201. QpidFORMULA: Encounter at Farpoint + Captain's Holiday + Spectre of the Gun
WHY WE LIKE IT: "I am NOT a Merry Man!"
WHY WE DON'T: Annoying guest characters... TOGETHER AT LAST! Add Lwaxanna Troi and you have a perfect storm of iritation.
REVIEW: What Vash and Q have in common is that they are major pains in Captain Picard's life. So bringing them together is a recipe for entertainment, yes? Well, no. I'm not a big fan of Vash, I've said so before. Q, for his part, can be hit and miss. But let's take them one by one:
I think was nags me about Vash so much is that as written, everyone must immediately be attracted to her. Picard, Riker, Worf, Sir Guy, even Beverly fall under her spell. Is she emitting pheromones I can't smell through my tv screen or what? I just don't see it. She's nowhere near as charming, sexy or charismatic as everyone seems to think she is. And that's a problem. If I don't buy the chemistry between her and Picard, I don't buy the premise. And I don't.
After 12 minutes of ridiculous sitcom squirming where nothing happens, enter Q. He's out to repay a debt to Picard by "helping" him somehow (it's a funny moment when Riker responds by alerting the crew). Q works least when he's just a nuisance because he tends to be as annoying to the audience as he is to Picard. His choice of good deed is to reconcile Vash and Picard after they've had a spat... Spare me.
We're then plunged into the world of Robin Hood, and yes, there are a couple of good jokes, especially for Worf (merry man, the mandolin), but the rest is very ordinary. There's something to be said about Q not figuring on Vash skanking it up to save her skin and Data using one of his components to cause an explosive diversion, but it all devolves into a fight where the girls smash pots on guards' heads (so what's the use of a helmet, then?). Let's just say I wasn't sad to see Vash go into the great beyond with Q at the end.
LESSON: Qpid sounds like Stupid.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: I've been a little hard on this one, but it's not THAT bad. There is some humor to it, and it moves along without ever being dull, but it's highly ridiculous fluff.
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