Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Unification II"
Timothy W. Lynch
II", this week's TNG episode and the conclusion of last week's story. Those
not wishing to be privy to details in advance should remain well clear.
*Finally*, a good second-part. Exceedingly satisfying.
Yummers! I'll get into comments later, but right now I suppose you expect a
synopsis, huh? :-) [Be warned...it's going to be long this time.]
The newly appeared Spock asks Picard what he's doing on Romulus. "That was to
have been my question to you, sir." Picard, as a representative of the
Federation, demands an explanation for Spock's actions, and dismisses Spock's
claim that it's a personal mission of peace as inadequate, saying that this
type of "cowboy diplomacy" is no longer acceptable. When Spock continues to
stonewall, Picard says that he's also come as the bearer of unhappy news.
"Sarek? ... Sarek is dead?" Spock pauses. "Walk with me, Picard." They head
into a different cave.
Picard tells Spock that his father expressed pride and love towards him when
he and Picard met. Spock dismisses this as part of the "emotional disarray"
caused by Sarek's illness, but Picard disputes that--it was from the heart.
Spock then gets to the heart of the matter: he is aware of a movement among
the Romulan people towards Vulcan philosophy, and he has come to foster it, to
provide the first step to the *reunification* of the Vulcans and the Romulans!
He kept it secret because of the memories of the Klingon peace overture and
the responsibility he bears for its effects on Captain Kirk and Kirk's crew;
he has no wish to risk anyone else a second time. When Picard says that Spock
sounds like he's being influenced by emotions, Spock accuses Picard of
speaking as Sarek would. "I was involved in 'cowboy diplomacy', as you call
it, long before you were born." Picard, regardless, insists that he cannot
leave Romulus until Spock's mission is complete. "In your own way, you are as
stubborn as another captain of the Enterprise I once knew." "Then I'm in good
company, sir."
Captain K'Vada is more than a bit annoyed to hear Data (now on board the ship)
tell him that he must remain a bit longer, but Data insists. Data further
requires access to the Klingon computer to attempt to break into the Romulan
information-net. He obtains this access by promising (with Picard's
authority) to fully share any information he gets from this task. Further,
Data makes arrangements to "piggyback" a message to the Enterprise on a
Romulan signal, so as to avoid detection and still communicate.
Spock and Picard, meanwhile, are in the tavern, and Picard is being filled in
on the underground. The movement is very widespread--wide enough to cause
concern to the Romulan government. In response to Picard's skepticism that
it's strong enough to turn the tide of the Romulan society, Spock says that he
chooses to attempt to end the hostility rather than continue it. After they
meet briefly with D'Tan, a Romulan child who is avidly interested in Vulcan
and Vulcan culture, they meet with Pardek, who tells Spock that the Romulan
proconsul [a very young man, possibly open to change] will meet with him.
The Enterprise, meanwhile, is still in orbit around Qualor Two, searching for
the missing Vulcan ship T'Pau. Their investigations have led Riker to a
rather seedy bar, where the piano player is the ex-wife of the now-deceased
captain of the ship the Enterprise recently destroyed. Amarie is cautious,
but eventually opens up, and tells Riker that within a few days, a fat Ferengi
arms trader named Omag will come to the bar--and he should have the
information Riker needs.
Pardek ushers Spock in to meet with Proconsul Neral (and Pardek then leaves).
Neral stuns Spock when he says that he's prepared to _support_ reunification.
Neral claims to believe it's inevitable, and says that the people have grown
tired of the endless hostility, and that as a result he can probably muster
the support of the Senate. He tells Spock that he is prepared to publicly
endorse the peace initiative, and questions Spock about likely Vulcan
reactions (which, of course, would be rather cautious). He urges Spock to
help, and arranges another meeting for the next day. Spock leaves--and
moments later, Commander Sela enters through another door...
The underground's reaction to Spock's report is ecstatic, but Spock and Picard
are both very skeptical about Neral's veracity. Picard thinks Neral might be
out to expose the movement, but finds himself defending the Federation against
claims that *it* is the one opposed to reunification. Spock declares that he
will continue his efforts regardless. Picard naturally objects, and asks
Spock where the logic is in ignoring Spock's own good sense. Again, Spock
says that Picard's attitudes towards reunification (and perhaps towards Spock)
have been colored by Sarek's perceptions. "This is the second time you have
accused me of speaking with another man's voice," says Picard, steadfastly
insisting he is speaking his own mind and not another's. After Spock
apologizes (and comments that, in the end, the stimulating arguments between
himself and Sarek were all they had), he goes on to say that he will follow
this course even into a trap; if the Romulans *do* have ulterior motives, then
it behooves them to find them out. "So...I will play the role they would have
me play."
Some time later, Data is on board K'Vada's ship [back to his normal
appearance, having removed the prosthetics], and Picard and Spock enter.
While Picard leaves to remove his own disguise, Spock and Data work on
decoding the Romulan cipher. While they do this, they discuss the Vulcan way
versus the human way: Some Vulcans, after all, aspire for their entire lives
to become what Data already *is* by design; but Spock, in choosing his Vulcan
heritage over his human one, has abandoned the very thing that Data has sought
after. Data implies that Spock is perhaps more human than he lets on, just as
they break the code.
Meanwhile, back at Qualor Two, Omag finally arrives. Worf reports this to
Riker, and Riker immediately beams down. Omag is a thoroughly disreputable
fellow, and shows no sign of changing simply because of the two rather
imposing-looking Starfleet officers standing in front of him after
information. After a few minutes of putting up with Omag, Riker decides that
enough is enough, and grabs him by the neck, explaining that if Omag doesn't
tell everything he knows about the Vulcan ship, his right to travel in the
sector will be cancelled, and that Riker...will be very unhappy. Omag says
that he traded the ship to a Barolian freighter at Galorndon Core, a planet
along the Neutral Zone border.
Riker confers with Picard briefly over subspace (the piggybacked signal is
low-quality, however), and Picard orders them to Galorndon Core to check into
this further, despite the fact that none of them can figure out how a stolen
Vulcan ship fits into any of this. Data then finds records of a transmission
from Romulan intelligence to Galorndon Core twelve hours earlier, containing
only the message "1400".
Down on Romulus, meanwhile, Spock again meets with D'Tan and discovers that
D'Tan and his family have been educating themselves as best they can about
Vulcan ways for generations, to prepare for the reunification they know must
come. Spock then meets with Picard and Data. When he hears of this message,
he realizes that Neral's been deceiving him. He doesn't know precisely what's
going on, but 1400 hours is when Neral had arranged for Spock's announcement
of the peace initiative tomorrow over subspace. "Why would they need a Vulcan
ship?" asks Pardek.
"That will become clear _very_ shortly!" says Sela, who enters with several
security guards. Pardek shouts that someone must have betrayed the camp's
location, but Spock immediately points out that the only logical person to
have done so is Pardek, who invited Spock to Romulus in the first place,
arranged all the meetings, and knew of the information. Sela tells Spock and
the others that their dream of reunification is not dead; "it will simply take
a different form." Picard, Spock, and Data are then hauled off.
The Enterprise reaches Galorndon Core and finds no life signs, but then
receives a signal from Romulus. The message, a coded signal, is from Picard,
and tells them to hold position until they hear further; the diplomatic
mission appears to be succeeding. Riker is skeptical.
Sela, confident of success, gives Spock a speech to read. The speech will
announce that the *three* Vulcan ships (all stolen) heading to Vulcan are a
peace envoy. (The Enterprise, she claims, will stay where it is thanks to
"Picard"'s message; if not, they'll quickly find their hands full with
something else.) Spock will tell Vulcan to welcome the envoy, and the
Romulans will quickly overpower Vulcan and conquer it. The Federation will
naturally respond, but the Romulans will be dug in, and very difficult to
stop.
Spock naturally refuses to read the speech, even under threat of death (since,
after all, the logical expectation is that he and the others will be killed
anyway). Sela falls to her backup plan; a holographic simulation of Spock
built up from holo-images taken over the past several days. It may not
convince the Vulcans, but it doesn't need to; it only needs to confuse them.
Sela leaves to prepare for the ships' entry into Federation space, leaving
Picard, Data, and Spock alone. Since she still doesn't seem to know about
their ability to access Romulan computers, they get to work arranging a
diversion.
The Enterprise picks up the three Vulcan ships in the Neutral Zone and hails
them. When Riker hears that the ships claim to be peace envoys, he's somewhat
surprised--but he gets Geordi to work checking whether any of those are the
ship they've been seeking, and moves to intercept.
Sela returns--to find an empty room. She reacts with surprise--but is even
more surprised to see Commander Riker and two security guards with weapons
pointed at her and her guards! She and her guards take cover and fire at
them--and quickly figure out that "Riker" and the others are holograms.
*Then*, however, Spock steps out of the "wall" [really a simulation of the
real wall Data moved slightly further into the room] and nerve-pinches one
guard. Picard steps out and punches the other one out. Sela moves to escape,
but finds Spock pointing a disruptor at her. "I'm afraid I don't know much
about disruptor *settings*." Sela drops her weapon, but maintains her
defiance, saying that none of this will stop the Vulcan ships.
The Enterprise, moving closer to the Vulcan ships, suddenly receives an urgent
distress call from a colony requiring prompt evacuation. With no proof of the
Vulcan ships being anything but what they claim to be, they set a course for
that colony, but wait to hear Spock's message, just coming on subspace:
"This is Ambassador Spock of Vulcan. By now, Federation sensors are tracking
three Vulcan ships crossing the Neutral Zone. These ships carry a Romulan
invasion force and must be stopped. I repeat, these ships--" And the signal
is cut off. Riker immediately guesses that the distress call is a fake and
moves to intercept.
Sela now tells Picard, Spock, and Data that they will never leave her
headquarters. Data, however, has studied the layout of the building, and
believes he can lead them all to safety. However, Sela cannot be allowed to
warn her guards: and *Data* nerve-pinches her into unconsciousness. They
leave.
The Enterprise reaches the Vulcan ships, only to see a Romulan Warbird uncloak
between them and the Enterprise. They warn it off, but it fires--at the three
ships, destroying all of them. It then heads back to Romulan space, leaving
Riker to prepare for Picard's return.
In some other caves (ones Pardek knew nothing of), D'Tan and the others tell
Picard that they will keep striving for reunification, awaiting the day when
it *will* work. Picard and Data prepare to leave--but Spock tells Picard that
he's staying behind. His reasons are clearer than ever: these people, this
small movement, is the beginning of an inexorable move toward a Vulcan way of
life. It may take them a long time to reach it, but they will--and he must
help. After Picard mentions Sarek one last time, Spock observes that Picard
probably knows Sarek better than he does, for Spock and Sarek never chose to
meld. "I offer you the choice to touch what he shared with me," says Picard.
Spock and Picard meld, and Spock and Sarek are, however slightly, however
briefly, unified.
WHEW. Good Elath, but that took a long time. Anyway, now that I've managed
to give you a nearly-200-line synopsis of something you've already seen :-),
on to some comments:
With only one exception, this show fulfilled the grand setup part I gave it.
(I'll cover the exception in a moment.) The two plots from part I, which
seemed so isolated from each other there, weaved together *very* well here.
Spock's appearance was every bit as good as I expected, and blissfully, Sela's
appearance did nothing to detract from things. Very nice indeed.
Let me cover the exception; a plot hole. At the end of part I, the Enterprise
had destroyed this mystery ship, with NO clue what it was or where it came
from. As of the beginning of part II, they know who was captaining the damn
thing. Now, it's obvious that some time has passed, so it's reasonable to
assume that Dokachin, Troi, Riker, Worf, and others managed to track things as
far as this unnamed smuggler in that time; but a few lines to that effect
would have been nice. It's glossable, to be sure; but it's slightly annoying.
The other negative, I think, would have to be the "Klingon opera" sequence in
the bar. I'm sorry--appropriate or no, tavernesque or no, it was jarring.
Very jarring. Too jarring for the context of the episode. No thanks.
On the other hand (he said, following the stream-of-consciousness path this
review seems to be taking :-) ), the *other* scene with Amarie the
Freewheeling Four-Armed Piano Player was great fun. In keeping with the
merging of TOS and TNG that took place here, Riker was at his most
Kirkesque--but given the situation, it *worked*. I particularly liked the "A
new face." "Same one I've always had." bit myself, but maybe that's just me.
:-) Amarie certainly fit the concept of a smuggler's wife, and everything
seemed sensible enough.
[For that matter, despite being completely revolting, Omag was handled well.
If you're going to bill Ferengi as the scum of the quadrant, this is the kind
of guy you need to show off to prove it. It worked.]
Let's talk villains for a few minutes. I imagine some people are going to end
up slamming Sela for being so downright *stoopid* as to leave Our Heroes [TM]
where they were. Well, she was, 'tis true. But that seems to fit her
character as we've seen it. Sela is clearly given to hugely broad-ranging
plans, so large in scope as to be somewhat absurd to a more sensible Romulan.
(I mean, Tomalak never went after more than a single base or a ship; Sela's
out to get everything in one go in both this and the Klingon situation.)
She also was portrayed as ultra-smug when she has the upper hand, and
crumbling when things go wrong. A classic bully. And if you consider her
putative origins (which, blissfully, were not alluded to AT ALL in this
episode; any such mention would have brought the show down) and that nepotism
is really the only vaguely plausible reason for her advanced rank at such a
young age, it makes *sense* that she should be so ambitious on the one hand,
and so godawfully clueless on the other. [Note: anyone who wants to see this
kind of plan done *right*, on the other hand, should read the latter half of
book 11 of Alan Moore's "Watchmen". Sela needs some Ozymandias lessons.
:-) ]
Neral: Similar arguments apply, though to a lesser extent. Okay, so *nobody*
bought his talk with Spock as being legit [I was, to be honest, reminded more
of Richard Arnold than anyone else ;-) ]. Let's remember that Neral is
someone who clearly threw his full support behind Sela even *after* her
blunders in the Klingon wars. This is not the brightest or most subtle of
Romulans. Add in his evident (and stated) youth and you get someone who
really does get rather melodramatically deceptive. Again, this works.
And then there's Pardek. Now *he* had me fooled. But he's the one who was
*supposed* to fool us; he's someone who's been playing politics for eighty
years. His motivations weren't very clear to me (and I wish they had been),
but it works fairly well.
Plot concerns. All right, everyone who *complained* because part I was just a
45-minute buildup: satisfied now? The buildup *worked*, dammit. We got to
see Spock come to terms with Sarek [which was very satisfying, although no
single scene packed the power that the Picard/Sarek scene did last week]. We
slowly figured out what was going on with the missing ships, *and* found out
what it had to do with Spock's storyline. [And the mystery actually worked
well for me; I think I guessed that the stolen ship was going to be a Vulcan
Horse about, oh, maybe ninety seconds before Sela said so. That's fine.] The
resolution to the plot was *not* forced, it was *not* telegraphed, it was
*not* rushed, it did *not* drop interesting threads from part I: in short, it
did *not* make the same mistakes that both BOBW2 and "Redemption II" did. It
has my undying gratitude for that.
There were, as naturally expected for a show dealing with Spock's return, lots
of little touches of and references to TOS here and there. Blissfully, they
were done sparingly and tastefully--and while they clearly played up the
differences between the two series, they essentially emphasized what lots of
participants in the eternal TOS-vs-TNG conflict have been saying for a long
time: Each series has its own time, and its own methods appropriate to that
time. And each works very well *for that particular time*; Picard's
Enterprise would never fit into a TOS universe, nor would Kirk's Enterprise
have much of a place in TNG's time. But each has its proper place.
Anyway, I was mentioning references. Speaking of which, let's talk about the
"Star Trek VI: the Undiscovered Country" hints here. [I'm not even going to
go into the advertisement for it right after the opening credits, interesting
though it was.] I know very little about ST6 beyond the statements Nick
Meyer's made and the blurbs we saw in the 25th-Anniversary special, and I'd
like to keep it that way--but this is damned tantalizing...*especially* the
line about the "consequences" of the Klingon peace overture to Kirk and the
crew. Is Paramount going to take the risk of ending the film series on a
not-so-happy note? Wouldn't *that* be interesting...
[I have no basis for thinking this, and don't want to know if I'm right or
wrong until December 6, but my hunch after hearing a little of that is that
Kirk might end up being like poor Ben Maxwell; unable to find a place in
Klingon peace after having one in Klingon war for so long. It hearkens right
back to "Errand of Mercy", and seems to really fit with the "I'm a soldier,
not a diplomat" philosophy he's had ever since said show. Just a thought.
Again, *don't* tell me if I'm wrong, unless you're prepared to do so by
bringing me to an advance screening. ;-) ]
The direction was good, but nothing really stood out the way some of the shots
in part I did. Ditto for the music; it all seemed to work fairly well
(especially the slow swell of music right after Spock realizes Sarek is dead),
but nothing really jumped out at me and said "Yo! Over here!"
Onwards to Spock. Nice work, Mr. Nimoy. My primary regret is that we didn't
get to see Spock interact with any of the TNG crew apart from Picard and Data.
Now, granted, if I had to pick just two, those are the two I would pick, since
they're the juiciest ones for Spock/X dialogue. But I wanted more. I wanted
to see Spock meet Worf, given Worf's grandfather's appearance in ST6. I
wanted a pithy comment on Riker's Kirk genes :-). Ah, well.
The scenes we *did* have between Spock and either Data or Picard (or anyone
else, but those are the ones I'm focusing on now), however, were all
excellent. While I'm sure Peter David will be crushed not to see a Spock/Data
3-D chess game played without a board, I had no complaints to see the primary
Spock/Data scene played as straight and as serious as it was. It played up
*exactly* the duality common to the two of them (not to mention Picard's
near-Vulcan attitude at times, which I've been claiming is so for *years*),
and did so in just the way I'd expect. Is good, ja.
The Spock/Picard scenes were exactly what I'd expect--masterful. Of course,
given that it's matching up the best actor for each series, I'd have expected
nothing less; but it was still beautiful to see. Spock's quiet realization of
Sarek's death was touching, his transferral of arguments from Sarek to Picard
[and his realization of same] was most...logical, and his final meld with
Picard was beautiful. I can't really say much more about it, 'cos there's not
much the words can do.
Now, a few smaller comments/questions/etc.:
--What the HELL does "Jolan tru" mean? I've been trying to figure it out for
hours, and I haven't a clue.
--Records of the Romulan migration from Vulcan? Shades of Diane
Duane...that's so satisfying. Now if we could just convince these guys that
Romulus is better called ch'Rihan, we'd really be moving here. :-)
--I regret that there was no reference in a Spock/Data scene to McCoy's visit
to the Enterprise in "Encounter at Farpoint". I don't know precisely how or
where I'd have put it in, but it would have been nice.
--Sela's little tirade against Vulcans was great fun. "I tried to make it
sound Vulcan; a lot of unnecessarily long words," was terrific, as was her
almost frenzied reaction to Spock's calm "I'm not helping you whether you kill
me or not" bit. They can be so *frustrating*. :-)
--I was informed in advance that the bar set was actually a redress of the
observation lounge. I'd *never* have guessed that if I didn't know in
advance; my word, what a spectacular redress.
--To everyone who said Spock would get killed off here: Nyah! ;-) ;-)
--Galorndon Core? Let's see, that means the only major Romulan episode not
referred to here was "The Neutral Zone". So just what *were* the Romulans
doing that kept them away, hmm, Paramount? :-)
That should about do it. I think this more than adequately tied off the loose
ends that part I left hanging, and was worth every penny of its rather
expensive budget. *Very* nice work.
So, the numbers:
Plot: 9.5. A little bit off for how they figured out who ran the mystery
ship.
Plot Handling: 10. The double-plot dovetailed into a single plot so well
that I don't think I can do anything else. It more than makes up for
the Klingon opera.
Characterization: 10. Period.
TOTAL: 10. 'Nuff said.
NEXT WEEK:
Given Matt Frewer's guest appearance, the only thing to say here is
"Four centuries into the future..." :-)
Jolan tru.
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
"I *hate* Vulcans! I hate the logic, I hate the arrogance--"
--Sela
--
Copyright 1991, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
Jose Gonzalez
>EXTREME CAUTION: This article contains major-league spoilers for "Unification
>II", this week's TNG episode and the conclusion of last week's story. Those
>not wishing to be privy to details in advance should remain well clear.
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>*Finally*, a good second-part. Exceedingly satisfying.
>
>Yummers! I'll get into comments later, but right now I suppose you expect a
>synopsis, huh? :-) [Be warned...it's going to be long this time.]
[Tim, the master of understatement. This has got to be your longest review
ever. 424 lines!]
>The other negative, I think, would have to be the "Klingon opera" sequence in
>the bar. I'm sorry--appropriate or no, tavernesque or no, it was jarring.
>Very jarring. Too jarring for the context of the episode. No thanks.
Come now, Tim. This was jarring only in the sense that I was covering my
ears when Worf was singing. Otherwise, hilarious.
>
>On the other hand (he said, following the stream-of-consciousness path this
>review seems to be taking :-) ), the *other* scene with Amarie the
>Freewheeling Four-Armed Piano Player was great fun. In keeping with the
>merging of TOS and TNG that took place here, Riker was at his most
>Kirkesque--but given the situation, it *worked*. I particularly liked the "A
>new face." "Same one I've always had." bit myself, but maybe that's just me.
>:-) Amarie certainly fit the concept of a smuggler's wife, and everything
>seemed sensible enough.
Also, notice the way in which Data got Riker's hair wrong. Tell me that's
not how Kirk wore it in TOS.
>
>where they were. Well, she was, 'tis true. But that seems to fit her
>character as we've seen it. Sela is clearly given to hugely broad-ranging
>plans, so large in scope as to be somewhat absurd to a more sensible Romulan.
>(I mean, Tomalak never went after more than a single base or a ship; Sela's
>out to get everything in one go in both this and the Klingon situation.)
>She also was portrayed as ultra-smug when she has the upper hand, and
>crumbling when things go wrong. A classic bully. And if you consider her
>putative origins (which, blissfully, were not alluded to AT ALL in this
>episode; any such mention would have brought the show down) and that nepotism
>is really the only vaguely plausible reason for her advanced rank at such a
>young age, it makes *sense* that she should be so ambitious on the one hand,
>and so godawfully clueless on the other. [Note: anyone who wants to see this
>kind of plan done *right*, on the other hand, should read the latter half of
>book 11 of Alan Moore's "Watchmen". Sela needs some Ozymandias lessons.
>:-) ]
Geez. I hope not. The site of an octopus-thingy beaming in front of the
Enterprise is not an appealing thought. But, if Sela can learn from her
mistakes at *all*, she is going to be one tough person to beat.
>
>And then there's Pardek. Now *he* had me fooled. But he's the one who was
>*supposed* to fool us; he's someone who's been playing politics for eighty
>years. His motivations weren't very clear to me (and I wish they had been),
>but it works fairly well.
But to decieve Spock for *eighty years*? That is a bit much. It definately
surprised me, though.
>
>Plot concerns. All right, everyone who *complained* because part I was just a
>45-minute buildup: satisfied now? The buildup *worked*, dammit. We got to
>see Spock come to terms with Sarek [which was very satisfying, although no
>single scene packed the power that the Picard/Sarek scene did last week].
I would argue that the final few seconds of the mind-meld and Spock's
expression, while having no dialogue, moved me the most, even more than
Sarek's scene. It is simply one of the most moving, beautiful, wonderful, and
sad moments Star Trek has ever done. I think that they saved the best for
last.
>
>The direction was good, but nothing really stood out the way some of the shots
>in part I did. Ditto for the music; it all seemed to work fairly well
>(especially the slow swell of music right after Spock realizes Sarek is dead),
>but nothing really jumped out at me and said "Yo! Over here!"
The music just as the mind meld starts to effect Spock struck a particular
cord in me.
>
>[Spock's] final meld with
>Picard was beautiful. I can't really say much more about it, 'cos there's not
>much the words can do.
Exactly.
>
>Now, a few smaller comments/questions/etc.:
>
>--What the HELL does "Jolan tru" mean? I've been trying to figure it out for
>hours, and I haven't a clue.
Well, if you can trust the book, (which I don't) it means "good day", "best
wishes" or "good luck."
--
Jose Gonzalez Spock- "In your own way, you are as stubborn as another
captain of the Enterprise I once knew."
Picard-"Then I'm in good company, sir."
Smiley
:)II", this week's TNG episode and the conclusion of last week's story. Those
:)not wishing to be privy to details in advance should remain well clear.
:)*Finally*, a good second-part. Exceedingly satisfying.
I don't know that the other were that bad, but this was definitely the
best part II.
:)WHEW. Good Elath, but that took a long time. Anyway, now that I've managed
:)to give you a nearly-200-line synopsis of something you've already seen :-),
:)on to some comments:
:)With only one exception, this show fulfilled the grand setup part I gave it.
:)(I'll cover the exception in a moment.) The two plots from part I, which
:)seemed so isolated from each other there, weaved together *very* well here.
:)Spock's appearance was every bit as good as I expected, and blissfully, Sela's
:)appearance did nothing to detract from things. Very nice indeed.
Spock's appearance was just incredible. And I enjoyed Sela's, too.
:)The other negative, I think, would have to be the "Klingon opera" sequence in
:)the bar. I'm sorry--appropriate or no, tavernesque or no, it was jarring.
:)Very jarring. Too jarring for the context of the episode. No thanks.
Is that cause of the scene, or because it sounded so awful? :)
:)On the other hand (he said, following the stream-of-consciousness path this
:)review seems to be taking :-) ), the *other* scene with Amarie the
:)Freewheeling Four-Armed Piano Player was great fun. In keeping with the
:)merging of TOS and TNG that took place here, Riker was at his most
:)Kirkesque--but given the situation, it *worked*. I particularly liked the "A
:)new face." "Same one I've always had." bit myself, but maybe that's just me.
yeah... this is the best I've liked Riker in a while.
:)[For that matter, despite being completely revolting, Omag was handled well.
:)If you're going to bill Ferengi as the scum of the quadrant, this is the kind
:)of guy you need to show off to prove it. It worked.]
Very well. This is also one of the few times I've like Riker's strong arm
tactics.
:)Let's talk villains for a few minutes. I imagine some people are going to end
:)up slamming Sela for being so downright *stoopid* as to leave Our Heroes [TM]
:)where they were. Well, she was, 'tis true. But that seems to fit her
:)character as we've seen it. Sela is clearly given to hugely broad-ranging
:)plans, so large in scope as to be somewhat absurd to a more sensible Romulan.
I think my explanation of this before works. Why would she assume they can
break into her computer system? It's like locking them in a jail cell
with a mac with a password on it to use it.
:)And then there's Pardek. Now *he* had me fooled. But he's the one who was
:)*supposed* to fool us; he's someone who's been playing politics for eighty
:)years. His motivations weren't very clear to me (and I wish they had been),
:)but it works fairly well.
yeah... that was one of my biggest problems with the episode (and one of my
only problems... :). They didn't really explain much with him at all.
:)Plot concerns. All right, everyone who *complained* because part I was just a
:)45-minute buildup: satisfied now? The buildup *worked*, dammit. We got to
Oh... you must mean me? :) I didn't mind part one being a setup, especially
since it worked, I just didn't think it was a great episode by itself. I
gave this one a 9, and I'd give the two together a 9. I just didn't think
it was great by itself.
:)Horse about, oh, maybe ninety seconds before Sela said so. That's fine.] The
:)resolution to the plot was *not* forced, it was *not* telegraphed, it was
:)*not* rushed, it did *not* drop interesting threads from part I: in short, it
:)did *not* make the same mistakes that both BOBW2 and "Redemption II" did. It
:)has my undying gratitude for that.
Yes. They definitely did a better job resolving this than the others.
:)Anyway, I was mentioning references. Speaking of which, let's talk about the
:)"Star Trek VI: the Undiscovered Country" hints here. [I'm not even going to
:)go into the advertisement for it right after the opening credits, interesting
:)though it was.] I know very little about ST6 beyond the statements Nick
:)Meyer's made and the blurbs we saw in the 25th-Anniversary special, and I'd
:)like to keep it that way--but this is damned tantalizing...*especially* the
:)line about the "consequences" of the Klingon peace overture to Kirk and the
:)crew. Is Paramount going to take the risk of ending the film series on a
:)not-so-happy note? Wouldn't *that* be interesting...
I know less than you (didn't hear from Meyer's), and I was *dying* to see
STVI from the 25th special previews. After that, I was ready to explode.
I'm considering breaking into Paramount... :)
:)Onwards to Spock. Nice work, Mr. Nimoy. My primary regret is that we didn't
:)get to see Spock interact with any of the TNG crew apart from Picard and Data.
Actually, I'm not so sure I'd have wanted to. I think it would have been too
much, and it would have taken away from what was there due to time constraints.
Now, if they made this a three parter... :)
:)Now, granted, if I had to pick just two, those are the two I would pick, since
:)they're the juiciest ones for Spock/X dialogue. But I wanted more. I wanted
:)to see Spock meet Worf, given Worf's grandfather's appearance in ST6. I
:)wanted a pithy comment on Riker's Kirk genes :-). Ah, well.
My only "I wish I saw" was seeing Data and Spock in a mind meld. Given
what we've ween in TOS (The Changeling), and what we know about sharing
of the self, I think this would have been REALLY interesting...
:)The Spock/Picard scenes were exactly what I'd expect--masterful. Of course,
:)given that it's matching up the best actor for each series, I'd have expected
:)nothing less; but it was still beautiful to see. Spock's quiet realization of
Hmm... sounds like something I said last week.. :)
:)Sarek's death was touching, his transferral of arguments from Sarek to Picard
:)[and his realization of same] was most...logical, and his final meld with
:)Picard was beautiful. I can't really say much more about it, 'cos there's not
:)much the words can do.
Wow... not only are we agreeing, we're using almost the same sentances! That's
*exactly* the word I used for the final meld... :)
:)Now, a few smaller comments/questions/etc.:
:)--What the HELL does "Jolan tru" mean? I've been trying to figure it out for
:)hours, and I haven't a clue.
Until later?
:)--I regret that there was no reference in a Spock/Data scene to McCoy's visit
:)to the Enterprise in "Encounter at Farpoint". I don't know precisely how or
:)where I'd have put it in, but it would have been nice.
Hmm... I didn't even think about that. Now that you mention it, that would
have been nice... :)
:)--Sela's little tirade against Vulcans was great fun. "I tried to make it
:)sound Vulcan; a lot of unnecessarily long words," was terrific, as was her
:)almost frenzied reaction to Spock's calm "I'm not helping you whether you kill
:)me or not" bit. They can be so *frustrating*. :-)
I think she's turned out to be a great character. I loved that scene! :)
:)--Galorndon Core? Let's see, that means the only major Romulan episode not
:)referred to here was "The Neutral Zone". So just what *were* the Romulans
:)doing that kept them away, hmm, Paramount? :-)
Trying to raise a blonde haired brat? :)
:)That should about do it. I think this more than adequately tied off the loose
:)ends that part I left hanging, and was worth every penny of its rather
:)expensive budget. *Very* nice work.
:)So, the numbers:
:)TOTAL: 10. 'Nuff said.
So I said 9. Close enough. :)
(I'm feeling *almost* up to par... I'll watch it once more (at least) when
I am...)
-Josh Laff :)
--
_______________________________________________________________________________
From the "You-Hit-It, We-Spit-It | Josh Laff: e-mail to: |
Road Kill Grill" menu: | smi...@uiuc.edu | # #
|_________________________| _ _
The Chicken that didn't quite | (217) 356-0149 | |#\_____/#|
cross the road. |________________| \#######/
Smiley
:)In article <1991Nov14.1...@cco.caltech.edu> tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
:)>EXTREME CAUTION: This article contains major-league spoilers for "Unification
:)>II", this week's TNG episode and the conclusion of last week's story. Those
:)>not wishing to be privy to details in advance should remain well clear.
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:)>Yummers! I'll get into comments later, but right now I suppose you expect a
:)>synopsis, huh? :-) [Be warned...it's going to be long this time.]
:)[Tim, the master of understatement. This has got to be your longest review
:)ever. 424 lines!]
:)>The other negative, I think, would have to be the "Klingon opera" sequence in
:)>the bar. I'm sorry--appropriate or no, tavernesque or no, it was jarring.
:)>Very jarring. Too jarring for the context of the episode. No thanks.
:)Come now, Tim. This was jarring only in the sense that I was covering my
:)ears when Worf was singing. Otherwise, hilarious.
Hell, I was covering *before* the singing.
:)Also, notice the way in which Data got Riker's hair wrong. Tell me that's
:)not how Kirk wore it in TOS.
Wow... I didn't even notice that... you're absolutely right!
:)>And then there's Pardek. Now *he* had me fooled. But he's the one who was
:)>*supposed* to fool us; he's someone who's been playing politics for eighty
:)>years. His motivations weren't very clear to me (and I wish they had been),
:)>but it works fairly well.
:)But to decieve Spock for *eighty years*? That is a bit much. It definately
:)surprised me, though.
Well, he could have truely been friends with him, but having the deception
start only when Spock decided to take his vacation...
Timothy W. Lynch
Spoilerage ho for "Unification II"...
>:)The other negative, I think, would have to be the "Klingon opera" sequence
>:)in the bar. I'm sorry--appropriate or no, tavernesque or no, it was jarring.
>:)Very jarring. Too jarring for the context of the episode. No thanks.
>Is that cause of the scene, or because it sounded so awful? :)
The former, I'm afraid.
>:)Let's talk villains for a few minutes. I imagine some people are going to
>:)end up slamming Sela for being so downright *stoopid* as to leave Our
>:)Heroes [TM] where they were. Well, she was, 'tis true. But that seems to
>:)fit her character as we've seen it. Sela is clearly given to hugely broad-
>:)ranging plans, so large in scope as to be somewhat absurd to a more
>:)sensible Romulan.
>I think my explanation of this before works. Why would she assume they can
>break into her computer system? It's like locking them in a jail cell
>with a mac with a password on it to use it.
Lesson One: Never underestimate the enemy. If Sela had really wanted to play
it safe, she'd have kept Spock there alone and had Picard and Data under
guard separately in different continents. She *knows* Picard is a good
strategist, and that Data's by nature good with computers. She was cocky, and
it cost her.
>:)Onwards to Spock. Nice work, Mr. Nimoy. My primary regret is that we didn't
>:)get to see Spock interact with any of the TNG crew apart from Picard and
>:)Data.
>Actually, I'm not so sure I'd have wanted to. I think it would have been too
>much, and it would have taken away from what was there due to time
>constraints.
In the context of this show, no, there wouldn't have been time. I'd just like
to have seen Spock interacting with other TNG cast (Guinan, for instance), and
am slightly regretful that this episode didn't allow for that.
>My only "I wish I saw" was seeing Data and Spock in a mind meld. Given
>what we've ween in TOS (The Changeling), and what we know about sharing
>of the self, I think this would have been REALLY interesting...
Ehhh. Picard works better for me.
Tim Lynch
Timothy W. Lynch
>In article <1991Nov14.1...@cco.caltech.edu> tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
Spoilers for "Unification II":
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>[Tim, the master of understatement. This has got to be your longest review
>ever. 424 lines!]
It's up there, to be sure. The poor students I had to lecture paid the price
of it, too; me was exhausted. :-)
>>The other negative, I think, would have to be the "Klingon opera" sequence in
>>the bar. I'm sorry--appropriate or no, tavernesque or no, it was jarring.
>>Very jarring. Too jarring for the context of the episode. No thanks.
>Come now, Tim. This was jarring only in the sense that I was covering my
>ears when Worf was singing. Otherwise, hilarious.
The concept was funny, definitely. It just didn't quite fit with the tone of
the show up to that point. It wasn't a big deal.
>Also, notice the way in which Data got Riker's hair wrong. Tell me that's
>not how Kirk wore it in TOS.
Oh, *very* cute. I didn't even catch that it *was* wrong on the first viewing,
but you're right.
>>And then there's Pardek. Now *he* had me fooled. But he's the one who was
>>*supposed* to fool us; he's someone who's been playing politics for eighty
>>years. His motivations weren't very clear to me (and I wish they had been),
>>but it works fairly well.
>But to decieve Spock for *eighty years*? That is a bit much. It definately
>surprised me, though.
I don't think he was keeping up the deception for eighty years. I think he
started plotting in his old age.
>>see Spock come to terms with Sarek [which was very satisfying, although no
>>single scene packed the power that the Picard/Sarek scene did last week].
>I would argue that the final few seconds of the mind-meld and Spock's
>expression, while having no dialogue, moved me the most, even more than
>Sarek's scene.
It's not quite that far up there for me. It was very good, yes--but I tend to
respond more to voices than to faces myself.
>>--What the HELL does "Jolan tru" mean? I've been trying to figure it out for
>>hours, and I haven't a clue.
>Well, if you can trust the book, (which I don't) it means "good day", "best
>wishes" or "good luck."
Hmm. That could work.
Tim Lynch
Timothy W. Lynch
>In article <1991Nov14.1...@cco.caltech.edu> tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
Bring out yer spoilers! Bring out yer spoilers! [thunk]
>(What was that about 4-5 characters from the side?)
What was *what* about 4-5 characters from the side?
>>The other negative, I think, would have to be the "Klingon opera" sequence in
>>the bar. I'm sorry--appropriate or no, tavernesque or no, it was jarring.
>>Very jarring. Too jarring for the context of the episode. No thanks.
>I didn't like it either; it didn't seem like something Worf would really
>do, to me...
That wasn't a problem this time--I thought it was very in character for Worf,
but it didn't quite fit the tone of the rest of the show.
>I _still_ don't see why they needed _Vulcan_ ships for this one. Why not
>just send Romulan ones, theoretically disarmed, and have the Spock
>announcement?
I think it's the 'theoretically disarmed' part that would be titchy. It would
take an order of magnitude *more* gullibility to assume the Warbird in orbit
around your planet really doesn't have weapons than it is to assume a small
Vulcan (presumably not heavily-armed) ship is peaceful, I think.
>_Where would the ships have come from_? No
>one knew where Spock was, so he _couldn't_ just say "Oh, yeah, I brought
>these ships with me, or called them, or something".
Oh, sure he could. Or rather, the Romulans could. There were no records of
the ships being stolen--but there were also no records of Spock's journey to
Romulus that we know of. I think the "peace envoy" could easily claim that
Spock brought the ships with him.
>>--Records of the Romulan migration from Vulcan? Shades of Diane
>>Duane...that's so satisfying. Now if we could just convince these guys that
>>Romulus is better called ch'Rihan, we'd really be moving here. :-)
>Send me mail explaining this one, eh Tim? (ch'Rihan and why you and Uncle
>Mikey are so intent on it.)
Read _My Enemy, My Ally_ and _The Romulan Way_ by Diane Duane. That'll
explain everything. :-)
>>--I regret that there was no reference in a Spock/Data scene to McCoy's visit
>>to the Enterprise in "Encounter at Farpoint". I don't know precisely how or
>>where I'd have put it in, but it would have been nice.
>It would've been, aye... You'd think they'd have slipped it in _somewhere_.
>On the other hand, I'd rather them not make some cheesy way to put it
>in; if they just couldn't come up with some way to work it in so that it
>flowed well, then I'm more pleased that they _didn't_ do it.
Agreed on that last: better to leave it out than to do it poorly.
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
"Liddell, he is your future king. Does your arrogance extend that far?"
"My arrogance, sir, extends just as far as my conscience demands."
--"Chariots of Fire"
Felan shena Thoron'edras
>II", this week's TNG episode and the conclusion of last week's story. Those
>not wishing to be privy to details in advance should remain well clear.
Yeah, what he said!. (What was that about 4-5 characters from the side?)
>*Finally*, a good second-part. Exceedingly satisfying.
You're allowed to have your own opinion, I suppose. :-) I was rather
disappointed... I didn't _dis_like it, but didn't really like it, either.
>Yummers! I'll get into comments later, but right now I suppose you expect a
>synopsis, huh? :-) [Be warned...it's going to be long this time.]
Long? Long? Nawww....
>The other negative, I think, would have to be the "Klingon opera" sequence in
>the bar. I'm sorry--appropriate or no, tavernesque or no, it was jarring.
>Very jarring. Too jarring for the context of the episode. No thanks.
I didn't like it either; it didn't seem like something Worf would really
do, to me...
>Let's talk villains for a few minutes. I imagine some people are going to end
>up slamming Sela for being so downright *stoopid* as to leave Our Heroes [TM]
>where they were. Well, she was, 'tis true. But that seems to fit her
>character as we've seen it. Sela is clearly given to hugely broad-ranging
>plans, so large in scope as to be somewhat absurd to a more sensible Romulan.
I rather liked her in this except that I didn't get the plot at all.
>Neral: Similar arguments apply, though to a lesser extent. Okay, so *nobody*
>bought his talk with Spock as being legit [I was, to be honest, reminded more
You betcha... Even I didn't, and I'm honest and trusting and innocent and
all that, so I _should_ have trusted him, right?
>of Richard Arnold than anyone else ;-) ]. Let's remember that Neral is
Tsk.
>And then there's Pardek. Now *he* had me fooled. But he's the one who was
>*supposed* to fool us; he's someone who's been playing politics for eighty
>years. His motivations weren't very clear to me (and I wish they had been),
>but it works fairly well.
Not all that well, really; it surprised me, but didn't seem to work
properly. Still, it explains why they put Pardek on the "look for Picard"
thing...
>what it had to do with Spock's storyline. [And the mystery actually worked
>well for me; I think I guessed that the stolen ship was going to be a Vulcan
>Horse about, oh, maybe ninety seconds before Sela said so. That's fine.] The
I _still_ don't see why they needed _Vulcan_ ships for this one. Why not
just send Romulan ones, theoretically disarmed, and have the Spock
announcement? Me, I wouldn't have thought it was _logical_ to send a Romulan
delegation in Vulcan ships. _Where would the ships have come from_? No
one knew where Spock was, so he _couldn't_ just say "Oh, yeah, I brought
these ships with me, or called them, or something". I don't think stealing
them is a particularly 'peaceful' way of doing it, personally, so apparently
they'd want to come up with some good reason for them to be using _Vulcan_
ships. They didn't.
>resolution to the plot was *not* forced, it was *not* telegraphed, it was
>*not* rushed, it did *not* drop interesting threads from part I: in short, it
Was, was, and _was_. Or rather, the one surprise was Pardek. (Okay, so
I didn't figure out that Data would be using the holographic trick.)
On the other hand, you're right, it didn't drop any interesting threads.
>The scenes we *did* have between Spock and either Data or Picard (or anyone
>else, but those are the ones I'm focusing on now), however, were all
>excellent.
Aye, this I'll give.
>3-D chess game played without a board, I had no complaints to see the primary
>Spock/Data scene played as straight and as serious as it was. It played up
>*exactly* the duality common to the two of them (not to mention Picard's
>near-Vulcan attitude at times, which I've been claiming is so for *years*),
>and did so in just the way I'd expect. Is good, ja.
Yeah...it all worked pretty well for me, too.
>The Spock/Picard scenes were exactly what I'd expect--masterful. Of course,
>given that it's matching up the best actor for each series, I'd have expected
>nothing less; but it was still beautiful to see. Spock's quiet realization of
>Sarek's death was touching, his transferral of arguments from Sarek to Picard
>[and his realization of same] was most...logical, and his final meld with
>Picard was beautiful. I can't really say much more about it, 'cos there's not
>much the words can do.
Well, other than the fact that I wasn't impressed with that meld scene
particularly, yeah, I agree here....
Okay, so I'm cynical. Just didn't seem "Spock-like", or beautiful, or
wonderful, or any of that.
On the other hand, I didn't get to feel whatever Spock felt, so maybe it
makes sense. Still didn't impress me.
>--Records of the Romulan migration from Vulcan? Shades of Diane
>Duane...that's so satisfying. Now if we could just convince these guys that
>Romulus is better called ch'Rihan, we'd really be moving here. :-)
Send me mail explaining this one, eh Tim? (ch'Rihan and why you and Uncle
Mikey are so intent on it.)
>--I regret that there was no reference in a Spock/Data scene to McCoy's visit
>to the Enterprise in "Encounter at Farpoint". I don't know precisely how or
>where I'd have put it in, but it would have been nice.
It would've been, aye... You'd think they'd have slipped it in _somewhere_.
On the other hand, I'd rather them not make some cheesy way to put it
in; if they just couldn't come up with some way to work it in so that it
flowed well, then I'm more pleased that they _didn't_ do it.
>--Sela's little tirade against Vulcans was great fun. "I tried to make it
>sound Vulcan; a lot of unnecessarily long words," was terrific, as was her
>almost frenzied reaction to Spock's calm "I'm not helping you whether you kill
>me or not" bit. They can be so *frustrating*. :-)
I loved it. And I loved Data's Sela-should-get-a-new-job line. :-)
>Plot: 9.5. A little bit off for how they figured out who ran the mystery
> ship.
And their stupid plan with using _Vulcan_ ships knocks it down even more
for me.
>Characterization: 10. Period.
Yeah!
>TOTAL: 10. 'Nuff said.
How about an 8? I figure it's not much higher for me. Not much lower,
either, so it settles there.
>NEXT WEEK:
>Given Matt Frewer's guest appearance, the only thing to say here is
>"Four centuries into the future..." :-)
I think they didn't _show_ the preview here... Maybe I'll watch it on
Sunday...
I suppose I could even watch the Spock-Picard meld again to try to
convince myself it was as impressive as everyone else thinks it was...
Felan shena Thoron'edras
"Go not unto the Elves for counsel, for they will say both yea and nay."
"Now is _not_ a good time, Keiko!" - Worf, "Disaster"
"Variety is the spice of life, and I don't want to die." - Scott Borst
Roger Noe
>II", this week's TNG episode and the conclusion of last week's story. Those
>not wishing to be privy to details in advance should remain well clear.
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>but finds Spock pointing a disruptor at her. "I'm afraid I don't know much
>about disruptor *settings*."
I think that was Picard, not Spock.
>Let me cover the exception; a plot hole. At the end of part I, the Enterprise
>had destroyed this mystery ship, with NO clue what it was or where it came
>from. As of the beginning of part II, they know who was captaining the damn
>thing. Now, it's obvious that some time has passed, so it's reasonable to
>assume that Dokachin, Troi, Riker, Worf, and others managed to track things as
>far as this unnamed smuggler in that time; but a few lines to that effect
>would have been nice. It's glossable, to be sure; but it's slightly annoying.
I thought Riker's log entry simply stating the fact that they had followed
the trail back this far was sufficient. Any more details would have slowed
the pacing unnecessarily, in my opinion.
>The other negative, I think, would have to be the "Klingon opera" sequence in
>the bar. I'm sorry--appropriate or no, tavernesque or no, it was jarring.
>Very jarring. Too jarring for the context of the episode. No thanks.
Klingon opera is an acquired taste. "Maaaaylooooota!" :-)
>A classic bully. And if you consider [Sela's]
>putative origins (which, blissfully, were not alluded to AT ALL in this
>episode; any such mention would have brought the show down)
Yes, they even deleted these items from the script, along with Spock's
suggestion that Picard try seducing Sela (a la Kirk) to help them escape.
Some things are better left out of a teleplay.
>[Note: anyone who wants to see this
>kind of plan done *right*, on the other hand, should read the latter half of
>book 11 of Alan Moore's "Watchmen". Sela needs some Ozymandias lessons.
>:-) ]
To paraphrase Senator Bentsen, Sela is no Adrian Veidt. :-)
>The buildup *worked*, dammit.
And how! In my opinion, this was the best two-part episode in all of
TNG so far.
>Each series has its own time, and its own methods appropriate to that
>time. And each works very well *for that particular time*; Picard's
>Enterprise would never fit into a TOS universe, nor would Kirk's Enterprise
>have much of a place in TNG's time. But each has its proper place.
Which is one of the meta-meanings behind the title "Unification".
>Anyway, I was mentioning references. Speaking of which, let's talk about the
>"Star Trek VI: the Undiscovered Country" hints here.
Yes, let's!
>this is damned tantalizing...*especially* the
>line about the "consequences" of the Klingon peace overture to Kirk and the
>crew. Is Paramount going to take the risk of ending the film series on a
>not-so-happy note? Wouldn't *that* be interesting...
For numerous reasons, I have been unwilling to believe that any more
deaths among the TOS characters will occur in ST6:TUC. But I don't
know how else to interpret Spock's words in this scene. Certainly their
intention was that this episode hint to the alert viewer that the events
of ST6 will risk the lives of Kirk and his crew to an unprecedented
degree. If true, I'll believe it on December 6, no sooner.
>--What the HELL does "Jolan tru" mean? I've been trying to figure it out for
>hours, and I haven't a clue.
Most polite greetings/farewells are fairly idiomatic and do not translate
well. Don't knock yourself out over this one. But now there are TWO
more Trek dictionaries I'd like to see Marc Okrand do: Vulcan and
Romulan.
>--To everyone who said Spock would get killed off here: Nyah! ;-) ;-)
At some point, I'd like to hear it said in TNG that Spock and Bones
died on the same day, like Jefferson and Adams did (exactly 50 years
after the Declaration of Independence was dated, if I recall correctly).
>NEXT WEEK:
>Given Matt Frewer's guest appearance, the only thing to say here is
>"Four centuries into the future..." :-)
"Captain! We're being attacked by the Zik-Zaks!"
>Jolan tru.
Same to you, fella!
--
Roger Noe n...@cs.uiuc.edu
Department of Computer Science 40:06:39 N. 88:13:41 W.
University of Illinois (217) 244-6173
Urbana, IL 61801 USA
Timothy W. Lynch
>In article <1991Nov14.1...@cco.caltech.edu> tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>EXTREME CAUTION: This article contains major-league spoilers for "Unification
>>II", this week's TNG episode and the conclusion of last week's story. Those
>>not wishing to be privy to details in advance should remain well clear.
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>>Picard steps out and punches the other one out. Sela moves to escape,
>>but finds Spock pointing a disruptor at her. "I'm afraid I don't know much
>>about disruptor *settings*."
>I think that was Picard, not Spock.
You think wrongly. Both a quick check of the novelization and a quick check
of the videotape finger Spock as the culprit here. ;-)
[my objection to "how did they find out so much about the mystery ship"
deleted]
>I thought Riker's log entry simply stating the fact that they had followed
>the trail back this far was sufficient. Any more details would have slowed
>the pacing unnecessarily, in my opinion.
Just a few. All they said was "the trail has now led us to...", etc. If the
log had gone on a few seconds longer (say, while showing Riker in the bar),
and just given a couple of steps along that trail, I'd have been happy.
>>A classic bully. And if you consider [Sela's]
>>putative origins (which, blissfully, were not alluded to AT ALL in this
>>episode; any such mention would have brought the show down)
>Yes, they even deleted these items from the script, along with Spock's
>suggestion that Picard try seducing Sela (a la Kirk) to help them escape.
>Some things are better left out of a teleplay.
Agreed, although the latter had me in hysterics when I heard it had been
suggested. I'm glad it was left out, but it's a hilarious idea.
>>The buildup *worked*, dammit.
>And how! In my opinion, this was the best two-part episode in all of
>TNG so far.
Given the problems BOBW2 and Redemption had, this isn't difficult. :-)
>>this is damned tantalizing...*especially* the
>>line about the "consequences" of the Klingon peace overture to Kirk and the
>>crew. Is Paramount going to take the risk of ending the film series on a
>>not-so-happy note? Wouldn't *that* be interesting...
>For numerous reasons, I have been unwilling to believe that any more
>deaths among the TOS characters will occur in ST6:TUC. But I don't
>know how else to interpret Spock's words in this scene. Certainly their
>intention was that this episode hint to the alert viewer that the events
>of ST6 will risk the lives of Kirk and his crew to an unprecedented
>degree. If true, I'll believe it on December 6, no sooner.
I still don't think he's going to die, but I have no real evidence backing it
up. But there's something big going on, that's for sure--and I'm anxious to
get through the next twenty days to find out.
>>--To everyone who said Spock would get killed off here: Nyah! ;-) ;-)
>At some point, I'd like to hear it said in TNG that Spock and Bones
>died on the same day, like Jefferson and Adams did (exactly 50 years
>after the Declaration of Independence was dated, if I recall correctly).
Ooooooh, I *like* it. Neat idea. (And yes, it was 50 years after 7/4/1776.
Adams's dying words, "Jefferson still survives," when Jefferson had in fact
died a few hours earlier, still ranks as one of the best ironies in history.
:-) )
Tim Lynch
Felan shena Thoron'edras
>phil...@syrinx.umd.edu (Felan shena Thoron'edras) writes:
>>In article <1991Nov14.1...@cco.caltech.edu> tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>Bring out yer spoilers! Bring out yer spoilers! [thunk]
Who, me, spoilers? Nawww...
Well, okay, maaaaaybe. :-)
>>(What was that about 4-5 characters from the side?)
>What was *what* about 4-5 characters from the side?
Never mind, Tim. I'll complain at you later about it, maybe. :-)
[Worf's opera scene]
>>I didn't like it either; it didn't seem like something Worf would really
>>do, to me...
>That wasn't a problem this time--I thought it was very in character for Worf,
>but it didn't quite fit the tone of the rest of the show.
Seemed to fit nearly as much as did Riker's piano bit. But, like I said,
it didn't seem to be something he'd do. Maybe when he wasn't there for any
_particular_ reason, but he _was_ there to be watching for what's-his-name,
and was therefore on duty. Riker might do that kind of thing while on duty,
but Worf?
>>I _still_ don't see why they needed _Vulcan_ ships for this one. Why not
>>just send Romulan ones, theoretically disarmed, and have the Spock
>>announcement?
>I think it's the 'theoretically disarmed' part that would be titchy. It would
>take an order of magnitude *more* gullibility to assume the Warbird in orbit
>around your planet really doesn't have weapons than it is to assume a small
>Vulcan (presumably not heavily-armed) ship is peaceful, I think.
Oh, hmmm, I suppose so. (I'm assuming, of course, that Romulans don't
have non-armed ships. Am I right, to the best of our knowledge?)
>>_Where would the ships have come from_? No
>>one knew where Spock was, so he _couldn't_ just say "Oh, yeah, I brought
>>these ships with me, or called them, or something".
>Oh, sure he could. Or rather, the Romulans could. There were no records of
>the ships being stolen--but there were also no records of Spock's journey to
>Romulus that we know of. I think the "peace envoy" could easily claim that
>Spock brought the ships with him.
How would he have gotten them? There _would_ be records of that. You
don't generally give out ships to _anyone_ without at least noting it
in your records, even if that someone is an Ambassador. I wouldn't, anyway.
Seems rather silly to me. The ship _was_ in your care, and someone
else claims to have the right to take it. Spock might, but not without
it being noted on record. That's not how bureaucracies work, and I think
we'll agree that Dokachin was bureaucratic enough to have done that.
So I don't think they could have claimed that.
>>Send me mail explaining this one, eh Tim? (ch'Rihan and why you and Uncle
>>Mikey are so intent on it.)
>Read _My Enemy, My Ally_ and _The Romulan Way_ by Diane Duane. That'll
>explain everything. :-)
*sigh* Not a good explanation, Tim, particularly when I can't _get_ these.
I'll read them when someone gives them to me, not before. I don't have time.
>>It would've been, aye... You'd think they'd have slipped it in _somewhere_.
>>On the other hand, I'd rather them not make some cheesy way to put it
>>in; if they just couldn't come up with some way to work it in so that it
>>flowed well, then I'm more pleased that they _didn't_ do it.
>Agreed on that last: better to leave it out than to do it poorly.
Exactly.
Atsushi Kanamori
U2 and ST6 spoilers
tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>Anyway, I was mentioning references. Speaking of which, let's talk about the
>"Star Trek VI: the Undiscovered Country" hints here. [I'm not even going to
>go into the advertisement for it right after the opening credits, interesting
>though it was.] I know very little about ST6 beyond the statements Nick
>Meyer's made and the blurbs we saw in the 25th-Anniversary special, and I'd
>like to keep it that way--but this is damned tantalizing...*especially* the
>line about the "consequences" of the Klingon peace overture to Kirk and the
>crew. Is Paramount going to take the risk of ending the film series on a
>not-so-happy note? Wouldn't *that* be interesting...
>[I have no basis for thinking this, and don't want to know if I'm right or
>wrong until December 6, but my hunch after hearing a little of that is that
>Kirk might end up being like poor Ben Maxwell; unable to find a place in
>Klingon peace after having one in Klingon war for so long. It hearkens right
>back to "Errand of Mercy", and seems to really fit with the "I'm a soldier,
>not a diplomat" philosophy he's had ever since said show. Just a thought.
>Again, *don't* tell me if I'm wrong, unless you're prepared to do so by
>bringing me to an advance screening. ;-) ]
Something just occurred to me here. Instead of repeating the Roddenberry
memorial at the start of the show, they should have started with a message:
This episode contains mega-spoilers for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered
Country. Those who haven't seen this movie and want to go in untainted
had better hit REC now and back off with your hands in front of your
eyes.
You are safe for three more minutes.
Can you say CRUEL and UNUSUAL punishment? ;-) ;-)
. . . . .
: : : :. : : :.. .: : . ::.: . ..: : .. .:
::::::::::.: :::::::.:::::::::::.:::::: ::::::::
------------ -------------------------- --------------------------
TNG Lifelines: From "Yesterday's Enterprise" To "Unification II" --
"I was involved with cowboy diplomacy, as you described it, long
before you were born." -- Spock
Sean Eric Fagan
>>*Finally*, a good second-part. Exceedingly satisfying.
>You're allowed to have your own opinion, I suppose. :-) I was rather
>disappointed... I didn't _dis_like it, but didn't really like it, either.
I didn't like it much, either. Nimoy wasn't Spock in this, I'm afraid. And
the commercials every five-to-seven minutes ruined it, as did the fact that
they *STILL* wrapped it up in five minutes.
Part two was much worse than part one.
--
Sean Eric Fagan | "I made the universe, but please don't blame me for it;
s...@kithrup.COM | I had a bellyache at the time."
-----------------+ -- The Turtle (Stephen King, _It_)
Any opinions expressed are my own, and generally unpopular with others.
Gym Z. Quirk
>EXTREME CAUTION: This article contains major-league spoilers for "Unification
>II", this week's TNG episode and the conclusion of last week's story. Those
>not wishing to be privy to details in advance should remain well clear.
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>*Finally*, a good second-part. Exceedingly satisfying.
Well, it was better than the other "part II's" we've been given, but
it could have been much better..."
>Yummers! I'll get into comments later, but right now I suppose you expect a
>synopsis, huh? :-) [Be warned...it's going to be long this time.]
>
>[Synop deleted for sanity's sake.]
>
>WHEW. Good Elath, but that took a long time. Anyway, now that I've managed
>to give you a nearly-200-line synopsis of something you've already seen :-),
>on to some comments:
>
>[...]
>
>The other negative, I think, would have to be the "Klingon opera" sequence in
>the bar. I'm sorry--appropriate or no, tavernesque or no, it was jarring.
>Very jarring. Too jarring for the context of the episode. No thanks.
Hmmm...is there *anyone* on the ship who can sing to save hir soul?
;-)
>On the other hand (he said, following the stream-of-consciousness path this
>review seems to be taking :-) ), the *other* scene with Amarie the
>Freewheeling Four-Armed Piano Player was great fun. In keeping with the
>merging of TOS and TNG that took place here, Riker was at his most
>Kirkesque--but given the situation, it *worked*. I particularly liked the "A
>new face." "Same one I've always had." bit myself, but maybe that's just me.
>:-) Amarie certainly fit the concept of a smuggler's wife, and everything
>seemed sensible enough.
Well, we had the typical "Generic Alien" makeup, but I fear that it is
much too late to anything about that...:-)
>[For that matter, despite being completely revolting, Omag was handled well.
>If you're going to bill Ferengi as the scum of the quadrant, this is the kind
>of guy you need to show off to prove it. It worked.]
Hmmm...I guess the outfits that his companions were {*ahem*} wearing
were his compromise between Ferengi and Human culture...;-)
>Let's talk villains for a few minutes. I imagine some people are going to end
>up slamming Sela for being so downright *stoopid* as to leave Our Heroes [TM]
>where they were. Well, she was, 'tis true. But that seems to fit her
>character as we've seen it. Sela is clearly given to hugely broad-ranging
>plans, so large in scope as to be somewhat absurd to a more sensible Romulan.
>(I mean, Tomalak never went after more than a single base or a ship; Sela's
>out to get everything in one go in both this and the Klingon situation.)
>She also was portrayed as ultra-smug when she has the upper hand, and
>crumbling when things go wrong. A classic bully. And if you consider her
>putative origins (which, blissfully, were not alluded to AT ALL in this
>episode; any such mention would have brought the show down) and that nepotism
>is really the only vaguely plausible reason for her advanced rank at such a
>young age, it makes *sense* that she should be so ambitious on the one hand,
>and so godawfully clueless on the other. [Note: anyone who wants to see this
>kind of plan done *right*, on the other hand, should read the latter half of
>book 11 of Alan Moore's "Watchmen". Sela needs some Ozymandias lessons.
>:-) ]
Asside from the (not that excusable, IMO) tactical blunder that Sela
pulled, the F/X for this sequence were quite nice.
>Neral: Similar arguments apply, though to a lesser extent. Okay, so *nobody*
>bought his talk with Spock as being legit [I was, to be honest, reminded more
>of Richard Arnold than anyone else ;-) ]. Let's remember that Neral is
>someone who clearly threw his full support behind Sela even *after* her
>blunders in the Klingon wars. This is not the brightest or most subtle of
>Romulans. Add in his evident (and stated) youth and you get someone who
>really does get rather melodramatically deceptive. Again, this works.
If this is the best leadership the Rom's can come up with, I'm
surprized they're still a major starfarring race. ;-)
>And then there's Pardek. Now *he* had me fooled. But he's the one who was
>*supposed* to fool us; he's someone who's been playing politics for eighty
>years. His motivations weren't very clear to me (and I wish they had been),
>but it works fairly well.
"Motivation? A human concept." ;-) (Ok...so it's a Klingon phrase.
Remember, the Klinks and the Roms have been swapped from TOS to TNG.
;-)
>Plot concerns. All right, everyone who *complained* because part I was just a
>45-minute buildup: satisfied now? The buildup *worked*, dammit. We got to
>see Spock come to terms with Sarek [which was very satisfying, although no
>single scene packed the power that the Picard/Sarek scene did last week]. We
>slowly figured out what was going on with the missing ships, *and* found out
>what it had to do with Spock's storyline. [And the mystery actually worked
>well for me; I think I guessed that the stolen ship was going to be a Vulcan
>Horse about, oh, maybe ninety seconds before Sela said so. That's fine.] The
>resolution to the plot was *not* forced, it was *not* telegraphed, it was
>*not* rushed, it did *not* drop interesting threads from part I: in short, it
>did *not* make the same mistakes that both BOBW2 and "Redemption II" did. It
>has my undying gratitude for that.
This is true. However, I feel that there could have been a few more
risks taken plot-wise. For example:
Have Spock seriously wounded in the episode to make for more tension.
Permit Pardek's actual position to remain more nebulous by revealing
an infiltrator in the underground movement.
Any other additional minor sub-plot.
My complaint is that, while the episode did not suffer from the
"rushed, disjoint" problem we had with "R II", I thought the pace was
just a tad slow.
Another thing that had me wondering is the oversight of the Vulcan
reaction to such a reunification ploy. Would you want several billion
emotional, occasionally violent, sneaky people suddenly thrust on your
until-now stable, peaceful culture? Spock ought to have mentioned
this. (Of course, we know that Spock was playing "There's an ambush
over there. Let's trip it." However, neglecting to point out the
problems of such a re-unification is playing it a little too close to
the vest for a Vulcan--even one "trained" by Jim Kirk. ;-)
>[...]
>Anyway, I was mentioning references. Speaking of which, let's talk about the
>"Star Trek VI: the Undiscovered Country" hints here. [I'm not even going to
>go into the advertisement for it right after the opening credits, interesting
>though it was.] I know very little about ST6 beyond the statements Nick
>Meyer's made and the blurbs we saw in the 25th-Anniversary special, and I'd
>like to keep it that way--but this is damned tantalizing...*especially* the
>line about the "consequences" of the Klingon peace overture to Kirk and the
>crew. Is Paramount going to take the risk of ending the film series on a
>not-so-happy note? Wouldn't *that* be interesting...
A friend of mine, upon seeing the hints, muttered "Those bastards!
They're really trying to sell [Star Trek] six!" While I do not feel
quite so vehment, I do agree that it was rather gratuitous. I'm
wondering how well this will play when it's repeated in February...:-/
>[snip, snip]
>The direction was good, but nothing really stood out the way some of the shots
>in part I did. Ditto for the music; it all seemed to work fairly well
>(especially the slow swell of music right after Spock realizes Sarek is dead),
>but nothing really jumped out at me and said "Yo! Over here!"
I found the music forgettable as usual. I would have *loved* to hear
a reprise of the TOS spock theme during the "heart to hearts" between
Spock and Picard.
>Onwards to Spock. Nice work, Mr. Nimoy. My primary regret is that we didn't
>get to see Spock interact with any of the TNG crew apart from Picard and Data.
>Now, granted, if I had to pick just two, those are the two I would pick, since
>they're the juiciest ones for Spock/X dialogue. But I wanted more. I wanted
>to see Spock meet Worf, given Worf's grandfather's appearance in ST6. I
>wanted a pithy comment on Riker's Kirk genes :-). Ah, well.
And where was Data's refrence to "The Admiral" in EaF?
>[...]
>Now, a few smaller comments/questions/etc.:
>
>--What the HELL does "Jolan tru" mean? I've been trying to figure it out for
>hours, and I haven't a clue.
Give me a concise translation of "Mhenn'sahae" (or however it's
spelled ;-), and I'll see what I can do. ;-)
>--Records of the Romulan migration from Vulcan? Shades of Diane
>Duane...that's so satisfying. Now if we could just convince these guys that
>Romulus is better called ch'Rihan, we'd really be moving here. :-)
I'm still wondering if genetic drift can account for those forhead
ridges. (Especially given "Ballance of Terror" and "The _Enterpise_
Incident".)
>--Sela's little tirade against Vulcans was great fun. "I tried to make it
>sound Vulcan; a lot of unnecessarily long words," was terrific, as was her
>almost frenzied reaction to Spock's calm "I'm not helping you whether you kill
>me or not" bit. They can be so *frustrating*. :-)
{*sigh*} Recalling "The _Enterprise_ Incident", I'm starting to think
hat the Rom's are in a major decline. They just aren't the same
devious people we come to know.
>--To everyone who said Spock would get killed off here: Nyah! ;-) ;-)
Well, he's effectivly dead. And when the Rihansu security forces find
him, he'd better have a *long* speach for his "Rite of Statement"
ready...
>--Galorndon Core? Let's see, that means the only major Romulan episode not
>referred to here was "The Neutral Zone". So just what *were* the Romulans
>doing that kept them away, hmm, Paramount? :-)
I was expecting more of a reaction from Geordi when the _Enterprise_
arrived. Oh well...
>That should about do it. I think this more than adequately tied off the loose
>ends that part I left hanging, and was worth every penny of its rather
>expensive budget. *Very* nice work.
>
>So, the numbers:
>
>Plot: 9.5. A little bit off for how they figured out who ran the mystery
> ship.
8.0. They could have done a little more than what they gave us.
>Plot Handling: 10. The double-plot dovetailed into a single plot so well
> that I don't think I can do anything else. It more than makes up for
> the Klingon opera.
Given what we had, I'd agree...
>Characterization: 10. Period.
Eh...Not quite the Spock I remember, but it has been quite a few
decades...;-) Call it a 9.
>TOTAL: 10. 'Nuff said.
Hmmm...my numbers come out as a 9. However, that feels a little high
for some reason. The general feeling I have is that it should be an
8; Quite good, but not as good as it could have been...
>NEXT WEEK:
>Given Matt Frewer's guest appearance, the only thing to say here is
>"Four centuries into the future..." :-)
I'll reserve judgement. The preview gave me *no* idea of what to
expect...;-)
>Jolan tru.
Do you really feel that way about your mother? ;-)
>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
>--
>Copyright 1991, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
--
Capt. Gym Z. Quirk (Known to some as Taki Kogoma) tko...@triton.unm.edu
Nervous observer of the "Grand Startrek reorg" of Oct '91
I'll get a life when someone demonstrates that it would be superior to
what I have now...
Timothy W. Lynch
>In article <1991Nov16....@cco.caltech.edu> tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>phil...@syrinx.umd.edu (Felan shena Thoron'edras) writes:
>>>In article <1991Nov14.1...@cco.caltech.edu> tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>Bring out yer spoilers! Bring out yer spoilers! [thunk]
>Who, me, spoilers? Nawww...
>[Worf's opera scene]
>>>I didn't like it either; it didn't seem like something Worf would really
>>>do, to me...
>>That wasn't a problem this time--I thought it was very in character for Worf,
>>but it didn't quite fit the tone of the rest of the show.
>Seemed to fit nearly as much as did Riker's piano bit.
Maybe it was the style of music. :-)
>But, like I said,
>it didn't seem to be something he'd do. Maybe when he wasn't there for any
>_particular_ reason, but he _was_ there to be watching for what's-his-name,
>and was therefore on duty. Riker might do that kind of thing while on duty,
>but Worf?
Worf was probably ordered to "fit in". Standing around glowering doesn't
qualify; "drunkenly" singing with the piano player does. :-)
>>>I _still_ don't see why they needed _Vulcan_ ships for this one. Why not
>>>just send Romulan ones, theoretically disarmed, and have the Spock
>>>announcement?
>>I think it's the 'theoretically disarmed' part that would be titchy. It would
>>take an order of magnitude *more* gullibility to assume the Warbird in orbit
>>around your planet really doesn't have weapons than it is to assume a small
>>Vulcan (presumably not heavily-armed) ship is peaceful, I think.
>Oh, hmmm, I suppose so. (I'm assuming, of course, that Romulans don't
>have non-armed ships. Am I right, to the best of our knowledge?)
I believe so--I don't recall seeing any unarmed Romulan ships, at least.
>>>_Where would the ships have come from_? No
>>>one knew where Spock was, so he _couldn't_ just say "Oh, yeah, I brought
>>>these ships with me, or called them, or something".
>>Oh, sure he could. Or rather, the Romulans could. There were no records of
>>the ships being stolen--but there were also no records of Spock's journey to
>>Romulus that we know of. I think the "peace envoy" could easily claim that
>>Spock brought the ships with him.
>How would he have gotten them?
The same way the Romulans actually did. Spock was trying to avoid drawing
attention to himself, and leaving no traces of the ship you've stolen to get
there is a necessary covering of tracks, no? I doubt he'd go through ordinary
channels to get them.
(Of course, this doesn't explain how Spock DID end up getting there...)
>>>Send me mail explaining this one, eh Tim? (ch'Rihan and why you and Uncle
>>>Mikey are so intent on it.)
>>Read _My Enemy, My Ally_ and _The Romulan Way_ by Diane Duane. That'll
>>explain everything. :-)
>*sigh* Not a good explanation, Tim, particularly when I can't _get_ these.
All right. The history of the Romulan people as given in those two books
make it very clear that the homeworlds are named ch'Rihan and ch'Havran, and
that Romulus and Romii are the two names given to them by outsiders. The
history woven was intricate enough that I want it confirmed. :-)
Tim Lynch
Timothy W. Lynch
>Something just occurred to me here. Instead of repeating the Roddenberry
>memorial at the start of the show, they should have started with a message:
> This episode contains mega-spoilers for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered
> Country. Those who haven't seen this movie and want to go in untainted
> had better hit REC now and back off with your hands in front of your
> eyes.
Cute. :-) It wasn't THAT much in the way of spoilers, though--it's just
gotten us all curious and confused, same as usual. ;-)
Tim Lynch
Timothy W. Lynch
>In article <1991Nov14.1...@cco.caltech.edu> tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>EXTREME CAUTION: This article contains major-league spoilers for "Unification
>>II", this week's TNG episode and the conclusion of last week's story. Those
>>not wishing to be privy to details in advance should remain well clear.
>>
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>>[For that matter, despite being completely revolting, Omag was handled well.
>>If you're going to bill Ferengi as the scum of the quadrant, this is the kind
>>of guy you need to show off to prove it. It worked.]
>Hmmm...I guess the outfits that his companions were {*ahem*} wearing
>were his compromise between Ferengi and Human culture...;-)
Good point. :-)
[Gym's suggestions to take a few more risks in the show]
>Have Spock seriously wounded in the episode to make for more tension.
Well, it didn't strike me as that "physical" a show. I think the danger of
being labeled a complete fool and walking wide-eyes into a trap would be more
appropriate here.
>Permit Pardek's actual position to remain more nebulous by revealing
>an infiltrator in the underground movement.
That could have been interesting, agreed.
>My complaint is that, while the episode did not suffer from the
>"rushed, disjoint" problem we had with "R II", I thought the pace was
>just a tad slow.
I felt that slightly for part I, but II had a lot of ground to cover, and
actually *managed* it for once.
>Another thing that had me wondering is the oversight of the Vulcan
>reaction to such a reunification ploy.
Spock seemed pretty well flabbergasted by Neral's claims anyway; that probably
wasn't the first thing on his mind.
>And where was Data's refrence to "The Admiral" in EaF?
Absent, it seems. Ah, well--if they couldn't do it well, I'm glad they didn't
do it at all.
>I was expecting more of a reaction from Geordi when the _Enterprise_
>arrived. Oh well...
That's a nasty point; not necessarily about Galorndon Core, but I think he
should react strongly to Romulans in general these days thanks to "The Mind's
Eye". It's just *barely* acceptable now, since he still hasn't seen any in
person yet; but if he ever sees Sela and does something other than go bat-shit,
I'll be miffed.
>>NEXT WEEK:
>>Given Matt Frewer's guest appearance, the only thing to say here is
>>"Four centuries into the future..." :-)
>I'll reserve judgement. The preview gave me *no* idea of what to
>expect...;-)
It lets me expect that Frewer will be playing someone equally as demented as
most of his past roles, which is a good start. :-)
Tim Lynch
Message from the Starship Enterprise
>>EXTREME CAUTION: This article contains major-league spoilers for "Unification
>>II", this week's TNG episode and the conclusion of last week's story. Those
>>not wishing to be privy to details in advance should remain well clear.
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>>*supposed* to fool us; he's someone who's been playing politics for eighty
>>years. His motivations weren't very clear to me (and I wish they had been),
>>but it works fairly well.
>
>But to decieve Spock for *eighty years*? That is a bit much. It definately
>surprised me, though.
>>
I would tend to think that Pardek changed his mind recently ... there is a
mention of Pardek being invited to a state dinner after so many years ...
***************************************************************************
$^$ "I perceive the Universe as ^^^^^^ Jose Luis Paredes $^$
$^$ a single equation .... and ^^^^^^ Physicist by choice !! $^$
$^$ it's so simple!" ^^^^^^ University of Houston $^$
$^$ Lt. Barkley -Star Trek TNG ^^^^^^ Jo...@crcc.uh.edu $^$
***************************************************************************
Matthew Gertz
>EXTREME CAUTION: This article contains major-league spoilers for "Unification
>II", this week's TNG episode and the conclusion of last week's story. Those
>not wishing to be privy to details in advance should remain well clear.
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>*Finally*, a good second-part. Exceedingly satisfying.
I'll second that! (No drink; I don't think I'm on the r.a.s. drinking game
reviewing list... 8^( Amazing what happens when both parts are written
together.
>Yummers!
"Yummers?"
>I'll get into comments later, but right now I suppose you expect a
>synopsis, huh? :-) [Be warned...it's going to be long this time.]
Well, then, I'll just skip to the chase...
Oops, first, a comment...
>Picard, as a representative of the
>Federation, demands an explanation for Spock's actions, and dismisses Spock's
>claim that it's a personal mission of peace as inadequate, saying that this
>type of "cowboy diplomacy" is no longer acceptable.
This comment of Picard's sounded so much like the arguments on r.a.s. about
TOS vs. TNG that I laughed fit to bust stitches. And Spock's reaction!
Great! Okay, back to our regularly scheduled review...
>With only one exception, this show fulfilled the grand setup part I gave it.
>(I'll cover the exception in a moment.) The two plots from part I, which
>seemed so isolated from each other there, weaved together *very* well here.
>Spock's appearance was every bit as good as I expected, and blissfully, Sela's
>appearance did nothing to detract from things. Very nice indeed.
Yeah. If I can ignore Sela's origins (well-based in stupidity as they are),
I find that I actually like the character as portrayed in this episode. Nice
job by Crosby.
>
>Let me cover the exception; a plot hole. At the end of part I, the Enterprise
>had destroyed this mystery ship, with NO clue what it was or where it came
>from. As of the beginning of part II, they know who was captaining the damn
>thing. Now, it's obvious that some time has passed, so it's reasonable to
>assume that Dokachin, Troi, Riker, Worf, and others managed to track things as
>far as this unnamed smuggler in that time; but a few lines to that effect
>would have been nice. It's glossable, to be sure; but it's slightly annoying.
Seemed to me that it was easily explainable -- considering some of the other
wild explanations that have been thrown around in this series -- and I was
wondering why they didn't bother. Something like, "Ion traces on the ship
recorded before it blew up led us to expect that it had passed through this
nebula blah blah blah (oops, I forgot, "No blah blah blah." -- Kirk, in
"Miri")" or whatever.
>
>The other negative, I think, would have to be the "Klingon opera" sequence in
>the bar. I'm sorry--appropriate or no, tavernesque or no, it was jarring.
>Very jarring. Too jarring for the context of the episode. No thanks.
I thought it was kind of funny, ("Let's make fun of Klingons" and all), but
he's had funnier bits along those lines.
>On the other hand (he said, following the stream-of-consciousness path this
>review seems to be taking :-) ),
(and then Tim saw a dancing dwarf in a red suit who gave him the rest of his
review...)
> the *other* scene with Amarie the
>Freewheeling Four-Armed Piano Player was great fun. In keeping with the
>merging of TOS and TNG that took place here, Riker was at his most
>Kirkesque--but given the situation, it *worked*. I particularly liked the "A
>new face." "Same one I've always had." bit myself, but maybe that's just me.
This part I didn't like. Selling information for a song? Gee, she sure is
an easy talker.
>[For that matter, despite being completely revolting, Omag was handled well.
>If you're going to bill Ferengi as the scum of the quadrant, this is the kind
>of guy you need to show off to prove it. It worked.]
Again, I know Ferengi have been portrayed as cowardly in the past, but Omag
seemed to talk too quickly for me. Maybe he took lessons from Arne Darvin
8^)
>
>Let's talk villains for a few minutes. I imagine some people are going to end
>up slamming Sela for being so downright *stoopid* as to leave Our Heroes [TM]
>where they were. Well, she was, 'tis true. But that seems to fit her
I figured that she was ambitious, and didn't want the prisoners under the
control of another other top-Romulans, so that's why she locked them in her
office. On the other hand, she could have contrived to move them to some
location out of town immediately after the interview.
Oh, okay, reading down, I see you reached the same conclusion apparently.
"Never mind."
>and so godawfully clueless on the other. [Note: anyone who wants to see this
>kind of plan done *right*, on the other hand, should read the latter half of
>book 11 of Alan Moore's "Watchmen". Sela needs some Ozymandias lessons.
>:-) ]
Sela in hardly at Ozzy's level. (Though would that make Data "Dr.
Manhattan?")
>
>Neral: Similar arguments apply, though to a lesser extent. Okay, so *nobody*
>bought his talk with Spock as being legit [I was, to be honest, reminded more
>of Richard Arnold than anyone else ;-) ].
8^)
>
>And then there's Pardek. Now *he* had me fooled. But he's the one who was
>*supposed* to fool us; he's someone who's been playing politics for eighty
>years. His motivations weren't very clear to me (and I wish they had been),
>but it works fairly well.
Yeah, I was caught off-guard, too, and wondered if it was an afterthought to
make him the baddie.
>
>Plot concerns. All right, everyone who *complained* because part I was just a
>45-minute buildup: satisfied now? The buildup *worked*, dammit. We got to
>see Spock come to terms with Sarek [which was very satisfying, although no
>single scene packed the power that the Picard/Sarek scene did last week]. We
>slowly figured out what was going on with the missing ships, *and* found out
>what it had to do with Spock's storyline. [And the mystery actually worked
>well for me; I think I guessed that the stolen ship was going to be a Vulcan
>Horse about, oh, maybe ninety seconds before Sela said so. That's fine.]
And the Roms were smart enough to change the registry and clean the ship up
so that the T'Pau wasn't recognizable *at all*. Finally, a bit of brains on
the part of the writers.
And, oh, it wasn't a 45-min buildup: it was a 90-min buildup to Star Trek
VI... 8^)
>The resolution to the plot was *not* forced, it was *not* telegraphed, it was
>*not* rushed, it did *not* drop interesting threads from part I: in short, it
>did *not* make the same mistakes that both BOBW2 and "Redemption II" did. It
>has my undying gratitude for that.
It wasn't rushed. It did have an ending I didn't care for. "Don't worry,
Capt. Picard, we'll be strong and continue our fight," which is sort of a
cross between a TOS ending where Kirk would fight it for them, and a TNG
ending where Picard would have not been there at all. Plus this thing with
Spock! You cross the Neutral Zone to get this biggest security risk in the
entire dam' Federation, AND YOU DON'T BRING HIM BACK? C'mon, Picard, use
your head. Have Data knock him out and beam him up to the ship. I mean,
really!
>Anyway, I was mentioning references. Speaking of which, let's talk about the
>"Star Trek VI: the Undiscovered Country" hints here. [I'm not even going to
>go into the advertisement for it right after the opening credits, interesting
>though it was.] I know very little about ST6 beyond the statements Nick
>Meyer's made and the blurbs we saw in the 25th-Anniversary special, and I'd
>like to keep it that way--but this is damned tantalizing...*especially* the
>line about the "consequences" of the Klingon peace overture to Kirk and the
>crew. Is Paramount going to take the risk of ending the film series on a
>not-so-happy note? Wouldn't *that* be interesting...
Guess we'll find out in three weeks. I thought that the promo was too
revealing, but maybe they've got me fooled.
>
>[I have no basis for thinking this, and don't want to know if I'm right or
>wrong until December 6, but my hunch after hearing a little of that is that
>Kirk might end up being like poor Ben Maxwell; unable to find a place in
>Klingon peace after having one in Klingon war for so long. It hearkens right
>back to "Errand of Mercy", and seems to really fit with the "I'm a soldier,
>not a diplomat" philosophy he's had ever since said show. Just a thought.
>Again, *don't* tell me if I'm wrong, unless you're prepared to do so by
>bringing me to an advance screening. ;-) ]
Funny, I was thinking along the lines of "Blake's Seven" myself... but
don't tell me, either! I'll wait to find out.
>Onwards to Spock. Nice work, Mr. Nimoy. My primary regret is that we didn't
>get to see Spock interact with any of the TNG crew apart from Picard and Data.
>Now, granted, if I had to pick just two, those are the two I would pick, since
>they're the juiciest ones for Spock/X dialogue. But I wanted more. I wanted
>to see Spock meet Worf, given Worf's grandfather's appearance in ST6. I
>wanted a pithy comment on Riker's Kirk genes :-). Ah, well.
And I wanted a scene where Spock would be asked to take the science console
for a sudden emergency. Ah, well, indeed.
>I had no complaints to see the primary
>Spock/Data scene played as straight and as serious as it was. It played up
>*exactly* the duality common to the two of them (not to mention Picard's
>near-Vulcan attitude at times, which I've been claiming is so for *years*),
>and did so in just the way I'd expect. Is good, ja.
It was nice; I was hoping for something more original, since Data had nearly
the same conversation with "Q" a couple years back.
>his final meld with
>Picard was beautiful. I can't really say much more about it, 'cos there's not
>much the words can do.
I choked up a bit on that last meld scene; powerful stuff. Wonder if Sarek
and Spock will have a big argument in STVI as a precursor to their big
Cardassian argument years later.
>--Records of the Romulan migration from Vulcan? Shades of Diane
>Duane...that's so satisfying. Now if we could just convince these guys that
>Romulus is better called ch'Rihan, we'd really be moving here. :-)
On the other hand, Spock was somewhat suprised at Romulan appearance in
"Balance of Terror" -- and surely some Vulcan would've blabbed to the Feds
at any case that Roms are in fact their cousins? Not all Vulcans are so
clandestine: witness (eeugh) Sybok. Why keep this knowledge from the Feds
until "BoT?"
>
>--I regret that there was no reference in a Spock/Data scene to McCoy's visit
>to the Enterprise in "Encounter at Farpoint". I don't know precisely how or
>where I'd have put it in, but it would have been nice.
Perhaps if he'd met Crusher, or in the "I bear the responsibilty of..."
spech he layed on Picard.
>--To everyone who said Spock would get killed off here: Nyah! ;-) ;-)
Killed, written out, what's the diff? Spock is clearly out of things for
awhile, until the next trip to Romulus... and who knows when that will be.
(Hmm, perhaps soon, judging from the frequency the Klingon homeworld sets
are used. But it would cost money to get Nimoy back... perhaps in the
series finale, then...)
>So, the numbers:
>
>Plot: 9.5. A little bit off for how they figured out who ran the mystery
> ship.
>Plot Handling: 10. The double-plot dovetailed into a single plot so well
> that I don't think I can do anything else. It more than makes up for
> the Klingon opera.
>Characterization: 10. Period.
>
>TOTAL: 10. 'Nuff said.
I'd rather watch it than "Yesterday's Enterprise." 10 is what I'd give it,
too.
>
>NEXT WEEK:
>Given Matt Frewer's guest appearance, the only thing to say here is
>"Four centuries into the future..." :-)
Well, we'll-we'll-we'll s-s-s-see-see-see...
>
>Jolan tru.
Gesundeheit.
-----
Matt Gertz, ge...@bilge.ece.cmu.edu, who is really getting fed up with his
machine's inability to telnet and rn correctly. Oh, yeah, and temporarily
I'm at NASA Langley until Dec. 1...
Timothy W. Lynch
>Tim Lynch writes:
>>EXTREME CAUTION: This article contains major-league spoilers for "Unification
>>II", this week's TNG episode and the conclusion of last week's story. Those
>>not wishing to be privy to details in advance should remain well clear.
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>>Let me cover the exception; a plot hole.
[how'd they find the mystery ship's origins?]
>Seemed to me that it was easily explainable -- considering some of the other
>wild explanations that have been thrown around in this series -- and I was
>wondering why they didn't bother. Something like, "Ion traces on the ship
>recorded before it blew up led us to expect that it had passed through this
>nebula blah blah blah (oops, I forgot, "No blah blah blah." -- Kirk, in
>"Miri")" or whatever.
Agreed. A couple of sentences would have fixed this easily.
>>On the other hand (he said, following the stream-of-consciousness path this
>>review seems to be taking :-) ),
>(and then Tim saw a dancing dwarf in a red suit who gave him the rest of his
>review...)
Er...no. I'm not *that* straitlaced. :-)
>> the *other* scene with Amarie the
>>Freewheeling Four-Armed Piano Player was great fun. In keeping with the
>>merging of TOS and TNG that took place here, Riker was at his most
>>Kirkesque--but given the situation, it *worked*. I particularly liked the "A
>>new face." "Same one I've always had." bit myself, but maybe that's just me.
>This part I didn't like. Selling information for a song? Gee, she sure is
>an easy talker.
So? So she's an easy talker--this is a problem? :-)
>>[Note: anyone who wants to see this
>>kind of plan done *right*, on the other hand, should read the latter half of
>>book 11 of Alan Moore's "Watchmen". Sela needs some Ozymandias lessons.
>>:-) ]
>Sela in hardly at Ozzy's level.
Got *that* right.
>(Though would that make Data "Dr. Manhattan?")
Eeeeeeeek, what a thought...Worf as the Comedian?
>And, oh, it wasn't a 45-min buildup: it was a 90-min buildup to Star Trek
>VI... 8^)
:-)
>>The resolution to the plot was *not* forced, it was *not* telegraphed, it was
>>*not* rushed, it did *not* drop interesting threads from part I: in short, it
>>did *not* make the same mistakes that both BOBW2 and "Redemption II" did. It
>>has my undying gratitude for that.
>It wasn't rushed. It did have an ending I didn't care for. "Don't worry,
>Capt. Picard, we'll be strong and continue our fight," which is sort of a
>cross between a TOS ending where Kirk would fight it for them, and a TNG
>ending where Picard would have not been there at all.
Sounds a lot like "First Contact" and "The High Ground" in terms of endings,
and "Who Watches the Watchers" as well. Suits me fine.
>Plus this thing with
>Spock! You cross the Neutral Zone to get this biggest security risk in the
>entire dam' Federation, AND YOU DON'T BRING HIM BACK? C'mon, Picard, use
>your head. Have Data knock him out and beam him up to the ship. I mean,
>really!
Would *you* want to knock out someone you just melded with? :-)
>>I had no complaints to see the primary
>>Spock/Data scene played as straight and as serious as it was. It played up
>>*exactly* the duality common to the two of them (not to mention Picard's
>>near-Vulcan attitude at times, which I've been claiming is so for *years*),
>>and did so in just the way I'd expect. Is good, ja.
>It was nice; I was hoping for something more original, since Data had nearly
>the same conversation with "Q" a couple years back.
Except that Spock was in a position to understand, where Q was not.
>>--Records of the Romulan migration from Vulcan? Shades of Diane
>>Duane...that's so satisfying. Now if we could just convince these guys that
>>Romulus is better called ch'Rihan, we'd really be moving here. :-)
>On the other hand, Spock was somewhat suprised at Romulan appearance in
>"Balance of Terror" -- and surely some Vulcan would've blabbed to the Feds
>at any case that Roms are in fact their cousins?
Perhaps it was in some old records and they'd forgotten them until BoT. The
intervening century got them a lot more interested. :-)
>>--To everyone who said Spock would get killed off here: Nyah! ;-) ;-)
>Killed, written out, what's the diff? Spock is clearly out of things for
>awhile, until the next trip to Romulus... and who knows when that will be.
Well, that much was certainly the case--but a lot of people were insisting that
TNG was going to remove any possibility of a return, and that's simply untrue.
Tim Lynch
Windsor A. Morgan
>>EXTREME CAUTION: This article contains major-league spoilers for "Unification
>>II", this week's TNG episode and the conclusion of last week's story. Those
>>not wishing to be privy to details in advance should remain well clear.
>>and so godawfully clueless on the other. [Note: anyone who wants to see this
>>kind of plan done *right*, on the other hand, should read the latter half of
>>book 11 of Alan Moore's "Watchmen". Sela needs some Ozymandias lessons.
>>:-) ]
>Sela in hardly at Ozzy's level. (Though would that make Data "Dr.
>Manhattan?")
And Tasha Yar would be "Silk Spectre II", Sela's father "Nite Owl II",
... ;-)
And heck, Tim, people should read *all* of Watchmen. :-)
--
'Verily, there be no leader as wise as the Vision!'
Windsor Morgan (wmo...@stsci.edu OR N...@PSUVM.BITNET)
Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, MD 21218
Just another theatre geek.....
EXTREME CAUTION: This article contains major-league spoilers for "Unification
II", this week's TNG episode and the conclusion of last week's story. Those
not wishing to be privy to details in advance should remain well clear.
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!!*Finally*, a good second-part. Exceedingly satisfying.
!I'll second that! (No drink; I don't think I'm on the r.a.s. drinking game
!reviewing list... 8^(
Why? Aren't you legal yet?
!Oops, first, a comment...
!!Picard, as a representative of the
!!Federation, demands an explanation for Spock's actions, and dismisses Spock's
!!claim that it's a personal mission of peace as inadequate, saying that this
!!type of "cowboy diplomacy" is no longer acceptable.
!This comment of Picard's sounded so much like the arguments on r.a.s. about
!TOS vs. TNG that I laughed fit to bust stitches. And Spock's reaction!
Hmmm.....missed this the first time around, but nevertheless
appropriate. Perhaps it was because the two were so nicely in character
and performed so sharply.....
!!With only one exception, this show fulfilled the grand setup part I gave it.
!!(I'll cover the exception in a moment.) The two plots from part I, which
!!seemed so isolated from each other there, weaved together *very* well here.
!!Spock's appearance was every bit as good as I expected, and blissfully, Sela's
!!appearance did nothing to detract from things. Very nice indeed.
!Yeah. If I can ignore Sela's origins (well-based in stupidity as they are),
!I find that I actually like the character as portrayed in this episode. Nice
!job by Crosby.
Well, at least there isn't such a bad mismatch between actor and
character as with Yar. Somewhat intelligent but not quite in control of
herself; thinks more highly of herself than warranted. Yeah, I think
DC can handle that kind of role....
!!The other negative, I think, would have to be the "Klingon opera" sequence in
!!the bar. I'm sorry--appropriate or no, tavernesque or no, it was jarring.
!!Very jarring. Too jarring for the context of the episode. No thanks.
!I thought it was kind of funny, ("Let's make fun of Klingons" and all), but
!he's had funnier bits along those lines.
I think it might have been funnier with a set-up line or two,
perhaps on the lines of, "Act RELAXED, Worf!" so that it didn't come out
of the blue. Or that the character himself thought it was ridiculous....
!! the *other* scene with Amarie the
!!Freewheeling Four-Armed Piano Player was great fun. In keeping with the
!!merging of TOS and TNG that took place here, Riker was at his most
!!Kirkesque--but given the situation, it *worked*. I particularly liked the "A
!!new face." "Same one I've always had." bit myself, but maybe that's just me.
!This part I didn't like. Selling information for a song? Gee, she sure is
!an easy talker.
Just a sucker for another pretty face....
(Besides, she DID say to drop a "few" coins in her cup....)
!!Onwards to Spock. Nice work, Mr. Nimoy. My primary regret is that we didn't
!!get to see Spock interact with any of the TNG crew apart from Picard and Data.
!!Now, granted, if I had to pick just two, those are the two I would pick, since
!!they're the juiciest ones for Spock/X dialogue. But I wanted more. I wanted
!!to see Spock meet Worf, given Worf's grandfather's appearance in ST6. I
!!wanted a pithy comment on Riker's Kirk genes :-). Ah, well.
!And I wanted a scene where Spock would be asked to take the science console
!for a sudden emergency. Ah, well, indeed.
Nahh....Too cliche. It'd be just a bone thrown to the Trekkies.
I like Tim's hypothetical meetings better.
!!his final meld with
!!Picard was beautiful. I can't really say much more about it, 'cos there's not
!!much the words can do.
!I choked up a bit on that last meld scene; powerful stuff.
Yeppers. The alacrity with which Spock jumped at the chance and
the contrast between Nimoy and Stewart during the meld. Flash and dash;
the subtleties of the actor's craft. Textbook stuff.
!!--Records of the Romulan migration from Vulcan? Shades of Diane
!!Duane...that's so satisfying. Now if we could just convince these guys that
!!Romulus is better called ch'Rihan, we'd really be moving here. :-)
!On the other hand, Spock was somewhat suprised at Romulan appearance in
!"Balance of Terror" -- and surely some Vulcan would've blabbed to the Feds
!at any case that Roms are in fact their cousins?
No, not necessarily. The Roms know that they're cousins; but the
Vulcans may not--at least at that time.
!!--To everyone who said Spock would get killed off here: Nyah! ;-) ;-)
!Killed, written out, what's the diff? Spock is clearly out of things for
!awhile, until the next trip to Romulus...
Actually, for good, I hope. It's a worthy and appropriate ending,
I think, to be the Romulan's equivalent of Surak....
--
Roger Tang, gwan...@milton.u.washington.edu; Uncle Bonsai Memorial Fan Club
"Yes. I am a victim of yuppieosa selfpityius whineitis. Please. Give
now. And stop this disease once and for all."
Timothy W. Lynch
>!!The other negative, I think, would have to be the "Klingon opera" sequence
>!!in the bar. I'm sorry--appropriate or no, tavernesque or no, it was jarring.
>!!Very jarring. Too jarring for the context of the episode. No thanks.
>!I thought it was kind of funny, ("Let's make fun of Klingons" and all), but
>!he's had funnier bits along those lines.
> I think it might have been funnier with a set-up line or two,
>perhaps on the lines of, "Act RELAXED, Worf!" so that it didn't come out
>of the blue. Or that the character himself thought it was ridiculous....
Either would work, yeah. I like the "act RELAXED" idea, though. :-)
Tim Lynch
Matthew Gertz
Well, yes, OK then <glug> <glug> shay, thish shtuff is pretty good, ossifer...
>
>!Oops, first, a comment...
>!!Picard, as a representative of the
>!!Federation, demands an explanation for Spock's actions, and dismisses Spock's
>!!claim that it's a personal mission of peace as inadequate, saying that this
>!!type of "cowboy diplomacy" is no longer acceptable.
>!This comment of Picard's sounded so much like the arguments on r.a.s. about
>!TOS vs. TNG that I laughed fit to bust stitches. And Spock's reaction!
>
> Hmmm.....missed this the first time around, but nevertheless
>appropriate. Perhaps it was because the two were so nicely in character
>and performed so sharply.....
If you note carefully, you realize that at some point Picard plays the part
of three different characters vs. Spock: Sarek, Kirk, and McCoy (I refer to
the banter leading up to Spock's remark "That is entirely what I had hoped to
avoid." when Picard states that he's going to stick around.)
>!!Onwards to Spock. Nice work, Mr. Nimoy. My primary regret is that we
>!!didn't
>!!get to see Spock interact with any of the TNG crew apart from Picard and
>!!Data.
>!!Now, granted, if I had to pick just two, those are the two I would pick,
>!!since
>!!they're the juiciest ones for Spock/X dialogue. But I wanted more. I
>!!wanted
>!!to see Spock meet Worf, given Worf's grandfather's appearance in ST6. I
>!!wanted a pithy comment on Riker's Kirk genes :-). Ah, well.
>!And I wanted a scene where Spock would be asked to take the science console
>!for a sudden emergency. Ah, well, indeed.
>
> Nahh....Too cliche. It'd be just a bone thrown to the Trekkies.
>I like Tim's hypothetical meetings better.
Okay, I'll just crawl away to some corner in my office, curl up, and die
<sniff> <sniff> 8^) 8^)
------
Matt Gertz, mwge...@cs.cmu.edu
"You, on the other hand, will be surrounded by cats." -- "Adam"
Matthew Gertz
>>Tim Lynch writes:
>
>>>EXTREME CAUTION: This article contains major-league spoilers for
>>>"Unification
>>>II", this week's TNG episode and the conclusion of last week's story. Those
>>>not wishing to be privy to details in advance should remain well clear.
>>>
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>>an easy talker.
>
>So? So she's an easy talker--this is a problem? :-)
*sigh* it's just so traditional that everybody clams up in bars when asked
information, oh well...
>>It wasn't rushed. It did have an ending I didn't care for. "Don't worry,
>>Capt. Picard, we'll be strong and continue our fight," which is sort of a
>>cross between a TOS ending where Kirk would fight it for them, and a TNG
>>ending where Picard would have not been there at all.
>
>Sounds a lot like "First Contact" and "The High Ground" in terms of endings,
>and "Who Watches the Watchers" as well. Suits me fine.
Similar endings, but the two you mentioned weren't (IMO) so melodramatic.
>
>>Plus this thing with
>>Spock! You cross the Neutral Zone to get this biggest security risk in the
>>entire dam' Federation, AND YOU DON'T BRING HIM BACK? C'mon, Picard, use
>>your head. Have Data knock him out and beam him up to the ship. I mean,
>>really!
>
>Would *you* want to knock out someone you just melded with? :-)
Only in a metaphorical sense...
[Spock's conversation with Data:]
>>It was nice; I was hoping for something more original, since Data had nearly
>>the same conversation with "Q" a couple years back.
>
>Except that Spock was in a position to understand, where Q was not.
Ah, but in the end, "Q" *did* understand, through Data's words and actions.
-----
--Matt Gertz--*, mwge...@cs.cmu.edu
"Cowboy reviewing" on r.a.s. will not longer easily be tolerated. 8^)
Timothy W. Lynch
>tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>mwge...@cs.cmu.edu (Matthew Gertz) writes:
Spoilers for "Unification II" ahead...
>[Spock's conversation with Data:]
>>>It was nice; I was hoping for something more original, since Data had nearly
>>>the same conversation with "Q" a couple years back.
>>
>>Except that Spock was in a position to understand, where Q was not.
>Ah, but in the end, "Q" *did* understand, through Data's words and actions.
That's debatable, wouldn't you say? I'd like to think so, but the end of
"Deja Q" didn't exactly make it clear, and "Qpid: The Alleged Episode" certain-
ly showed no trace of it. :-) Spock was simply not acknowledging what's been
part of him all along; Q had no frame of reference and didn't particularly want
one.
Tim Lynch
Matthew Gertz
>mwge...@cs.cmu.edu (Matthew Gertz) writes:
>>tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>>mwge...@cs.cmu.edu (Matthew Gertz) writes:
>
>Spoilers for "Unification II" ahead...
>
>>[Spock's conversation with Data:]
>
>>>>It was nice; I was hoping for something more original, since Data had
>>>>nearly the same conversation with "Q" a couple years back.
>>>
>>>Except that Spock was in a position to understand, where Q was not.
>
>>Ah, but in the end, "Q" *did* understand, through Data's words and actions.
>
>That's debatable, wouldn't you say? I'd like to think so, but the end of
>"Deja Q" didn't exactly make it clear, and "Qpid: The Alleged Episode"
>particularly want one.
True it is that there was not much character continuity between those two
episodes, I'll give you that (and we've already agreed to disagree about the
worth of "Qpid"). This still doesn't alter the fact that I'd heard those
comments (or ones very similar) from Data before. Is Data going to compare
his personal quest to become more human to every marginal human that he meets?
I hope not. WORF: "My parents have made my son too human by raising him for
me on Earth. I must make him more Klingon." DATA: "Intriguing. Is he not one
-quarter human? You seek to remove from him the very thing I am trying to
aspire to." Such self-analysis becomes old very quickly.
-----
--Matt Gertz--*, mwge...@cs.cmu.edu
Timothy W. Lynch
>>Spoilers for "Unification II" ahead...
>>
>>>[Spock's conversation with Data:]
>This still doesn't alter the fact that I'd heard those
>comments (or ones very similar) from Data before. Is Data going to compare
>his personal quest to become more human to every marginal human that he meets?
I think relegating Spock to "marginal human" status is, to say the least,
something of a disservice. No, I wouldn't want to see Data saying something
like this to every part-human being he runs across; but Spock is not run-of-
the-mill. Spock is someone we've been seeing struggling with the dichotomy
for the last quarter of a century; to have him talk to Data and *not* discuss
humanity vs. Vulcanity [sp? :-) ] would be far worse, in my opinion.
Tim Lynch
Timothy W. Lynch
>Spoilers follow:
>According to tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch):
>>--Galorndon Core? Let's see, that means the only major Romulan episode not
>>referred to here was "The Neutral Zone". So just what *were* the Romulans
>>doing that kept them away, hmm, Paramount? :-)
>Perhaps you've forgotten "The Enemy"? Or was that a different planet?
Er..."The Enemy" is in fact precisely what I was referring to. The use of
GC was an explicit reference back to "The Enemy", leaving "The Neutral Zone"
as the only heavy-Romulan episode not touched upon here. Am I missing
something? :-)
Tim Lynch
Matthew Gertz
>mwge...@cs.cmu.edu (Matthew Gertz) writes:
>
>>>Spoilers for "Unification II" ahead...
>>>
>>>>[Spock's conversation with Data:]
>
>>This still doesn't alter the fact that I'd heard those
>>comments (or ones very similar) from Data before. Is Data going to compare
>>his personal quest to become more human to every marginal human that he
>>meets?
>
>I think relegating Spock to "marginal human" status is, to say the least,
>something of a disservice.
Grrr... I was speaking in the genetic sense. Perhaps "every-entity-who-has-
even-an-iota-of-human-genetic-material" might have been more PC, but this is
rather picky -- I wasn't even necessarily referring to Spock, although
he is an example. Nor is this "bad" in any way. Just different.
Spock's "humanity," on the other hand and IMHO, has a lot less to do with his
genetic makeup than one might think -- after all, the Vulcan system of
emotionless logic is clearly not innate in Vulcans, but must be taught.
I suspect that you thought I was referring to personalities when I said
"marginal human", not genetics. This is just not so. What bothers me is the
idea of Data having this same comparative conversation about gaining and
abandoning humanity with "e.e.w.w.h.e.a.i.o.h.g.m."
> No, I wouldn't want to see Data saying something
>like this to every part-human being he runs across; but Spock is not run-of-
>the-mill. Spock is someone we've been seeing struggling with the dichotomy
>for the last quarter of a century; to have him talk to Data and *not* discuss
>humanity vs. Vulcanity [sp? :-) ] would be far worse, in my opinion.
I agree! But my question is: can it be made more original?
(but, I agree, the bit about Picard being Vulcanish was very good. Perhaps
this could have led to something else besides a "you're the opposite of me" --
we knew that already.)
-----
Matt Gertz
mwge...@cs.cmu.edu (but temporarily at NASA/Langley until Thanksgiving)
Almost home! (Gads, that I should think of Pittsburgh as a home...)
Chip Salzenberg
According to tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch):
>--Galorndon Core? Let's see, that means the only major Romulan episode not
>referred to here was "The Neutral Zone". So just what *were* the Romulans
>doing that kept them away, hmm, Paramount? :-)
Perhaps you've forgotten "The Enemy"? Or was that a different planet?
("If this is Tuesday, it must be Galorndon Core." :-))
--
Chip Salzenberg at Teltronics/TCT <ch...@tct.com>, <7371...@compuserve.com>
"I get the feeling there was no right answer to that question." -- Calvin