Justice (TNG)

Every once in a while, an episode comes along that just makes you wonder how exactly it even got made. In this week’s adventure, for example, Wesley Crusher is sentenced to death for walking on the grass.

Wesley Crusher is sentenced to death for walking on the grass.

Would you buy that pitch? I’m not certain I would buy that pitch.

The thing is, the premise itself is richer than it sounds. “Justice” could have been a solid, if unremarkable hour of television, if the writers had taken the time to figure out exactly where the compelling conflict was and cut out all the fluff. The episode that got made, unfortunately, has too much going on to give any of it the scrutiny it deserves, resulting in an ending that feels incredibly unsatisfying and a little like cheating.

The most obvious conflict is one Kirk dealt with a few times, and Picard will deal with again in much better episodes – what right do we have to dictate the lives of others? How far will Picard go to preserve the Prime Directive? Will he sacrifice the life of a crewman? Of a child? Of the son of one of his closest friends?

The god of the Edo is a jealous god.

That’s a compelling piece of drama. It could easily have consumed most of the hour. The problem is, it’s a question the writers have never had a great answer for. The Prime Directive question was skirted earlier this season in “Code of Honor”, but on that occasion, they didn’t do much more than play lip-service to it. Here Picard, Dr. Crusher, and the Edo leaders all make their speeches, but ultimately there’s no real conflict. Picard was never really going to let them execute Wesley. He’s never really even tempted to.

The Edo are relatively primitive, but they’re protected by a god-like being residing on a ship in orbit that sort of phases in and out of our reality. This is plot point number two which could have been its own episode, with the aliens briefly possessing Data to communicate with the crew. They are upset that the Federation has been colonizing star systems in the sector, a conflict which isn’t really picked up on or resolved.

The whole “God-like being protecting a lesser society” is not a new idea, but the idea that the being is in fact not a single individual, but a ship with a crew is interesting. Unfortunately, we don’t learn much else about them, and it all feels like a wasted opportunity.

Oh right, its the eighties.

Finally there’s an undercurrent of political commentary, that is to say, of the Edo’s bizarre justice system as a satire of our own, but this element, too, is not explored in enough detail to make it interesting.

Those are my thoughts about the episode from a structural perspective. Before we go, I’d like to point out the kind of blasé attitude the crew takes towards the idea of taking advantage of the Edo’s rather free attitudes about sexuality. It kind of makes the whole crew seem like Captain Kirks, including the women (or at least Tasha.) It’s weird because later hookin’ up with alien chicks is definitely at the very least frowned upon, but I guess those regulations aren’t in effect yet?

Random Observations:

Troi gets noticibly jealous when the Edo woman is all up on Riker. She definitely still has aa thing for him.

For someone who comes from a planet with “rape gangs”, Tasha sure seems comfortable being fondled by strangers.

Given the climate and their total lack of shame, it seems odd that the Edo wear clothing at all.

It's against his programming to impersonate a deity.

Worf won’t indulge in the Edo women because they seem too fragile – some interesting foreshadowing to his relationship with Jadzia.

This is the first time an alien calls Captain Picard a god. It will not be the last.

I actually found Wesley’s “I’m with Starfleet. We don’t lie.” to be one of his more endearing moments.

The whole “Garden of Eden” metaphor goes just a little too far.

Where No One Has Gone Before (TNG)

 In case I haven’t made this clear already, I don’t hate Wesley Crusher. When I was first introduced to him, I actually really liked him – I think he’s definitely the wish-fulfillment character for young Trekkies who are too eager to be grown-ups, and I definitely found myself in that category while TNG was still airing. This time around, I found him annoying in “The Naked Now”, but tolerable the rest of the time, and in “Where No One Has Gone Before” I once again find myself rooting for the guy.

Wesley doesn’t actually save the ship in this episode. He tries to, but Commander Riker does the sensible thing and doesn’t listen to him. Wesley, in Main Engineering working on a school project, is an outsider in the world of Important People like engineering genius Kosinski, and as such no one notices him. But this allows him to notice Kosinski’s mild-mannered assistant, who, like Wesley, is more than he appears.

And that’s at the heart of this episode. The scenes where we see the crew’s fantasies and fears becoming reality are fun and exciting and give the special effects team a chance to show off, but this is ground TOS has tread many times, and TNG doesn’t make more than a token effort to retread it. Instead, it focuses on the enigmatic alien who brought them out so far, and his relationship with the overlooked and misunderstood Wesley.

Just your run-of-the-mill translucent goat man.

We don’t learn much about the Traveler, in this episode or the other two in which he appears. But he is not Q. He can’t snap his fingers and reset everything, and he can’t travel the universe without a ship to take him. He also doesn’t care about Important People – while Kosinski insists on speaking only to the Captain, being offended by being put in Riker and Troi’s hands, the Traveler happily converses with Wesley. And later he tells Captain Picard that Wesley has the potential to be the next phase of human evolution, essentially, and needs to be nurtured in this.

I am sure the Wesley detractors hate this scene, especially given the not-so-secret fact that Wesley is Gene Rodenberry’s author insert character. But Picard’s decision to make Wesley Acting Ensign really only makes sense in light of that conversation But Picard’s decision to make Wesley Acting Ensign really only makes sense in light of that conversation.

Wait, a minute - this isn't waste extraction!

The rest of the episode’s plot, especially the second act, is lackluster, but not cringe-inducing. Picard’s admonishing the crew to control their thoughts is amusing, but there’s no payoff – everything from that point on goes a little too perfectly. The climax fails to build much tension, and not enough time is spent establishing the danger of people’s thoughts running wild – other episodes do this concept much better.             

Most of the character moments in this episode are light-hearted and happen as a result of the thoughts-become-reality premise – a notable exception being Tasha’s poorly-executed flashback to the rape planet. The opening scene of Riker being (it turns out justifiably) nervous about Kazinski toying with the engines helps set up the Picard/ Riker dynamic in a nice way.        

I didn’t hate this episode. But I didn’t like it all that much either. The Wesley/ Traveler plot worked a lot better than anything else that was going on, and the early scenes with Kazinki give us a nice sense of Riker as a character, but the writer’s at this point really have a lot to learn about pacing, action, and structuring a plot to give emotional tension.

Stray Observations:

Kazinski (Stanley Kamel) does an excellent job as the arrogant genius who gets cut down to size, though I would have loved to see a bit more of his downfall.

It’s weird that he doesn’t wear a combadge.

Troi is especially useless in this episode. She basically tells Riker that Kazinski is a dick, which everyone already knows.

Worf remembering his pet Targ totally contradicts the Worf backstory we get later.

Tasha/Geordi shiptease? That didn’t go anywhere.

Scale calculations are all over the place. At one point someone says we’ve only charted 11% of the Galaxy, as opposed to roughly half by the time Voyager comes around. Also Data says it would only take 300 years at Warp Nine to get home from another galaxy – I don’t think that jives with Voyager’s 75 year figure, but I could be wrong.

Geordi is still not Chief Engineer – now it’s someone called “Mr. Argyle” (a sly TOS reference?) but he’s introduced as “one of our chief Engineers.”

The scenes with the minor crewmen ballet dancing and playing in a string quartet are precious.

The remastered visuals are actually quite stunning.

The Naked Now (TNG)

"I am programmed in multiple techniques, a wide variety of pleasuring."

           “Everyone acts weird” is not a bad premise for an episode. There are plenty of decent, or even good examples out there. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for example, thrived on these, with episodes like “Band Candy” and “Once More with Feeling” serving as important catalysts for plot developments and changes in character relationships. But it seems to me an especially poor choice for the second episode of your series. Especially with a premise like “The Naked Now”, where impaired judgment leads to people acting out their deepest desires. A season later, this would be an awesome way to explore these characters and their relationships with one another, but at this point we don’t know these people well enough to really care. The writers are grasping at straws in a big way.

Indications of what humans would call "a wild party."

            I haven’t seen “The Naked Time”, the TOS episode this one plays homage to, in too long for me to say whether it had the same pitfalls. The set-up, in brief: The Enterprise receives a distress call from the U.S.S. Tsiolkovsky, a science ship, which consists of the Captain coming on the whole Enterprise crew, then some daring someone else to pull a lever, then everyone being sucked out the airlock. In short, Frat boys… IN SPACE! Of course Picard sends an away team over, and finding evidence of a “Wild Party” they quickly contaminate the Enterprise with the “everybody acts wacky” virus. Geordi becomes a sad sack about being blind, Tasha tries to fuck anything with a pulse (er… and some without), and Wesley Crusher does what any drunk sixteen year old would do if he could, and seizes control of the Enterprise.

            Seriously, this kid is terrifying. More on that later.

            Anyway, I’m not going to do this review in the form of a scene-by-scene synopsis. That was really just for the pilots because there was so much new stuff being introduced that I wanted to react to. This week I want to focus on a few specific issues, most notably the developing Wesley/ Picard situation and blatant sexism that runs rampant through the episode.

            Let’s start with the latter concern. So, while this contaminant is described as being like alcohol, i.e. lowering inhibitions, impairing judgment, etc, everyone does not react to it the same way, just as everyone does not react to alcohol the same way. Picard is a kind of a tired, sluggish drunk, Data is super friendly and rambles, and all of the women become nymphomaniacs. And here is issue number one. None of the men seem to develop increased libidos. Even Riker, who’s libido is pretty intense under normal circumstances, doesn’t hit on anyone. But Tasha, Beverly, the unnamed Captain of the Tsiolkovsky, and to a lesser extent Troi, all respond to the contaminant in the same way.

TNG's most popular ship. (You thought it was the Enterprise?)

            I’m not really sure what else to say about this. Beverly at least has some self-control, but her feelings for Captain Picard should be blatantly obvious to the entire crew by now. Tasha is out of control, as sexually aggressive as she usually is just aggressive, and doesn’t appear to have a particular target in mind. She’s ready to seduce whoever walks through the door, and while her dalliance with Data is played entirely for laughs, I can’t help but feel a bit skeezed out by it, especially as I don’t think Data was capable of giving consent. Still, he is sort of game for anything when it comes to experiencing new aspects of humanity, so he probably wasn’t too bothered by it.

            Incidentally, Data seems a lot more biological in this episode than in later ones. For example, he can be administered the cure via hypospray.

           In brief though, I feel like the writers could have tried a little harder, and seeing Beverly and Tasha go all boy-crazy in episode two does not bode well for how this show treats its female characters. Along similar lines, having its only disabled character spend all his drunk time whining about his disability is a bit pandering. Like seriously, “blind” is the entire extent of Geordi’s characterization as of yet. He doesn’t even have a real job, the Chief Engineer and Assistant Chief Engineer being people we never see again after this episode.

"Like taking candy from a baby."

            Speaking of the Chief Engineer, perhaps the reason we don’t see more of her is that a drunk sixteen-year old can easily wrest control of the ship from her. Apparently good judgment and inhibitions were the only thing keeping Wesley from pulling off a successful one-man mutiny, which honestly just does not bode well for the Enterprise. Although this kind of behavior is totally believable for a bratty teenager, other aspects of his personality in this episode make him seem like he’s nine or ten, for example talking to Geordi about using his Picard’s voice recorder to pretend he’s on the Enterprise. I mean, dude, you have a Holodeck! Or his proclamation the “a desert course will follow every meal, including breakfast” which is also quite silly because people have replicators and eat what they want when they want anyway.

            Wesley doesn’t get thrown in the brig because as well as recklessly endangering the ship, he ultimately manages to save it, he and his mother being basically the only two crew members capable of keeping their heads and solving problems while under the influence.

Random Observations:

The Tsiolkovsky's Captain says they're going to have "a real blow-out", just before everyone gets blown out the airlock. Ha!

This is another very ensemble-heavy episode – no one crew member takes center stage, but if I had to call it I’d say it’s a Beverly or a Wesley episode. Tagging Data and Tasha because of the famous scene.

             

Best laugh line in the episode was the Picard/ Data callback to the famous Tasha/ Data seduction scene:

“Well at least your functioning”

“Fully, Captain.”

            

 I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that “Fully Functional” has become one of the premier Star Trek Convention Pick Up Lines, and if nothing else this episode gave us that.

             

Deanna is still talking with a weird fake accent.

             

There is actually something charming about Will Wheaton in this episode. Sort of Ferris Bueller-esque.

             

The scene between Beverly and Picard was actually well-acted and quite funny. So was the scene where Picard finds out Data isn’t immune. Basically, Gates McFadden, Patrick Stewart, and Brent Spiner all managed convincing portrayals of “Drunk but trying to act sober” while the rest of the cast either went too far (Tasha, Geordi) or didn’t go far enough (Riker, Deanna.)

             

Worf manages to avoid getting infected possibly because Klingons have awesome immune systems and can also hold their liquor.

             

The Tsiolkovsky is a blatant reuse of the Enterprise D sets – they barely even tried to disguise it.

             

Still seeing a few of those miniskirts on the junior officers.