ShogaNinja

SPOILER ALERT: Don't read this unless you've read the book or seen the movie already!

This movie lost just about every single emotion of the trilogy. The only one that they got right was the "I volunteer" part. Haymitch was a filthy drunk who vomited at their first dinner, they never ate like ravenous beasts at any time even though in the book they were starving to death (thus the HUNGER part of the games) and thus the need to take additional lots in the Reaping for additional food rations (Katniss and Gale's name was in that basket several dozen times in order to feed their families and also the reason why they hunted). I can understand cutting out some things in the interest of time but when you sacrifice the entire feeling of the book and leave out major plot points at some point you have to ask yourself if it was worth it.

Here are several things that went terribly wrong: She didn't buy the Mockingjay pin it was given to her by the Mayor's daughter which basically said that they supported the rebellion against the Capitols tyranny. Haymitch as I mentioned earlier was a intolerable drunk who only became helpful to them during the actual training part. When they were on the roof they though about jumping off and it was not revealed in the movie but there was a forcefield that prevented such action. This is a MAJOR part of the plot because it comes up in the next movie/book in a big way. There was a love triangle between Gale, Katniss, and Peta, that was not played out in this book. She loved Gale, and was so awkward she didn't know what to do about it, and entirely faked her love for Peta in order to gain aid in the arena. This was only shown in a barebones fashion but it was a major part of the series. Her "fire dress" was actually two dresses and as she stood and did a twist the first one burned off revealing a smaller dress underneath. They refer to her as the Mockingjay but that was not done until later in the series. She was just the girl on fire for a while (thus the name of the second book Catching Fire). The book was written in first person, we never saw the control room and using it in this movie only took away from the fear and suspense of what would happen next was disastrous to the movie. At one point she had a flashback to her father's death and they show their cabin blowing up. This is the cabin that she most often lived in to escape her mother who was crazy and shut down after her father's death (and also the reason she had to take care of Primrose, and have to hunt so much and add her name in the Reaping so much to get food for their family). Peta's injury was so grave that he barely made it out and as a result he lost his leg and was forced to walk with a limp for the rest of his life. He did not receive magic ointment that miraculously fixed everything. Katniss herself was majorly busted up and barely made it out herself. She spent a number of days in recovery after the games. It was understood in the book that the dogs that they fought in the end were twisted muttations (as they are called) made from the dead contenders in the Hunger Games (thus showing the gruesome evil mind of the capitol) The main part of this book was the Games but it felt incredibly rushed. They did NOT see the grid in the sky letting them know the boundaries of the arena or that there were even boundaries at all, that added to the mystery and danger and it was all thrown away.

Also I thought that the style of the capitol was toned down to the point that it was almost a punchline. They had colored skin and their hair and wardrobe was described as something otherworldly. This was just a bad interpretation of that as it seemed everyone was dressed for a bad idea of a futuristic Prom.

This movie was so rushed to get out that it went from a very good book to a tween movie in the same category as Twilight. I am an adult and I enjoyed the books very much, at times finding them hard to put down, but this adaptation was lost in translation.

Overall as a book to movie translation I give this a grade of D. If you have trouble reading then it's better to see it than to not experience any of it, but know that the author's artistic hand was largely lost on the big screen, while other movies, such as John Carter, proved that you can take an idea and actually make it BETTER by moving it to the big screen. Go see that instead if you read the books. Ignore the hype of The Hunger Games movie and go read the trilogy. Being a big fan of the books I found sitting through this pathetic effort to be painful to the point of utter boredom. This was made worse by the relative immaturity of the audience.

First off, where is Captain Christopher Pike? He was the Captain of the Enterprise before Kirk. Where is he?

Any military entity is a meritocracy. That is to say, that each person is judged based on their merits and achievements, not their race, class, or gender. In order to make your way up through a meritocracy, you guessed it, you gotta EARN it! So, apparently there were no other officers in the galaxy because Kirk went through several ranks to get to the top in one day. Let's go through them now. First you start out as a cadet for 4 years ( 4 YEARS just like college). Then you become the first officer rank, which is Ensign (En-Sin). After a couple years of being an ensign or more, you can become a Lieutenant, J.G. or Junior Grade. Again after a couple years of that, you get to become a regular old vanilla Lieutenant. Now that you finally made Lieutenant, after several years of that you can become a Lieutenant Commander ( just referred to as the rank of Commander if in front of people of lower rank, but in the presence of a higher rank, the whole term is used). Now you are where Data was for 7 years on TNG. After that, you can become a Commander, like Will Riker, but you got to pass some tests on how to command a ship, namely, you must kill off one of your crew in order to pass. It's a harsh lesson, but being in command can be tough. Then after a really long time, a decade perhaps, you can become a captain. It's fair to say that Kirk was always the youngest captain but 16 is a bit absurd. If you look at the captains of today you get older gentlemen like Cpt. Sully. Captains are old, it's the way of things. IF anyone would have gotten a battlefield promotion it would have been Spock first ( a LT. Commander IIRC in this movie) or any of the hundreds of other OFFICERS aboard the ship, not the cadet. That's like saying that you can take the best high school kid in the world and stick him on a plane to fly it. Good luck with that. Not to mention that in a meritocracy, since you have to work your way up, that others had already done so, and they would NEVER sit idle and watch a cadet sail past all their years of hard work only to become subordinate to a Non-Com. This would never happen. Not now, and not in the 2300's. The problem with Star Trek sometimes, is that they forget that all of this supposed future knowledge must actually be built on the knowledge we already have. For example, Naval battles have been waged for thousands of years. Tens of thousand. Study Naval History before you even attempt to write anything to do with a starship.

So Kirk went from a(non-commissioned)Cadet, to an (commissioned) Ensign, Lieutenant Junior Grade, Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander, Commander, then Captain. Maybe he will make Admiral next movie at this rate. It only took Kirk decades after all.

Secondly, there is no Cardassian ale because Cardassians weren't discovered until the Next Generation which is some 40 years in the future. I thought J.J. Abrams said he did his homework. If he had he would never have released this garbage and tried to pass it off as something any fan of the show could enjoy. This is what you get when you use a flashy director who has NO experience as a ST fan. Terrible. For me this will be the new spin off that simpletons can watch. It is not part of Star Trek if you ask me.

The Romulan Captain Nero acts nothing like Romulans act. I can't go into the many nuances that make a Romulan, but at least in the TOS time period they were very Roman (thus the name Nero, but the comparison stops there). Terrible villain.

So, in conclusion, J.J. Abrams should stick to confusing the heck out of Lost fans, and stay the heck away from Star Trek. Star Trek came out in 1969. That's 40 years ago. You don't mess with 40 years of work so you can attempt to sell a blockbuster ( you failed to break $300 Million so you aren't a blockbuster). This movie is terribly written and anyone who knows ANYTHING about Star Trek knows that this is a steaming pile of inconsistent garbage. Could you imagine if he wrote a series when he can't even get the facts of a 2 hour movie right? How does this guy keep track of Lost for Pete's sake?

Which brings me to my last point. If you add up all the Star Trek episodes and movies across all of the series you arrive at a number of 545 hours of video. It took me an entire year of watching to get through all of the material. You don't ignore 40 years and 545 hours just so you can make a movie any way you want and call it a reboot. You do not ignore such a vast history, and say that yours is new and better, when you weren't even willing to work for it. If you can't hack reading the Star Trek Manual required to write anything under this universe then you shouldn't be writing for Star Trek. Period. This movie will go down in history like New Coke, and Crystal Pepsi. They will be rebooting too this by the next installment.

I have only just watched the Pilot episode but having seen ALL the other Star Trek Series' now I can tell you that this one here is SWEET! Even though we are going back to a time before Kirk, the special effects are top notch (going back in time, and into the future all at once). All the technology used is the same as the other shows, just more basic ( hand held communicators, polarized hull plating instead of shields, manual decontamination upon return from shuttles(OMG T'pol!), transporters are unreliable). This lends a sort of cowboy attitude to the show that hasn't been witnessed since the original series. They also put humans into a galactic perspective which has yet to be done. All the alien interactions on the other series are sterile compared to Enterprise. Humans are cosmic children who have so much to learn, and understand very little about the galaxy and the aliens that populate it.

One particular addition that I appreciate the most is the fact that FINALLY the phasers actually create light when fired, that not only lights up the user's face but also the environment. It's about time we got some realistic lighting effects. The cinematic manner in which this series is filmed is a huge improvement over the previous incarnations which also seemed sterile and institutional.

So they changed the looks but the formula is well intact. I am a big ST fan, and having heard bad things about this show (it WAS canceled in its 5th season which all other ST's (not including TOS) ran 7 seasons.) but now I can clearly see that they were wrong, and not nearly big enough fans to enjoy the show. Having just finished Voyager(if you can get through Voyager you can get through ANYTHING), this show is a vast improvement, and only just a few years later. The only weakness I can see at this time is that the characters aren't as deep as they could be and certainly not as deep as certain other memorable ST crew-members in series past. Like all things of late, the shift has gone from material to visual(which wears off at the end of the day). So this could be an issue later on especially once you get used to the new look. I am hoping they will grow into their roles (Scott Bakula needs to settle in as captain - right now he's kind of a pushover).

If you are a ST fan, ignore the BS and check this show out. You will not regret it. It has great potential.

Garbage...Trash....Flotsam.

This episode was seemingly written by a 4 year old child. It has so many inconsistencies based on childrearing in the 24th century that it is pretty much ridiculous. I will now reveal to you the source of the inconsistency which forces each ST series to falter by season 7: "Writers of the Week" fill the bulk of the 170+ episodes in all the Star Trek series' since TNG. These writers, sideline fans seeking pay, are terrible at keeping consistency to the storyline or the universe in general. Take this episode for example ( although it is not alone by a long shot ) ...it's complete garbage. The flashbacks of B'elanna's past are filmed with such painfully bad actors that they are basically unbelievable and nigh unwatchable. Notice how all the good Voyager Episodes are written by Brannon Braga? The good writers come up with the show and make usually the pilots and cliffhangers ( beginning and ends of each season with a mid-season cliffhanger as well) all the other episodes are written by these hack "writers of the week." In the Star Trek universe, all, ALL crewmen and officers are sterilized (thru injections administered by the doctor as part of their medical regimen (checkups)) unless express permission to procreate is given by the captain, which in this case would never happen. Do you think Voyager could run for several months without a chief engineer? Answer, NO. Thus she would never let this happen. Secondly, Genetic Modification of ANY sort is expressly ILLEGAL in the Star Trek universe as was laid out for us (long before this series/episode came out that's for sure) in DS9 with the antics of our beloved genetically superior Dr. Bashir. Thirdly, no officers shall fraternize with another member of the crew. Fraternization leads to conflict of interest. Could B'elanna order Tom Paris to his death if necessary? They prevent fraternization for this very reason. An emotional wife is not going to send her husband to his death even if it costs the crew of 145 their lives. So besides being a complete waste of film, this episode was terribly written and inconsistency is the rule of the day. It's episodes like this that ruin the whole, they aren't just filler, they are rotten apples ruining the rest of the bunch. Please, if you ever make another ST series, and I believe you will with the coming tsunami that is the new Star Trek movie ( 2009 ), write the entire thing before the first episode is shot a la Babylon 5. Take a lesson from the pros. Get a real set of writers and stick with them. Sign contracts. Make them study and watch each episode of Star Trek from front to back and hell, create a rules handbook for writing ST episodes so that they don't make stupid mistakes. More importantly though, no one would agree to travel for 3 generations in a starship just to get home. They would land on the best class-M planet they could find and live there, creating a colony and hoping one day the Federation would come along. First and foremost, these ships are run by people. People with their own agendas, not just Starfleets. Are we to believe that these people just work every day for the rest of their lives? Even excessive amounts of shore leave and all the holodeck time in the world couldn't make these officers stay aboard. From the beginning Voyager was a bad concept. Don't get me wrong, it turned out OK... I LOVE the Doctor, but still...things like this should never go forward again. If I was the executive funding this giant I sure wouldn't put my life in the hands of "writers of the week" or certainly not this weak concept for a ST series.

Rest assured, if the Star Trek Universe were real this episode would never of happened. Knowing that the STU is NOT real, this episode still should never have happened. Wonderfully convenient way to cover up Roxanne Dawson's pregnancy, though. Couldn't she wait one more year to procreate? Contracts people. Contracts. These episodes were filmed at a cost in excess of a million dollars an episode. Over the 170 episode series it cost them in excess of 170 million dollars to film Voyager. Don't let a rogue actress get in the way of all that money I say... This is business. They certainly built the Juggernaut that should have been Voyager on a foundation of sand.

This episode is kind of whack because it comes from out of the blue. It seems so separate from the series, yet affects it so much. I fail to see the point of it. The future that they created in this episode OBVIOUSLY has nothing to do with where the series was going or in fact went. This appears to have been written by a writer who doesn't work for the show very often. The fact that the show runs for 7 seasons only further produces the plothole that if allowed to go to the end of the series in real time, Kess would be all but dead by then, and that would just be stupid. Ocampas (sp?) are a cool idea and everything but it's safe to say that since no Star Trek has run more than 7 seasons, that you could make her live to say 14 and that would be more believable. If you only live to 9 like most large breed dogs, you would be gray and wrinkly within 4-5 years ( 3 of which have already passed, plus, she was at least 1 when they found her so technically she is pushing 4 by the time this airs).

There are more wigs in this episode than in a drag queen's dressing room. Seeing the Doctor with hair was fun. B'elanna had some pretty bad hair in the episode as well, but KESS? It looks like real hair but it flows like a wig in the wind... I fail to understand how we are supposed to believe that she time traveled all over the place and magically ended up where she started but now with long hair? Were the crew just sitting there and BAM! Kess has girl hair instead of boy hair? It's strange. I know the wig she wore before was kind of silly looking, but it was HER look. I would go so far to say that in NO Star Trek has anyone ever changed their looks so drastically in one episode, or even one season. Furthermore, because we have seen the end of the series and know this storyline to be a dead end, what is the point of the stupid episode? These are the kind of series changes that usually occur at the beginning of a new season, or perhaps in the middle where they take time off for the holidays, but at the end of season? It feels weird and ill timed. I actually thought I put in the wrong disc for a while, that I was watching a couple of seasons in the future or something.

The actors must have had some time off because for the most part it feels like they are running lines as if reading the script or cue cards. They really let the facade down in this episode and for the first time you really feel like you are on the set, and that this is the footage that should have been cut. Poor acting, poor story, poor wardrobe, poor directing, and poor story continuity. That is what this episode brings to the Voyager table. Epic FAIL. This sucks too because I actually started to like the series for the first time in the season and now with the crazy changes already. This appears to be the least stable Star Trek from a story standpoint. Star Trek has a lot to learn from Babylon 5 which was written from beginning to end before the first second of film was shot. This "problem of the week" formula, although it worked for the original, is amateurish and leads to writers having to scramble and constantly patch plot holes. The continuity of the story as a whole entity is ruined by this manner of production. I really wished they had moved past that by the 4th run through.

This probably marks the beginning of the end of a series often regarded as the least favorite Star Trek. So much potential wasted.

This episode is full of suppositions, plot holes, and really bad writing.

We meet Nikolai, Worf's foster-brother, the son of his Russian foster parents who we have met before and who also currently raising Alexander. When Nikolai introduces Worf to the village he tells them that Worf is his brother. Yet none of these suspicious people were chiming in with " well, why is your skin different colors then?" Yet later we are to believe the one guy is a little TOO inquisitive and finds his way onto the Enterprise. mmmmhmm. UNLESS they are an alien race that skin color is variable upon birth. There seemed to be wide demographic makeup in the village to support this theory.

Then they come back and get un-surgeried, only to turn around and be ordered back INTO surgery to get facially altered AGAIN within hours. Geez. If it's that easy why doesn't everyone look like supermodels? They could have made Dr. Polaski sexy?

They should have never been tricked by Nikolai in the first place... for many reasons. A:The crew is experienced, they have dealt with ferengi and Q alike. What's this one man compared to that? B. His intent was obvious to anyone and he had a motive which he displayed openly. C. Deanna Troi would detect his intent in about a nanosecond. D. Even through the convenient "interference" they would have detected that the transporters were being used - they have logs for a reason. E. Who operated those transporters? A civilian scientist who doesn't know his way around the ship, or that it had a "new" holodeck, one who failed out of the Academy in the first year. Hardly good enough to make such precise calculations to aim all of them into the holodeck unbeknownst to them. And how would he know when they were all asleep anyway?

Later the Captain is informed that they have to hurry because the holodeck is losing stability. Why not fix the other holodecks and transport them over in their sleep or whatever?

Then they just let him go? Why not make him stand charges as a civilian? They do have laws about that for civilians I'm sure too. It was never even discussed only that "You're career is over!" We can't have civvies going around and changing the universe whenever they feel like can we? Treating the prime directive like a suggestion? Rule of thumb? Wives' tale?

There was one funny moment in this episode and that was when that woman told Worf they should be family because she is pregnant with his brother's baby. His reaction is HILARIOUS.

There was just too many conveniently lined up variables that make up this craptastic episode all created by the writer/s. All to further some really inconsistent and bad writing and squeeze another one out before the finale. You may actually find yourself making fart noises while you watch this episode. (In the end when they pretend they are brothers who reconciled. lol.)

With the series coming to a close you think they wouldn't waste time filming a stinker like this one. 5/10 (hey it's still TNG)

This episode goes down exactly like Die Hard 1, except instead of Bruce Willis it's Patrick Stewart, and instead of his wife being held hostage it's the senior staff. All in all, this is a pretty good little episode, but it has some major plot holes which is discouraging because they were on a good plot-hole-free streak and now it's ruined. Here's what went wrong: First, if all they wanted was trilithium there were probably easier ways to get it than messing with the best ship/crew in Starfleet. Besides, couldn't they have left Data on board? The sweep didn't affect any other devices on the ship.

Then, Picard tricks Sattler by leaving his uniform by a door with the sweep just on the other side, which is just stupid. If I saw his clothes I would have gotten the heck out of there, I definitely could outrun that slow sweep. Yet he is not the only one to die this way. Later his partner says that he found Sattler dead and retrieved a communicator from Picard's uniform. How is this possible. Once the sweep had been thru that area there would be no way thru to the other side, and without power, there could be no transporting. Which brings me to two more points. How did Picard get on board in the first place, and if he had a communicator why didn't he just transport the enemy into space and himself back to the surface, or at least to a part of the ship that had already been swept? Then after their original unknown plan fails in Engineering they decide to go to Ten Forward, then IMMEDIATELY after that the sweep is shown PAST engineering. Not cool. Meanwhile on the planet we have a couple of REALLY bad hostage takers. They let the senior officers come up with a complete plan and execute it all in front of their very eyes, and Riker just waltzes up and casually converses with them, lax with their phasers, and just beats them up, but "lets" himself get beat-down to create the distraction. Why didn't the crew just rush them at this point? Forget plan A when plan B arises and it's better! All this to execute a foggy plan "Data once we're all unconscious get to that computer over there and make it all better!" I've heard of better plans to stake your life on I'll tell you that much.

During the episode there is a lot of fighting and it is all very very bad. Like the episode in the original series where Kirk fight the saurian. Just bad, unbelievably bad action. Picard gets his rear handed to him by a girl for god's sake. I've seen him with his shirt off, he's not that feeble looking, he could knock a girl out. Especially with his experience and training.

Why were the lights on if there was no power either? Then to further prove the plot hole earlier of "how did Picard get on the ship when it had to no power to the transporters?" he screams to some miscellaneous array controller guy STOP THE SWEEP!. Why didn't he just call his ride and get a transport? Back to the bad writing again, and it's a shame.

For the record Picard personally killed or acted in a way that led to the deaths of at least 5 mercenaries in this episode and he didn't bat an eyelash doing it, or lose a wink of sleep. (Tuvok, Sattler, the merc he shot with the crossbow and knockout arrows, and the two women in the shuttle at the end - the other mercs just "disappeared" in the sweep - but he could have done some of them in too for all we know.) YET with his wonderful conversation with the Merc known as Tuvok he tries to "interrogate" him and when he fails Tuvok says "You won't kill me, you are starfleet." Yet he claims 5 confirmed kills in this episode. Tuvok included. You can't run from a sweep if you are unconscious - he killed them because he made them unconscious.

Trivia: Tim Russ (Tuvok) was seen acting as the mercenary Devor in this episode. I love how they re-use major actors in the series like Tim Russ (Tuvok), Michelle Forbes (Ro Laren),and Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat) over and over like no one will ever notice. I have heard the last name Janeway a couple times too in no reference to Catherine here and there throughout the series, so they re-use things a little too much - to the chagrin of posterity.

This is one of the cooler episodes in a long time. BUT, this episode has some major plot holes that are just downright embarrassing.

One: If the alien ship could wipe their memories, why not do that to their enemies and win the war that way?

Two: If you have wiped out all the memories of the crew, and installed one of your own, why not make yourself Captain? The second officer has no control over the crew as long as there is the captain in charge. Why not just work around this and make sure you are in charge to get the mission done your way. Besides, the Captain has to know the least about the operation of the ship than any other rank including ensign. And no one would ever call him on it if he didn't know something. When is the last time you saw Cpt. Picard fire photons, phasers, do a transport, or align the warp coils? Pretty much never. I think he controlled the helm on the Enterprise once before this. In fact this is one of the rare episodes where you see him man another station than the captain's chair.

Three: How could an alien race that was 100 years behind them have any understanding of how to wipe the crew's memory, get through their shields, or even run the ship at all? The memory wipe was instant. Which brings me to my next point.

Four: In which of the 5 seconds they were stunned did MacDuff become fully dressed in uniform, change the personnel files, and then get into position before they realized what was going on? Doesn't leave a lot of time for pre-mission briefing like studying their files while they are oblivious. Hardly something a technologically inferior race could handle.

Five: If you have the crew dead to rights, why not just transport them into space one by one( tell them they are going planet-side) and then take over the ship and its superior technology. It would be an intelligence coup. Besides, if Starfleet never knew it happened they would have no idea where to look for it. Especially amongst the technologically inferior.

Six: If a single photon torpedo was all it would take to end their war why didn't they just steal a bunch of those? Maybe a launcher or two. Grab a shuttle and go. You get a shuttle to take apart too. I believe they have phasers on them at least. If nothing else, they have advanced computers, and impulse engines to retro-engineer.

Seven: If they could understand Data enough to alter his circuitry wouldn't they be of a higher technological level than 100 years in the past?

Eight: Star Trek completely ignores the lessons of the past. Humanity is linear. We build upon the past. Things that have worked for 1000 years will still work in the future. Things like military tactics, commando style raids, intelligence coups, logistics, economy(I love how Picard "bought" a totem for Riker on Riza), EVEN THE WAY THE NAVY WORKS. None of this is applied. In the navy, an admiral runs the flagship not a captain. In the navy the flagship is usually a carrier, not a frigate which is a tiny boat used to help defend a carrier. In fact I would label the Enterprise as a cruiser which is much larger than a frigate. A Flagship has a fleet which surrounds it and protects it at all times while it attempts to complete a military mission. In the Star Trek universe, they would have you believe that the Enterprise is the only ship in the universe unless the story calls for more.

What the Enterprise is, really, is an ambassador's ship, and this makes about 0 sense from a navy perspective.

If I had made TNG I would have made the Enterprise a carrier with fighters a la Battlestar Galactica style. I would have made it a fleet. And Picard would be an Admiral. And there would be a war.

Ships don't run around too much in times of peace, other than as displays of power in ports of call. They are made for war. Instead of making humanity in the future a bunch of wussies, we could be more realistic and realize that we were bred to destroy things. Humanity is a war-like race. I know I have seriously digressed but from a Navy standpoint, BSG is a far more accurate view of the future in my opinion. They actually use navy terms and concepts and put them into action.

None of this makes any sense. From a completely oblivious standpoint, however, this episode is fun and different. The scene where the alien gets shot with the phaser is just awesome. The sound it makes and the visuals were cool as can be, even to this day.

I just wish they had hired a continuity crew to go through and make sure all of this stuff makes sense in fitting into the Star Trek Universe. If you ask me the Next Generation has more plot holes than all the other series combined. There are just WAY too many inconsistencies brought on by a need to write a decent episode, at the cost of the series' integrity. The reason I think this is, is because TNG was written by so many different writers. It feels like a pulp fiction novella series half the time.

As far as I know this is one of the first episodes written by Rick Berman himself. With all the mistakes you think he would have known better. It is after the death of Gene Roddenberry that Berman is now at the helm of Star Trek, and there are some obvious growing pains.

When the time traveller historian known as Rasmussen(Max Headroom/Lawnmower Man 2) claims to be from the 26th century( That's 2500-ish) he creates a plot hole. The Star Trek Timeline which was established off of an episode in the 2nd season I believe should put us circa 2367-9. somewhere in there. He claims to have come back nearly 300 years, yet the maximum would be 230 years which is nowhere near 300 years. Apparently math in the distant future is shaky.

I realize that back when this was aired there was less common knowledge about volcanism, asteroids, and global warming, but when the Captain has to ask Geordi why volcanic eruptions are bad on Panthera IV it's taking it a little far. Picard should know a hell of a lot more than that about the situation. He does spend his time mapping class M planets after all. How they save the planet is all theoretical and based on technology that doesn't exist(yet) so I cannot say whether that would work or not, but it seems like the work of a terraformer, not a flagship.

Furthermore even the slightest change in the past can have the colossal impact on the future. Say Beverly needed that Neural Stimulator in a coming injury, and because she had to have another replicated someone influential dies prematurely. The best course of action for time travelers is to never travel in time in the first place. It's just too risky - they would not, could not interact with such a person or accept them with open arms. Death is the only option.

When Rasmussen takes Data into his ship there is a major problem here. Why would the captain allow him to enter a vessel he doesn't fully understand. He would lose control of the situation. They would escort Rasmussen to the brig or some sort of quarters and strip search him with the aid of a tricorder. While inside, rambling on about his plans like any cliché villain he supposedly holds Data under guard of a phazer yet he takes his thumb off the trigger several times, looks away, messes with his ship...all ample opportunities for an android to move with inhuman speed and disarm/disable the guy. The way they disable the devices was a little too convenient.

Besides, if he WAS from the past how could he have known ANYTHING about Picard or the crew such as their names or anything at all? Or even that Data was an android? In the 21st century there was no warp coil as they knew it. 2063 is the year Cochrane made his first flight in the Phoenix and made first contact with the Vulcans. In the rest of the 21st century nothing more than a warp probe is launched. In fact during half of this century Earth is wracked in World War III and nuclear winter. Soldiers were addicted to enhancement drugs as is detailed the first time the crew encountered Q, it was a barbaric time. There was no way to tell what the future held. There was no way he could have conducted any sort of travel in space without knowledge of it, no would there be any reason for him to suddenly appear light years from the surface of earth in dead space 300 km from the Starfleet Flagship either. Wouldn't he just be in the future on Earth? A simple quiz about the 22nd century would have proved this guy a fake in 5 seconds. Name 10 alien races that were known in this century. GO. How about questions about the Enterprise. What is the fastest warp factor we can achieve safely, GO! No answer? Shoot him! What if because he never made it back to his time he didn't invent the things that could have theoretically resulted in the invention of starships and therefore damaged the present? What happens to the time machine when it goes back in time, adrift, a derelict for any to find and wreak havoc with.

Since there was no record of his existence why didn't they just vaporize him or blow him out of an airlock just for fun? Lock him in a holodeck medieval torture program indefinitely.

This whole episode is utter trash that should have never been put into production. It's just another filler episode on the way to bigger better things. There are simply too many of these filler episodes. Rick Berman needs to stick to production because as a writer he is a noob. I realize that at this point he is all alone, and new at it, but he should have planned for Gene's eventual departure at his advanced age long before this. They should have had the entire series written by this point like we do today. Sometimes it feels like the seat-of-the-pants, fly-by-night kind of pulp fiction writings detailed in a certain episode of DS9. :)

One more thing ILM makes me mad. The atmosphere of most planets is over 600 miles above the surface granted re-entry isn't noticeable until around 75 miles, the atmosphere is still there! The Enterprise according to ILM just sits right next to solid spheroid planets devoid of topography or water half the time, mere dozens of miles above the surface, and yet denies the natural orbit that is stable and easy to achieve around 250 miles above a planet of Earth's size. The Bussard Ramscoop collectors do collect Deuterium fuel for free at warp speeds, but you would tend to want to save wherever possible. It's called efficiency. Another thing, battles in space happen in 3 dimensions not 2.

Having seen DS9 the picture painted of Bajor is completely different. This makes me question why they later came and took this storyline and reworked it into DS9. The "Bajora" as they are called have different noses. They do retain the same naming convention of last name first. Their earrings (at least Ensign Roe's) are on the wrong ear. The timeline seems to be correct, the Occupation was 41 years. They speak of the planet Bajor being occupied by the Cardassians in this episode as well, but they claim that the Bajora are an exiled race, not an enslaved one. They paint them as refugees wandering the galaxy looking for a home.

Previously I believe it was mentioned that the Federation had an alliance with the Cardassians. I don't see how the Federation would tolerate that kind of tyranny in a friend, but getting to the point, the basis for DS9 is here but it's all over the place. I don't understand why they didn't just make a whole new plan up for DS9, but I can't say I mind.

There is no mention of the wormhole, or the prophets.

This episode is definitely a little weird to watch after DS9. Still, from a TNG perspective it is a very good episode full of lots of action and twisting plots.

Trivia: Ensign Ro (Michelle Forbes) is more recently Admiral Helena Cain of the Battlestar Pegasus in the Battlestar Galatica series. She was also Dara the daughter of Timicin in Season 4 Episode 22, "Half a Life".

I love TNG but I think this episode is appropriately titled. The crew strikes some phenomenon in space that never gets explained. Then when everything goes out this episode turns into a compilation of decades of bad television plots. First Picard gets the "Stuck in an elevator" plot. Then "Let's deliver a baby" plot with Keiko and Worf. I don't even know what the heck you call the "Deanna having control of the bridge" scenes.. This episode is a complete and utter cheesefest.

Captain Picard HATES children. Hates them. He does not have the perfect answer for them, yet in this episode he handles them like a pro granddad. It's weird and contradictory.

Every so often in long running shows like these we get some filler, and here is a perfect example. No real story development. Nothing was explained. They didn't show how they got the ship back under control really, they just showed that they had averted disaster. The joke at the end about #1 made me want to vomit. I can sum this episode up in one sentence.

Huge miscellaneous problem creates material for a compilation episode of trite old TV plots and disappears unexplained just as fast as it came. fascinating.

Apparently are starting to get a little too comfortable by this point in the series.

This is a good episode visually for the series as we finally get to see the crystalline entity up close and in action. The scenes on the planet were very memorable from the first time I saw this episode when it aired on national television. But, as sometimes happens in Star Trek TNG, unfortunately there's a huge plot hole.

When Doctor Mar(sp?)socialized with the crew she was seething with feelings of revenge and hatred for the crystalline entity because it killed her son on Omicron Theta where Data was built. They were aware of her drive to study the crystalline entity after his death and her motivations thereof. The captain first asks Troi if he can trust the Dr. to be impartial, and then later calls the Dr. into his ready room to avoid arguing in front of his crew. Clearly, you wouldn't need a Betazoid to figure out where that woman's obsession was. When she went to destroy the entity with her graviton pulses Deanna Troi, an empathic half-betazoid looks to Picard like a child and says " I think something is wrong!" Instead of "Watch Out I sense murderous intent coming from the Dr. " in the first 5 minutes of contact with the woman thus saving the entire mission of contact with the entity. The console is screaming (usually indicating something negative might be occurring), meanwhile Worf stands there off-camera useless while insubordination is occurring on the bridge. Picard and Riker, pleading/ordering her to stop - motionless, Data also pleading, completely clueless as to what to do. Worf couldn't tackle her or even better vaporize her? Deanna couldn't sense? Data couldn't crush her hand and make her tell the code? And then Data and Geordi can't beat an old lady's hastily constructed subroutine program? From a story perspective this episode was a complete failure of th crew. From a writer's perspective it was not very well thought out. I believe this occurs more often in Star Trek because they were willing to accept scripts from many different writers, and didn't pore over them very well before production.

They still had control of the ship. Shut down main power for gosh sakes, turn the ship around, go to warp, SOMETHING. Captain the ship! Lay in a course of campiness... Warp Factor 9... Engage.

This is the first time we are introduced to the sybiotic lifeform known as the Trill. The Trill in this episode are devoid of their signature spots and instead have some weird klingon-like (but caucasian) cranial crest. Although this was really more of an introduction to the topic of Trills, what they are, and how they love, "The Host" ends up being a major storyline later in ST DS9. In this episode Dr. Beverly Crusher falls in love with one slug over three bodies. This whole story line is salvaged and reworked later into a major running plot on DS9. Commander Worf falls in love with Jadzia Dax only to spurn Ezri Dax later when Jadzia dies. The confusion was also too much for him to bear, until later they copulate and he realizes that he does indeed still love her (but only as a friend). Thusly, he was able to watch Ezri Dax fall for Dr. Julian Bashir.

This is a decent episode, and there is nothing wrong with it. Although the trill are different the concept is the same and the actual symbiote appears to be the same prop as the one used in DS9. They are also introduced to the symbiote to the host in the same way in both series. Same concept, different looks. You can totally get past it. After all you got through the first season of TNG if you are reading this, which is no easy task. I'm sure glad the show evolved into a masterpiece as it progressed.

This is a great episode that is very memorable. The makeup for the "creatures" is just awesome, timeless. Even to this day 17 years later, I remembered all the key parts of this episode. There is one noticeable plot hole which I will save until the end.

(Despite the negative things I am going to point out, this series is one of the best ever made. This is more for critical/trivia purposes) The scene with the shuttle though was kind of a let down in ILM's department. But since they weren't paid movie prices for these visuals they frequently seem to provide special effects that aren't 100% following the script. For example a few episodes before this when they are being sucked into the black hole the Enterprise was shown just on the precipice about ready to go in, and then they come back to the crew and they say they have 15 minutes until event horizon. Later the ship is shown much farther away than the first shot. Then they just up and fly away like nothing was ever wrong - not even a struggle to pull from the insane gravity. I don't know if this was editing or what, but these inconsistent visuals happen more than a little bit.

But it's high time I pointed it out. I can't take it any more. Another person here on IMDb commented on the awesome uniforms and costumes in this episode but I beg to disagree. There is a condition related to Starfleet Uniforms(only for some reason) and it's a condition that has its own name.

It's the Dreaded Starfleet Uniform Pull.

They all do it. It's like their picking their nose and they don't want you to see it. The camera comes in close with a head and chest shot and out of the camera's range, the actor is doing the Dreaded Shirt Pull. In one particular scene in this episode Geordi is having a conversation with Data (time index 22:45-25:00ish) and every time he lifts his arms to gesture in his speech, or leans over to take the railings his uniform fails him and he does the Dreaded Shirt Pull 5-6 times (once off camera a close shot- but you can still tell).Could you imagine him really having to get work done in that suit, crawling thru Jeffries' Tubes and realigning warp coils, constantly battling his ever rising and bunching shirt? This is where there costume designers have completely failed them, despite doing such excellent work for the alien races. In fact having just watched DS9 in its entirety and seeing them go thru 3-4 different uniforms over the series and they still did the Deaded Shirt Pull. They may have looked like space douche bags in the beginning of the series, but at least when the uniforms were spandex they fit right and the Dreaded Shirt Pull was kept to a minimum.

Other times, these revealing uniforms show a little too much actor if you know what I mean. Poor Deanna has had a camel toe or two in that jumpsuit, not to mention anything about the upper half. Certain actors may or may not have had man boobs at certain points in the show. They must have really had to try and maintain their figures to pull of those old suits. At one point in the beginning of season 4 I swear Data was wearing a girdle(which resulted in weird folds in his suit) because he came back from the off-season a little chunky. This is further evidenced by his additional android chins which fade as the season progresses.

One last thing I will point out is that when they show footage of Geordi 5 years ago they did remember to bust out the old red spandex suit but they didn't put on his old gold banana clip visor which you can spot from a mile away. I think he's actually on his third visor by now and it has vastly improved his believability as a character. It's hard to take one seriously when they are looking at you thru a $2 banana clip wearing a Red Spandex Onesy. Oh well, at least they tried to keep it accurate. Levar Burton probably lit the thing on fire and smashed it into a thousand pieces when they finally invested the money in his character and gave him a new visor. So maybe that's why he couldn't wear it in the historical footage.

The plot hole is that when Geordi turns into the "creature" they find his uniform. What about those blinking lights on the side of his head, did those just fall away as he transformed? But yet they weren't discovered with his shredded uniform. He didn't sport them as the "creature". Meanwhile he is fully capable of sight without his visor as this new creature in less than a few hours? If they did come off are we to believe doctor crusher put his visor implants back on real quick (she's less than technical minded-leaving Data's medical care to Geordi). It's a plot hole that could have been easily worked around by making him wear the visor as the "creature". Even though Beverly explained that the parasite can happen fast or slow, it just all seemed a little TOO fast for Geordi. Another thing is, he seemed to have retained memories of his existence as this "creature" so why isn't he a little more excited about having seen with his own eyes without a visor for the first time?

This episode contains plot holes. They are pretty significant so I would like to point them out.

First off, there is no way that the Enterprise could conduct this mission without a cloaking device. I suggest that keeping cloaking technology from Starfleet would be impossible. If you are at war with a race you will inevitably capture their technology in battle and gain an intelligence coup. The Federation has been at war with both the Klingons and the Romulans yet it has never acquired the technology. If you use it on the enemy, there is a chance the enemy will get it and use it on you. In a world of limitless resources the concept that prevents American technology from being turned against us will not work. As of now it doesn't matter if you take our stuff, you don't have the resources to build enough of them yourself to pose a threat, it's useless to you. This would check/balance would not exist in the ST universe. You could say that you would reveal your technology very carefully for this reason. If your technology falls into enemy hands they can replicate it all day long without so much as understanding how it works. In short, you would protect your tech more than you do now, but there really would be very little you can do to stop the inevitable leaking of your technology to other alien races. Thus, there is no reason why Starfleet shouldn't all be cloaking.

Secondly, if Riker was on the planet for months doing acculturation research where was the Enterprise during this time? Are we to believe it sat in orbit out of sight while it conducted this mission? The Atkonians are supposedly on the cusp of warp travel I assume they have sub-light drive technology, satellites and of course telescopes. That would make it quite difficult for the Enterprise to do anything without being discovered since as I pointed out above they cannot cloak. With satellites and telescopes of our own as sub-warp aliens, we could tell the second an uncloaked alien ship entered our Solar System even with our vastly inferior to Starfleet technology.

Seems to me that an exploration vessel is designed to explore, and that diplomatic ships would be sent to deal with Atkonians. That would be like sending Columbus to initiate a mission of peace with the Native Americans. Columbus had weaponry. Most ambassadors I know of do not carry weaponry as a rule to peace talks or ever for that matter. How can peace exist in the face of firepower? More often, history shows us, that like Krola believes, explorers are usually conquerers. In 300 years on Earth(the difference between us in the here and now, and the Enterprise in 2366) there really is very little difference of the baser instincts of man despite our "civilization." Evolution takes longer than 300 years, history reveals. The concept of a First Contact is flawed in it's very concept for that reason. You cannot force evolution to occur thousands of times faster than it would naturally. Even with the introduction of superior technology, the baser instincts would case war or other disruptions in the balance of power. If you are not evolved enough to use the technology the results would be catastrophic. Just by revealing themselves, they reveal the concepts of technology that can be recreated by the Atkonians. For example, if the Iraqis saw microwave non-lethal emitters, they may not have them but now they know about them they are that much easier to re-invent. By just mingling with Atkonians it would greatly accelerate their technology levels far faster than evolution could keep up. It would be disastrous. Especially with a xenophobic race like the Atkonians. Are we to believe that when they get phasers that they won't use them on all the ugly foreign aliens that have fingers and toes?

Lastly, if they can change Riker's face why couldn't they change his hands and feet to make him more genuine. Latex gloves perhaps? Also why do humans always conduct First Contact, why not Vulcans or any of the vast myriad of alien races that belong to the Federation of Planets? More specifically why is it always the Enterprise initiating First Contact? Sometimes the way certain writers script this show they would have you believe that the Starship Enterprise is the only ship in the Federation, and they singlehandedly take care of every single emerging Federation problem. Other times they raise more questions about the series than the value of the story they are trying to tell. It can make the show very campy at times.

I am a huge fan of the ST Universe. I love the show and the high standard they usually keep with not having too many plot holes.

And then I saw this episode and thought " what the heck happened here?!" I agree 100% about viewing this episode like a Mystery Science Theater 3000 show because it is very poorly written and directed. It is quite possibly the most plot-hole-filled episode in all of Star Trek History.

Everything the other guy said is 100% true but he missed some crucial plot holes. It's OK, there were so many to keep up with. Mine may bear a little explanation before we begin for clarity. So here we go.

Inertia. The Enterprise overcomes inertia with inertial dampeners. A derelict garbage scow would not have active dampeners so it would suffer from inertia, thus how it got to the planet in the first place. At some point somewhere something pushed this garbage scow up to speed, and we assume its trajectory was altered as it ricocheted through myriad gravity wells.

I present you my 5 additional plot holes: First, once you have something in tractor if you let go it will continue to go without you any more. Why not go full impulse, grab the thing real quick, fling it forward and release it at a much higher velocity? And there is the slingshot gravity technique. They give coordinates in 3 dimensions and they fly in 2 on Star Trek. Some of this is ILM's fault because it's hard to hang a model vertically right? Second, I have seen them tow starships in warp before in other shows and in other episodes.

Third, If it's that easy to send junk into the sun, why didn't the people who made the scow in the first place just fly backwards at the sun, and then stop real quick with the back open, thus letting the garbage free without losing your ship? Fourth, If the Enterprise can't get near the thing, who originally could to sit on the bridge and fly the thing? Fifth, To be a captain you must own a starship or vessel or some type. A captain is a leader of men, yet he had no one under his command. Driving a shuttle, he's more like a pilot, or at best an owner/operator. Calling a guy like that captain would be like a navy captain calling a truck driver captain. Apparently this guy's character was as flat as a board and he only existed as a protagonist, and someone to hate on. Obviously his title was either fashioned by himself (we assume) or the actors were too kind to say anything about this obvious oversight.

This episode was written by Kacey Arnold-Ince who consequently has never written anything before or since.

If I was an actor on the set I would have said "write me out of this garbage, I want a personal day". It feels like the writer wrote this script on a napkin just before filming because they lost the original OR Wil Wheaton said he wanted to leave the show so they wanted to change it real quick and threw away this theoretical original and better episode.

Apparently the editors and usual team of crackshots didn't get a chance to shred this script before it was sent to the director.

The beginning of the 3rd season marks a milestone for the series. As we all know the 3rd season was the final one in the Original Series. From this point on we will see TNG surpass its forebear and become a classic phenomenon in its own right as a series. With 4 movies, they never beat the record of 5 set by Kirk and the original crew(6 if you include Generations).

Changes to the series: Dr. Beverly Crusher returns from the cast after a season away as head of Starfleet Medical. She has a new shorter haircut and she looks as good as ever. From an acting perspective she doesn't miss a beat. Some of the crew are looking slightly older, in particular this is noticeable of Data who isn't supposed to change because he is an android (what a challenge from a producer's standpoint!).

The main theme song is comprised of two parts, the intro with Picard's Mission Statement, and the actual Theme song. Apparently the Intro's music changes each season - while the statement remains the same. The Intro changed after the first season by adding a droning bassline. In the 3rd season that drone has been modified to be less harsh and more of a background noise but it is still there. Also tinkling bell chimes have been added to the mix to give it depth. The intro video of the planets has changed dramatically, while the Enterprise shots were unchanged(possibly improved special effects is all). The show by this point is no longer skimping out on the special effects to save money.

We are entering the Golden Age of TNG.

I am watching the series back to back as fast as possible. I am attempting to watch all things Star Trek. This is month 3 and I am now on Season 3 of TNG and I have already gone thru DS9 in its entirety. Star Trek is the greatest television phenomenon ever achieved.

"Shades of Grey" is the first recap episode in the TNG series. Having just watched the shows, these clips were fresh in my mind, but I noticed how a couple of them were re-shot because the film looked better. Season 1 always seemed real dark and ugly to me - and the actors looked silly, like they didn't fit in their own skins.

The show is essentially just made of up a greatest hits of the happiest and saddest moments in Riker's life on the Enterprise up until this point. The Data and Riker scene in the holo-deck is a classic moment of new friendship. My other favorite is when the 2nd officer on the Klingon ship challenges Riker's authority as first officer and Riker beat the living CRAP out of that Klingon. Then the admiral kicks his a$$ but good. This entire episode is a heck of a reminder that a LOT of crazy, great things have happened already in a mere 2 seasons with 5 more to go and a handful of movies! At this point in the series they are really starting to develop the emotions that tie Riker to Deanna Troi as Imzadi. Up until this point they have mentioned the fact, but they have yet to exploit it. Let the record show that the ST Wiki - Memory Alpha claims that Imzadi means "first" and denotes that she has had intimate relations with Riker and also remains deeply close on an emotional one. This episode further proves there will be a tense romantic interest in each other for a long time to come.

Here is the article: http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Imzadi By this point in the series, production value is up to speed and Star Trek TNG is settling into the sci-fi behemoth it was destined to become. Watching this again as an adult I see now what GREAT ACTORS the Star Trek Universe provides. They really need to make a new ST show set after all the current shows. A DS9 movie would have been nice too.

This is the best pilot for ST out there! Let's just say that this is just the pilot, and it seems a little time passed before the shot the second episode because it has a completely different feel that will become the norm for the rest of the series. Avery Brooks will tend to over-act but this becomes more balanced as the series progresses. Finally we get a child character you can like too, in Jake Sisko (way less annoying than Wesley IMO).

I think this is the greatest Star Trek nay sci-fi series ever made, and when it ended, I was left with an overwhelming sense of loss. I felt like I had lost some really great friends and I would never see them again. So I ask why? Why did they end it and never look back? This series was rich with spin-offs, potential movies - a never-ending cash cow, and yet it ended abruptly after wasting an entire season devoping Ezri instead of tying up the loose ends. Why? Now that you know how I feel about the show, I will point out some major plot holes in this and all episodes of the series DS9.

Chief O'Brien was a Lieutenant Transporter Chief on the Enterprise, a commissioned officer. On DS9 he suddenly becomes a non-commissioned officer Chief rank and loses the ability to give orders to anyone but the engineers- and later submits to Ensign Nog who was but a child a year before to him. As I understand the only way to rid yourself of a commission is to lose it via insubordination or to resign it. Neither of these were likely to occur when they were sending him to the MOST important place in the quadrant at that time - DS9. So I ask again. Why? Second of all, I don't know if there are branches of service in ST since they never mention it as far as I know, but a star base is basically territory. And territory is held by an Army, so why send a commander in the Starfleet Navy to do that job? Isn't that the job of a StarArmy or perhaps an elected official?

If people of the future don't need money, yet ferengi still value the non-replicatable gold-encased liquid latinum(the gold is a worthless container for up to a few drops of latinum) for it's rarity, then how does the cast ever afford to go to Quark's, or the holo-suites, or anywhere on the promenade, including tailoring by Garak? If Starfleet gave them some sort of pay, the rest of Starfleet would want pay too and that would unsettle the entire concept of the entire ST universe. They kind of address this a tiny bit later on by Sisko threatening Quark to do his bidding because they let him operate for free, but he never says "free services for the crew" and there are times when they make payments on quark's thumbpad so money is being exchanged. Oh by the way, in the first season of TNG they mention gold as being valuable still - so that's weird. Plus, no one complained about replicated food on the Enterprise they thought it was great, so why now on DS9? Why pay for food when you can get it for free in your room?

Lastly, why dock on the station at all? They have transporters that can beam them anywhere aboard the station (they could only beam you to a few set locations on the enterprise mind you) and their cargo. So why not park outside at full stop in a "parking lot", unattached, and transport in? You would think quarantining thru bioscrubbers in the transporter to maintain station welfare would be a major concern. They never address this issue, people just hop right on the station and exchange hugs and handshakes and air as it decompresses onto the station.

And now I will answer a Why for you. The reason why you rarely see Bajoran ships (Season 7 Episode 2 "Shadows and Symbols") is because they basically have none of their own. The ones they do have are decades old and from "The Occupation" or before. They are sub-warp, and have vastly inferior weaponry and shields. Because they are in the process of joining the Federation they are under Federation protection and (we assume) will soon acquire new non-Bajoran Federation ships as part of that induction.

Circa 1992 in the Star Trek Timeline there was a war that was based on altering human genetics. This was called the Eugenics War. It was a war between genetically altered humans and natural humans. Natural humans won the war and made genetic tampering illegal at this time as is explained later in Star Trek DS9 when issues of Doctor Julian Bashir's genetic enhancement are brought to light. In that episode Julian's parents arrive on DS9 and his father is forced to serve a 2 year sentence for allowing Julian to be genetically altered as a child and hiding it for so long (something like 22 years). My point is that if genetic alteration is illegal why wasn't the criminality of it brought to light. The Eugenics Wars timeline I am pretty sure was established in the Original Series. My point is that Unnatural Selection is an affront to humanity and peace and the crew doesn't even bat a lash at this concept.

One more plot hole I will point out is that Transporter Chief Miles O'Brien is a commisioned officer in TNG - a lieutenant, having obviously gone to the academy, traversed being a cadet, and gotten his officer's commision as an ensign. Later before the show begins he must have been promoted to Lieutenant. The plot hole is that later on in DS9 then Chief O'Brien makes sure to point out on many occasions that he is a non-commisioned officer Chief on many occasions and that would mean that even an ensign such as Nog could tell Chief what to do. How is it possible that a Commisioned officer somehow lost his commision and became an NCO? Could he have resigned his commision, left starfleet, and returned as an NCO? As is proved by Chief Engineer Argyle(He appears in 2 episodes - Ep 5 - "Where No One Has Gone Before" is one) in the 1st Season of TNG, and Chief Engineer Lt. Geordi La Forge in the 2nd Season you CAN be a commisioned officer and still be the Engineering Chief.

The third and biggest plot hole in this episode is that Dr. Polaski is beamed up in the end and she doesn't carry the "infection" which they were so kind to point out earlier in the episode that the "infection" couldn't be filtered out through the transporter system and they failed twice to do so, resulting in Dr. Polaski's "infection" in the first place. Did something change? Otherwise the whole crew would have been affected by the "infection" and it would be the end of the series since everyone you know would be dead. Because they never fully explain how the disease is passed from one host to another you can't really give it full credence as a plot hole, but it was convenient to the story let's put it like that. It seems to me by the conclusion of the episode, considering they saved Darwin IV, they had mastered this condition so why blow up a perfectly good starship when you can transport their crews corpses into space, give her a scrub and tow the derelict back to a starbase or call in a tug as was done once in Season 1 - surely the immune Data could accomplish this if nothing else. Energy and materials are free in the ST Universe but humanoid labor to assemble the materials is not free and they would have to consider it their greatest asset. To give up all that labor in one photon torpedo burst just doesn't seem prudent to what an actual captain might do, in today's navy or in the navy of the future.

Lastly, they bring to light the fact that Geordi really doesn't need to wear the visor(banana clip), he just wants to. By DS9 a mere 6 years later they completely rebuild Vedek Bareil in Season 3 Episode 13 "Life Support" as he wastes away a piece at a time. When the get to the brain they decide to let him die because he would be nothing but machine at that point. So if they can rebuild an entire human being and prosthetics are in a golden age, then why does Geordi ever start with a visor on this show? It was something that they realized and quickly scrambled to explain later in the series. If I was not correct in this, it would have never been brought up in the show, it would be accepted fact.

In conclusion I found this episode to be poorly written, and a poor fit to the Star Trek Universe and in my personal opinion. It's plot holes are so large you could pilot a Galaxy Class Starship thru them. Although Dr. Polaski has more character than Dr. Beverly Crusher, I find her to be more of a liability to the show(bones has been done before and better thanks), and I will be glad when she is finally gone.

One more thing, the laptop screens are like 4 inches thick on this episode. You tend to see thru the facade when you see things like that. It's really hard to make a show about the future because everything that happens in the world would have to be reflected in the future as well. For example in the first season I recall Cpt. Picard telling Cmdr. Riker to "download that file to sick bay" when he would clearly have to UPLOAD it. Also they don't have bluetooth! When they sit together and talk it's funny because they could've used the internet to look up whatever they wanted and had the computer read it back. Instead they use Data for this function of giving the audience/crew information. It's just kind of funny is all. TNG is a great show, just not so consistent with the lines it predecessors and it's progeny laid out.

The Child is not a great episode by any means. It's probably completely forgettable. But like others have commented, this is a major milestone for the series. Besides the annoyingly ugly Dr. Polaski ( a sharp contrast to the GMILF that is Gates McFadden ), the changes to the show do put it out of the dated First season and begins to show the true potential of this show.

Star Trek the Original Series is a tough act to follow! But as you can see at this point in the series they have what it takes to start a new generation of fans, and it worked.

One thing others didn't mention is that the opening theme is changed ever-so-slightly by adding a techno bass drone to the original mission statement. It's very subtle but as a techno artist I noticed it.

All that aside, and the real reason I came here to comment, is the WIG. That's right. Somewhere obvious in this episode there is a gigantic blonde wig on a grey eyebrowed man. It's very Andy Warhol. It's gotta be one of the more hilarious jokes they tried to pull off. At least since they decided to use a banana clip as Geordi's Visor, and when they do close-ups you can see brown eyes behind it, not blind white eyes(plus that has got to be a safety hazard if not degrading to wear-now you know why Geordi got the engine room and fewer away missions). Makes you have to ask yourself "what were they thinking?" sometimes. Ah well, in such a revolutionary series, it's easy to ignore the tiny flaws, but I still can't help but let out a little giggle when I see that tribble-looking monster toupee that guy is wearing.

The movie this time around is just downright terrible. There are plot holes you can drive a truck through. For example, they go on about Mayans and aliens. If Mayans were given alien technology WHY DIDN'T THEY INVENT THE WHEEL?! Some peoples die off for a reason, they lacked something crucial to survival. To say aliens came and gave them technology just shows a vast ignorance of archeology, and anthropology. Secondly, there is a scene with some seriously wicked and non-existent ants. This further shows a vast ignorance of the rainforest and it's inhabitants. History is supposed to be made cool with Indy, not spread ignorance.

The crystal skull is supposed to be magnetic, yet metal comes all around it and it conveniently was magnetic when it helped the story, and when the idea was cumbersome, they just forwent with it. It's supposed to be made of quartz yet it looks and seems to weigh as much as a plastic resin with some dichroic glitters inside. It seemed to me a cheap prop.

Harrison Ford, pushing 70, was body doubled more times than Nicole Kidman in a sex scene. Every single bit of action was obviously shot from afar with a body double. I also noticed that like Danny Glover he's earned himself a nice pair of dentures and subsequently has a similar slur now especially noticeable with the usage of the letter "S". Not what I want out of my action star I can tell you that. Why don't these rich actors get dental implants so they can talk normal?

In one scene Indy survives a nuclear explosion in a completely impossible and ridiculous way. In another scene his younger counterpart was swinging thru the jungle like Tarzan with chimps like it was a kid's show. Completely and utterly ridiculous garbage in my opinion. This would be OK if this were a PG movie but because of graphic violence this movie is NOT suitable for young children, the only ones who are naive enough to believe this crap. It seemed like all this incredulous stuff happened for no reason at all, not even to advance a story line. It felt worse than watching the latest Star Wars trilogy.

The one positive thing I will say is that Industrial Lights and Magic earned their keep, but I have never been one to rely on pretty pictures when there's a story to be told.

The last thing I will say about Indy is this. Archaeologists study, document, and preserve history. They do NOT destroy, damage, or otherwise obliterate their digs so they can glean a tiny bit of info to advance a really crappy story line. It just shows more ignorance in archaeology. It's not OK to blow up a lesser dig just to find the artifact you are looking for at the time.

There were classic Indy moments, but they felt so contrived with body doubles and fakeness, that this movie ended up a shadow of the former series. Falling over a waterfall three times in a car-boat will kill you I don't care who you are. There is such a thing as inertia and your brain splattering against the inside of your skull from sudden changes in speed (i.e. g-forces). I can look past this for a good story, but it's just more ignorance thrown on like sticks on a fire.

The one main theme all around, Ignorance. It's a killer. They should have called in the History Channel for some accuracy. It just felt like they were milking this cash cow one last time before Harrison Ford dies. The only reason I am marking this film at a 5 is because I wasn't having a good time, but I wasn't going to leave or ask for my money back either(thankfully it didn't drag on). Thus, 5 stars. Do yourself a favor and go back and watch the trilogy and just leave it at that. If you must see this, I recommend a rental from your local video store around x-mas.

I will keep it simple. Ignore the naysayers. This movie is good times. It's wholesome entertainment that to me and my girl felt as if we had spent quality time with good friends for 2 hours, or as if we spent the afternoon watching 50's situation comedy. Because the evil in this movie is not something one is likely to ever encounter, those who handle horror movies poorly might actually be able to handle this one here. As a long time horror fan, I will be more than happy to purchase this when it comes out on DVD and add it to my horror collection. Long story short, this movie is good times. It was one of the more original ideas when all the horror movies tend to be crazy psychotic people who like to kill more than anything else. It was a creative breath of fresh air. The gore level is 8/10.

Personally I thought that this movie was way better than the first one. First off you have to think that this is a prequel. Secondly, because no one went to the last one in the theaters they really weren't willing to stick their necks out financially. Besides this, AVPR is an excellent jaunt thru the AVP lore. The complete lack of any sort of story is nothing in comparison to the awesome action that takes place on the screen. Folks, this is an action movie. Aliens was Horror/Sci-Fi. Not every adventure into this series has to be as serious as that title. Anyway, it's an excellent movie, take it for the good time that it is. And for gosh sakes support your Aliens movies and they will put them back in space.

If you are a history buff, or an imaginary armchair soldier (videogame buff?), or heck even if you used one of these guns in service to your country, this is the show for you. Although it is approaching a decade old, this is one of the more informative shows on firearms. It brings you inside the gun, its history, its effectiveness, and how it changed the world. For authenticity, Historical Weapons Experts give you the details, and even put in a little trigger time. Tales of the Gun exposes aspects and perspectives of the gun and its critical role in history that other shows do not.

Episodes cover such things as Infamous Guns that were used in famous assassinations, Guns of WWII, the M-16,and the Ak-47. If it's a gun, be it historical or futuristic(for 10 years ago anyway), Tales of the Gun knows about it and has an episode all about it.

You can still occasionally catch episodes of Tales of the Gun on the History Channel in the mornings, but such showings are becoming increasingly rare. This series is one of the best that History Channel has to offer, and definitely one of the least known. Check it out!

The only way this show could be better is if they brought it back with R. Lee Ermey from Mail Call (or Hollywood fame, as it were).