Being a look back at cards from the Star Trek CCG, and what I thought of them back when they were fresh and new... in EPISODE order. The Outrageous Okona gave us only one card, and it's not Okona himself...
PICTURE: I'm afraid Teri Hatcher's looked better. Oh, I used to think she was hot when I saw this episode (had been a fan ever since an appearance in MacGyver - what can I say, I was a teenager in the 80s), but that hairstyle turns me off today. It's like looking in a high school yearbook and laughing at all the "big hair". And anyway, the pose makes her a little cross-eyed, and the uniform's a touch too green. The cross behind her centralizes the composition nicely, but I would rather have seen her through a crack in the doors in that pretty red number. Just because it would be more relevant to her role in the episode, you understand, yeah, that's the ticket. A 2.8.
LORE: A lot to like. For one thing, I never understood how the creators thought "B.G." was an appropriate woman's name. Of all the initials-as-names I can think of, that's not one I find very feminine. And Star Trek very rarely uses them for 24th-century people. Someone, somewhere, invented us a real name which is both pretty and exotic. Then there's a short riff on her romantic involvement with Okona, and then... One of the most subtly hidden "textual Easter Eggs" in the game. In that innocuous transporter log comment, you'll find the words "daily planet", which is, of course, the newspaper both Clark "Superman" Kent and Lois "Superman's Girlfriend" Lane work for. For those new to American television, Teri Hatcher's most memorable role was as Lois Lane in "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman". Cuter than the pic: a 4.6.
TREK SENSE: Transporter technicians are part of the Engineering staff, and they have - what else? - the Transporter Skill. A pretty thankless position, the Staff icon is definitely appropriate. Robinson probably deserves the Youth, since she could be under 25 (though fast-advancing, she's already a full lieutenant). Anthropology? She certainly wanted to get to know Okona better, but I doubt it was "culturally". Maybe an Easter-Eggish journalistic skill? Either way, seems pretty flimsy to me. The special download is transporter-related, but not something she used in her episode. Not a big problem, but nothing to cheer about. Leaves us with the attributes. which look okay, though if that relatively low Integrity is due to her dilettantish nature, why doesn't Riker take the same dive? She doesn't show much in the way of brains or brawn, so I'll accept the others without further comment. A passable 3.3.
STOCKABILITY: Take away all the Federation Transporter Skill personnel from TOS and/or the Mirror Universe, and you're left with very few cards indeed. So if you don't want to depend on alternate quadrants, time locations or AU doorways, B.G. makes a good defense against Orion Syndicate Bombs, Emergency Conversions and Tribbles. She's not bad even if you use other TS personnel. ENGINEER is always a plus. The Youth is good in some situations, including Ooby Dooby (getting rid of Tribbles beforehand). Anthropology got a boost from The Guardian of Forever and is present on some Federation missions. The special download makes a very seldom seen card more useful just by virtue of being downloadable from the Tent, for example, but Decipher's own card extra hit a high note by suggesting that she can be used to Visit Cochrane Memorial most efficiently. The idea is this: Drop alternating Distortion Fields on Earth, thereby cutting it off from beaming. Robinson downloads Pattern Enhancers allowing you to disregard the Fields, but your opponent can't easily go and interfere with her Visit. The same trick can be used to limit an opponent's access to The Guardian of Forever. Good stuff, which makes up for her terrible attributes. Those read like a universal's, but they can't be brought up the same way. All in all, a positive 3.7.
TOTAL: 14.4 (72%) It's a bird, it's a plane, it's... aw just forget it.
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