TNG Ep. 34: A Matter of Honor

Honor. This episode couldn't possibly be about Klingons, could it? Yes! It could!

Summary: Picard suggests that Riker joins a new species exchange program - specifically, that Riker join a Klingon ship and try not to get murdered. Riker loves the idea of the challenge and the notoriety of being the first human to serve on a Klingon ship. In fact, he does pretty well until the Klingons discover a hull-eating substance that they believe to have been planted by the Enterprise. Actually, the miscommunication is the fault of another exchange student, who saw the substance on the hull of both ships, but withheld reporting it until his analysis could be completed. The Enterprise rushes to warn the Klingons, but by then the Klingons are pissed off and have cloaked themselves, prepared to fire. Riker tries to reason with the Klingon captain but ends up having to trick him instead. Thanks to an emergency beacon that Worf gave him before he left the Enterprise, the Klingon captain ends up being transported to the command deck of the Enterprise. Riker takes over the Klingon ship just long enough to resolve the conflict in a manner satisfactory to both parties. The Klingon captain is returned to his ship, and Riker is returned to the Enterprise, sporting a nasty-looking bruise on the side of his face.

Riker with Klingons? I wouldn't have thought of it myself, but it turns out that Riker's pretty good with Klingons. About time he was good at something. His character has taken a pretty hefty beating in the last several episodes, especially when it comes to his relationships with the other sex. But Klingon women? With them, it's appropriate to make jokes about three-somes. The last time Riker had this much luck with women is when he actually got to sleep with one on Angel One. Lady killer, that one.

But who needs the ladies when you're a man's man? Wait, I'm not sure that came out right... What I meant is that Riker gets along with the Klingons because they are macho men (and women). And, to his credit, because he does the prerequisite research. Worms for dinner? No problem. Riker already ate worms that time that he was pretending to be a body-snatcher.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I really want to like Riker, and now maybe I can. Hesitant cheer! And Klingons. I really want to like he Klingons, death yell not withstanding, and this episode certainly didn't hurt that. YARRRRG! And pan out.

Family Bed to the Toddler Bed

This post is a bit time sensitive, what with it mentioning the upcoming baby, so consider it a bonus in your Star Trek month!

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Since my last post about our struggles with the family bed, we've moved, transitioned C to the toddler bed in his new room, and the new baby is just a week or so away. The only thing that has not changed is that C still moves around and kicks us too much to spend all of his sleeping time sleeping next to us. And even if he didn't, as much as I'd like a family bed, a Queen isn't big enough for four of us, especially when I'll be recovering from a C-section.

Ok, I have to take that back. I know that if we really, really wanted a family bed, we could have one. Our mattress is already on the floor, and we would just need another to put another on the floor beside it - and to rearrange some furniture, possibly get rid of a dresser, to make the room. During my recovery, C could sleep with Daddy in the family bed and I could sleep in another room with infant P, then we'd join up again when I was recovered and P was old enough. C would sleep on one side of us and P on the other. Lots of families manage that sort of arrangement, right? Well, as much as I love to cuddle my kid (kick-happy as he is), I do like to have SOME time away from him, and he's just too young to understand that he can't climb over the infant. Plus, that dresser has stuff in it.

So, we did finally kick him out of the family bed. He now has his own room, and a toddler bed, and he was almost two years old. (He is two, now). Strangely, C didn't have trouble with going to sleep in the toddler bed. The first night we set it up, I put his cuddly toys in it, told him it was his big boy bed, and he climbed right in and fell asleep. Amazing! Other parents have always told me how difficult the transition was. C was old enough and he knew what a bed was for. Not that he goes to bed like that every night, but any trouble he gives us has less to do with the bed and more to do with teething and that sort of thing. Now if only he would sleep the whole night there.

At first I let him into our bed when he'd wake up in the middle of the night. My bad. I was sleepy and I knew that it was the fastest way for me to get back to sleep. I was already missing the family bed and cuddle time. But, just like giving your child a bottle every night, it trains him to keep waking up every night. Forever. The fact that C would sometimes sleep in when he slept with us doesn't really make up for that. So I had to be a mean ole mommy and make him get back in his bed, even when that means me staying awake in his room for an hour or more. Now the rule is that he can't cuddle with mommy until after dawn, because that's past his usual wake up time, so cuddle time doesn't usually turn into sleeping. The rule works pretty well. In fact, for three nights in a row he slept all the way through the night and I was thrilled. Half the time he doesn't even want to come to our bed in the morning and instead goes straight to his toys. After Mommy assures him that she has not disappeared, of course.

So for those three nights we had complete success with the transition from family to toddler bed. Then? Then he started getting his two-year molars. Arg! It's always something, isn't it? Even if he goes back to sleeping through the night soon, next his brother will be waking us all up. C and P will have a grand ole party waking up their parents every night!

... Wish us luck!

TNG Ep. 33: Unnatural Selection

Oh, Star Trek. You and your clever episode titles.

Summary: Following a distress call, the Enterprise finds that the entire crew of the USS Lantree have died of the rapid onset of... old age. Naturally, this concerns the Enterprise greatly, so they download relevant data from the ship, place the ship on quarantine and hurry to the Lantree's last known port to warn the inhabitants there of the danger. Unfortunately the Darwin Genetic Research station is already showing signs of this rapid aging disease. The Station is most concerned about their genetic experiments, human children that have been genetically engineered. The children don't appear to be ill and may not be able to care for themselves after all of the affected adults have died. Dr. Pulaski, determined to prove that the children are not infected, ends up getting infected herself and she and Data land on the research station to help in their race against time. Through collective the efforts of the researchers, Dr. Pulaski, Data, and the Enterprise crew etc., they not only discover the cause, but manage to return everyone to good health. It turns out that the children were not just carries of the disease, but the cause; they release antibodies that aggressively seek out airborne pathogens and, in the process, mess with the DNA of regular humans.

The thing that impressed me the most is how well thought out this episode is. Sure, it's a bit generic in that this kind of plot could happen in any far-future scifi (and many not-so-far...) but at least if you're going to do a common theme, do it right. Make the details of the problem and of the characters' reactions believable. And this episode did, for the most part.

In fact, the only part that made me mutter under my breath was the very beginning. First off, it became clear that the episode was going to feature the new doctor, and I still miss Dr. Crusher. But mostly, the dialogue about her felt stilted. It was like telling me that the episode was going to be about her by writing said message on the frying pan swung at my face. If I try to forget the actual impact, I can just read the imprint on my forehead.

But really, the rest was realistic. I liked that the scientists at the research lab were blind to the possibility that their experiments caused the trouble. If the kids aren't sick, it can't be them, right? I also like how they neglected to mention that their 12 year old boys look 21. Real people are obtuse like that, blind to information that doesn't fit into their paradigm. Scientists are no exception.

Most of all, I liked that the crew was smart enough not to board the Lantree when their scans showed that there were no life signs aboard. Instead, they remotely control the Lantree so that they can turn the viewscreen on and at least see inside first. It's that sort of touch that not only gives you faith in the characters, but lets you believe that Star Trek is happening in the 24th century. It's like they have technology and military-esque training or something!

And Dr. Pulaski? I guess she wasn't that bad. I liked learning that she has a stubborn streak, but I'm not sure what else we learned besides the predictable "I believe that human life is sacred!" At least in fiction, that's why main characters become doctors. The rest is gravy. Or, the rest is a chance to show that you can act. Sigh.

TNG Ep. 32 The Schizoid Man

Summary: The Enterprise responds to a distress call for scientist Graves, leaving an away team while they briefly take care of another distress call from a nearby freighter. The away team learns that Graves is dying of a degenerative disease that attacks the nervous system. Data learns that Graves was Soong's teacher, and at Grave's request, calls him Grandpa. Graves had planned to transfer his intellect into a computer he built, but secretly uses Data instead and is thusly transported to the Enterprise with the rest of the away team and his young assistant, Kareen. Eventually "Data's" strange behavior tips the crew off and they figure out what Graves has done. Graves also tells Kareen, who cries and says that she does not want to be put into a machine as he proposes. Upset, Graves accidentally fractures her hand, then goes on to "accidentally" injure several others. Picard confronts Graves about his true identity and these "accidents." Gravea strikes Picard, thus validating Picard's concerns. The crew then find Data - himself, again - next to a computer console into which Graves has imported his intellect, sans his emotions. Data doesn't remember a thing and the crew make a few jokes at his expense.

Wow. Brent Spiner. I thought I always liked Data because he's an android and that's just cool. No. I think that even as a kid Brent Spiner's excellent acting was the main draw for Data and - dare I say! - the rest of the show. Usually, having one actor support an entire episode by playing two characters? Bad idea. But wait! It's Brent Spiner, so it's ok.

Seriously, the man has the ability to convince me that he's two different people in one body. He knows how to use different tones and mannerisms to clue you in to who he's playing at the moment. It makes you believe that the other characters could guess the change - and in fact, if they didn't, you'd think them dense.

And props to the writing in this episode. Unlike a certain early episode in season one, the dramatic irony is pulled off well, so that it doesn't make all the characters look like morons for not guessing at the mystery earlier. More specifically, I like how certain turns of phrase that Graves uses, and perspective that only Graves would have, really connected Graves-in-Data with Graves-before-Data.

And, I admit, I've always found the two-personalities-in-one-body idea fascinating. Anything that provides a disconnect between the physical body and/or people's expectations, and how that personality secretly wants to act. I always loved Quantum leap for that. Although with Data I'm rooting that the disconnect be discovered.

In other words, this episode was like the perfect mixture of champagne and orange juice. Mmmm, mimosa.

TNG Ep. 31 Loud as a Whisper

Summary: The Enterprise picks up experienced negotiator Riva and delivers him to Solais V at the request of the natives. Upon retrieving Riva, The Enterprise learns that he is deaf and that his "chorus" of three people speak for him thanks to some kind of telepathy. Riva flirts with Troi and probably would have flirted with Geordi if Geordi was female. Once they arrive on Solais V, Riva's chorus is killed in a sudden attack. Riva then wants to give up on the negotiations but Counselor Troi helps him see that he is still the best one for the job. Meanwhile, Data has learned Riva's native sign language, which helps him communicate with Troi and the rest of the crew. At Riva's request, the Enterprise leaves him on Solais V to continue the negotiations alone. Riva's plan is to teach the warring factions sign language.

I like that the galaxy's most trusted negotiator isn't the most tolerant and understanding person in the universe. In fact, he's ruling class and probably a bigot. At the very least, he believes that his personal capabilities, including the ability to negotiate, lie in his priveledged chorus. Not that he doesn't care for the people who make up his chorus, but he's a bit on the selfish side. It's all about him, or, er, all about him and the lovely Troi. She's a telepath, you see, and so she is worthy of his attention.

Good thing, I guess, because she's the one who points out to him that he is being selfish when he refuses to negotiate. Does that make Troi a good negotiator, too, since she negotiated a negotiator to continue negotiating? Ow. My head.

Lastly, I like Riva's solution at the end, but it made me feel a little sorry for Data that his ability to sign was used so little. Does he now delete that knowledge from his data banks? Can he even do that? Hmn...