Lynch's Spoiler Review: "The Drumhead"
Timothy W. Lynch
TNG episode, "The Drumhead". So, if you don't want any spoilers, don't read
it. (Boy, that should be a generic enough warning--nobody'll know how I feel,
especially since I'm writing this several hours BEFORE the rest of the
review...:-) )
This starts out really slow, but picks up a LOT. Pretty good overall.
Okay, so I'm a sucker for courtroom dramas. (Makes me wonder why I've never
been enchanted by "LA Law". Oh well.) This was another success in the lines
of TOS's "Court-Martial" and TNG's "The Measure of a Man" in that it managed
to get tons of tension crammed into a very small room. But more on that after
the synop, like so...
An investigation is underway: there's been a security breach, followed by an
explosion in engineering which may well have been the result of sabotage. A
Klingon exobiologist, J'Ddan, is under investigation for the security breach,
and lots of circumstantial evidence points to him. He denies any involvement.
Showing up to help the investigation is retired Admiral Nora Satie, who's
smoked out many a conspiracy in the past. Her investigations, combined with
some of Worf's findings, quickly point to obvious guilt for J'Ddan, who
confesses to his crime. However, when Sabin, a Betazoid aide to Satie, says
that he appears to be telling the truth in denying the apparent sabotage,
Satie concludes that there's a conspiracy on board.
Satie, whose father was a revered judge in the Federation (required reading in
the Academy, at least in Picard's time) quickly gets to work. J'Ddan had few
associates, so the number of people to question is small. Since he often
received injections, Dr. Crusher is an obvious choice, but she has nothing
useful to give. However, after Simon Tarses, a med-tech, testifies, Sabin
immediately claims that Tarses is frightened and covering up a huge lie--and
says "there's your man." Picard begins to get worried about this chain of
events, refusing to hound an innocent man--_especially_ when Geordi and Data's
investigation later turns up strong evidence that the explosion in Engineering
was a random accident, not sabotage.
Satie, however, will have none of it, and insists that the lack of sabotage
doesn't imply a lack of conspiracy. At the second hearing for Tarses (which
is now open to spectators, incidentally), Sabin ends up using a blatant lie
about the explosion in Engineering to get Tarses off balance, and accuses him
of being a known liar about his ancestry (his grandfather was not Vulcan, but
Romulan). Tarses refuses to answer Sabin's questions.
Picard becomes more and more upset at the turn of events, and reminds Worf
that Tarses has committed no crime. (Worf, however, is by now convinced that
he "must" seek out the enemies of the Federation.) When Picard talks to Satie
and demands an end to the hearings, threatening to go to Starfleet Command,
Satie informs him that she's been in touch with Command, and the hearings are
to be *expanded*. In addition, her old associate Adm. Henry of Starfleet
Security is now coming on board to observe the hearings. Picard vows to fight,
and quickly finds himself ordered to testify at the next set of hearings.
At Picard's hearing, Satie shows little mercy. She questions his devotion to
the Prime Directive, claiming he's broken it 9 times since taking command of
the Enterprise. She asks how he can sleep at night after all the destruction
and loss of life he caused as part of the Borg. The final straw, however,
comes when Picard quotes her father's old warnings of curtailing freedom: she
begins to rant that Picard dirties her father's memory by speaking of him, and
vows to bring down Picard at any cost. Admiral Henry, in response, merely
gets up--and walks out without a word.
Later, the hearings over and the matter settled, Picard tells Worf that
although Satie is now discredited, others like her will always exist, waiting
for the right moment to surface. "Vigilance, Mr. Worf. That is the price we
have to continually pay."
Well, that should do. I had to skimp on a few details to keep it within
manageable proportions, though. Anyway, on to commentary.
As I said, the story started off rather slowly. In fact, it dragged. While
most of it was necessary to set up for the later part of the show, I found
myself somewhat disinterested by the early stages of the investigation.
Basically, I didn't get particularly engrossed until J'Ddan (damn, but it's
hard to type that correctly :-) ) had actually confessed and the hearings for
Tarses had begun; in short, until the witch-hunt got underway. The means
J'Ddan used to transmit information (an optical reader attached to a hypo,
converting data into amino acids and thus using anyone he injects as carriers
of information) was very interesting, but not really enough to get my
attention for more than a moment or two. It dragged.
However, that changed really fast. As soon as the witch-hunt had started, I
found it very difficult to think about anything else BUT the show. While I
often end up thinking about non-Trek stuff during commercials, this time I was
trying to extrapolate reactions to the last things I'd seen and trying to
figure out exactly what could be done to avoid the problems they faced. I was
very engrossed, no doubt about it.
The plot was very solid. The one minor plot hole (and that not even a hole)
is that I think Troi should have been used more than in just the initial
questioning of J'Ddan. After all, two Betazoids (or one and a half, I guess)
should be better than one, right? Even if Satie would have bristled at the
concept ("isn't my assistant reliable enough for you?" or something like
that), I'd still have liked to see it come up. But since Sabin didn't
actually come up with any wrong feelings (J'Ddan was telling the truth, and
Tarses WAS covering up a lie), I don't think it would have changed anything
relevant.
The direction was quite good, at least once the show picked up steam. I could
tell it was Jonathan Frakes (remember him? :-) ) right off, though--some of
the shots he used were very reminiscent of similar ones in "Reunion".
(Specifically, I'm thinking of the shot of Worf from below in "Reunion", which
looked similar to the one of Worf and J'Ddan in the lift in the teaser here.)
Not that I mind--I thought both "The Offspring" and "Reunion" were very well
directed.
A quick, possibly out-of-place interjection. TNG is giving me more and more
of a serialized impression, and "The Drumhead" was a very good example of
that. I'm not really talking about all the past continuity mentions here (the
Prime Directive violations, etc.), but about the very minor subplot with Worf.
Several times in the course of the show, much mention is made of Worf's
father's alleged treachery at Khitomer (and to VERY good effect; I was half
ready to snarl a bit at Sabin myself when he accused Worf of being the son of
a Romulan collaborator...) and of Worf's virtual nonexistence on the Klingon
homeworld. Nothing was really done with it--it was just emphasized a great
deal in the course of the show. I think they're getting ready well in advance
for lead-ins to "Redemption", the season finale--and if they prepare for it
this far in advance, and this well, I really can't wait.
(In the like vein [yeesh, I'm digressing from my digression!], I found it
interesting that "Conspiracy" was alluded to here for the first time since its
existence. (I'm talking about Adm. Satie having "uncovered a conspiracy at
Starfleet Command" just under three years ago here...I doubt they meant it to
refer to anything else.) One wonders if they're actually thinking about
getting back to it. We can but hope...)
Anyway, onwards to characterizations and the like. There isn't much to say
about most of the regulars, because they had very few lines. All of the
regulars except for Picard and Worf were basically walk-ons, and all did their
jobs just fine. So with THAT out of the way, let me deal with the guest stars
first. I guess the three main ones are Satie, Sabin, and Tarses.
Jean Simmons did a surprisingly good job as Adm. Satie. From the preview, I
wasn't expecting much, but the "I've brought down bigger men than you,
Picard!" was probably her worst moment of the show. (Nice choice in clips,
guys. Yeesh.) With a couple of short exceptions (that clip as one, along
with basically the whole rest of that outburst, which I thought was a little
overdone), she was rather believable on the whole. In fact, I suppose she
must have been fairly believable, because I wouldn't have harbored such strong
feelings towards her character at the end if she hadn't been. (When she
mentioned the Borg incident at the end, I was muttering various phrases about
her, her attitude, her somewhat dubious parentage, etc.)
Bruce French (Sabin) was equally good if not better than Ms. Simmons. He
managed to go from one side of his character to another quite well; I was
feeling rather mellow towards him early on, but was definitely against him by
the end as well. A lot of that was the writing, but if French hadn't done as
good a job as he did, I wouldn't have bought him in one of the two roles.
Nice job.
As for Spencer Simmons (Simon Tarses)...well...he was okay. Not spectacular,
but decent, and far better than he could have been. In a number of cases, but
particularly in his case, the show could have degenerated into major
melodrama. Fortunately, it didn't. Simmons wasn't bad, but he's probably in
the top third of TNG guest stars.
Then for Picard and Worf. Both were TREMENDOUS. Worf was expertly written
and expertly played--as soon as the little bit about Tarses's grandfather came
out, I just knew Worf would take that (both the ancestry and his refusal to
answer any further questions) as "all but" an admission of guilt. It would
have stunned me to no end had he not. (That's not quite the same thing as
being predictable, though, which I do dislike. Predictable would have been
for the investigation to turn up some link to Picard which brought him down,
and then it all turned out to be a hoax, with someone else, probably one of
the investigators or something, as the culprit, etc. That would have been
mighty dull.) It seems to me that a security officer is the perfect choice
for someone who would be likely to take Satie's attitude hook, line, and
sinker, and see only as far as "the Federation DOES have enemies!", period.
Lots of bravos here--probably Worf's best show since "Reunion".
Picard. Wow. I've gone on record many times as stating that not only is
Patrick Stewart amongst my favorite actors, but that Picard is probably my
favorite character on TNG. This clinches it. I empathized more for him than
I probably ever have. (I suspect that not everyone else will, however. A lot
of this may be due to the fact that I have VERY strong feelings about the
issues raised here myself, and Picard pretty much said everything I felt on
the subject, and far more eloquently than I ever could.) If people want to
see a good example of Patrick Stewart's acting abilities and why I like Picard
as a character, this show will be a shining reason why.
Let's see, what else. Quickly--the music was okay. I liked the somewhat dark
sound of the strings in the teaser, but it got overused later, so I guess it
went neutral, same as usual.
I said before that the plot was solid, but I didn't say why I did think so.
Let me amend that mistake now. Everything was built very carefully on
everything else, and given the (in my view) warped mindset Satie started off
with, a lot of her "conclusions", both about Picard and everything else, made
sense. Truths were misinterpreted and subtly twisted into extremely damning
innuendoes. Everything just made SENSE to me, that's all.
In particular, a lot of the main lines of the show (particularly Satie's,
Worf's, and Picard's) rang exceedingly true. A few of them:
"If it was so innocent, why do you hesitate to give us the names?" I've seen
this used elsewhere, with equal effectiveness. Really nasty, manipulating,
fear-mongering statement for me, but damn it all, it works.
[Tarses refused to answer about his grandfather]
"That is not a crime, Worf! Nor can we infer his guilt because he didn't
respond!"
"Sir--if a man were not afraid of the truth, he WOULD answer!" Just perfect
for both characters, and for both sides of the issue.
"Admiral Satie has ordered you to report to the interrogation room at 0900
hours tomorrow morning. You are to be questioned before the committee."
LARGE Brrrrrr.........I don't think I'd ever want to be on the receiving end
of a line like that.
I think I'm just about done, but I should see if I can come up with an answer
to the implicit challenge in the show, namely what 9 instances Satie's
referring to where Picard broke the Prime Directive. (Granted, her
interpretation was probably a VERY strict one, but still.) I can think of
three that are clear and obvious violations: "Justice" (rescuing Wes), "Pen
Pals" (allowing Sarjenka to be helped and saving her planet), and "Who Watches
the Watchers" (pretty obvious here). As for the other six...hmm...I'm really
not sure, since the level of the culture is sometimes murky. I'll work on it.
I suppose that just about wraps it up. I liked the show a lot once it got
going. Whether you will...depends. I liked it because I'm a sucker for
courtroom dramas, and because I have very strong feelings about the issues
raised herein (i.e. McCarthyist tactics). If you've been left cold by other
courtroom-type Trek (like "The Measure of a Man"), I doubt you'll like it as
much as I did. If you want action, you're out of luck. If you want comedy,
you're definitely out of luck--this was a dead serious episode from beginning
to end. But I thought that a lot of it was truly gripping.
Anyway, onto the numbers. I should mention that I'm changing my rating system
a little: it's silly to have a whole separate rating and equal consideration
given for "Technical", i.e. music, effects, etc., since I really don't
consider it the equal of the other aspects of the show. I think I'll change
it into a +1 to -1 rating which adds on to the rating I get from the other
three. With that in mind...
Plot: 9.5. A tiny bit off for not at least mentioning the use of Troi, but
rock-solid otherwise.
Plot Handling: 7. Three points off for the slow start, but that's it.
Characterization: 10. The absolutely fantastic Worf and Picard more than
make up for the slight problems with one or two of the guests.
TOTAL: 9, rounding up for the slightly better than average music. Definitely
a keeper.
NEXT WEEK:
Wait a second. Did I read this right? Are they trying to do a Lwaxana Troi
story STRAIGHT? Angels and ministers of grace defend us...well, we'll see.
Tim Lynch (Cornell's first Astronomy B.A.; one of many Caltech grad students)
BITNET: tlynch@citjuliet
INTERNET: tly...@juliet.caltech.edu
UUCP: ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.ca...@hamlet.caltech.edu
"With the first link, a chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first
thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
--
Copyright 1991, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
Paul Schinder
>For those of you who like TNG trivia, there's a little in here...
>
>In <1991May2.1...@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> schi...@theory.tn.cornell.edu (Paul Schinder) writes:
>>In article <1991May2.0...@nntp-server.caltech.edu> tly...@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>>WARNING: The following article contains spoiler information on this week's
>>>TNG episode, "The Drumhead". So, if you don't want any spoilers, don't read
>>>it.
>>The one other minor point about this episode that I didn't like was
>>I'm a little tired of 1/2 this, 1/2 that characters (or 1/4 in this
>>case). Genetic engineering must be a boom business in the Federation!
>
>Well, it's possible that little, if any, genetic engineering is required.
>Remember, it was implied (STRONGLY implied) in TOS' "The Paradise Syndrome"
>that the Vulcans (and therefore Romulans), humans, and several other races
>are all descended from common stock. Given the differences between humans
>and Vulcans, though, it does seem quite unlikely. But who knows.
Yeah, I remember that, but they weaseled about humans. Kirk claimed
(in some episode that I don't remember the name of right now) that "we
believe that humans evolved independently", while Spock said "that
would explain certain aspects of Vulcan history", or words to that
effect. Nevertheless, it may be true that some of the ST universe
races are actually genetically related. Remember, however, that when
Troi asked "how is that possible" about a half human, half Klingon,
genetic engineering was mentioned.
>
>>And, finally, from a canon source, we know for certain that Star Fleet
>>has enlisted personnel. Before it was only a suspicion ("crewman"
>>this and "yeoman" that), and didn't Roddenberry himself once say that
>>there were only officers in Star Fleet?
>
>We actually knew that there were enlisted men in Starfleet long before this...
>19 episodes before, in fact. Worf's stepfather stated in "Family" that he
>was an "old enlisted man", I believe.
This ("Drumhead") firmly establishes enlisted personnel in the ST
universe, however, and directly contradicts the statement I remember
Roddenberry having made. This is not retconnable. We've never seen
different rank insignia or uniforms for enlisted men (remember that
O'Brian wears a full lieutenant's rank insignia and uniform, and we've
been given indications that for some reason he is considered an
enlisted man). Prior to "Drumhead" they could have retconned by
saying something like "enlisted man is Star Fleet slang for an officer
who didn't go through the Academy" or something like that. Now they
can't.
>
>--
>Michael Rawdon raw...@rex.cs.tulane.edu (Internet)
>Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana CS6FECU@TCSVM (Bitnet)
--
Paul J. Schinder
Department of Astronomy, Cornell University
schi...@astrosun.tn.cornell.edu
Paul Schinder
>TNG episode, "The Drumhead". So, if you don't want any spoilers, don't read
>it. (Boy, that should be a generic enough warning--nobody'll know how I feel,
>especially since I'm writing this several hours BEFORE the rest of the
>review...:-) )
>This starts out really slow, but picks up a LOT. Pretty good overall.
Solid episode. Not great, not horrible. Nothing really bugged me about
it, but I didn't rewind the tape and watch it again, either.
>
>The plot was very solid. The one minor plot hole (and that not even a hole)
>is that I think Troi should have been used more than in just the initial
>questioning of J'Ddan. After all, two Betazoids (or one and a half, I guess)
>should be better than one, right? Even if Satie would have bristled at the
>concept ("isn't my assistant reliable enough for you?" or something like
>that), I'd still have liked to see it come up. But since Sabin didn't
>actually come up with any wrong feelings (J'Ddan was telling the truth, and
>Tarses WAS covering up a lie), I don't think it would have changed anything
>relevant.
This was a minor plot hole, but in a different way, I think. Remember
those "light bulb in an armrest" things that they used in TOS to
determine whether a witness was telling the truth or not? Where did
they go? Easier to have some of those around instead of relying on a
Betazoid.
>Several times in the course of the show, much mention is made of Worf's
>father's alleged treachery at Khitomer (and to VERY good effect; I was half
>ready to snarl a bit at Sabin myself when he accused Worf of being the son of
>a Romulan collaborator...) and of Worf's virtual nonexistence on the Klingon
>homeworld. Nothing was really done with it--it was just emphasized a great
>deal in the course of the show. I think they're getting ready well in advance
>for lead-ins to "Redemption", the season finale--and if they prepare for it
>this far in advance, and this well, I really can't wait.
I got the feeling that the whole Klingon subplot, including the hints
of a Romulan-Klingon alliance, were principly done to set up
"Redemption" as well.
>
>(In the like vein [yeesh, I'm digressing from my digression!], I found it
>interesting that "Conspiracy" was alluded to here for the first time since its
>existence. (I'm talking about Adm. Satie having "uncovered a conspiracy at
>Starfleet Command" just under three years ago here...I doubt they meant it to
>refer to anything else.) One wonders if they're actually thinking about
>getting back to it. We can but hope...)
Yeah, but she was never seen in "Conspiracy", was she? (Seemed to me like
some mild retconning.)
>
>TOTAL: 9, rounding up for the slightly better than average music. Definitely
>a keeper.
I'd give it a 6. A little better than average, but nothing that made
me rewind the tape and watch it again right away (happened three times
last season, not once this season).
The one other minor point about this episode that I didn't like was
I'm a little tired of 1/2 this, 1/2 that characters (or 1/4 in this
case). Genetic engineering must be a boom business in the Federation!
And, finally, from a canon source, we know for certain that Star Fleet
has enlisted personnel. Before it was only a suspicion ("crewman"
this and "yeoman" that), and didn't Roddenberry himself once say that
there were only officers in Star Fleet?
>Tim Lynch (Cornell's first Astronomy B.A.; one of many Caltech grad students)
Paul Schinder
>schi...@theory.tn.cornell.edu (Paul Schinder) writes:
>>In article <1991May2.0...@nntp-server.caltech.edu> tly...@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>
>
>>This was a minor plot hole, but in a different way, I think. Remember
>>those "light bulb in an armrest" things that they used in TOS to
>>determine whether a witness was telling the truth or not? Where did
>>they go? Easier to have some of those around instead of relying on a
>>Betazoid.
>
>Hmm. Could be, but I don't recall those. Maybe everyone's taught how to
>fool the lbiaa [TM] in the Academy these days, just in case it's used by
>enemy agents? :-)
Check out "Mudd's Women" for one instance of their use (Kirk - "State
your name", Mudd - "Louis Walsh", Computer - "Incorrect", etc.) I
believe they were used in every legal proceeding in TOS, so that the
computer could ascertain whether the witness was lying. Maybe they
decided that having a machine tell if you're lying or not is a
violation of the rights of a Federation citizen, while having a
telepath tell is not :-)
Michael Rawdon
In <1991May2.1...@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> schi...@theory.tn.cornell.edu (Paul Schinder) writes:
>In article <1991May2.0...@nntp-server.caltech.edu> tly...@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>WARNING: The following article contains spoiler information on this week's
>>TNG episode, "The Drumhead". So, if you don't want any spoilers, don't read
>>it.
>The one other minor point about this episode that I didn't like was
>I'm a little tired of 1/2 this, 1/2 that characters (or 1/4 in this
>case). Genetic engineering must be a boom business in the Federation!
Well, it's possible that little, if any, genetic engineering is required.
Remember, it was implied (STRONGLY implied) in TOS' "The Paradise Syndrome"
that the Vulcans (and therefore Romulans), humans, and several other races
are all descended from common stock. Given the differences between humans
and Vulcans, though, it does seem quite unlikely. But who knows.
>And, finally, from a canon source, we know for certain that Star Fleet
>has enlisted personnel. Before it was only a suspicion ("crewman"
>this and "yeoman" that), and didn't Roddenberry himself once say that
>there were only officers in Star Fleet?
We actually knew that there were enlisted men in Starfleet long before this...
19 episodes before, in fact. Worf's stepfather stated in "Family" that he
was an "old enlisted man", I believe.
--
Michael Rawdon raw...@rex.cs.tulane.edu (Internet)
Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana CS6FECU@TCSVM (Bitnet)
"Communication is hard to establish
when things like a state of mind get in the way.
People don't eat, they just think what you feed them now;
The horse with the blinders eating the hay."
- Men Without Hats, "The Great Ones Remember"
Timothy W. Lynch
>In article <1991May2.0...@nntp-server.caltech.edu> tly...@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
Spoilers for "The Drumhead" (but a short article, honest! :-) )
>>This starts out really slow, but picks up a LOT. Pretty good overall.
>Solid episode. Not great, not horrible. Nothing really bugged me about
>it, but I didn't rewind the tape and watch it again, either.
Doesn't surprise me much--as I said, I had a lot of personal feelings coming
up through the show, so I'm probably an exception this week.
>This was a minor plot hole, but in a different way, I think. Remember
>those "light bulb in an armrest" things that they used in TOS to
>determine whether a witness was telling the truth or not? Where did
>they go? Easier to have some of those around instead of relying on a
>Betazoid.
Hmm. Could be, but I don't recall those. Maybe everyone's taught how to
fool the lbiaa [TM] in the Academy these days, just in case it's used by
enemy agents? :-)
>>(In the like vein [yeesh, I'm digressing from my digression!], I found it
>>interesting that "Conspiracy" was alluded to here for the first time since
>>its existence. (I'm talking about Adm. Satie having "uncovered a conspiracy
>>at Starfleet Command" just under three years ago here...I doubt they meant it
>>to refer to anything else.) One wonders if they're actually thinking about
>>getting back to it. We can but hope...)
>Yeah, but she was never seen in "Conspiracy", was she? (Seemed to me like
>some mild retconning.)
I suspect it was talking about some after-the-fact investigation, revealing the
extent of it. No, she wasn't in "Conspiracy". But I'll be happy with any
hint they might one day come back to it...
>The one other minor point about this episode that I didn't like was
>I'm a little tired of 1/2 this, 1/2 that characters (or 1/4 in this
>case). Genetic engineering must be a boom business in the Federation!
I'll let you and Michael talk this out, since you're already so far along.
>And, finally, from a canon source, we know for certain that Star Fleet
>has enlisted personnel. Before it was only a suspicion ("crewman"
>this and "yeoman" that), and didn't Roddenberry himself once say that
>there were only officers in Star Fleet?
Yep, that he did. Nice to see him proven wrong now and again.
Tim Lynch (Cornell's first Astronomy B.A.; one of many Caltech grad students)
BITNET: tlynch@citjuliet
INTERNET: tly...@juliet.caltech.edu
UUCP: ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.ca...@hamlet.caltech.edu
"If this is the year 6 million and 3, why is next year 6 million and 2? Why
are we counting backwards? I mean, what are we waiting for?"
--"Dinosaurs"
Michael Rawdon
>WARNING: The following article contains spoiler information on this week's
>TNG episode, "The Drumhead". So, if you don't want any spoilers, don't read
>it.
>tell it was Jonathan Frakes (remember him? :-) ) right off, though--some of
>the shots he used were very reminiscent of similar ones in "Reunion".
>(Specifically, I'm thinking of the shot of Worf from below in "Reunion", which
>looked similar to the one of Worf and J'Ddan in the lift in the teaser here.)
>Not that I mind--I thought both "The Offspring" and "Reunion" were very well
>directed.
I liked that shot, and the camera pan as Picard gave his big speech at the
end (reminded me of the scene with Spock crying in TOS' "The Naked Time",
actually). Other than that, it seemed no different from most TNG episodes,
direction-wise, to me.
>(In the like vein [yeesh, I'm digressing from my digression!], I found it
>interesting that "Conspiracy" was alluded to here for the first time since its
>existence. (I'm talking about Adm. Satie having "uncovered a conspiracy at
>Starfleet Command" just under three years ago here...I doubt they meant it to
>refer to anything else.) One wonders if they're actually thinking about
>getting back to it. We can but hope...)
I wondered if that was what she was referring to, but I finally decided
that if it was, it was bad writing. It seemed quite clear from "Conspiracy",
to me anyway, that the people who uncovered the conspiracy were the
starship captains, not an investigator like Satie.
[Rndown of the guest actors:]
>Bruce French (Sabin) was equally good if not better than Ms. Simmons. He
>managed to go from one side of his character to another quite well; I was
>feeling rather mellow towards him early on, but was definitely against him by
>the end as well. A lot of that was the writing, but if French hadn't done as
>good a job as he did, I wouldn't have bought him in one of the two roles.
>Nice job.
Well, by the VERY end it seemed pretty clear that he had given up the ghost
when Satie lost her cool, and that he pitied her. Otherwise, until then,
I agreed with you.
>As for Spencer Simmons (Simon Tarses)...well...he was okay. Not spectacular,
>but decent, and far better than he could have been. In a number of cases, but
>particularly in his case, the show could have degenerated into major
>melodrama. Fortunately, it didn't. Simmons wasn't bad, but he's probably in
>the top third of TNG guest stars.
Which isn't saying much. :-)
>Then for Picard and Worf. Both were TREMENDOUS. Worf was expertly written
>and expertly played--as soon as the little bit about Tarses's grandfather came
>out, I just knew Worf would take that (both the ancestry and his refusal to
>answer any further questions) as "all but" an admission of guilt. It would
>have stunned me to no end had he not. (That's not quite the same thing as
>being predictable, though, which I do dislike. Predictable would have been
>for the investigation to turn up some link to Picard which brought him down,
>and then it all turned out to be a hoax, with someone else, probably one of
>the investigators or something, as the culprit, etc. That would have been
>mighty dull.)
I agree. I've seen that story a zillion times already, from "The Enterprise
Incident" on down.
>Picard. Wow. I've gone on record many times as stating that not only is
>Patrick Stewart amongst my favorite actors, but that Picard is probably my
>favorite character on TNG. This clinches it. I empathized more for him than
>I probably ever have. (I suspect that not everyone else will, however. A lot
>of this may be due to the fact that I have VERY strong feelings about the
>issues raised here myself, and Picard pretty much said everything I felt on
>the subject, and far more eloquently than I ever could.) If people want to
>see a good example of Patrick Stewart's acting abilities and why I like Picard
>as a character, this show will be a shining reason why.
I could do with a little less of the walking-talking morality machine. I
prefer him in episodes like "Deja Q", "Time Squared", "Contagion" and
"Family" where his abilities as a leader, a man of decision (please note that
that is not necessarily synonymous with "action"! :-), and an adventurer/
explorer (which I find the more interesting qualities in him) are more amply
demonstrated.
>In particular, a lot of the main lines of the show (particularly Satie's,
>Worf's, and Picard's) rang exceedingly true. A few of them:
[...]
>"Admiral Satie has ordered you to report to the interrogation room at 0900
>hours tomorrow morning. You are to be questioned before the committee."
>LARGE Brrrrrr.........I don't think I'd ever want to be on the receiving end
>of a line like that.
My immediate reaction was to shout out "Time to call up your friends in the
brass, Picard!" :-)
>I suppose that just about wraps it up.
"Sitting in for Tim next week will be Dan Rather..." :-)
> I liked the show a lot once it got
>going. Whether you will...depends. I liked it because I'm a sucker for
>courtroom dramas, and because I have very strong feelings about the issues
>raised herein (i.e. McCarthyist tactics). If you've been left cold by other
>courtroom-type Trek (like "The Measure of a Man"), I doubt you'll like it as
>much as I did. If you want action, you're out of luck.
^^^^^^
Almost. You can turn off the TV after the teaser.
Timothy W. Lynch
>In <1991May2.0...@nntp-server.caltech.edu> tly...@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>WARNING: The following article contains spoiler information on this week's
>>TNG episode, "The Drumhead". So, if you don't want any spoilers, don't read
>>it.
>>The direction was quite good, at least once the show picked up steam.
[...]
>I liked that shot, and the camera pan as Picard gave his big speech at the
>end (reminded me of the scene with Spock crying in TOS' "The Naked Time",
>actually). Other than that, it seemed no different from most TNG episodes,
>direction-wise, to me.
There weren't a lot of other shots that really stood out tremendously well,
no, but it carried itself along very smoothly that I'm giving Frakes a fair
amount of credit. I actually think the majority of TNG episodes are rather
well directed, though counterexamples are hardly difficult to find.
>>(In the like vein [yeesh, I'm digressing from my digression!], I found it
>>interesting that "Conspiracy" was alluded to here for the first time since
>>its existence. (I'm talking about Adm. Satie having "uncovered a conspiracy
>>at Starfleet Command" just under three years ago here...I doubt they meant it
>>to refer to anything else.) One wonders if they're actually thinking about
>>getting back to it. We can but hope...)
>I wondered if that was what she was referring to, but I finally decided
>that if it was, it was bad writing. It seemed quite clear from "Conspiracy",
>to me anyway, that the people who uncovered the conspiracy were the
>starship captains, not an investigator like Satie.
Picard and company found the conspiracy. I suspect that Satie's after-the-
fact investigation (I'm assuming this, but it fits in) discovered the extent of
it and may have tracked things back to the original planet the Chestbusters
were discovered on. If she found out the extent of it, I think Picard wasn't
particularly far off with his comment.
>>Bruce French (Sabin) was equally good if not better than Ms. Simmons. He
>>managed to go from one side of his character to another quite well; I was
>>feeling rather mellow towards him early on, but was definitely against him by
>>the end as well. A lot of that was the writing, but if French hadn't done as
>>good a job as he did, I wouldn't have bought him in one of the two roles.
>>Nice job.
>Well, by the VERY end it seemed pretty clear that he had given up the ghost
>when Satie lost her cool, and that he pitied her. Otherwise, until then,
>I agreed with you.
Well, I meant the end until that last 30-60 seconds, particularly his attack
against Worf when the whole "Data's Day" scenario was brought up. At the VERY
end, he was back to being vaguely sympathetic, yeah.
>>Picard. Wow. I've gone on record many times as stating that not only is
>>Patrick Stewart amongst my favorite actors, but that Picard is probably my
>>favorite character on TNG. This clinches it. I empathized more for him than
>>I probably ever have.
>I could do with a little less of the walking-talking morality machine.
I didn't find him such, or at least not nearly as such as in many other places.
If he emphasized his points a little, that just suggests to me that he felt
as strongly about the issue at hand as I did.
>I
>prefer him in episodes like "Deja Q", "Time Squared", "Contagion" and
>"Family" where his abilities as a leader, a man of decision (please note that
>that is not necessarily synonymous with "action"! :-), and an adventurer/
>explorer (which I find the more interesting qualities in him) are more amply
>demonstrated.
I have nothing against that side of him, no--but his willingness to fight
against perceived injustices like here (and in "The Measure of a Man", but you
disagree, I know) is an equally compelling trait for me.
Otto Hack-Man Heuer
>In article <1991May2.0...@nntp-server.caltech.edu> tly...@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>WARNING: The following article contains spoiler information on this week's
>>TNG episode, "The Drumhead". So, if you don't want any spoilers, don't read
>
Funny. I had just the opposite feeling. I thought it started out okay (which
suprised me after seeing the awful previews) and I actually started enjoying
it, but then it just started lagging and ended up as Yet Another Stupid Trial
Episode.
>it, but I didn't rewind the tape and watch it again, either.
Nor do I ever plan to. Unless I want something to compare to "The Loss" or
"Lonely Among US".
>This was a minor plot hole, but in a different way, I think. Remember
>those "light bulb in an armrest" things that they used in TOS to
>determine whether a witness was telling the truth or not? Where did
>they go?
The same place as all the other useful things they discovered in TOS and never
re-used... :-)
>>TOTAL: 9, rounding up for the slightly better than average music. Definitely
>>a keeper.
Well, I'm one-for-one so far :-) (For those that haven't read my review yet,
I predicted that Lynch and Rawdon would both be in love with this episode (and
probably Tang as well, though he seems to be getting better :-)
NOTE: You might want to use ot...@cfsmo.honeywell.com for email to me.
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