{"id":4449,"date":"2015-02-17T13:00:57","date_gmt":"2015-02-17T21:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=4449"},"modified":"2015-02-17T11:34:52","modified_gmt":"2015-02-17T19:34:52","slug":"mark-watches-the-next-generation-s01e02-encounter-at-farpoint-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2015\/02\/mark-watches-the-next-generation-s01e02-encounter-at-farpoint-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘The Next Generation’: S01E02 – Encounter at Farpoint, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the second episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0The Next Generation<\/i>, Picard grapples with Q\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s demands and judgment as he tries to help his team solve the mystery of Farpoint. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I definitely think the second half of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Encounter at Farpoint\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is a lot stronger than the first, but I also understand that this originally aired as one piece. Still, I got a better sense of who these characters are once I got to see them in action. Plus, I feel like the entire Farpoint storyline wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t given much space to grow within the first half of this episode, though that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a necessary aspect of this story. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that I would have found the pilot as interesting as I did without the framing provided by Q\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s test of humanity.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll touch on that at the end. We have a lot to discuss!<\/p>\n

Deanna Troi<\/b><\/p>\n

YES. Y E S. First off, the idea that the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i> now has a counselor who can act as the ship\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s therapist is a BRILLIANT IDEA. Not only does it make sense in terms of organization and efficiency, but now there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a character within the fabric of\u00c2\u00a0The Next Generation<\/i> who can bring out any number of emotional storylines, and\u00c2\u00a0y<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all know how much I love emotional destruction<\/i>. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also half-Betazoid, a species that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new to the canon. (I think? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t recall them being mentioned in\u00c2\u00a0The Original Series<\/i>.) So we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got someone who is \u00e2\u20ac\u201c for lack of a better term \u00e2\u20ac\u201c empathic, able to determine the emotional state of any being in her vicinity. However, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one exception: she can speak telepathically with Riker, who she clearly had a relationship with, one that I imagine was strong enough to help develop this kind of connection. IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S AWKWARD. Uncomfortable!\u00c2\u00a0DRAMATIC<\/i>. They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hate each other, though, and I felt there was an affinity they felt towards each other. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s intriguing. MAY THEY RESUME THEIR RELATIONSHIP AGAIN?<\/p>\n

Holodecks<\/b><\/p>\n

WHAT! THIS MAY BE THE COOLEST TECHNOLOGY INTRODUCED IN THIS SERIES. Hell, even the science itself makes a lot of sense. If the transporters could reassemble matter in a way that made it possible to transport humans, then why couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you transport a forest? HOW MANY HOLODECKS ARE THERE? How many possible scenarios or locales are programmed into those computers? Are they limited to the size of the rooms? WHERE IS MY HOLODECK?<\/p>\n

I found it fitting that within a setting that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a version of reality \u00e2\u20ac\u201c as close to the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153real\u00e2\u20ac\u009d thing as possible within the space \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Riker meets Data and the two talk about authenticity. How \u00e2\u20ac\u0153real\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is Data if he is a programmed android? How much does that bother Riker? Riker might have felt disturbed by Data\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s presence, but throughout this episode he sees how valuable and trustworthy Data is. Sure, Data might be a\u00c2\u00a0reference<\/i> to the dynamic that Spock had within the original\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i>, but this episode makes it clear that Data is not at all the same. And I dig that.<\/p>\n

Picard\/Crusher<\/b><\/p>\n

To repeat what I said in the video for this episode, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Encounter at Farpoint\u00e2\u20ac\u009d does a lot to show us that Picard is nothing like Kirk. His distaste for children feels like such a bold decision for the writers to make, and I am utterly and completely into it. Picard staggers between an almost regal authority \u00e2\u20ac\u201c IF HE YELLED AT ME I WOULD BE REALLY SAD \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and a self-aware sense of perpetual awkwardness. I love this dichotomy, I want more of it, and be prepared for me to shriek constantly about Patrick Stewart\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face. (I just love that man so much, for reasons other than his acting.) I initially thought that his abrupt treatment of Wesley and Dr. Crusher was due to some weird romantic thing (like with Riker and Deanna Troi), but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m guessing that Dr. Crusher\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s husband died under Picard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s command. Does that make her presence strange on the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i>? It does for Picard, who thinks he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing the right thing by asking her if she wants to transfer. But Dr. Crusher, who may have her own reservations about being on a Starship again, deliberately signed up to work under Picard. Not only is that her choice, but she establishes very directly that she is here to do a job and do it well. THIS DYNAMIC IS ALREADY SO GREAT. Right off the bat, I feel like Dr. Crusher has a rapport with Picard that no one else does, and most of it involves her being assertive and able to make Picard endlessly uncomfortable and he just deflates around her and YES YES YES YES\u00c2\u00a0YES<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Farpoint<\/b><\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a neat story within the Farpoint mystery, though I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know if it would have been as interesting without Q\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s involvement. It felt like the kind of episode that fits right in with what\u00c2\u00a0The Original Series<\/i> did, especially since it involved a previously-unknown species that were being exploited for personal gain. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the small details that made me want so much more from this iteration of the\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i> universe. This cast is FUCKING HUGE, and the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153side\u00e2\u20ac\u009d characters all have way more lines than the secondary characters did in\u00c2\u00a0The Original Series<\/i>. I love that the team that beams down to the planet isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the Captain and his First Officer; it gives those other characters (like Geordi or Yar or Troi) a chance to get scenes. I like that, and I hope that is still the case in episodes going forward. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an improvement in the technology, from the transporters that don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem so stiff and unmanageable, to the BRILLIANT DECISION TO MAKE EVERYONE WEAR COMMS RIGHT THERE ON THEIR UNIFORMS, to the sheer efficiency of the crew working together. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a difficult thing to communicate in just 90 minutes, but by gods, I already see it. While there are people in this crew meeting for the first time, you can also tell that many of these folks have known one another for some time. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fascinating! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good visual storytelling, too, you know?<\/p>\n

And Q\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 holy shit, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. John de Lancie, first of all, is so unreal as this character. (Still gonna mention his greatness on\u00c2\u00a0Breaking Bad<\/i>.) PLEASE BRING Q BACK, Q IS SUCH A SMUG AND ENRAGING CHARACTER\u00c2\u00a0AND I WANT MORE<\/i>. Q is part of a species that is so full of themselves that they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even admit to Picard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s success; the test they designed wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t difficult enough, apparently. Of course, the very notion that this one mystery could act as a representative for the entire human race is fucked up, but Picard didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t refuse to take part. Even when it did<\/i> become challenging to determine a course of action that wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t harm the unknowing Bandi people\u00c2\u00a0or<\/i> the unnamed SPACE JELLYFISH, he still came up with a solution that provided the being with freedom from Zorn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s oppressive exploitation of it. The Bandi are not left hopeless and abandoned, and the SPACE JELLYFISH are reunited, all without displays of violence and force, aside from the freeing of the SPACE JELLYFISH, of course.<\/p>\n

I suspect that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t good enough for Q. WHEN DOES Q COME BACK??? Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tell me, oh my god. This was a decent pilot that has kept me interested in the show, so\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 a success! ONWARDS I GO TO FIND OUT WHY EVERYONE LOVES THIS SHOW SO MUCH.<\/p>\n

The video for the second half of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Encounter at Farpoint\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

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