109. Encounter at FarpointFORMULA: The Squire of Gothos + Spectre of the Gun + The Motion Picture + elements of Requiem for Methuselah, The Practical Joker, Is There in Truth No Beauty? and The Immunity Syndrome
WHY WE LIKE IT: A new adventure begins with some cool reinterpretations of old tried-and-true concepts, as well as some new ideas. Many of the characters will be fun to watch develop.
WHY WE DON'T: The female characters are a disappointment. Some tedious musical cues. It's a little too aware that it's a sequel to a legendary show (and is perhaps intimidated by it).
REVIEW: Where to begin? How about with the opening? They start cold with those timeless words (with one crucial, PC, change) over very nice renderings of planets in our own solar system as we leave it. We're into it now! Not sure about the Motion Picture theme being used, and the incidental music throughout was rather intrusive for me. Anyway... then we see the new Enterprise. Though we're used to it now, I still remember my reaction from 1987. The Enterprise-D looked really warped (no pun intended), all curvy and top heavy. The interiors are huge and just as curvy and non-threatening. Took me a while to accept it, and you know what? I think it looks dated now. Beige and dusty rose dominate, with huge empty floorplans that belie a studio floor, and plush comfy chairs. Truly a product of the PC 80s.
The trend continues with the idea of having families aboard, one that Picard isn't too sure about, and neither am I. It seems ill-thought for an exploration ship, despite the saucer separation concept (we're not gonna see it very often anyway, because it breaks the Enterprise's curves and makes it look like a duck). Better PC ideas include making the captain a non-American and having a Klingon on the bridge. Things HAVE changed in the last 70 years. Less interesting PC idea is having a counselor as part of the bridge crew. Technobabble move over, leave room for psychobabble.
And this new cast of characters? Though their characterization isn't always solid, I thought Picard's command style was really very interesting here. He's gruff, cold and pushy, and he (quite consciously) lets Riker be genial and make friends with the crew. Definitely a dynamic to watch. Data is a bit jolly, but he makes for a refreshing twist on Spock - logical and machine-like, but naive and innocent. The irony of a blind man at the helm of the ship is a one-trick pony, in my opinion, but Geordi is more of an all-purpose Away Team member here, so it doesn't show. The female characters are far less engaging. Tasha is much too aggressive, to the point of being stupid (she and Worf spend the whole show trying to shoot a godlike being), and Troi is the exact opposite, demure and rather sappy. I understand she was overwhelmed by alien emotions, but it just impaired her performance here. And her past relationship with Riker is just copied straight from The Motion Picture, drawing a yawn out of me. As for Dr. Crusher, she has the potential to be a more complex character, but gets nothing more to do in the pilot than be the protective mother. Wesley is precocious, but thankfully not overly present, highlighting Picard's discomfort around children. As a minor aside, Colm Meany makes an appearance here - do you think he knew what he was in for? ;-) But no chief engineer? That's a twist.
When I look at all the super-powers represented in the crew, I have a feeling the creators may have written themselves into a bunch of corners. Will they really have the Enterprise jettison the saucer everytime danger looms? Will Troi's empathy make it hard to use deceptive villains? Geordi's special perception, Data's super-strength and mind, those will limit the amount of jeopardy the crew might find itself in. No chief engineer in the cast could also pose problems. Cooler technological tricks include faster transporters, ubiquitous communicators, and the holodeck. These are fine at this point, and give us a sense that technology has advanced since the movie era.
So about half the characters have real promise, and the new environment looks glossy, but are they plugged into a good plot? For a two-hour premiere, dividing the action between two dangers was a good idea. Q is immediately magnetic, played much more dangerously than his obvious ancestor Trelaine. I've always found the Q-net impressive, and the court scenes, in addition to adding to the Star Trek universe's history, show off Picard as quite a good negotiator and lawyer. Q may be a little too helpful at the end, but his heckling of Picard is a highlight nonetheless. As for the Farpoint element, it's not as engaging, but features fair-to-good design, and its resolution is pretty and lyrical. And check it out: The Ferengi get mentioned for the first time.
With Admiral McCoy's little cameo, charmingly played though rather fortuitous, we get an obvious passing of the torch. A nice moment. The rest of the show works a little to hard to herald a new era in Star Trek, with Picard telling Riker most adventures would be much more interesting than this one, for example, or Riker saying that Data will make an interesting companion (not to mention Q's tests which are a metaphor for the audience's judgment). These seem quite self-serving and self-conscious. There is the sense that the show is hopeful that it will be able to recapture the magic of Star Trek, but at the same time, the script is a little nervous about that.
LESSON: Jellyfish have feelings too. POWERFUL feelings.
REWATCHABILITY - High: Despite its misteps, it's still vibrant with energy, and there's real joy in reinventing the format. New characters, new technologies, new effects, new relationships, a new enemy (hey, it's true he never says the test is over!), they all start here, and the story is solid enough for a recommendation.
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