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Friday, October 7, 2016

Star Trek TNG: Coming Of Age




I don't like this episode, but I have a measure of respect for it.  I'm very torn on this one.  


Two things are happening simultaneously in this episode.  First you have Picard and the Enterprise crew under investigation and you also have Wesley trying to pass an entrance exam into the academy.


The running theme seems to be tests.  Tests of loyalty for the Enterprise crew and various tests for Wesley on the planet.  I get it that they were really trying hard to come up with something meaningful in this episode.


Here are my problems with the episode.  Firstly, another moment of "you're doing it wrong."  If you have to have a "recap" episode in the first season, you're doing it wrong.  They bring up incidents from four previous episodes as a matter of inquisition into Picard's command style and walking the line with the prime directive.  This show hasn't even been on an entire season yet and we're already reliving the good times.  It's perilous if you want a long lifespan in a show.  This is the sort of thing that shouldn't happen until at least 4 seasons have passed.  The idea is to create tension, but the atmosphere is a little too negative for the end result.


All the while this is going on Picard is put to another command test when another kid who can't take parental pressures to achieve steals a shuttle craft to run away.  This part seemed out of place and even though it showcased Picard's coolness under pressure and ability to lead, it was obviously just a time killer since the rest of the interrogation and the investigation content was very weak... there just wasn't enough of it to support an entire episode.  The overall weakness of this episode is its biggest problem.
I guess that's the reason for having the sub plot of Wesley at the academy.  And I like it that they were trying so hard to have more than one thing going on during an episode for the purpose of character development.  It shows that there was more to the writers than what they'd been putting out so far.  But the time at the academy is just too awkward and weird.  You don't get a sense of realism from it.  The whole touchy-feely atmosphere; the guy in charge whose behavior is like that of a wise, mystic monk rather than an instructor or teacher; the colors... It seems more like a McDonald's play room than a serious training academy building.  The "tests" Wesley has to endure are, again, reminiscent of an after school special, only more compact and goofy.  In fact these segments seem to pander heavily to tweenagers.  Obviously younger teenagers would really enjoy the angst over the coming "psych" test which was hyped almost as being more important than any academic test.  That, again, is a little unrealistic, but I get what they were doing with the younger audience.  Perhaps it was smart, but not as enjoyable for a thinking adult.  Just more weakness.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the psych test itself was an early example of how Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan had far reaching effects and influence over all of the Star Trek franchise.  Star Trek II changed everything.  Hard decisions had to be made rather than the good guys just endlessly coming to the rescue and leaving unscathed.  They equate it to the loss of Wesley's own father, and I see the validity in that assessment.  Wesley's character was kept relatively 2-demensional for a long time, so the simplicity made some sense.  But I admire the test itself (even though I don't think it would be a realistic part of an entrance exam) because it showcased the complexity that had been started with Wrath of Khan, and was a taste of complexities to follow as the series progressed. 



Ultimately Wesley fails because he's too nice and too perfect.  Giving him nothing to work on and nowhere to grow, but simply used as an excuse to keep the character on the ship instead of sending him away to be the prodigy that the Traveler envisioned him as being.  The scene at the very end with Picard and Wesley is gold.  Pure gold - it wasn't sappy or childish - and they were utterly too blind to see it.  Had they paired Wesley with Picard sooner, he would've developed differently, but they were more concerned with Picard being uncomfortable with children and it's not until after Picard grows that Wesley has a chance and by then it's too late.




The investigation story ends with the admiral admitting that there's nothing wrong with Picard or the enterprise, but that he's just paranoid about the politics of the Federations and wants to promote Picard to a more powerful position.  Like I said, the negative atmosphere created in the episode gave a kind of anticlimactic let down to this ending.  All of that tension for nothing.  But the respect comes from the fact that they actually planned to follow up on this episode, though it doesn't really telegraph it all that well.  This episode sets up another one later, and that's the kind of broad-stroke writing that Star Trek would become expert at as the seasons passed and throughout Deep Space Nine.  This is another "first try" that needed to have the bugs worked out.

I don't know what kind of rating to give the episode.  I think two and a half because it is ultimately weak and not the most enjoyable watch even though the potential was very high and you could see a brighter future for the show in it.




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