Star Trek TNG The Cost Of Living

Even though I love Lwaxana this is probably my least favorite Lwaxana episode. Not that it's bad, just that it's formulaic and not as creative as usual.

For the background story, it opens with the Enterprise trying to destroy an asteroid that is getting ready to collide with a Starbase.  It's not easy, but they get it done and as they're leaving, some mysterious dust particles are absorbed into the ship. So, there is an impending catastrophe. Meanwhile, Troi is involved in family counseling with Worf and Alexander. This is believable. There'd been friction between Worf and his son since they were first introduced, so this is the logical place for it to end up.  And the ridiculous advice Troi gives is also believable since this is the direction that modern society has gone... a contract between Worf and Alexander that clearly states the duties of both parties so that Alexander can feel empowered in a relationship where his father makes the rules. Sorry, but I can't help but roll my eyes and think that Klingons would more likely engage in corporal punishment no matter where their living environment is. Just because it's been demonized in our society makes it no less effective.  Much of their troubles could've been solved with an ass whoopin' from the minute Worf's mom brought Alexander on board to begin with. Shortly thereafter, Lwaxana come aboard to tell Troi she's finally getting married and that she plans to use Ten Forward on the Enterprise.  They're interrupted by Worf and Alexander who is unhappy with his father's performance regarding their contract.  I am happy that Lwaxana disapproves of that concept too, although she's more for complete indulgence of Alexander in a grandmotherly fashion. But still, her points are the rational ones in my view. Picard is exasperated with Lwaxana taking over the ship with her wedding plans but is also agreeable to it as the mystery dust continues to float around.

Of course, being a Lwaxana episode there's a lot of comedy.  Alexander takes to Lwaxana and goes to see her while he's waiting for Deanna to start his and his father's next counseling appointment. He complains about his dad making rules so she decides to take him to a holodeck setting to get a break from rules for a while.  She takes him to a Parallax colony which is like a living cartoon world.  I didn't care for it.  It seemed a little on the childish side and a little too weird sometimes. But even though I didn't think it was a necessary supplement, it seemed to fit in with Lwaxana's personality.  They embrace the random silliness of the place. But when Worf and Deanna find Alexander missing for the appointment, they figure out who he's with pretty quickly. And there's a lot of humor in the fact that Worf has no sense of humor, so when he enters the holodeck program to find his son has ditched the appointment for a mud bath he's not happy.  Troi wonders why her mother isn't planning her wedding and she puts it off on Mr. Homn, saying that he's seeing to the details... like the wedding dress her future groom has sent.  Troi is shocked that her mother isn't participating in a proper Betazoid marriage in which the bridal party is naked.  I think it's neat the way they subtly fix a flaw from an earlier season - something that was probably only intended as a juvenile joke in the first season suddenly becomes a genuine cause for concern as you begin to see that Lwaxana isn't actually looking forward to her wedding and that she's compromising her headstrong and independent spirit as well as traditions that she's always held dear.

That conversation ends with Lwaxana finding sausages in the drink she ordered and it's only one of the many strange things happening with the replicators and other systems. The systems are turning to goo. But Geordi and Data are on the case trying to identify it even though the ship starts to become shaky.  Back in the primary story, you see Lwaxana trying on her wedding dress and having a conversation with Alexander about compromise and why she's following the rules of the culture she's marrying into rather than continuing to be herself.  They're both trapped by boundaries and rules. The point they're making is a good one and mostly applicable to adults, but not to children.  Children have to have boundaries and the things that Alexander is complaining about in this episode are not unreasonable or oppressive to his personality. However, the point of view of a child is always very sobering when we are trying to justify why we start settling for things when we get older instead of letting our dreams guide us like when we're young.

The nobleman Campio comes aboard and although he seems a decent man, it's obvious to everyone that he's not a good match for Lwaxana.  He's a stuffed shirt who insists on her addressing him by his title rather than his name and his assistant is obviously shocked and appalled by her free spirited nature. Campio is also a stickler for attending to business before pleasure so when Alexander shows up wanting to go to the Parallax holodeck simulation again, Campio's insistence that she obey him again mirrors the trouble Alexander is having with Worf. With the exception that kids should submit to their parents' will, whereas adults have options. To surrender to the will of friends or lovers or not is a choice and right now she's making that choice to surrender. Worf and Deanna end up in Campio's quarters too and in the mix, Lwaxana and Alexander escape to the holodeck.

Even the juggler in the Parallax world is sad because he "ate his worlds" and although they want to stay and make him happy, the problems of the Enterprise start to disrupt the holodeck program so they leave. The climax of the B story is pretty good.  They discover that they're dealing with nitrium parasites that lived on metal and most likely  came from an asteroid like the one they'd destroyed at the beginning so they go back to the asteroid belt it came from.  It's a ways away so they go there as fast as they can.  Data suggests releasing a gas into the ship that'll slow them down, but it knocks everyone out as well, so Data has to save the day by modifying the deflector shield to send a nitrium beam to one of the nearby asteroids which lures the parasites away from the ship. They are then able to restore the ships systems to normal.

Troi ultimately decides against compromising her personality for a marriage and shows up to the wedding naked in Betazoid custom.  The only thing I would've done differently is give her a headdress and earrings or something... I mean I get it that the custom is au natural, but it also doesn't seem right for Lwaxana to be completely undecorated. Everyone approves because they could all see that Campio wasn't her type and their marriage wouldn't have been a happy one. And in the end she, Deanna, Alexander, and even Worf are all in the mud bath trying to make sense of it all and come to a conclusion on rules and boundaries with Worf's compromise of joining them seeming reasonable to all.

Of course, it's Lwaxana and her part of the story is very poignant. There wasn't much to be annoyed about, I was only put off by the recommended liberal parenting plan laid out by the writers. Why is making Worf compromise his authority over his child okay when Lwaxana compromising her life or Alexander compromising childish desires is not?  That's the only real problem I have with the episode. Since I'm not a parent myself, I know most people think I have no right to comment, but you have to admit that kids get worse with each progressive generation the more traditions and rules are relaxed. Look at the snowflakes on campuses today. I don't think it's a coincidence.  But I can't give it less than four stars because it's Lwaxana and it's funny and there's a lot of good points otherwise.

Tom Petty

Just some of my favorite songs and moments.... I loved Tom Petty too....

 

 

  

 

Book Review

Okay, so the only review I ever wrote of the Harry Potter books was a review for the entire set. I've never reviewed them one by one and since I'm re-reading the series for the first time in a few years, I thought I'd give a go at reviewing them one by one. If you're one of the few people in the world who haven't read it, beware of some spoilers.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Oh my, talk about scathing reviews. People thought Order of the Phoenix was a downer, but they mostly hated this one. They called it fan fiction and a teenage romance novel. I can't help but laugh at how people freaked out about this one. I also can't explain how, but I was aware at the time that this sixth book was just the first "half" of the entire end of the story. That book six was more of a long preamble to book seven. So much of what went on in this book seemed like obvious misdirection. And it's not a slight against Rowling's writing abilities. I think it's just because I was an adult reading the series who is a thinker as opposed to a feeler that I wasn't as emotionally taken in as others were. I was just as interested as solving the story as I was in enjoying it. While everyone else was caught up in the hysteria, I was suspicious. Yes, there was definitely something wrong with this book. There were a lot of things that were a little too wrong with the book (deliberately wrong) that, once I realized it, made it intriguing and the perfect set up for the finale. There are many examples. First and probably overlooked by many was the fact that the beginning of the book switched POVs. For the entirety of the series, with the exception of a brief moment at the beginning of Goblet of Fire, the books had been written in the limited third person. The only person whose thoughts and feelings the reader was allowed to see was Harry's. If something wasn't happening directly to Harry or within his presence, we didn't get to know about it until the thing was related to him by another character. The first two chapters of Half Blood Prince take place completely independently of Harry and his view of the events. Incidentally, I loved the chapter regarding the two Prime Ministers. There's not a lot of new concepts introduced in this book, but the way the Minister of Magic communicates with the muggle Prime Minister another satisfying piece of world building. And the muggle PM will always be cast in my mind as Tony Blair, since he was PM of England at the time. The second primary example is the ending. This is the only book to end in a cliffhanger. In my other reviews I took note of the fact that each of the books in a long series had its own story with a definite, solid ending. Not this time. There were a bunch of loose ends dangling all over the final chapters of this book. Nothing was resolved and that was done on purpose. Voldemort was in the process of penetrating the Ministry but not much else is said on the subject. Harry got an in depth look at Voldemort's past and none of it comes into play. In fact when the attempt is made to validate this part of the story, it ends with no sense of closure. The school was left in chaos and Harry's destiny no longer lay there, but what he would do was not discussed or even planned carefully at this point. Dumbledore died so he wasn't there to explain anything in the end. The only explanation you get is how his death was pulled off. So, it seems like the book had no purpose at all. Next was the fact that Harry's instincts had lost some credibility with his friends after the sad results of the last book, which is a valid consequence, don't get me wrong. His obsessive behavior continued in this book, this time concerning Malfoy, but it seemed like an obvious feint to me... I knew he couldn't be wrong twice in a row and he wasn't, although it took an unexpected twist at the end. But, Snape killing Dumbledore was a red flag too, however I admit, it was probably just a red flag for me personally. Yes, the funeral was very sad and all of that, but I couldn't feel the horrified shock that so many others were feeling at this twist because Rowling had done too good of a job making me trust Dumbledore's judgment. Also, it honestly appeared to me that Snape was continuing to "teach" Harry even as he was fleeing the castle; a curious observation which I don't think many other people picked up on. I couldn't have guessed exactly what was up with this turn of events, but it all seemed very fishy to me. After all, Dumbledore had made him the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, which meant he knew that Snape wouldn't be at the school after this year. So Snape's betrayal left me more skeptical than outraged.

But even though my ability as an experienced reader caused me to not trust what I was reading and even to guess certain things (like the fact that Harry's instincts were right this time and I also guessed immediately who R.A.B. was) I can't call this a predictable book or disappointing in any way. Snape's appointment to the cursed teaching position was a surprise and it was a surprise that I loved, by the way. She slipped in Slughorn as the Potions Master so smoothly, I found myself turning the pages back to see how easily I had been fooled. Slughorn is also a good representative of the fact that not all Slytherin kids turn out evil; he showcases a different direction that their ambitious natures can take them. Yes, Slytherin Phineas Nigellus was a former headmaster of the school, but his snarky attitude isn't something we easily associate with good people. We get to learn about different magic potions in a more lighthearted atmosphere than there was under the leadership of Snape, and the moment where Harry convinces Slughorn to give him the his memory of a conversation he'd had with teenage Riddle was one of the best chapters of the entire series in my opinion. The complete about-face that Dumbledore made in suddenly spending a lot of quality time with Harry as opposed to ignoring him throughout the last book was wonderful, as was learning of Voldemort's past. All of this along with the mysterious "half-blood Prince" of the old potions book and the strange attacks within the story made it just as interesting as all of the others even though the pacing was a little slower. The double climax of finding the fake horcrux and Dumbledore's death made up for the slight shortage of intense moments. And, of course, that double climax held the real purpose of all the seemingly random meanderings of the story. Dumbledore had to be eliminated from the equation before Harry could defeat Voldemort. Had he remained alive, Harry would've had his protection for years and Voldemort’s desmise would've been endlessly delayed. The fact that his death seemed to be in vain added motivation and urgency to the cause. And it took the entirety of a book to pull off this murder to explore the concept of the horcruxes. The different kind of magic, the dangers involved in retrieving them, and their part in the destruction of Voldemort are what lays the groundwork for the transition of the story's primary setting away from the school grounds in the next book.

So, the angle of the various teenage romances filled the spaces in between critical plot points. I wasn't put off by this, like other people were. After all, these are sixteen-year-old kids and what sixteen-year-old isn't in love? It was their last "normal" year so they were behaving as normal teenagers do, only more responsibly if you get right down to it. Normal to the point of taking apparition tests the way regular teens take driving tests... just another layer in the big picture that makes the story so real. But all of the silliness of the girls and the swaggering of the boys is as true to life as anything else. Rowling has since indicated that she thinks it would've made more sense for Harry to end up with Hermione instead of Ginny, but I think the Harry/Ginny pairing was the right thing to do. Rowling's instincts were right and she shouldn't doubt them. Harry is a hero and it's psychologically valid there would need to be a certain element of hero-worship from his love, which Ginny always had for him even though she grew to be his equal. He would never have had that with Hermione who always looked at him as an equal and often bossed and mothered him as she did Ron who, having grown up with a domineering mother (in a good way), needed someone like Hermione as a mate. The only thing I would've changed is that she should've started developing Ginny's character a little sooner in, say, the fourth book because I can see how she and Harry's relationship can seem kind of sudden and "out of the blue." And perhaps that's why people didn't respond as favorably to this part of the story. I think they also didn't like the other love stories as well... Bill and Fleur; Lupin and Tonks... but love and being in love would be a big part of the outcome of the story and those who were patient enough to sit through the slush would understand in the end.

Half-Blood Prince isn't the best book of the series and it's not meant to be and I think looking too critically at it is a bit unfair. This book was a vehicle for setting the stage for Deathly Hallows. It officially sets Harry on the course that he couldn't realistically have started at a younger age and takes away the protection and wisdom of Dumbledore so that he will truly become the hero of the story, relying on his own talents and instincts with help from his equals, not his superiors. And there was enough cool stuff in it with the trip to the cave to retrieve the locket, the confrontation between Harry and Scrimgeour, and the breech of Hogwarts at the end to validate its place in the series.

Star Trek TNG The First Duty

Another five star episode; two in a row.  It's another one of my personal favorites and, in my opinion, the best "Wesley" episode ever.

The Enterprise is headed to Earth for Picard to give the commencement speech for the graduating Starfleet Academy students.  You know that's too good to last. Before they get to Earth, Admiral Brand contacts Picard to tell him that Wesley and his flight squad had been involved in an accident that has resulted in the death of one of their teammates. Picard is naturally very disturbed but he goes straight to Beverly to assure her, shaken as she is, that Wesley is fine.

Later, when they get to the academy, Brand is there to say that all the parents have been notified and that there will be an inquiry into the matter.  The dead student's father, Lt. Commander Albert, wishes for commencement exercises to continue and everything seems on the level. Picard and Beverly visit Wesley and the scene is very somber.  He doesn't seem to mind Picard's interest or his mother's mothering of him until he's visited by the Nova Squadron's flight commander, Nick Lorcano, and then he becomes suddenly distant with them... you can feel the wall come up between them. The actor that played Nick went on to play Tom Paris on Voyager.  He was originally supposed to play Lorcano on Voyager, but due to legal issues they had to make him a different character, though similar.  Not similar enough for me, as I've whined several times about how Lorcano should've been on Voyager, but it is what it is. Once they're alone, Wesley expresses his nerves about the inquiry but Nick assures him that everything will be fine as long as the team sticks together.  There's no doubt that something is up now.  Where was all this great peer pressure when Wesley was growing up and being perfect from sun up to sun down? And I admit this is a much bigger deal than setting Nanites loose on the ship by accident, but he'd never had any real challenges to his character development up until now and then it's like going from one extreme to the other.  But this "other" is far more interesting.

Ray Walston makes an appearance as the groundskeeper Boothby who Picard had told Wesley about in his final episode as a regular.  He would reprise it in Voyager as well. Then the hearing commences. Lorcano begins describing the maneuvers of the flight team in the story that the four of them had rehearsed to Wesley's discomfort earlier. His explanation sounds very straight forward, but Admiral Brand finds many holes in it. The flight plan was changed and Cadet Hajar's admission of this is forced and lacks any explanation.  Ensign Sito claimed to be flying on sensors only and couldn't see the other ships which is not normal either. Lorcano rescues their interrogation by blaming the accident on Cadet Albert, claiming that he panicked as they were heading into their Yeager Loop maneuver and crashed into Hajar. Albert's father is heartbroken.  Admiral Brand is still not satisfied and even more disturbed than before.

Picard orders Geordi to conduct an investigation into the accident of his own while the cadets are talking about the next round of questioning and getting their stories straight about the data on Wesley's flight recorder. It ends in static before any damaging evidence can be shown.  And the pressure is three on one.  The girls are scared and Nick is merciless as they attempt to believe the lie that they'd started about Albert having doubts and hesitations. They tell Wesley that he doesn't have to lie, but that he doesn't have to offer any additional information. He sticks to it even after a heart wrenching reminiscence with Albert's father about a trip to Calgary. He presents the data from his flight recorder and then, at the Admiral's requests, describes the Yeager Loop maneuver and the diamond shaped positions they should've been in to do this. The scenes from his flight recorder don't contradict this, but then the Admiral drops the bomb that a satellite orbiting Saturn had picked up a picture of the Nova Squadron in a circular formation. Wesley has no explanation and the rest of the team are visibly scared now.

Beverly is sure that Wesley is telling the truth and can't explain the satellite picture but is willing to go in with the other parents to have the hearings delayed and is bewildered when Wesley tells her not to protect him. Meanwhile, Picard first goes back to Boothby to size up the personalities of the flight squad.  He tells him how Lorcano is a natural leader and the others would do absolutely anything for him.  I love Ray Walston anyway, and this Boothby character is a tribute to all of the invisible but observant people out there who know much more than anyone really guesses like landscapers, housekeepers, bar keeps, etc. He then goes to Geordi and Data to see if they've found out anything of significance, but they haven't.  The only thing Data noticed that was odd is that Wesley's plasma interlock was opened when it should've been closed during the flight, the danger being that it could ignite the plasma. Then a light goes off in Picard's head.

Picard calls Wesley to his ready room and tells him to identify a Kolvoord Starburst maneuver on his display screen.  It is a flight maneuver that hasn't been preformed at the Academy in a hundred years since the last time it was attempted all five cadets died. Based on the situation of the ships in the satellite picture and the fact that Wesley's plasma interlock was opened, he proposes that the Nova Squadron were trying to do this very maneuver. Wesley doesn't answer but maintains that he's only told the truth up until now.  Of course, Picard recognizes that it's only a partial truth and demands that if he doesn't tell the entire truth at the inquiry that he will.  It's a fantastic scene as it always is when Wesley and Picard are paired together.  The ethics are solid and it's great character development for a character that isn't even on the show regularly any more.  Very gripping. When Wesley tells Nick that he intends to confess, Nick gets mad and tells him that he should resign his commission rather than get the rest of the team in trouble.  He says that it's what he would do if he was in Wesley's place.

And it looks like they may get out of it anyway. Brand is sure that something funny is going on but there's no real evidence and she has no choice but to close the inquiry.  She revokes everyone's flight privileges, and give them all formal reprimands which is harsh enough as it is. But after the bell tolls, Wesley stands and admits the truth.  He wants to assure Albert's father that his son wasn't to blame for the accident.  And then Nick, true to his word, claims full responsibility to protect the other cadets and keep them in Starfleet. He is the only one of the team expelled.

But it won't be a cake walk for the remaining cadets.  They're set with the task of being essentially held back for a year, unable to graduate with the rest of their class and they'll have to endure living with soiled reputations on campus. If only Wesley was still a regular on the show, some follow up could've been done.  But they wasted his time on the show by making him the perfect little hero all the time.  It still drives me crazy.  This is such a cool episode.

This episode is so powerful that they show it at the Air Force Academy as a part of teaching about duty and ethics. And Cadet Sito, the Bajoran, would be back for another one of my all time favorite episodes, Lower Decks, using the effects of this incident as part of her character make up which was another stroke of smooth brilliance that they were now very good at in the latter seasons. These are the kind of episodes that laid the real groundwork for the more complex stories of DS9 later on. Love it, love it. Like I already said, five stars.