In the twenty-first episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0The Next Generation<\/i>, the crew investigates the disappearance of an entire culture while Geordie copes with command. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Goddamn, this was another great episode. LET\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S TALK ABOUT EVERYTHING.<\/span><\/p>\n Minos<\/b><\/p>\n I love it when dual plots are both as entertaining and revealing as one another, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Arsenal of Freedom\u00e2\u20ac\u009d did a fine job in keeping me interested throughout. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little bit surprising because I feel like the premise here is similar to things we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen before on\u00c2\u00a0The Original Series<\/i>. The weapons system that the Minos people constructed was so effective that it killed them all; the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i> crew merely re-activate it. So there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no real antagonist here aside from the computer that is just doing the job it was programmed to do. (Is there a way that the Federation marks planets as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dangerous\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for others? Like, can someone stick a sign somewhere? Do they just update the mapping files? THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION, CLEARLY.)<\/p>\n What makes \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Arsenal of Freedom\u00e2\u20ac\u009d so compelling is the chance to take a typical premise and do something\u00c2\u00a0wonderful<\/i> with it. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m gonna talk positively about Dr. Crusher and Picard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s roles here, but I must say that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m\u00c2\u00a0really<\/i> craving more of Tasha. We get these little snippets of promise with her, and I love seeing how she asserts herself within the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i> crew. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only character here who\u00c2\u00a0hasn<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> been the focus of an episode yet, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d really like that. As for what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to see\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. I liked so much that Geordie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s characterization prior to this episode lent weight to his parts on the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i>, and the previous episode did wonders to help me understand Worf, too.<\/p>\n The reason I bring this up is because the best part of the sequences on Minos comes through character development. Two particular moments stick out to me, and they both involve Dr. Crusher and Picard. Now, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been no secret that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some romantic chemistry between these two characters, but HOLY UNRESOLVED SEXUAL TENSION. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much more intense here, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clearly because the writers used one of the most common tropes for bringing out that tension: put one character in mortal peril. Unfortunately, Dr. Crusher is more or less interrupted before she can reveal her \u00e2\u20ac\u0153truth\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to Picard, and IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO FRUSTRATING.<\/p>\n I mean, it wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be so bad if we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get that scene where Picard has Dr. Crusher walk him through what he needs to do to stop her bleeding. LIKE\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I HAVE READ SO MANY FICS USING THIS SAME TROPE, AND I PRETTY MUCH UNIVERSALLY LOVE IT. I love that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s keeping her awake while also saving her life, and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s staring at him with\u00c2\u00a0that look<\/i> and\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 okay. You get it. I feel like y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all get this. I hope this is not the last we see of this because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m honestly intrigued by the idea of a romance developing between these two. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so much potential, and I loved the acting between Patrick Stewart and Gates McFadden here. Just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 more? Please?<\/p>\n Geordie<\/b><\/p>\n YES. Y E S. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all,\u00c2\u00a0this<\/i> is what makes\u00c2\u00a0The Next Generation\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>the kind of show that can be better than\u00c2\u00a0The Original Series<\/i>. While this was definitely not the first time a secondary character assumed command in the\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i> canon, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such care taken to give us a story within \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Arsenal of Freedom\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that absolutely matters. Even though this is the second instance where Geordie was left in command, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot more pressure here for him to perform according to the guidelines of command. Human life hangs in the balance, and the problem is that Geordie has to weight two options, both of which are haunting. Does he stay behind and try to save his friends and commanders, risking the lives of thousands of other passengers? Or does he put the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i> before anyone else, saving a large number of lives, but dooming the others to certain death on Minos?<\/p>\n It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only now, thinking back on this episode, that I realize the writers foreshadowed the eventual conclusion. Early on, Riker talks about Captain Rice\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s command and how he was able to beat a test in the Academy by anticipating all his options and then inventing a new one. THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT GEORDIE DOES HERE. After Chief Engineer Logan is a big huge jerk face (I may be biased because that actor often plays scumbags), Geordie has to deal with his own disappointment. Which is brutal! It would have been so much easier to dismiss Logan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s concern if his theory about anticipating the location of the invisible weapon had worked. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, and as the crew looks to him for further assistance, Geordie isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t so sure he can offer.<\/p>\n BLESS DEANNA TROI FOR HER PRESENCE HERE. I love that her role justifies her presence on the\u00c2\u00a0Enterprise<\/i>. This ship needs someone for emotional support, and here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a perfect example of that. She correctly reads Geordie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reluctance and fear, and then she gives him something constructive that he can do with it. Good advice often works best when there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s some action that can be taken, particularly the kind that involves work you do on your own. So when Geordie comes up with his risky, last-minute plan to trick the weapon into revealing itself, he does so with a renewed confidence, one that reflects in how his crew behaves under such a ridiculous stressful situation.<\/p>\n I really want Geordie to get his own command. I WANT THIS MORE THAN MOST THINGS.<\/p>\n The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Arsenal of Freedom\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – The Mark Does Stuff Tour 2015 is now live and includes dates across the U.S., Canada, Europe, the U.K., and Ireland. Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a> In the twenty-first episode of the first season of\u00c2\u00a0The Next Generation, the crew investigates the disappearance of an entire culture while Geordie copes with command. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[614,632],"tags":[615],"class_list":["post-4583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-star-trek","category-the-next-generation","tag-mark-watches-star-trek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4583\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be the remainder of\u00c2\u00a0The Legend of Korra<\/i>, series 8 of\u00c2\u00a0Doctor Who<\/i>, and Kings<\/i>. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards<\/i> series will replace the Emelan books.
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