness to seeing Data, Mr. Whalen, Dr. Crusher, and Picard explore Earth’s past.
They clap when people threaten them. They are thrilled by the very thought of someone being interrogated. THEY ARE ENDLESSLY PLEASED BY THE VIOLENCE AND GRITTINESS AROUND THEM. That juxtaposition works wonders in terms of the humor and surreality of “The Big Goodbye,†especially as the by-the-book mystery unfolds before them. And look, there’s a lot here that excited me, but I think the application of this technology is what made me the most happy. This is a great example of why I was drawn to science fiction over fantasy as a youth. I loved shit like this. I adored the experience of looking to the future and imagining the potential of technology and human interaction. I definitely do not consider myself of the camp that believes that technology (smartphones, online dating, and the like) has ruined us or made us worse as a race. I mean, look what I do for a living. I can’t imagine ever believing this was possible twenty years ago. I could not tour without the myriad of technologies and gadgets and mediums that I have available to me.
When I first started reading science fiction heavily, I couldn’t get over the sense of wonder over this kind of shit. I still can’t. I know Star Wars was supposed to take place in the past, but my brain couldn’t think of it that way. That was a future. A world where the Force was real could be possible, I reasoned. And why couldn’t a holodeck eventually be real? Why couldn’t interstellar space flight be real?
It’s with this basis that Tormé’s script then introduces the inevitable horror: what if you couldn’t leave a computer-created world? What if it was so real that you suffered physical and emotional pain that wasn’t simulated? While I don’t think “The Big Goodbye†went too far in depicting this (I’ve definitely seen more brutal applications of this trope), I appreciated that the crew reacted believably. Picard starts to demand to leave the holodeck; Data attempts to reason with the computer matter-of-factly as if the computer can be reasoned with. And christ, that is fascinating, too, isn’t it? Data is an android arguing with a giant computer. THE IRONY IS NOT LOST ON ME. But what else can they do? With the computer non-responsive, its safety measures malfunctioning, the only thing they have left to do is stall until someone on the outside figures this all out.
So what do they do? Confuse the computer. They begin to tell all of these fictional characters that they’re not real. Of course it’s a bad plan because the computer isn’t really programmed for the breaking of the fourth wall. But that’s why it allows them to stall; the computer kind of freaks out, manifesting that in Cyrus Redblock’s rage. Which is weird to think about because Redblock isn’t real! At the same time, Lt. McNary’s big goodbye to Picard is eerie because… well, is the computer asking him those questions? I don’t quite understand the holodeck technology enough to know whether there’s an actual AI attached to it, but it doesn’t make the scene any less touching regardless.
I never doubted that Picard would escape the holodeck and deliver the greeting to the Jarada correctly. The same goes with Wesley, who would clearly solve the problem of the malfunctioning holodeck. But that’s why many of those scenes were so short and superficial. That’s not the focus of this story, so I don’t mind that they weren’t developed all that much. I’m much more in favor of the script giving time to Dr. Crusher and Picard’s CONSTANT unresolved sexual tension. IT’S ABSOLUTELY CANON, WE ARE NOT IMAGINING THIS, SOUND THE ALARM. Good lord, y’all, that scene in the police station was too much.
All in all, a remarkably solid and entertaining episode of the show, made better by how risky it felt.
The video for “The Big Goodbye†can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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