158 lines
7.2 KiB
Plaintext
158 lines
7.2 KiB
Plaintext
WARNING: The following post contains spoiler information for this week's TNG
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episode, "Tin Man", so if you're squeamish about spoilers...
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Hmm.
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This is going to be a difficult review to write.
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On the one hand, there were several things I really enjoyed watching this
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week. On the other hand, much of this show smelled entirely too much like the
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really bad parts of ST:TMP. More on that, after this word from your local
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synopsis:
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The Enterprise is diverted to a far distant star system, further than any
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manned probe has ever gone (and neither in Federation nor Romulan space, BTW).
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They take on board a passenger/Mission Specialist: one Tam Elbrun, a male
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Betazoid who is something of a genetic freak. You see, most Betazoids do not
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acquire full telepathic abilities until adolescence, but Tam was born with the
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ability, and the early barrage of thoughts and feelings has made him a bit...
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strange. He is, however, the Federation's #1 man for first-contact situations.
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Yes, that's relevant. The reason the Enterprise has been diverted is that
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Federation long-range probes have detected a new life-form in the system to
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which they're heading. It's roughly starship-sized and -shaped, but is most
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definitely alive. Unfortunately, the Romulans have laid claim to that section
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of space, so it's a race to get there first and to make first contact with, as
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the Federation has termed it, "Tin Man". (Hence the sending of the Enterprise:
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it's the Federation's fastest ship, and also faster than any Warbird.)
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However, things naturally don't go all that smoothly. Two Rihan ships are also
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trying to get to "Tin Man". One of them, by driving its engines to 30% above
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operating safety limits and completely crippling its own warp drive, manages
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to overtake the Enterprise on the outskirts of the system and hit it with a
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few well-placed shots, delaying it long enough so that the Warbird reaches TM
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first. It cannot make any contact, however, so decides to destroy TM before it
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can be used against them. Tam, in a desperate effort, makes conscious contact
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with TM, wakes it up, and warns it of impending danger. TM reacts instinctive-
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ly, destroying the Warbird...and almost the Enterprise. Main computers are
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partially down and shields are completely inoperative for the time being.
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We find out that TM calls itself G'amtu (sp?), and once had a crew, with which
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it lived in symbiosis. Once they died, it felt it had no reason to live, and
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so came to this star system to die when the star went supernova (which, as I
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should have mentioned earlier, it's about to do). While Geordi frantically
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struggles to make SOMETHING work on the Enterprise, the second Warbird shows up.
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It claims right of vengeance on TM, and warns the Enterprise not to interfere.
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Unfortunately, by this time Tam and Data are on board TM. Tam and TM find in
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each other the healing they need, manage to throw both the Warbird and the
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Enterprise well clear of the system, and send Data back to the Enterprise, un-
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harmed and somewhat awestruck by what he has just witnessed.
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Well, anyway, here's some comments.
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The good thing about this show was NOT the plot. The plot was, in many ways,
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similar to what we've witnessed many times before, particularly in ST:TMP.
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Among other things, Tam's closing line before merging with G'amtu is "This is
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where I belong", which is just too much like Will Decker to suit me. No,
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'twasn't the plot.
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What was good, for the most part, was the characterization. It was pretty good,
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but I'll lay down some specifics:
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--We got to see Geordi actually DO something in Engineering...something criti-
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cal, even. It gave me a nice feeling to hear him say, "I can have shields for
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you in thirty minutes," only to have Picard reply, "You've got TEN." He
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managed to repair shields, bring back up both the main computer and the long-
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range sensors (partially)...nice job.
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--Riker's anger at Tam over the incident for which Tam is now infamous (a
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first-contact that went wrong) was very well contained, and even well justi-
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fied (he lost two friends from his Academy class in that disaster). Rather
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than hearing him bellow out gripes against someone, he seemed to be holding
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it all in for the sake of the mission (which, of course, is kinda useless
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when the person you're trying to hide it from is a telepath). Nicely done.
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Also, the effects seemed better than usual. (Or maybe just fresher--after
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"Captain's Holiday" and then two weeks of reruns, any good effects sequence
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is refreshing.) The first shot of the Warbird decloaking, firing, and swooping
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past the Enterprise was very well shot, and we finally had a good comparison
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of the sizes (that Warbird is a BIG sucker!).
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Finally (for good points), the music for most of the show was also a new sound,
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and very well put together, particularly during Romulan attacks. Always a
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plus.
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Now, for some bad points. First of all, the plot, as I said, was mostly rehash.
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Even beyond that, though, I found one or two gaping problems:
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1) Picard should on no account have allowed Data to go over to TM with Tam.
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If Starfleet were worried about having both Soong-type androids on one ship in
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"The Offspring", they're gonna have a cow when they hear about this. "Okay,
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Picard, let's get this straight. You had a Romulan Warbird warping in for
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the express purpose of destroying this lifeform, you had no way of protecting
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it that you knew of other than provoking it to destroy the Warbird AND you,
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and you decided to beam over our ONLY Soong-type android??! Report to my
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office tomorrow at 0900, Lieutenant Picard."
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2) If the Warbird knew how damaged the Enterprise was (and they probably
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did), why didn't they stop to destroy it first? It would take away any chance
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of their interfering, and would be a bonus to take back to the Empire. "Well,
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our mission was a failure, but we blew the Federation flagship to bits..."
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Now, Tam was both a pleasure and a problem. For about the first half of the
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show, I was fascinated by him (very much like I was enthralled by Quintin
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Stone in Peter David's _A Rock and a Hard Place_). It even looked like he
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might be able to pull off sensing the "intense pain" better than Marina
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Sirtis ever has. Unfortunately, they didn't do as much with him as I would
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have liked, and he did start whining a bit near the end. Wasted potential.
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Sigh.
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I guess that covers about everything. Time for the ratings, I suppose:
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Plot: 5. That's about all this baby gets.
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Plot Handling: 6. Adequate, but nondescript.
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Characterization: 9. If Tam had been better, this might have been a 10.
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Technical: 8.5. Excellent effects and music, but stars about to go supernova
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don't go gradually, with hours and hours of warning.
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TOTAL: 7.1. Not bad, but not great, either.
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NEXT WEEK:
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Something which should be "Hollow Pursuits", but doesn't mention anything
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about what I've heard. This might not be such a good sign, when Richard
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Arnold lauds one thing and Paramount promotes another.
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Tim Lynch (Cornell's first Astronomy Major)
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BITNET: H52Y@CRNLVAX5
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INTERNET: H52Y@VAX5.CIT.CORNELL.EDU
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UUCP: ...!rochester!cornell!vax5.cit.cornell.edu!h52y
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"Oh, Mom, I wonder when I'll be waking,
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It's just that there's so much to do and I'm tired of sleeping..."
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--Suzanne Vega, "Tired of Sleeping"
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