94 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
94 lines
4.3 KiB
Plaintext
WARNING! The following posting contains spoilers for "Q-Who", this week's
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upcoming TNG episode. Not maybe, not probably--it's got 'em. If you don't
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want to know details, get out. NOW.
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Oh, a live one, huh?
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In the words of Nigel Tufnel, lead guitarist for Spinal Tap, "But this goes to
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eleven."
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Or, in other words: YA-HOOO!!!
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I loved it. Some humor, the return of Q, some wonderful bits of continuity, a
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little personal abuse, and the Enterprise almost going foom. Beautiful.
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With that gushing aside out of the way, here's a hopefully-quick (but probably
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not) synopsis:
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Picard, on his way to change his uniform after having hot chocolate spilled on
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it by a young ensign (bwa ha ha), steps out of a turbolift (oh no, not again) to
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find himself in a shuttle, out of the Enterprise's scanner range, with Q at the
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controls.
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Evnetually, Q brings him back...to Ten-Forward, which he apparently cleared of
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all personnel. All, that is, except for Guinan, who's had dealings with Q
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before...TWO CENTURIES before. Q's been kicked out of the Q-Continuum, and has
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decided that he really likes it on the Enterprise. So, he'd like to join the
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crew. Picard, naturally, has other ideas. Q gets a bit upset at Picard's
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assertion that they don't need him, that they're adequate to the tasks that
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await them, and decides to give them a taste of what's out beyond the space
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they've explored. He snaps his fingers, and Boom!, the ship's two years out
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from the most outer-rim starbase.
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I won't give too many details beyond that, except that the race they meet is
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called the Borg, they're a race of cyborgs, they're exceptionally nasty, and
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that the ending's probably not what you expect. (In some ways, it resembles
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"Conspiracy"--not a "oh, everything's wonderful now" ending at all.)
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Now, for my usual ramblings:
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Continuity ho! Remember those outposts that got wiped out (literally) in
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"The Neutral Zone"? Well, it appears that the Borg were responsible for it.
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It took them nearly a season, but they actually mentioned it. Yippee! (One
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thought, though; does this mean that the truce with the Romulans is now over?
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As I recall, the truce covered that one issue only.)
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I hereby take back every last qualm I had about Whoopi Goldberg's acting
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ability before the season started. Guinan lent a wonderful air of mystery
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to the episode that I don't think could have been done otherwise, and I
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eagerly await more details about her and her people.
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John DeLancie was his usual wonderful self. It's nice to have a recurring
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villain; gives the show a certain texture. And if they have to have one
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specific person come back, Q is it; but only when DeLancie plays him. Who
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else could get away with saying to the newly arrived (to Ten-Forward) Riker
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and Worf, "Ah, Commander Riker. And Micro-Brain! So nice to drop in. Give me
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a growl so I know you still care." Got to love him.
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I've said that in some ways, the show resembled "Conspiracy". (Actually, it
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was lots of ways: the ending, the superior enemy, the possibility of a coming
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invasion, etc.) Certain bits of it also resembled "Encounter at Farpoint", but
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only in good ways. I'm referring specifically to the ship being chased by the
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Borg craft, when they're going as fast as they can, but it isn't enough. A good
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chase now and then is nice to see.
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Lastly, the teaser was quite nice, albeit irrelevant until the last twenty
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seconds. I don't remember who played Ens. Sonia Gomez, but she was fun. It's
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not everyone who can boast about spilling hot chocolate on the captain and
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surviving, after all. Tee-hee.
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Well, my summing up is sort of a foregone conclusion, but I'll do it anyway.
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Plot: 9.9. A tenth off for murky logic after they wounded the other ship, but
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that's all.
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Plot Handling: 10. 'nuff said.
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Characterization: 10. Between Picard, Q, and Guinan, I don't think I could
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have given it anything else.
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Technical: 10. Beautiful shields on the Borg, among other things.
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TOTAL: 9.9975---> 10. Very, very nice.
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Next week:
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Picard undergoes a dangerous operation while Geordi is held hostage by
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terrorists. Could go either way.
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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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"Frightened? You are talking to one who has laughed in the face of death,
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sneered at doom, and chuckled at catastrophe. (I was petrified.)"
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