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Series Overview
Jean-Luc Picard - Patrick Stewart Will Riker - Jonathan Frakes Data - Brent Spiner Beverley Crusher - Gates McFadden Deanna Troi - Marina Sirtis Geordi LaForge - LeVar Burton Worf - Michael Dorn Wesley Crusher - Wil Wheaton 
OTHER SEASONS Season 1 Season 2 Season 4 Season 5 Season 6 Season 7 OTHER STAR TREK SHOWS Star Trek Deep Space Nine Voyager Enterprise OTHER TREKS THROUGH SPACE Babylon 5 The new Battlestar Galactica 
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Series OverviewSeason three and the show has finally hit its stride. Not only is our favourite star fleet doctor Beverly Crusher back, but there are no really poor episodes in this season. The scope of the show has been widened out a bit and episodes like On top of that we have Patrick Stewart's finest acting moment of the show so far in Sarek and a trio of the best episodes yet seen in Yesterday's Enterprise, The Offspring and the brilliantly thrilling cliffhanger Best of Both Worlds Part One. TopEvolutionA vital experiment that can be carried out only once in a lifetime is put under threat when the Enterprise is attacked by nanites, tiny robots used in medical procedures. Wesley has been modifying them and has created a whole new lifeform which is currently at war with the crew of the Enterprise. It seems to me that if someone carried out an unauthorised experiment that came close to destroying a starship and killing several hundred people then he ought to be thrown off the ship at the very least, drummed out of Starfleet and probably put in prison for a while. None of this happens to Wesley, of course. There is a study of the obsession of early genius failing to later match early expectations in the shape of the scientist whose experiment is under threat, but the rest of the story is standard stuff. TopThe Ensigns of CommandThe Sheliak Confederation are a race that have nothing to do with others, so when they contact the Enterprise is comes as a shock. They demand that a human colony be removed from one of their worlds. Data beams down through the radiation to find a thriving colony that do not wish to move. They are willing to fight to save their homes. Is Data’s understanding of humans is too limited to make them comprehend that their choice is to leave or to die. This is an interesting episode, dealing as it does with Data’s reaching out to grasp a better understanding of what it is to be human. His quest has proven to have some great moments and some embarrassing ones. This, fortunately, is not one of the latter. It is also nice to see the Federation not only being matched, but being ignored, in this case by the Sheliak, whose intransigence in considering even a short delay in the death sentence tests Picard to the full. TopSurvivorsThe Enterprise responds to an emergency beacon and finds a whole colony destroyed but for one elderly couple. They provide unsatisfactory answers as to what has transpired and Picard refuses to leave without the truth. Then the alien spaceship responsible for the destruction returns. This is a tried and tested formula episode. The big picture follows the Enterprise in its search for the truth and fighting off the alien attacking the colony, whilst there is a more personal story as Troi is afflicted with a strange music playing incessantly in her head, slowly sending her insane. The resolution to all of this is mundane and hardly a shock to anyone. TopWho Watches the Watchers?A secret observation post containing a team of scientists studying a bronze age society blows up and one of the local elders is injured. Dr Crusher treats him on the Enterprise and then erases his short-term memory. The procedure doesn’t take, however, and it soon becomes clear that the tribe’s advancement has been tainted. When the final living scientist is taken captive, Picard is faced with a choice between a life and the Prime Directive. Let’s face it, if the Federation were really serious about the Prime Directive then they wouldn’t go sticking observation posts on developing worlds. The technological arrogance of the organisation is sometimes hard to take. They, therefore, deserve every problem that they make for themselves in this sturdy, if uninspired, episode. TopThe BondingWhen a woman under his command is lost on an away mission, Worf attempts to bond with her son to bring him comfort. Wesley also faces the painful memories of his early loss in order to help the child, but neither are as successful as the dead mother who now reappears. Loss of a parent at any age is devastating, but in childhood it is an even bigger tragedy. How that is dealt with is the heart of this well-meaning episode that doesn't really hit its stride until the alien force shaped as the boy's mother appears and starts to cause trouble. TopBooby TrapWhen the Enterprise is caught in an ancient trap designed to sap ships of their power, Geordi has to come up with whole new ways of getting more out of the engines than ever before. In order to help, he recreates the original birthplace of the Enterprise in the Holodeck and falls in love with a simulated projection of one of the original design team. Holodecks shouldn’t be allowed. It’s a surprise that the human race is still going really because of them. After all, if falling in love with Holodeck programs is so easy (ask Will Riker) then why go to all the trouble of finding real partners? At least this episode gives Levar Burton a chance to take centre stage and is all the better for that. TopThe EnemyA distress call leads the Enterprise to a downed Romulan ship. Geordi gets stranded on the storm-ravaged planet and finds that he is not alone. Whilst the crew in orbit try to find a way to get Geordi home through the interference, he has to convince the last surviving member of the Romulan ship that they need to work together in order to survive. Wow, two Geordi shows in a row. It’s amazing how many natural phenomena interfere with the transporters isn’t it? Niggles aside, this is a good episode, though it takes all its ideas from other places and has nothing new to add to them. TopThe PriceThe Barzan have discovered a naturally occurring stable wormhole in their system. It links into the Delta Quadrant and offers an enormous opportunity in terms of exploration and trade. As a result, a number of bidders are interested in acquiring the rights to use it, including the Ferengi. They are not the only people willing to use unfair advantages, as Troi discovers when she gets close to one of the delegates. Geordi and Data decide to take a trip through the wormhole to test the claims of its worth and two Ferengi insist on going with them. Trade negotiations doesn’t sound like the kind of background to offer up a startling, original and truly exciting episode and so it turns out. This is actually pretty dull and without the presence of the comedy Ferengi (my haven’t they changed from the feral creatures we first met in series 1?) would be a total dead loss. This is the first completely satisfying episode of the new series, although there is some debate over the validity of both the Picard Manouevre and its solution. TopThe Vengeance FactorRaids on Federation outposts have to be stopped and Picard brings together the warring forces that have led to the violence in the hope of getting them to negotiate. Riker gets himself involved with one of the delegates and then finds that he is faced with a painful choice when the vengeance factor proves to have a power that cannot be denied. Tribalism (or nationalism) and its part in the causing and continuation of conflicts is examined in this interesting episode. The idea that the history of violence between two groups can never be wiped out, until one side or the other is eliminated anyway, is an all-too relevant one with the continuing problems within the Middle East and elsewhere. This is an example of how science fiction can tackle weighty subjects with a different slant. TopThe DefectorA Romulan ships hails the Enterprise asking for assistance from another of its own kind which is trying to destroy it. When the occupant beams aboard, he alerts the Captain to a huge offensive fleet build up in neutral space. He does not wish to have his young family suffer the destruction of war and is willing to sacrifice his freedom to help the Federation forestall war. Arriving at the spot, both he and the Federation learn the truth. The Romulan/Federation enmity was always a mirror of the Cold War between East and West, something that is long since past, but there are still echoes enough to resonate in this story. The more personal story of one man who is driven to betray all that he knows and loves in order to save all that he knows and loves is one that we could all relate to and the final betrayal is one that lingers long after the episode ends. TopThe HuntedA wanted killer is captured by the Enterprise, but does not seem to be all that he is labelled. Whilst certainly able to kill and destroy, he is a genetically-engineered soldier whose kind were abandoned on a penal colony when they had served their purpose. His future forms the crux of the episode Vietnam has long been an open wound on the American psyche and it pops up here in an examination of how that country treated its returning veterans. OK, it’s set in space and all that, but the obvious point that it is trying to make almost overwhelms the story, until the vet escapes and starts to outwit Worf’s security at every turn. TopThe High GroundThe Enterprise gets caught up in a civil uprising when Dr Crusher is taken hostage by a terrorist (who prefers the term freedom fighter, of course) who wants to use her to treat his sick people and gain weapons for his cause. The Federation doesn’t negotiate with terrorists, but if Picard isn’t willing to talk then the good Doctor will pay the price. We like to see Dr Crusher at the heart of an episode every now and then as the female members of the crew seem very much to be second class citizens in screen time. When it’s a story like this where she is required to be so haughty and uncaring and downright superior in her moral certainty, we might actually ask for less of her. This season seems determined to show the Federation as moral guardians of the universe, something they are clearly not equipped to be. TopDeja QThe Enterprise is struggling to save a planet from its falling moon when Q appears, naked and vulnerable, on the bridge. He claims to have been exiled from the Q continuum, but it isn’t until some of his old enemies show up, wanting to take revenge that Picard believes him. And that still doesn’t solve the problem of the moon. Just when season 3 was about to disappear under the weight of its own pretensions, along comes Q to save the day and inject a certain amount of levity into the proceedings. Q without his omnipotence is still waspish and sarcastic and fun to be around. Then there is also Corbin Bernsen, who shows up briefly as Q. This is immense fun. TopA Matter of PerspectiveA scientist working on a new energy source dies in an explosion and it becomes all too clear that Riker was involved with his wife and probably murdered him. Data and Geordi work on a holographic recreation of events from all the viewpoints of the various witnesses in a race to find the truth. Always thought that Riker's way with the ladies was going to get him into trouble one day and here he is on trial for his life after killing a wronged husband. Of course he didn't and we all know it all along, but this is a RASHOMON-inspired story that exists only to replay the events from several different angles until the truth is finally exposed. TopYesterday's EnterpriseWhen the Enterprise C emerges out of a time rift, Picard accepts it as a gift in the battle against the Klingon Empire, which is going badly for the Federation. Admittedly the ship is old, but an old gun is better than no gun at all and the crew is well-trained. Then Guinan explains to him that the war-torn galaxy he lives in is not the way that things should be and that the crew of Enterprise C should be sent back through the rift to face certain death in order to put the universe back. Finally an episode in this third season to get really excited about. The original show had its mirror universe and this is a glimpse into THE NEXT GENERATION’s one. A militarised ship on a war footing with a Tasha Yar who isn’t dead. Once you get used to it, you could almost think of it as a spin off series worth exploring. On top of that there is a story that takes its premise to the limit and uses it to explore the choice between the certain death of a few weighed against the possible deaths of millions. There are times when you wouldn't want to be a starship captain. This is one of them. One of the very best episodes so far. TopThe OffspringData calls his friends into his laboratory to introduce them to his daughter, Lal. He has built her using his own design and internal make-up. The Federation is immediately caught by the possibilities presented by a race of Datas and decide to take Lal away, something that Data will not allow to happen. Someone has put something in the writers’ coffee over at Paramount because now we have had two of the finest episodes of the whole show in quick succession. The delights here are almost too many to mention. Picard discussing reproduction with Data, Riker’s first encounter with Lal and a resolution for which the term heartbreaking might have been invented. It is not often that a sci-fi show can generate a deeply and genuinely moving moment, but this one does that. TopSins of the FatherWorf learns, through his brother, that their father has been declared a traitor to the Klingon Empire for conspiring with the Romulans at the Khitomer massacre. He immediately sets off to refute these claims, with his captain by his side, but learns that there is more at stake here than either his name or his honour. Klingon society is being ever more closely drawn and episodes like this bring it into sharper relief and make it much more believable. The power plays at the highest levels of klingon society are nicely observed and our first views of the High Council of Klingon is fascinating as is Worf’s final sacrifice. TopAllegiancePicard awakes in a strange alien cell with three other prisoners, two aliens and a Starfleet cadet. One of the aliens is a pacifist and the other a savage who will eat them all if they cannot escape quickly enough. Meanwhile, on the ship, Picard starts to give strange orders that sets the crew to thoughts of mutiny. A so-so episode that introduces a mystery the solution to which isn’t exactly pinning us to our seats. More fun is to be had, though, at the antics of the Picard on the Enterprise who is almost, but not quite, like the real thing. TopCaptain's HolidayThe Captain is persuaded (for which read ‘blackmailed’) into taking a holiday on Risa. There he encounters a lovely female rogue called Vash who is searching for a mythical doomsday device whilst on the run from a Ferengi ex-partner. Then alien agents arrive from the future to ensure that when the device is found it is placed into their safe hands. What absolute tosh, but what absolute fun. When THE NEXT GENERATION throws off its pretensions and just has a laugh the results are usually amongst the better episodes. This is one of those, with lots of amusement from Picard trying to have fun and relax when his idea of fun and relaxing involves hard work on the Enterprise and his reactions to being taken for a ride by the never-trustworthy Vash. TopTin ManThe Federation has detected an alien presence in neutral space and the Enterprise is detailed off to take an unstable Betazoid ambassador there to greet it. The Romulans are on the way too, so the race is on, but the ambassador has already messed up on a vital mission for the Federation once. Can he cope with this one? Sometimes, the crew of the Enterprise become bystanders in their own show. They do little here but provide transport for the troubled ambassador. Troi tries to get close and unlock some of the man’s personality, but that’s as far as it goes. It’s an interesting enough episode, but doesn’t rise above the average. TopHollow PursuitsLt Barclay is failing. He is not an asset to the ship and his superiors are looking at having him reassigned from the ship. Captain Picard, however, does not believe in moving a problem elsewhere. He demands that the department heads aid in Mr Barclays development. Reg, however, finds the interest embarrassing and retreats into his own holodeck fantasy world peopled by representations of the real crew. It’s a nice idea to look at someone in Starfleet who isn’t perfect. It’s a superb idea to get him played by Dwight Schultz, who creates one of the few truly memorable characters. His likeable bumbling is a tour de force and the episode coasts by on the back of his work. As for the rest of the plot, well you’ll have forgotten that within half an hour of seeing it. The Most ToysData is destroyed in a shuttle accident whilst transporting unstable elements to the Enterprise from a trading ship. Whilst dealing with their loss, the crew learn that their mission was a setup and that Data may still be alive. He is actually the prisoner of a manic collector of unique things. Every attempt he makes at resisting his captor is neatly sidestepped, but Data is a logical being and sometimes murder is a most logical step. This is a light and frothy fable with a dark and nasty edge beneath it. Data’s captor is full of joy and delight, but is capable of hideous cruelty if he does not get what he wants and Data doesn’t want to give him what he wants. It’s a cat and mouse game, then, and one which is intriguing to watch and has a fascinating last act. TopSarekSarek, the father of Spock, comes aboard the Enterprise for one last mission. That is put in jeopardy by an illness that affects the elderly Vulcan’s steely emotional control. Picard agrees to act as a vessel for all Sarek’s emotions for the length of time that it takes to carry out the negotiations. This is a dignified episode that deals with the ravages of time as we grow old. You can almost see Patrick Stewart jumping for joy when he first read the script of the scene in which Picard is overwhelmed by it all and shares all his darkest fears and hates alone in his ready room with Counsellor Troi. It’s a moment of powerhouse acting in a refined story. TopMenage a TroiWhen a Ferengi falls for Lwaxana Troi following a trade conference, he kidnaps her, Deanna and Riker in order to persuade her to become his lover, not least so that he can make good use of her telepathy for making profit. Whilst Deanna and Riker look for a way to escape, Lwaxana decides to use her own distinct charms to save their lives. When Lwaxana Troi is about you know that you're in for a fun story with absolutely no semblance of believability and this is no exception. Once again, it is Majel Barrett's performance as Lwaxana that makes this forgettable episode so much fun. Without her, this just wouldn't be. TopTransfigurationsA badly injured alien without a memory is saved by the crew. When he awakens, he is wracked by pains and energy emanations that seem to have the power to heal. An alien vessel arrives to claim the man, but will not say what his crime is and he claims asylum. It appears that he is metamorphosing into a being of light, something that some of his kind would naturally do if they were not exterminated when the symptoms first appear. What is different is dangerous and must be destroyed. Prejudice in its most basic form is tackled by THE NEXT GENERATION and the episode manages to do so in a manner that is less preachy and more exciting than some of the other 'meaningful' episodes that have cropped up this season. TopThe Best of Both Worlds - Part 1Another Federation outpost has gone missing, but no longer are the Romulans the prime suspects. A young and thrusting female officer challenges Riker’s position as the first officer of the flagship whilst investigating the possibility that this is the return of the Borg, the cybernetic beings first encountered as a result of being flung halfway across the galaxy by Q. The Borg have, indeed, finally returned and the very first step to the assimilation of the Federation is the taking of Jean Luc Picard. This is a startlingly good episode and has a climax that makes the long wait to the next series almost unbearable. The Borg are unstoppable and now they have Jean Luc Picard as one of them. It’s shocking, exciting and told at a blistering pace that still allows for meaningful character interplay. In a season with some real lows as well as definite high points, this is the crowning achievement. Roll on season four (quickly!). Top |
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