I asked my husband the other day what his favorite coyote fails are and then offered my three...
I loved the catapult! I loved it because it failed in so many different ways, over and over. When I think of Coyote and Roadrunner, this is usually the first to come to mind.
The favorite in this is the pop up steel wall, even though it had to start back at the leg muscle vitamin pills (which is also a favorite because of the trail of fire.) It's from the episode Zoom and Bored, I think. I love this wall because he sets the trap early in the episode. When it doesn't work, they just carry on racing across it back and forth. They teased it for the whole episode until it sprang at the end. It just always stood out to me as a kid.
The Earthquake Pills are another product that just stayed in my mind over the years. Not really sure why... maybe that frightening realization after he swallows the whole bottle, that they will work on him... that delay before pills take effect... and he made it through the trauma just to walk off a cliff. It's just one of the best ones.
Then my husband mentioned one of his favorites - the bat suit and I was like, "Oh yes! That's the best too!" Because it was actually working! And then he relaxed and stopped looking where he was going and boom! he ran into a rock face...
There's actually too many to pick a favorite... every time I see a different one I say, "That's the best too!".... the superman suite... the tunnels he paints on the rock walls just to be mowed down by a train that comes out of them... the fake holes that backfire.... It's all the best. I just love the Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons!
Okay, we got our flyer for next year's line up at Silver Dollar City. They're going to have an illusionist and some contortionists next year which sounds pretty cool. They also have the specs on the new roller coaster, Time Traveler.
Speed of 50.3 miles an hour.
10 story, 90 degree vertical drop.
100 feet tall with the biggest loop peaking at 95 feet. Also include are a dive loop and a zero G roll.
Two separate launch areas, the first from 0 to 45mph in 3 seconds and the second from 30 to 45mph in 3 and a half seconds.
360 degree vehicles with adjustable magnetic spin control.
Most of it is pros for me. The vertical drop will be wonderful. I love loops and barrel rolls, so that will all be fun. The launches will be fun as well. It bills the 50.3 mph speed as being unprecedented, but I'm pretty sure Outlaw Run is faster... well over 60 mph, so I think playing up the speed aspect is kind of a hype. There are a few cons that I can see in this one though. Mostly they're in regards to the train cars. Firstly, there's only four cars with four passengers per car. That means the lines will be really long,even after the newness has worn off. Powder Keg has a similar problem with a shorter train as well as the fact that they are both longer rides... close to a minute and a half it looks like. So the wait times will be a headache. However, the wait times for the other rides will shorten at first perhaps and I can't say I'm disappointed... Wildfire is still the darling of the park and I'm content to ride that one over and over until the crowds for Time Traveler ease up. The other major con for me personally is the spinning vehicles. I don't know if I'll like that as much because I first became completely comfortable on roller coasters after I sat in the front car and was able to watch the track in front of me. For whatever reason I find that more comforting than sitting in the middle or back of a train. If I'm spinning around, I won't be able to watch the track. I don't know if I'm just weird, or if others think the idea of looking at other people spinning around in random places would take away from the enjoyment of the ride. But I'm anxious to try it out nonetheless.
Another holodeck adventure. It's a "for fun" episode and it is fun in spite of the fact that these stories aren't the best use of the holodeck. Of course, the safeties don't work again for reasons we'll never understand. But the appearance of Data in the program almost makes sense... better sense than Moriarty coming to life anyway.
Holodeck episodes are a result of the crew having too much free time on their hands. I'm mostly kidding, but that's what everyone is doing at the start of this one. Their mission has been delayed for a couple of days so everyone is catching up with their hobbies including and beginning with Picard. He's recording along to a Mozart piece with the flute that was salvaged from the probe in The Inner Light. It's encouraging to see that he's keeping with the instrument he learned to play when he was living another life instead of putting it in a trunk somewhere. But the captain is still the captain and he suffers many interruptions. First Geordi and Data come in asking for permission to experiment with creating an interface between Data's positronic brain and the ship's computers, so he can act as an emergency backup system in case of ship-wide failure. Picard okays it and goes back to his playing. Next, he's interrupted by Beverly who wants him to take a part in a play she's writing. He acts very humble in refusing claiming that he's not really that good of an actor, but he's obviously a little put off by the fact that she wasn't wanting to give him a leading role, only a very small part. It's all very funny of course. Once she's gone he starts to play again and is interrupted again. Now it's starting to get on his nerves. This time it's Worf wanting him to approve a schedule of security drills to be preformed while they're waiting for the ship they were due to meet. Picard doesn't approve and wonders why Worf is trying to stay busy during a slot of free time that doesn't come around too often. You may wonder why he didn't think the same thing about Geordi, but by now we all know that Geordi is a science nerd whose favorite hobby is his job and an experiment is as much fun as a vacation for him. Picard tells Worf to take the time off and resumes his music one last time. Worf returns to his quarters where Alexander asks him if he can go and he replies that he can. So Alexander puts a cowboy hat on him and tells him to saddle up. He'd written a Holodeck program set in the "ancient West" and had written the part of the sheriff to be played by his father, while he would be his deputy. The setting is Deadwood and the scene is something right out of a spaghetti western, complete with a hooker hanging out a window whistling at them. It's explained that Lt. Barclay helped write the program. Meanwhile, Geordi has the skin on Data's head opened and he's plugged into the computer with their experiment ready to begin. All seems well.
Alexander leads Worf to the saloon and explains to him that the guy sitting at a nearby table is the bad guy, Eli Hollister. He's mouthy and wild and typical of a western criminal. Worf begins playing along by stating that he's under arrest. When he doesn't cooperate, Worf easily lays him out. Too easily for Alexander who ups the difficulty settings and they start the scene over. The next time Eli's resistance is more challenging for Worf and he begins to understand why Alexander finds this program interesting. This is actually a good example of how the holodeck programs are supposed to work in an ideal situation and the only time it's ever demonstrated is during the Klingon calesthenic programs. In the middle of the scuffle a stranger comes through the doors and shoots Eli's hat off. It's Counselor Troi, who Alexander invited to play along with them. This was a good move since she'd been interacting rather intimately with Worf and Alexander ever since the episode Ethics where Worf was paralyzed. They were also on a slow build to tease a love story between Worf and Deanna, although I'm sure they hadn't even really considered it at this time. Just another happy coincidence. But things don't stay happy for long. It cuts back to Data and Geordi. Data has just felt a strange power surge so Geordi unplugs him. As Data leaves he holsters his tricorder like a pistol, seemingly unaware that he's done so.
Worf has taken Eli to the jailhouse where Troi is getting fully into her character of the mysterious stranger to the point that Worf is exasperated at her contrary nature. She agrees with Eli that Worf will be no match for his father when he comes to get him and blows smoke in his face. He asks her how she knows so much about this time period and she tells him that her human father used to tell her stories about it all the time. Then the owner of the saloon, a plump woman named Miss Annie, comes in to praise Worf on his bravery for standing up to Eli and his gang and proposes to reward him with a romantic dinner. Naturally, Worf is intensely uncomfortable and tries to respectfully turn her down. But she suspects another woman and slaps him in the face before walking off in a huff. Poor Worf. It's so funny to watch him because he's so painfully out of place. He asks Troi to become another deputy and she agrees to do it for $500. He sends Alexander off to get the money from the bank. Meanwhile, Picard is trying to listen to his recording and what plays back is an entirely different song although it's still titled as Picard saved it. Then Beverly is practicing her play with Riker and doesn't understand why he's hesitating with his lines. So he reads his lines loud and clear and they turn out to be some of the words from Ode To Spot, from Schisms. It was such a good comic effect, they had to bring it back at some point. So Crusher takes her computer pad to Geordi and tells him that when she tries to retrieve her play all she gets is Data's poetry. He figures that their experiment probably has something to do with it. And it's confirmed when we see Alexander returning with the money only to be kidnapped by Eli's associates. He's not alarmed, just annoyed saying that it's not time for him to be kidnapped yet in the story. So he tries to freeze the program but it doesn't respond. And from the shadows emerges Eli's father Frank... played to his confusion by Lt. Commander Data.
Data himself continues to behave strangely, but always unobserved or alone, shooing away his cat with a southern drawl and language befitting a western movie. When Alexander doesn't return, Worf goes to the saloon where Annie is still very cold to him. Then Frank Hollister enters with the other members of the gang that were with Eli. Worf sees that it's Data and comments in confusion. But Data appears to be sticking to the part of Frank without wavering, so Worf begins to play along and returns the hostile attitude with one of his own, claiming that he will not negotiate with criminals. It's always nice to see Spiner when he got the chance to behave differently that Data. As Frank Hollister he's the cold and calculating sort of western bad guy who is undeniably the leader of the gang. When he turns to leave, Frank grabs him hard enough to be painful, which is something that only Data can do, since Worf is extremely strong. He's surprised and realizes that this isn't really Data, so he tries to freeze the program too to no avail. He only just escapes as the henchmen begin firing. When he gets back to the jailhouse he tries to end the program. Troi is concerned and then a little panicked after she sees that he's been shot for real. Worf tries to explain that Data is Frank Hollister but that it's not really Data. Then they turn to see that Eli has turned into Data as well. For Eli, Spiner uses his more nasally voice that I don't really like, but it's fitting for that character. They know they're in trouble, but Troi thinks that if they finish out the story then the program should end automatically. That's laughable too - why should it since the safeties don't work and the computer is now generating characters to look like Data? But that's the questionable holodeck science we've all come to love. Worf leaves to investigate Alexander's disappearance. Meanwhile Geordi and Data are talking with Picard and Riker about how Data's programming has infected other systems such as the replicators (producing cat food) and recreational programs like the holodeck, although they still aren't concerned. They're only baffled when he begins to speak with a southern drawl again like Eli. He is unaware he's even doing it and as he is leaving, he mistakes the plant at the door for a spittoon as he swaggers away. Back in the jailhouse, Troi observes Eli in the cell shuffling cards exactly like Data does, which is to say very fast like a machine.
Troi is warning Worf about this when Frank comes in to see Eli, so that we get the side by side of twin Datas speaking to each other. Certainly not the first time since the introduction of Lore, but it had to be done at least once in this episode to add to the atmosphere. Worf agrees to a prisoner exchange, Eli for Alexander and they set up the time and place. Troi has to explain to Worf that in ancient West stories, the bad guys always break their word and that they would soon be facing an enemy that would have the same superhuman properties of an android. Nobody is coming to their rescue either. In engineering they've pinpointed Data's behavioral problems by observing that the database replacements go both ways and that he's picking up this 19th century American West behavior from another program in the computer the same way he's infected other systems with his music and poetry and things. But they don't know or really even care which program is affecting Data and assure Riker that they'll have it cleared up soon. So Worf has to MacGyver it and makes a little forcefield generator with his combadge and some tools that he persuaded Miss Annie to bring him. It'll only give him 15 seconds but it would be enough time to get the drop on Frank. He then leads Eli out for the exchange to begin.
All of the Hollister gang are now replicates of Data and they're posted on rooftop and behind a behind a building respectively. The exchange is made and Worf tells Alexander to run into the saloon while Frank also makes Eli get out of the way. Worf only has a second to turn his forcefield on before Frank starts firing. He empties his revolver before the forcefield stops. The accomplice by the building turns to fire, but he's taken out by Troi who was also hiding in wait. The rooftop Data throws his pistol to Frank but Worf draws first and shoots the gun out of his hand. He wants to finish him off, but he looks at Alexander and decides, in keeping in the spirit of the story, to tell Frank and his gang to leave town and never come back. And they do leave because that's how the holodeck story is meant to end. Back in the saloon, they can't figure out why the program hasn't ended yet. And from up the stairs we see that lastly, Miss Annie has turned into Data as well and begins expressing her admiration for Sheriff Worf and telling him that he's as handy with a gun as he is with a woman's heart. Worf begs for the program to end and after Annie sidles up to Worf and lays her head on his shoulder, it finally does.
Later that evening Alexander is a little depressed because he figures that his dad won't go back to the holodeck with him after that little disaster. But Worf assures him that if Deadwood should face danger again, that it would need a sheriff and his deputy. He leaves Alexander with a smile and tries on his hat in front of the mirror, practicing the quick draw of an imaginary pistol. He did indeed enjoy the adventure.
This is a good family episode. The holodeck science is always ripe for nit-picking, but this episode differed a little in that the people being afflicted by the malfunction had to deal with it themselves with no direct outside help. It made the story more personal to the characters both in and out of the holodeck and kept the tone light-hearted and fun. The comedy was very nicely written and not immature. Spiner got to step outside of Data which is always refreshing. It was a nice little story, so I can't really be put off by the holodeck science like others can. Four stars.
I liked Rascals. I always qualify this by admitting that transporter science fiction is shaky, but when the story is good, it covers up the imperfections. This was a good story.
Ensign Ro, Captain Picard, Keiko O'Brien, and Guinan are returning from shore leave. How these four ended up in the same shore leave party is a mystery, but I assume they were just taking it as they could get it. Picard is talking animatedly about the archeological digs he visited and shows them some old pieces of pottery. It's odd for everyone to see the captain so relaxed and excited like a schoolboy. Guinan can't help but disapprove a little, noting that he spent all the time on a beautiful planet crawling through dig sites. Ro shows an unexpected spark of humanity as well when she looks over and recognizes the plants that Keiko is holding. Keiko wants to engage her in conversation, but she backs off a little since she's still a battle hardened woman who doesn't make friends easily. As they approach the Enterprise they slip into a strange energy anomaly that rocks the shuttle craft. It doesn't prevent them from contacting the Enterprise though and they have to arrange an emergency transport since the craft is getting ready to collapse. O'Brien gets a fix and is perplexed at the forty percent drop in mass, thinking he may have lost one of them. But when he beams them aboard we discover they have all reverted into tweenagers. Picard begins speaking briskly with his usual manner, thanking O'Brien for getting them out just in time until he hears the sound of his own voice and they all look around horrified at the situation. They're all examined in sick bay to find that even though their bodies have changed, their minds are still functioning as they were as adults. The writer of this episode didn't like it because of the ridiculous
nature of this effect, but he ended up doing an excellent job with it. Crusher wants to keep them all to run tests, but Picard will have none of it. He asks the others to stay for Crusher's tests while he leaves with Riker.
He goes back to the bridge and starts giving orders for probing the planet they're currently orbiting and changing the course settings. He calmly tries to explain that he's still himself in spite of the changes made by the transporter. Everyone is hesitant until Riker gives little nods of his head. Beverly follows him up to the bridge and takes him to his ready room alone to try and persuade him into relieving himself of duty. After all, at this point they don't know if their minds will also start aging backwards or not. I know it's natural for adults to be condescending like this around a child and it makes it frustrating for the audience as well to see Picard so diminished in his peers eyes as they are assuming authority over him and looking at him in a motherly fashion. He knows that if he doesn't step down then she must relieve him and that it's for the best. Then we see how the others are dealing with the situation. They cleverly paired Guinan and Ro together for this story. Two unattached women reacting differently to having been thrust back into childhood. Guinan, who was very old, is elated and anxious to have fun again with no responsibilities. Ro is frustrated, preferring to be busy and doesn't really know what to do with a second childhood since her first one was not peaceful or pleasant under Cardassian occupation. She's determined to go back to her room to sulk, but Guinan being who she is follows her instead of continuing in her plan to "go play." The pilot for DS9 had been filmed at this point, so this would be the final appearance of the O'Brien family on TNG. Depicting them as having to readjust their lives to Keiko's age reversal could've gone very badly. It was a fine line. But they were able to balance humor with the fact that this could seriously screw up a person's life. It's funny to see the young Keiko pulling Miles' ear to declare that she's still his wife, but it stops being funny when their daughter calls for a story and doesn't recognize her as her mother. Miles and Keiko are able to share a sad hug without it seeming awkward at all. Very finesse-ful writing.
A little more time is spent with Picard. The boy that plays young Picard also played his nephew Robert (roh-BEAR) in the episode, Family, which adds a nice touch with a sense of "family resemblance" that makes him more believable in this part as well as the fact that he's good at mimicking Patrick Stewart's calm demeanoer. Troi comes to advise him as he stands in front of a mirror wondering if anyone will ever be able to take him seriously as the captain if this condition can't be reversed. I liked Troi's interaction with him the best since she doesn't appear to be talking down to him as everyone else was at first. It helps to reinforce her point that those who are closest to him could eventually adapt to his appearance, but that the rest of the ship may never accept so young a captain. We see that he's not interested in reliving his childhood either, though he's not as hostile about it as Ro is. He would simply rather move forward than step back. Troi discusses his options and although going back to the academy to be Wesley Crusher's roommate is a definite turn off for him, he seems to react favorably to the idea of spending a few years pursuing archaeology until he's old enough to rejoin Starfleet for a command position and become the youngest admiral in history. We then see Crusher talking with Riker about their predicaments. She ages one of Keiko's plants, also affected by the age reversal, forward to confirm that if they do nothing at all they'll at least grow up normally. She then wonders if she can used the transporter to resequence their DNA back to normal but she needn't have wondered so hard. The precedent for this had already been set in Unnatural Selection when Dr. Pulaski's premature aging problem was fixed in the transporter. I see this episode as a fix for that bit of magic since they were more detailed in their description of how it would work. However, the episode would've been over too soon if this had been brought up. Instead we see get a few more minutes of Guinan trying to cheer up the sour Ro. She's so absurd and silly that Ro can't resist and they enjoy the simple childhood pleasure of jumping on a bed.
They don't get a chance to do any more work on the kids though because suddenly the Enterprise is attacked by two Klingon Birds of Prey. Picard stops his examining of the pottery he'd brought home from shore leave to be caught by a Ferengi and ushered to the school rooms. The writer of the episode was also frustrated with the fact that they were writing about rogue Ferengi's taking over the ship with a couple of stolen Klingon ships and I don't blame him. Thank goodness for DS9 because the Ferengi were caught in a perpetual stupidity loop on this show. They justify this takeover by explaining that this group of Ferengi is not associated with their government in anyway and, in fact, they are criminals exploiting a mine on the planet. They've taken the ship to send the adults down to use as slave labor. Riker manages to lock out the command controls before they finish their assault on the bridge though, so they don't have complete control of the ship. In a school room, the four adult children gather to try and make plans for retaking control of the ship. Guinan is exasperated to hear them talking like this when they are as helpless as children, unable to just march through the ship on a mission. And it's she who suggests embracing their transformation into children. It takes a moment for Picard to fully embrace this though as he tries to get a school computer to give the technical readouts of the Enterprise. A child's computer doesn't respond to his adult demands so Guinan has to step in and ask the computer in a childish way to see the inside of the Enterprise. From then on things go smoothly.
They work up a great plan that can be implemented simply by playing pranks as children would which keeps the Ferengi from suspecting that anything more sinister is afoot. Picard sends Guinan and Ro through the Jeffrey's tubes to a back door to main Engineering to wait for his signal. They're good friends now and enjoying sharing in the "adventure." He borrows Alexander's remote controlled vehicle to lure the Ferengi out of the transporter room while he and Keiko go in to set up a specific transporter function and steal some spare phasers. Alexander is sent to mess with the guard in sick bay in order to steal phasers as well. The scenes are fun and make sense since the Ferengi, on this series, are so stupid and vain. They also are better, in my opinion, for drawing in a younger crowd than anything Wesley got into in the early seasons. I shamelessly enjoy watching it every time.
Picard needs some real computer access though and he can only get it from the bridge. And his only way to the bridge is on the pretense of seeing his "father." He demands to be taken to Riker and throws a temper tantrum until the guard outside of the school room gives in. It's so funny because they've done such a good job of making you believe they're the familiar adult characters. So, you can't help but picture Patrick Stewart behaving like this. He yells and stamps his foot and flies into Riker's arms calling him "Dad," much to his surprise. While the Ferengi watch he complains to Riker about having nothing to do and asking if he arrange for a specific computer in his particular classroom to have games made available to it. Riker understands and sends him on his way after a small hiccup in the performance in which Picard calls Riker "Number One." It's so hilarious. It's Picard's show even when Patrick Stewart isn't even there. The Ferengi then unwittingly play right into Picard's plan by threatening to kill little Jean-Luc if Riker doesn't give them access to the computer. He puts up a brief show of defiance and then reluctantly gives in so that they won't hurt his son. They give him a lot of hard lines for the next scene where he sits with one of the henchmen and starts explaining the computer system to him as one would read it out of page one of an instruction manual. As he has the Ferengi looking where one of his hands is pointing, he uses the other hand to unlock the computer in the school room that Picard is in.
They proceed to use their computer access to execute the plan that he'd programmed into the transporter controls earlier. The Ferengi guards are given com badges so that they can be transported one by one to the transporter pad which now has a forcefield around it. They rely on child's play to get the drop on them. Alexander's toy butts into the transporter guard again to get him in proximity. Guinan and Ro "tag" the engineering guards with com badges and they're whisked out before they can react to a couple of brat kids. Alexander hands the schoolroom guard one to show him that he'd "found it." And Picard triumphantly reclaims his ready room, presumably with help from Riker in subduing the other Ferengi on the bridge. They take the renegades in to custody and the Ferengi Alliance quickly throws them overboard, disavowing any knowledge of them. It's a vague ending to this story, but it wasn't a great one to begin with so it's probably for the best.
Then they decide to do the transporter trick with Crusher standing by in case it goes wrong. Picard goes first and when he's transported back as himself he's relieved and gives a wistful feel of his head for his now missing hair. But Ro isn't with the others. She stayed in her quarters finding healing in drawing pictures of her mother. This episode does a lot for Ro's character development and just adds to the complexities of her inner conflict in what would be her final episode the following season. It's probably nothing they planned on consciously, but since they were tying this series together with DS9 in order to give DS9 a proper start they were already setting standards for the Bajoran characters that would follow. Guinan finds her and decides to stay and draw with her for a while, letting her know it's okay to hold onto this newfound peaceful childhood for just a little longer.
Weird transporter technology and hostile Ferengis are never good for an episode, but I loved it all the same because they used it to further develop the characters that were affected by the accident instead of just playing around nonsensically as they did in episodes like The Naked Now or The Lonely Among Us. So I'll give it four stars. It'll be hard to get less out of me for the last two seasons since they were so polished at this point that they could almost do no wrong in my eyes.
