Star Trek 115: Justice

115. Justice

FORMULA: A Taste of Armageddon + The Apple + Code of Honor

WHY WE LIKE IT: The discussions on the Prime Directive make this a thinker's show.

WHY WE DON'T: Thinking can be boring. The nappies. And Wil Wheaton can't possibly act this material.

REVIEW: An episode that examines the Prime Directive isn't a bad thing, and you could compare the Edo god to the Bajoran Prophets, if you were so inclined, but aside from an interesting location shoot, a couple of early jokes (thanks to Worf, mostly), Picard's discussions with Data, and the well-intentioned mortherly feelings coming from Gates McFadden's Dr. Crusher, there's little to enliven Justice.

Again, there's a sexuality that seems to be pushing it, as if the creators are trying to say "This isn't your father's Star Trek". Except the costumes here seem right out of the original series. Pretty embarassing diapers, actually. There's also something about utopias that just doesn't have the ring of truth. It's all so contrived that on the whole planet, only one area has its laws active, and Wesley just happens to stumble into it just as the crew learns that fact. (Reflects very poorly on Tasha's legwork, if you ask me.)

And while the questions about the Prime Directive are interesting, it does seem ridiculous that they should let Wesley be killed over a broken pane of glass, and the whole thing is resolved with one very brief speech. Continues to build Picard the Lawyer, something I like, but is all too brief, even rushed. Centering the whole thing on Wesley also makes for some pretty hairy dialogue delivery (as if anyone could deliver his lines believably). Perfectly forgettable fare.

LESSON: Wesley is another fan of the lost, obscure sport of baseball.

REWATCHABILITY - Low: I have a roommate who became a big fan of the space hippies in The Way to Eden, so she rates all the hippie episodes as High. This was thus a High. To anyone else, this would not be a positive comparison. Dull, and some may even find the speechifying about religion and capital punishment condescending.