Star Trek TNG The Naked Now

The Naked Now is an episode that I liked when it first came out and now I've come to resent it.  I was a hormonal tweenager, so the innuendo was great fun at the time.  But as I've grown and seen more of TNG and rewatched episodes from TOS, I've come to think of this episode as really embarrassing.  If I were trying to sell a non-Trek person on this show, this is not an episode I'd choose to show them as an example, and one of the many reasons why I'm amazed that TNG lasted as long as it did ratings-wise.

Basically, if you've seen the episode The Naked Time from TOS, you've seen this episode.

TOS The Naked TIme

TNG The Naked Now

                



Starting with similar openings, there are very few differences.  In the original it was an intoxicated state bringing out hidden personality traits.  In this one it was an intoxicated state just making people act as if they were intoxicated. Even most of the people involved with the episode are embarrassed by it.  A writer's strike is blamed for the blatant recycling of the script but in the trivia on the episode it admits that Roddenberry wanted to recycle a lot of them.  And he did in one way or another.  That's why I called him a one-trick pony before.  Not to be degrade, but to be honest.  Dan Curtis had the same problem.  He started the Dark Shadows revival series in 1991 running the exact same story lines almost down to the letter, seemingly with the only purpose to take advantage of a bigger budget and better effects.  Really, I understand that desire.  Roddenberry created a show that was so far ahead of its time that he had to feel almost ripped off once technology that was more accommodating to science fiction began to expand.  But it was very much a gamble.  Star Trek's large following may have saved the series, but it could just as easily have sunk it with theses assaults on the fans' intelligence.
They chose to make it a comical episode and play with the "relationships" within the cast.  It was genuinely funny.  But, for crying out loud,this is the second episode - we just met these people!  And it was established in the pilot that Riker and Troi had history as well as Crusher and Picard.  The closer it's examined the less it makes sense and the more inconsistencies there are.

Obviously, Data is the big one.  This is the one and only time he is ever affected by a biological plague or disease of some kind.  His multiple techniques was really funny as a kid, but now it's a silly way to explain that he's functional in that capacity. 
Also Worf remained unaffected.  I suppose one can assume he wasn't affected because he wasn't human (neither was Data), but he was becoming the token race of this show.  They wanted to move the political climate forward by making peace between the Federation and Klingons and then putting a Klingon on board the Enterprise.  And then they had no idea what to do with him.
But he wasn't the only one.  Riker wasn't affect too much either apart from a little sweatiness and indecisiveness.  When the show first started I was worried that there may be too many main characters and this would seem to prove that theory correct.  The engineer woman wasn't overly affected either.  It didn't help matters that there was no chief engineer at this point.  There was usually a different one in every episode that required a supervising engineer.  It made things awkward because while you're seeing all the characters' drunken fits effect their work, you're not seeing all work stations affected.  As a further trivia note, Wesley's solution to the asteroid problem was also done in a different episode of TOS according to the trivia I looked up.

It's also notable, as a curiosity more than anything, that this is the only time I remember seeing face to face communication within the ship on the main viewer screen. I could be wrong but I only mention it as a way of pointing out things that are never seen again as I was doing with the Encounter At Farpoint episode.

But, I want to think of some positives to end on since I don't want to sit here and bash every episode from the first two seasons.  They're a part of the show as a whole as well, and even some parts of this episode are referenced again later on, particularly Data and Tasha's brief encounter though in a more mature fashion. 

So this juvenile writing escapade was turned into something more meaningful as part of Data's character development.  Crosby had better guest roles after Tasha was killed off it seems, and this affair added layers to later episodes featuring her as well as a one-off episode featuring Tasha's sister.  In fact, a lot of what was done early on was retooled and fixed after Roddenberry passed on.
I did like the way they thought to write Data's ability to still function as a proficient machine even while compromised, as he put the isolinear chips back towards the end.  That showed promise and ingenuity amidst a strange reboot script.
It was also a solid showing of Beverly Crusher's abilities even though she was behaving childishly as well.

When you look at all of Dr.Crusher's problem solving scenes throughout the entire series, they all look pretty much like they do in this episode.  It was unique to her character.  It was something Gates McFadden brought to the character, too, not anything that could be written in.  She established the character of the doctor early on as being different, personality-wise, from Dr. McCoy.  She was a strong character in the sea of first season remade and lackluster scripts.  When she returned in the 3rd season they tapped into this uniqueness and one of the best characters ever created flourished.
 There were also no political or religious implications in this episode, which is always a plus for me.

On the whole I give it 2 of 5 stars for these few positives I could glean from the episode.