Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Power Play"
Timothy W. Lynch
"Power Play". Those not wishing to see how PP plays out really ought hang
back right about now...
Hmm. Something of a mixed bag. Definitely not "Conundrum" level, but I
enjoyed it...
...to a certain extent. We'll have to see on this one. More after a
synopsis:
The Enterprise follows a distress signal to a deserted moon. The signal
turns out to be from a 200-year-old starship, the USS Essex; and although the
surface is so unpleasant that no one's likely to be alive, Troi feels the
presence of *something* alive down there. Since transporters can't cut
through the electromagnetic storms on the surface, Riker, Troi and Data take
a shuttle down. The shuttle crashes, however, leaving all shaken and Riker
with a broken arm. As Troi senses the life-forms coming toward them with a
storm front, O'Brien boosts the transporter enough to beam down with a
pattern enhancer; but while there, all are struck down by lightning, and all
but Riker are entered by strange energy. Once they're back aboard,
Beverly makes short work of their injuries and returns them to duty.
Data, however, strongly suggests that they assume an orbit around the
southern polar region; when Riker demurs, he programs it in anyway. When
discovered, he, O'Brien and Troi attempt to take control of the bridge.
Riker manages to transfer controls to Engineering, however, locking the three
out, and they leave in a turbolift. As those remaining on the bridge (Picard,
Riker, Ro and Worf) attempt to stop them, the three make their way
to Ten-Forward, where they take the entire group inside hostage (including
O'Brien's wife Keiko, and their child). Worf arrives with a security team,
but the team is made short work of, and they become prisoners as well.
As the threesome quickly cement their position by isolating Ten-Forward from
the rest of the ship, Picard puts Beverly to work on possibly finding out
what happened to them on the moon below. Troi demands a polar orbit
(threatening the hostages' safety if balked), and Picard agrees, but
ordering the helm to do so as slowly as possible. Beverly quickly discovers
traces of extra synaptic activity in the threesome's brainscans, and
theorizes there's a second entity controlling each of them. Riker was
somehow immune; she theorizes that the pain from his arm was the cause, and
further suggests that causing them pain will force them to leave. She works
on a way to contain them, while Geordi and Ro leave for the deck above
Ten-Forward to set up a scanner and a plasma inverter for the rescue attempt.
To insure the prompt medical treatment of the injured hostages, Picard takes
their place, assuring Riker that he will attempt to offer them another rescue
opportunity if Geordi and Ro fail. "Troi" introduces herself to Picard--as
the captain of the USS Essex. According to her, the bridge was struck by
lightning just as the ship was ripped apart in the atmosphere, and it somehow
trapped them in permanent "spirit" form. Picard quizzes her on details, and
she passes with flying colors, but Picard remains privately skeptical.
Geordi and Ro arrive above Ten-Forward and begin calibrating the inverter, as
Bev applies the finishing touches to a containment field. As Data's
possessor shows increasing sadism, O'Brien's terrorizes Keiko. Finally, as
the ship reaches the polar region, Troi orders Picard to beam up their bodies
and return them to Earth. Picard refuses to cooperate without the release of
the hostages, and Data threatens to make Picard choose between killing Worf
and killing Keiko. As he does so, however, all three are within range of the
inverter, and Ro fires. The shot is a second too late, however, as Data
leaves the circle, and while the other two writhe in pain, he puts a
stranglehold on Picard and forces the Enterprise to abort the attempt.
The storms' interference near the Essex is so great that transporters will
not function at the present time; Picard suggests O'Brien work with them, and
offers all three safe passage to cargo bay 4 if they release the hostages.
After ensuring that the transporter cannot be used against them, they agree,
but take one hostage apiece for safety: Picard, Worf, and Keiko. As O'Brien
prepares to beam up the "bodies", however, Picard coaxes the truth from Troi:
they're not from the Essex, they are three out of hundreds of convicted
prisoners, set adrift there five centuries ago as punishment. Riker,
however, having taken the hint from Picard's choice of location, orders the
containment field used just as the other entities beam up. Picard, seizing
the opportunity, convinces Troi that her only options are to give up, or to
die when the bay hatch is blown minutes later. Angrily, Troi agrees, and the
three officers are freed, as all the prisoners are beamed back to the moon.
Well, that's a lot shorter than *last* time, I must say. Of course, I left
more out. Anyway:
Y'know, I hate to say it, but the more time I spend thinking about this, the
less attractive it becomes. I enjoyed it, and it had a lot of really good
things about it, but...well...something's missing here.
The plot was both tighter and looser than that of "Conundrum". I think there
are two types of "holes" one can find in a plot: plausibility holes, i.e.
suspension of disbelief in accepting the premise; and regular holes, which
make one or more characters look daft in missing the obvious. I tend to not
worry much about the first (I've seen and read enough fantasy and SF in my
time that suspending disbelief is not generally a tough thing for me to do),
but the second can rankle.
The objections I've seen others raise about "Conundrum" are of the first
group, and this really didn't have any of those. "Power Play", however, had
a few of the latter kind, which *is* a problem for me.
The biggest one that comes to mind is the arrival of Picard in Ten-Forward
with the medical team. The forcefield needed to be dropped to let him in
(and to let the team out a few minutes later with the wounded), and
*everybody* knew it. It's an obvious spot for a rescue attempt. Now, it
makes perfect sense that Riker would decide not to try then (it's TOO
obvious, after all), but it makes *no* sense that the troika would take
absolutely no steps to prepare for or defend against an attack. That's
sloppy. Another one, though much smaller, would be why the bridge didn't
try to use transporters on the troika *before* they reached Ten-Forward. It
should have been tried, but that's heat-of-the-moment enough that I can
overlook it. And one last: um, maybe it's just me, but given all the
banging around Geordi and Ro were doing above Ten-Forward when setting up the
inverter, isn't it just a tad silly and unnecessary for them to then
*whisper* back up to the bridge. Guys, if they could hear you talk, they
already have a bead on you...
On the other hand, aside from the minor transporter problem, the rest of the
journey from the bridge to Ten-Forward was put together well. (Worf and a
team actually *running* for a change, for example.) And the complaint by
O'Brien that "I said *all* transporter controls, including those in the
shuttles!" was a good attention to a detail that I'd missed entirely. (After
all, we've only seen the shuttle transporter once; it's about time its
presence was acknowledged again.) That part was sharp.
(Oh...one plausibility argument, I think. I've finally seen the "someone
seizes control of the computer" bit one too many times, I guess, because I
admit to distinct curiosity about how lower officers can completely isolate
the computer from the commanding officer. They probably shouldn't be able to
do that. On the other hand, the same applies to "Brothers", and I managed to
rationalize that one away. :-) )
Other things, while sound enough, seemed a little...pointless. While I
thought the Data/Worf interplay was generally marvelous, most of the
O'Brien/Keiko material fell flat for me. One exception was O'Brien's whole
"I gave you that..." scene, up to the attempt to kiss her. *That* disturbed
the hell out of me, and was meant to, I think. Nice. But the rest...well, I
don't know, but it just seemed kinda there.
Surprisingly, given the writers, a few bits of the dialogue here and there
were downright *grating*. The one thing in particular that finally got to me
was the persistent, and repetitive, use of "our people". It's a fine enough
term, but when Beverly uses it *three times* in a two-minute period, it's
overkill. Please, enough. (Speaking of grating, but in a different vein...I
understand the reason Molly "As Seen Only on Ten-Forward" O'Brien was in the
show, but having a significant amount of screen time devoted to hearing a
crying baby is simply Not a Good Idea [TM]. [Has it been scientifically
proven yet that that's the most annoying sound known to humanity? :-) ])
However, as I said, much of it was nice. Characterization was fairly strong,
particularly of the possessed Data and Troi. Troi's been getting better
writing recently, and it appears Marina's honed up her acting skills as well;
when you compare her menacing possession here to that by the Paxons in
"Clues", the difference is impressive. I don't know exactly what Data's
possessor had against Klingons [or maybe just big, strong aliens], but he had
a very consistent, and *very* watchable, character throughout. [Colm
Meaney...well, I think he hit his stride playing the regular O'Brien a ways
back, 'cos this didn't quite grab me. Sigh.) The regular regulars were
fine, although fairly standard. Nothing wrong, just nothing jumping out as
superb either. (Let me backpedal: one line really did something there.
Worf's simple "you have no idea..." [about his forbearance] was priceless,
and wholly in character. Grin.)
[Aside: all right, what particular group of Norns intervened to ensure that
just as bits of the rec.arts.startrek.* groups started up a conversation on
the Star Wars films almost out of the blue, a show with a *blatant* tribute
to the beginning of the first film airs? I mean, I was expecting to hear
James Earl Jones asking Picard "if this is a consular ship, *where is the
ambassador?*" before that particular chokehold was through...:-) ]
On to presentation. The direction of the scenes was, for the most part,
amazing. This isn't overly surprising to me, though, since the other show
David Livingston directed was "The Mind's Eye", which is probably one of the
five best-directed shows they've ever had (along with, say, "Q Who", for
starters). Lots of rather bizarre camera angles [can we say "fun with
wide-angle lenses", boys and girls?], nearly all of which worked, and even a
sound trick or two. The hollow echo of voices in the turbolift ride up to
the bridge had to be intentional; and it was strangely effective. Something
tells me Livingston might not be much for directing "a day in the life",
deeply personal shows, but for "something is very wrong here, and we're going
to horribly abuse your senses as much as possible" stories such as this and
TME, he's effective. Keep 'im.
I'm not sure if this is a directing or a writing quibble, but I had one
problem with a *choice* of scene which really hurt a little. When Troi had
her "they're coming..." line down on the moon, and then they'd all moved back
towards the shuttle by the time O'Brien beamed down, I fully expected them to
have been taken over by the entities by the time he got there. Given the
preview, I should have known better; but that's the impression I got from the
scene. I think it would have been very nice to somehow arrange it that way;
let those who haven't seen the preview *really* wonder what the hell is going
on when the mutiny begins, and slowly add the pieces in later. Remember how
effective showing Riker walking up to Bev in "Conspiracy" was? This could
have been equally so, I think; and I think actually showing the lightning
strike was a bit much. (Actually...hmm. Perhaps showing the four struck by
lightning and flattened, and then cutting back to the bridge getting the
pattern enhancer without any idea who turned it on, and simply having them
beamed up after being hit. Yeah, that might do it...)
One thing which helped a bit in making up for that IMHO poor choice, however,
was the initial "I'm Captain Bryce Shumar of the USS Essex." Okay, so in
retrospect it's probably not too surprising that they'd choose such a tactic,
and it was fairly transparent (as Picard knew). Regardless, it caught me
flatfooted, and got my attention focused a bit higher. Nice work there.
On to short points, since I'm rambling.
--Music: Jay Chattaway's picking up steam again. I don't know if there were
any real, new themes, but the music really heightened the tone of the show
this time around. He managed to jump between heavily foreboding [O'Brien's
move on Keiko, for instance] and heavy action [Worf's run to the turbolift
with the team, for example], and rather nicely.
--FX: Nothing special, really. The "Tinkerbell" possessors brought back too
many unpleasant memories of "The Child", I guess. (The storm front was nice,
though, particularly since I'd just reread the old Wollheim short story
"Storm Warning". Brr...)
--Seatbelts on a shuttle? Hey, 'bout time!
--"Lunchtime, Miles!" This was probably the best line indirectly related to
Molly O'Brien all show. Something about it just rang true.
--Credits-watching note: someone noticed last week that Susan Sackett, late
of the ST offices, was no longer in the end credits, but that Richard Arnold
was still around. Wait no more; Richard has left the credits as of "Power
Play". [I, for one, shed nary a tear.]
Well...I think that's about it. 'Twould seem to be most of the bases,
anyway. It was interesting, and I enjoyed it, but I have this nasty feeling
it's not going to age all that well. Ah, well. The numbers, then:
Plot: 6. An interesting concept, but a little more solidity would help.
Plot Handling: 9.5. Just drop the one explicit "here come the bad guys"
scene on the moon.
Characterization: 7. Lose O'Brien and Keiko, the rest are fine.
TOTAL: 7.5, after I round up a bit for music. Not bad, but not spectacular
either.
NEXT WEEK:
Another delay for me due to travel, and Worf faces the return of the dreaded
Cardinal Center for Cardiac Corrections. (You remember them, from "Samaritan
Snare"...:-) )
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
"They're coming. They're coming with the storm..."
--Troi
--
Copyright 1992, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
Sean Erwin
Yes, despite the techincal flaws (all that control for a console in the bar??),
the acting of Brent Spiner made the episode for me. Seeing him sneer and act the
ruffian was very entertaining. This man is a *great actor*. ST:TNG is fortunate
to have him.
It was funny that the actors seemed to adopt a sort of New Yorkish accent when
required to play criminals. Did anyone else notice this?
---Sean Erwin
Atsushi Kanamori
I really don't see this as a mutiny. It was an invasion. Different things.
>Hmm. Something of a mixed bag. Definitely not "Conundrum" level, but I
>enjoyed it...
To throw back Dean Adam's reaction to my review, "I'm not surprised." :-)
>Y'know, I hate to say it, but the more time I spend thinking about this, the
>less attractive it becomes. I enjoyed it, and it had a lot of really good
>things about it, but...well...something's missing here.
Yes. It lacked *purpose*. There's really nothing here to distinguish this
from standard-fare cop show action -- most of the episode's accomplishments
are gimmicks and technical trickery, which really weren't that filling and
even less enduring.
>[lots of comments about plot consistency deleted]
As you now know, that's normally a secondary issue for me. :-)
>Other things, while sound enough, seemed a little...pointless.
Bingo.
>Surprisingly, given the writers, a few bits of the dialogue here and there
>were downright *grating*.
Among other things, they tended to overstate things. "I suggest
you avoid coming our way in the future, Captain". In fact, having Troi
volunteer their motivations at the end was a prime example: plot device
at its most blatant.
>overkill. Please, enough. (Speaking of grating, but in a different vein...I
>understand the reason Molly "As Seen Only on Ten-Forward" O'Brien was in the
>show, but having a significant amount of screen time devoted to hearing a
>crying baby is simply Not a Good Idea [TM]. [Has it been scientifically
>proven yet that that's the most annoying sound known to humanity? :-) ])
Sounded like yet another sympathy ploy to me. Actually, this one didn't
bother me nearly as much as I'd expect (probably because the kid's acting
was better than *some* of the adult acting in this show.)
>However, as I said, much of it was nice. Characterization was fairly strong,
>particularly of the possessed Data and Troi. Troi's been getting better
>writing recently, and it appears Marina's honed up her acting skills as well;
>when you compare her menacing possession here to that by the Paxons in
>"Clues", the difference is impressive. I don't know exactly what Data's
>possessor had against Klingons [or maybe just big, strong aliens], but he had
>a very consistent, and *very* watchable, character throughout.
The characterization of the villains were solid, but basically irrelevant.
Nor were they terribly original.
> [Colm
>Meaney...well, I think he hit his stride playing the regular O'Brien a ways
>back, 'cos this didn't quite grab me. Sigh.) The regular regulars were
>fine, although fairly standard. Nothing wrong, just nothing jumping out as
>superb either.
Stewart and Dorn seemed to be there more in body than in spirit -- I don't
think their hearts were in it. And I've attacked Frakes and Chou elsewhere.
>On to short points, since I'm rambling.
>
>--Music: Jay Chattaway's picking up steam again. I don't know if there were
>any real, new themes, but the music really heightened the tone of the show
>this time around. He managed to jump between heavily foreboding [O'Brien's
>move on Keiko, for instance] and heavy action [Worf's run to the turbolift
>with the team, for example], and rather nicely.
Oh I don't know. Every Chattaway outing sounds similar now, and he's
fallen right into the Dennis McCarthy droning horns vein. I actually think
Ron Jones did a better job than Chattaway's doing now.
>Well...I think that's about it. 'Twould seem to be most of the bases,
>anyway. It was interesting, and I enjoyed it, but I have this nasty feeling
>it's not going to age all that well. Ah, well. The numbers, then:
>
>Plot: 6. An interesting concept, but a little more solidity would help.
Plot: 0. Stock action-adventure -- there *were* no interesting concepts.
>Plot Handling: 9.5. Just drop the one explicit "here come the bad guys"
> scene on the moon.
Plot Handling: 7 or 8 --- but given the pointlessness of the plot itself,
I really see this as irrelevant (ever think of scaling your "plot handling"
score by the "plot" score?)
>Characterization: 7.
>Lose O'Brien and Keiko, the rest are fine.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Definitely.
. . . . .
: : : :. : : :.. .: : . ::.: . ..: : .. : ..
::::::::::.: :::::::.:::::::::::.:::::: ::::::::..::::.
------------ -------------------------- --------------------------
TNG Lifelines: From "Yesterday's Enterprise" To "Power Play" --
"Picard, you are mine." -- Troi
Jose Gonzalez
>WARNING: The following post contains spoilers for this week's TNG episode,
>"Power Play". Those not wishing to see how PP plays out really ought hang
>back right about now...
>Hmm. Something of a mixed bag. Definitely not "Conundrum" level, but I
>enjoyed it...
I thought it was just about even with "Conundrum," but "Conundrum" definately
has the slight edge.
>The biggest one that comes to mind is the arrival of Picard in Ten-Forward
>with the medical team. The forcefield needed to be dropped to let him in
>(and to let the team out a few minutes later with the wounded), and
>*everybody* knew it. It's an obvious spot for a rescue attempt. Now, it
>makes perfect sense that Riker would decide not to try then (it's TOO
>obvious, after all), but it makes *no* sense that the troika would take
>absolutely no steps to prepare for or defend against an attack. That's
>sloppy.
The two you mention are the exact ones I picked up on the third viewing.
(Yeah, yeah, that's what I get for being to nice to friends who missed
it on Tuesday.) The first one would seem to be a problem, but it can
be explained. Remember that both Riker and the prisoners knew that no
rescue plan would work unless they could take care of Data as well. And
I don't know much that will knock out Data. So they weren't worried about
the weapons. (I don't think that they knew pain would cause them to vacate
the bodies. So they were safe from the weapons.) As for the transporters,
I submit that neither the bridge or the prisoners had thought of them at
that point.
Another one, though much smaller, would be why the bridge didn't
>try to use transporters on the troika *before* they reached Ten-Forward. It
>should have been tried, but that's heat-of-the-moment enough that I can
>overlook it.
It wasn't necessary at that point. When I'm trying to solve a math
problem, I usually only use *one* method at a time. If that then doesn't
*work*, I go on to some other method. I usually don't try two or more
methods at the same time. It makes my head hurt. (-:
>Other things, while sound enough, seemed a little...pointless. While I
>thought the Data/Worf interplay was generally marvelous, most of the
>O'Brien/Keiko material fell flat for me. One exception was O'Brien's whole
>"I gave you that..." scene, up to the attempt to kiss her. *That* disturbed
>the hell out of me, and was meant to, I think. Nice. But the rest...well, I
>don't know, but it just seemed kinda there.
Yes, this was the only part of the show that I actually did find "pointless."
It didn't work. Now, it *might* have worked if the baby wasn't there. That
was simply cliche.
>On to presentation. The direction of the scenes was, for the most part,
>amazing. This isn't overly surprising to me, though, since the other show
>David Livingston directed was "The Mind's Eye", which is probably one of the
>five best-directed shows they've ever had (along with, say, "Q Who", for
>starters). Lots of rather bizarre camera angles [can we say "fun with
>wide-angle lenses", boys and girls?], nearly all of which worked, and even a
>sound trick or two. The hollow echo of voices in the turbolift ride up to
>the bridge had to be intentional; and it was strangely effective. Something
>tells me Livingston might not be much for directing "a day in the life",
>deeply personal shows, but for "something is very wrong here, and we're going
>to horribly abuse your senses as much as possible" stories such as this and
>TME, he's effective. Keep 'im.
Agreed. The direction was superb. Definately enhanced the flow of the
show.
>--Music: Jay Chattaway's picking up steam again. I don't know if there were
>any real, new themes, but the music really heightened the tone of the show
>this time around. He managed to jump between heavily foreboding [O'Brien's
>move on Keiko, for instance] and heavy action [Worf's run to the turbolift
>with the team, for example], and rather nicely.
Yes. And I *really* noticed it when I watched it yesterday on the VCR
hooked up to the speakers. Nice.
>
>was still around. Wait no more; Richard has left the credits as of "Power
>Play". [I, for one, shed nary a tear.]
Uh, Oh. Let's not get into Arnold bashing again, please. Let it die.
>TOTAL: 7.5, after I round up a bit for music. Not bad, but not spectacular
>either.
I'd probably go up a point higher: 8.5. This was basically a suspense piece,
and they loose something on repeat viewing.
--
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."
Timothy W. Lynch
>In article <1992Feb28....@cco.caltech.edu> tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>WARNING: The following post contains spoilers for this week's TNG episode,
>>"Power Play". Those not wishing to see how PP plays out really ought hang
>>back right about now...
[on plot holes]
>>The biggest one that comes to mind is the arrival of Picard in Ten-Forward
>>with the medical team. The forcefield needed to be dropped to let him in
>>(and to let the team out a few minutes later with the wounded), and
>>*everybody* knew it. It's an obvious spot for a rescue attempt. Now, it
>>makes perfect sense that Riker would decide not to try then (it's TOO
>>obvious, after all), but it makes *no* sense that the troika would take
>>absolutely no steps to prepare for or defend against an attack. That's
>>sloppy.
>The two you mention are the exact ones I picked up on the third viewing.
If it took that long, then I probably wouldn't fuss. But ones that jump
out of me during a first watch need to be taken note of. :-)
>(Yeah, yeah, that's what I get for being to nice to friends who missed
>it on Tuesday.) The first one would seem to be a problem, but it can
>be explained.
It *can*, sure, but only by suggesting a vast undercurrent of thought going
in that didn't seem present. It makes some sense in the context of the show,
but not much.
> Another one, though much smaller, would be why the bridge didn't
>>try to use transporters on the troika *before* they reached Ten-Forward. It
>>should have been tried, but that's heat-of-the-moment enough that I can
>>overlook it.
>It wasn't necessary at that point.
Not necessary? It would have worked, wouldn't it? As I said, this one's
forgivable.
>>was still around. Wait no more; Richard has left the credits as of "Power
>>Play". [I, for one, shed nary a tear.]
>Uh, Oh. Let's not get into Arnold bashing again, please. Let it die.
Jest passing the information along. I intend to go no further with it,
don't worry.
>I'd probably go up a point higher: 8.5. This was basically a suspense piece,
>and they loose something on repeat viewing.
"Conspiracy" was a major suspense piece, and it hasn't. So there. :-)
Tim Lynch
Stephanie da Silva
> less attractive it becomes. I enjoyed it, and it had a lot of really good
> things about it, but...well...something's missing here.
It took you that long?
Peter and I were scoffing at it before half of it was up.
> Surprisingly, given the writers, a few bits of the dialogue here and there
> were downright *grating*.
Was it my imagination, or did Troi adopt a different accent to begin
with but then gradually go back to her regular accent?
> but having a significant amount of screen time devoted to hearing a
> crying baby is simply Not a Good Idea [TM]. [Has it been scientifically
> proven yet that that's the most annoying sound known to humanity? :-) ])
Um, well, yeah. It's part of our biological function. If we didn't
hear a baby's cry, then they'd never grow up and propagate the species.
For that matter, just wait till you have kids, Tim. When you have to
put up with countless presumptuous assholes bitching at you cause of some
minor (and usually imagined) trangression your kid did, you start getting
a little more sympathetic towards the younger set.
Still, I thought that was the biggest plot hole. Here they made a big
deal of getting the wounded out of Ten Foward, yet left a helpless
little baby! Sheesh. Getting that baby out should have been their
top priority.
Second biggest plot hole -- Picard caving in so quickly when Data
threatened to kill him. Maybe that was in character for first season,
but he seems to have developed considerable backbone since then (no
pun intended regarding next week's episode).
This episode gets a big thumbs down from me.
--
Stephanie da Silva Taronga Park * Houston, Texas
ari...@taronga.com 568-0480 568-1032
Allan Schaffer
>
>Second biggest plot hole -- Picard caving in so quickly when Data
>threatened to kill him. Maybe that was in character for first season,
>but he seems to have developed considerable backbone since then (no
>pun intended regarding next week's episode).
I thought about this, but then remembered that Data said (paraphrased):
"Tell them to stop or everyone here dies." The rescue/subdual
attempt had failed to affect Data, so it would have been useless
for Picard to resist and get everyone killed by a still-quite-functional-
but-pissed-off-Android; instead, he took the logical choice and opted to
buy some time.
Allan
--
Allan Schaffer "There's a warm wind from the south
asch...@polyslo.csc.calpoly.edu hoist the sail and we'll be gone,
asch...@netcom.com by morning this will all seem like a dream."
Sean C. Duncan, Idiot
> Second biggest plot hole -- Picard caving in so quickly when Data
> threatened to kill him. Maybe that was in character for first season,
> but he seems to have developed considerable backbone since then (no
> pun intended regarding next week's episode).
Listen, if *you* were picked up by the neck by an android that could snap
you in two in a second while having a responsibility to save your ship (plus,
I suppose, a certain desire to _stay_alive_) then you'd back down. I mean,
give me a break... Picard (as well of the rest of the bridge crew) knew that
that certain attempt to incapacitate Troi, Data and O'Brien had *failed*.
Cut your losses and get ready for another chance to attack.
Sounds like you're picking nits a bit too heavily, if you ask me. This was
one of the better characterization episodes for a while, IMHO.
>
> This episode gets a big thumbs down from me.
Well.. it was no "Darmok," but it sure as hell was no "Shades of Grey."
I'll give it a 7.
> --
> Stephanie da Silva Taronga Park * Houston, Texas
> ari...@taronga.com 568-0480 568-1032
--
Sean C. Duncan, s...@einstein.bgsu.edu :: scdu...@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu
"Like the sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives."
_______________________________________________________________________
Gregory Berigan
>>>WARNING: The following post contains spoilers for this week's TNG episode,
>>>"Power Play". Those not wishing to see how PP plays out really ought hang
>>>back right about now...
Although no-longer necessary, I'll keep it in.
>[on plot holes]
>> Another one, though much smaller, would be why the bridge didn't
>>>try to use transporters on the troika *before* they reached Ten-Forward. It
>>>should have been tried, but that's heat-of-the-moment enough that I can
>>>overlook it.
>>It wasn't necessary at that point.
>Not necessary? It would have worked, wouldn't it? As I said, this one's
>forgivable.
It's tech, but I don't think they can transport anyone without them
standing in one place. (Ignoring one movie scene, of course.)
>>I'd probably go up a point higher: 8.5. This was basically a suspense piece,
>>and they loose something on repeat viewing.
All this technooloogy, and we still can't keep froom hitting twoo oo's
instead oof oone.
--
/// ____ \\\ | CAUTION:
| |/ / \ \| | | Avoid eye contact. In case of contact, flush
\\_|\____/|_// | mind for 15 minutes. See a psychiatrist if
\_)\\/ | irritation persists. Not to be taken
gberigan `-' cse.unl.edu | seriously. Keep out of sight of children.
Michael Rawdon
>Hmm. Something of a mixed bag. Definitely not "Conundrum" level, but I
>enjoyed it...
I thought it was much more entertaining than "Conundrum". A nice bounce
back from that disappointment. I have few gripes about it at all, really.
[Holes:]
>The biggest one that comes to mind is the arrival of Picard in Ten-Forward
>with the medical team. The forcefield needed to be dropped to let him in
>(and to let the team out a few minutes later with the wounded), and
>*everybody* knew it. It's an obvious spot for a rescue attempt. Now, it
>makes perfect sense that Riker would decide not to try then (it's TOO
>obvious, after all), but it makes *no* sense that the troika would take
>absolutely no steps to prepare for or defend against an attack. That's
>sloppy.
I'm not quite sure what steps you expect them to take. Standing with their
phasers at the ready was really about all that they could do, and all that
they needed to do, I think, given their abilities (resistance to phaser
fire, great strength and ruthlessness...)
> Another one, though much smaller, would be why the bridge didn't
>try to use transporters on the troika *before* they reached Ten-Forward. It
>should have been tried, but that's heat-of-the-moment enough that I can
>overlook it.
That's why I overlooked it. For some reason, unlike "Brothers", which seemed
to move in slow motion, this one seemed to move along.
> And one last: um, maybe it's just me, but given all the
>banging around Geordi and Ro were doing above Ten-Forward when setting up the
>inverter, isn't it just a tad silly and unnecessary for them to then
>*whisper* back up to the bridge. Guys, if they could hear you talk, they
>already have a bead on you...
My only response to this is my memory of a Doctor Who episode where the
Doctor and whoever his companion was at the time were discussing some
plan when there was no danger immediately apparent, though the situation was
somewhat tense, and eventually one of them asks, "Why are we whispering?"
(Darn, I have the episode name on the tip of my tongue. Oh, well.)
>Other things, while sound enough, seemed a little...pointless. While I
>thought the Data/Worf interplay was generally marvelous, most of the
>O'Brien/Keiko material fell flat for me. One exception was O'Brien's whole
>"I gave you that..." scene, up to the attempt to kiss her. *That* disturbed
>the hell out of me, and was meant to, I think. Nice. But the rest...well, I
>don't know, but it just seemed kinda there.
I found the O'Brien/Keiko material flat, too, including that bit. I've
never cared for *either* character. (I had two flippant comments regarding
these characters in this episode: The first, in response to Picard saying
to O'Brien "You know the risks, Mr. O'Brien", I thought, "He's a technician
and you're not; he probably knows them better than you do!" The second was,
"Gee, Keiko seems to spend a lot of time in the bar.")
>However, as I said, much of it was nice. Characterization was fairly strong,
>particularly of the possessed Data and Troi. Troi's been getting better
>writing recently, and it appears Marina's honed up her acting skills as well;
>when you compare her menacing possession here to that by the Paxons in
>"Clues", the difference is impressive. I don't know exactly what Data's
>possessor had against Klingons [or maybe just big, strong aliens], but he had
>a very consistent, and *very* watchable, character throughout. [Colm
>Meaney...well, I think he hit his stride playing the regular O'Brien a ways
>back, 'cos this didn't quite grab me. Sigh.) The regular regulars were
>fine, although fairly standard. Nothing wrong, just nothing jumping out as
>superb either. (Let me backpedal: one line really did something there.
>Worf's simple "you have no idea..." [about his forbearance] was priceless,
>and wholly in character. Grin.)
The characterization was all adequate here, I felt. It was the plot and
execution that held my attention. ("Power Play" is another example of why I
feel that a strong plot can overcome average or worse characterization, but
the converse tends not to be true.)
>--Music: Jay Chattaway's picking up steam again. I don't know if there were
>any real, new themes, but the music really heightened the tone of the show
>this time around. He managed to jump between heavily foreboding [O'Brien's
>move on Keiko, for instance] and heavy action [Worf's run to the turbolift
>with the team, for example], and rather nicely.
I think this episode had the best music since "Booby Trap", hands down. And
maybe even better. It really stood out, and was a very large factor in
my enjoyment of the episode.
>--Seatbelts on a shuttle? Hey, 'bout time!
"It's not just a good idea, it's the law." :-)
Another thing I liked about the episode was that the aliens' analogue to
Kryptonite (i.e., pain) was not the blow that ultimately defeated them. A
classy move, that, I thought. (I'm not quite sure I'd call it a red herring,
but it WAS good redirection.)
>Plot: 6. An interesting concept, but a little more solidity would help.
Well, I thought
>Plot Handling: 9.5. Just drop the one explicit "here come the bad guys"
> scene on the moon.
>Characterization: 7. Lose O'Brien and Keiko, the rest are fine.
>TOTAL: 7.5, after I round up a bit for music. Not bad, but not spectacular
>either.
I think I'd give it about a 9. A very strong episode, and among my
favorite of the season. Things are looking up, lately!
--
Michael Rawdon
raw...@cabrales.cs.wisc.edu
University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences Department, Madison, WI
You can watch them die, live on TV.
- The Box, "Live On TV"
gary l. schroeder
>tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>wom...@eng.umd.edu (Jose Gonzalez) writes:
>>>tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>
>>>>WARNING: The following post contains spoilers for this week's TNG episode,
>>>>"Power Play". Those not wishing to see how PP plays out really ought hang
>>>>back right about now...
>
>Although no-longer necessary, I'll keep it in.
>
>>[on plot holes]
>
>>> Another one, though much smaller, would be why the bridge didn't
>>>>try to use transporters on the troika *before* they reached Ten-Forward. It
over 30 minutes early. "My, that was easy, wasn't it, Number One?"
Yes. That would have been a satisfying ending.
--
--------------
Gary Schroeder
schr...@bnlux1.bnl.gov
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Timothy W. Lynch
>In <1992Feb28....@cco.caltech.edu> tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>[Holes:]
>>The biggest one that comes to mind is the arrival of Picard in Ten-Forward
>>with the medical team. The forcefield needed to be dropped to let him in
>>(and to let the team out a few minutes later with the wounded), and
>>*everybody* knew it. It's an obvious spot for a rescue attempt. Now, it
>>makes perfect sense that Riker would decide not to try then (it's TOO
>>obvious, after all), but it makes *no* sense that the troika would take
>>absolutely no steps to prepare for or defend against an attack. That's
>>sloppy.
>I'm not quite sure what steps you expect them to take.
Showing a single rational thought about the problem's existence is a good
start. It's as I've said several other times: if they want to explicitly
mention something and say "don't worry, we've covered it", then they've
covered themselves. This way they just look like they forgot.
>That's why I overlooked it. For some reason, unlike "Brothers", which seemed
>to move in slow motion, this one seemed to move along.
I have the opposite impression: "Brothers" moved splendidly fast for me;
this occasionally slogged. ("Brothers" also didn't devote the entire show
to the concept that PP did; it moved quickly through the takeover to the
*real* meat of the show.)
>> And one last: um, maybe it's just me, but given all the
>>banging around Geordi and Ro were doing above Ten-Forward when setting up the
>>inverter, isn't it just a tad silly and unnecessary for them to then
>>*whisper* back up to the bridge. Guys, if they could hear you talk, they
>>already have a bead on you...
>My only response to this is my memory of a Doctor Who episode where the
>Doctor and whoever his companion was at the time were discussing some
>plan when there was no danger immediately apparent, though the situation was
>somewhat tense, and eventually one of them asks, "Why are we whispering?"
I remember the scene, though I've lost the name as well. :-)
>>--Music: Jay Chattaway's picking up steam again. I don't know if there were
>>any real, new themes, but the music really heightened the tone of the show
>>this time around. He managed to jump between heavily foreboding [O'Brien's
>>move on Keiko, for instance] and heavy action [Worf's run to the turbolift
>>with the team, for example], and rather nicely.
>I think this episode had the best music since "Booby Trap", hands down.
Oh, no. Definitely not. BOBW1 (at least bits of it) is a worthy challenger
there, and "Darmok" is probably my vote for best music.
>Another thing I liked about the episode was that the aliens' analogue to
>Kryptonite (i.e., pain) was not the blow that ultimately defeated them. A
>classy move, that, I thought. (I'm not quite sure I'd call it a red herring,
>but it WAS good redirection.)
Hmm. That's something I hadn't really thought about. It *is* cute.
Tim Lynch
Michael Rawdon
>raw...@cabrales.cs.wisc.edu (Michael Rawdon) writes:
>>In <1992Feb28....@cco.caltech.edu> tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>[Holes:]
>>>The biggest one that comes to mind is the arrival of Picard in Ten-Forward
>>>with the medical team. The forcefield needed to be dropped to let him in
>>>(and to let the team out a few minutes later with the wounded), and
>>>*everybody* knew it. It's an obvious spot for a rescue attempt. Now, it
>>>makes perfect sense that Riker would decide not to try then (it's TOO
>>>obvious, after all), but it makes *no* sense that the troika would take
>>>absolutely no steps to prepare for or defend against an attack. That's
>>>sloppy.
>>I'm not quite sure what steps you expect them to take.
>Showing a single rational thought about the problem's existence is a good
>start. It's as I've said several other times: if they want to explicitly
>mention something and say "don't worry, we've covered it", then they've
>covered themselves. This way they just look like they forgot.
That's a reasonable claim, 'specially as it's the sort of one I make myself
from time to time. :-) It didn't bother me much, though, as the intruders
seemed to be working from a position of overwhelming strength.
>>>--Music: Jay Chattaway's picking up steam again. I don't know if there were
>>>any real, new themes, but the music really heightened the tone of the show
>>>this time around. He managed to jump between heavily foreboding [O'Brien's
>>>move on Keiko, for instance] and heavy action [Worf's run to the turbolift
>>>with the team, for example], and rather nicely.
>>I think this episode had the best music since "Booby Trap", hands down.
>Oh, no. Definitely not. BOBW1 (at least bits of it) is a worthy challenger
>there, and "Darmok" is probably my vote for best music.
"Darmok" had some nice bits, and BOBW1 had precisely one nice bit (the vocal
sting when the Borg first pop up on the Enterprise's viewscreen), but this
one had me up and noticing the music more than any episode since "Booby Trap".
I doubt the music itself would stand alone very well, but it underscored the
events in the episode quite nicely, I thought.
--
Michael Rawdon
raw...@cabrales.cs.wisc.edu
University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences Department, Madison, WI
"It is a fool's prerogative to utter truths that no one else will speak."
- Dream, "A Midsummer Night's Dream"