121. Angel OneFORMULA: Spock's Brain + A Private Little War + Bread and Circuses
WHY WE LIKE IT: Uhm... I dunno... How about that matte painting, huh!
WHY WE DON'T: Star Trek isn't afraid to examine some hard-hitting issues... but is this one of them?!?
REVIEW: Angel One (what a boring title!) tries to be classic "relevant" Trek and fails dismally. First and foremost, it's all too obviously trying to attack sexist attitudes of the day, but Angel One's women are so fascist, I just can't recognize the sexism the show is trying to explore through "sf allegory". It might have been more relevant before women got to vote, but in 1987? If it was meant to make us question our society's attitudes about women, it does the opposite. It actually bashes women by making them extreme and reactionary, and then swayed by the first "men that know what they want" they meet (Riker and the Odin crew). Awful. Speaking of sexism, how is it appropriate for Troi and Tasha to titter and make suggestive comments at Riker when he dresses as an Angel One male?
That plot is obvious at best, and offensive at worst, so maybe if we turn to the B-plot? Nope, no help there. The virus that overtakes the ship has been done before, but here, the effects aren't even interesting, and the solution is rather obvious to the audience. It does show Crusher's competence (and fortitude - she doesn't get sick even after smelling the viral agent), but it seems to have been concocted basically to build Geordi's character with a little command experience. Whatever. It's all so very boring, and not a particularly good way to inject some urgency into Riker's situation.
LESSON: The planet of the Amazon women is nice to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. (Takes all kinds, eh Mr. Ramsey?)
REWATCHABILITY - Low: This might have been at home in the original series, but the ideas are outmoded even for 1987, and besides, it'd still be boring even if it WERE relevant. NEXT!
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