Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Hero Worship"
Timothy W. Lynch
WARNING: The following article, which does not have the flu in any way, does
contain spoilers for this week's TNG episode, "Hero Worship". Those readers
without the flu (or with...what the hey) who wish to avoid being spoiled
should bail out here.
Wait a sec, that kid *can* act...
Well, I'm impressed. A little talky, and one or two slightly silly bits, but
on the whole rather nice. But first...yes, you guessed it...a synopsis:
The Enterprise approaches the Black Cluster (a group of collapsed protostars
with an extremely strong and erratic gravitational pull) in search of the
science vessel S.S.Vico, which went missing there two days earlier. They
find the Vico, adrift and with a large amount of structural damage--and when
they beam aboard to obtain the logs, they also find a survivor: Timothy, a
child trapped under a beam.
Transport proves impossible without moving the beam, and moving it is likely
to cause structural failure of the surrounding area, so Data sends back the
rest of the away team and rescues Timothy on his own. Once in sickbay and
attended to, Timothy says that the Vico was attacked without warning, and
that he just barely managed to hide from a brutal boarding party. He also
tries his best to keep Data in the immediate area, but once he falls asleep,
Data goes to assist Geordi in Engineering.
They find that an EM pulse of some kind corrupted nearly all the Vico's logs,
including all the sensor data. As they get to work on what they can save,
Geordi tells Data [at Data's behest] of being caught in a fire once, and
notes that for a long time afterwards he wouldn't even let his parents out of
earshot. Meanwhile, analysis of the Vico from the Enterprise sensors shows
that any attack must have occurred inside the Black Cluster, probably with
disruptors rather than phasers, and at *very* close range. It's possible,
although unlikely--but when Geordi hears talk of a boarding party, he
protests that based on available data, that *is* nearly impossible--which
means Timothy's hiding behind a convenient lie. Troi suggests that Data
spend more time with Timothy, since he already has Timothy's trust and can do
the most to help him out of shock.
After Data visits Timothy for a short time, they discuss Data's android
nature. When Timothy realizes that Data is smarter and stronger than humans,
and has no emotions, he takes this as a model, and greets Troi shortly
thereafter as an "android".
Picard, with little time remaining before they must enter the Cluster to find
out what happened, is less than enthusiastic about this twist. Troi,
however, is not surprised--she says it's a new way for Timothy to suppress
the trauma, and says he'll grow out of it before too long. In the meantime,
Picard orders Data to make Timothy "the best android he can possibly be".
Timothy tries his best to *be* an android, tentatively shaking off questions
about nightmares with "I...do not require sleep", imitating Data's head
motions startlingly well, and even making Beverly put her medical data on him
in android-type phrasing (e.g. "optical sensors functioning normally").
Eventually, as the Enterprise enters the Black Cluster, he begins to show
signs of becoming human again (laughing, for a start). Data, at Troi's
suggestion, then starts telling Timothy of his own quest for humanity,
pointing out that although he can't feel bad, he also can't take pride in his
abilities, take pleasure in his accomplishments, or even savor the taste of a
good dessert.
As the Enterprise approaches the center of the cluster, they find both
sensors and phasers completely useless. As Data notes that the same would
apply to both disruptors and cloaking fields (making it impossible for a ship
to have attacked the Vico inside the cluster), Picard calls Timothy to his
ready room. Timothy initially sticks to his story, but when told by Data
that "androids do not lie", says that the destruction was his fault.
That belief is quickly found to be in error--nothing he could have
accidentally touched while falling could have endangered the ship with safety
precautions in place--and Timothy starts telling Data everything he
remembered the Vico's crew saying as the situation worsened. With the
gravitational distortion increasing faster than their shield power, Data
puts Timothy's memories together with his own reasoning and orders shields
down. It works: the effect was a harmonic amplification of their own
shields, and dropping them dissipated it. The ship leaves the cluster,
secure in knowing what happened to the Vico--and Timothy, now once more in
the world of humanity, still hopes to be Data's friend.
Hmm. Well, that should pretty much cover it. Now, the Tim Lynch Babble
[pat. pending]:
First of all, I can reiterate what I said at the beginning. (Reminds me of
an old Drabble cartoon: "first say what you're going to say, then say it,
than say it again and then say that you said it" "I think I'll just write
big" :-) ) After seeing the preview last week, I was somewhat skeptical
about Joshua Harris's [Timothy] ability to act. Fortunately, the preview
showed his worst scenes ("we were attacked!") without any of his good ones.
An extremely pleasant surprise--and a *very* good portrayal of someone trying
to get every last surface mannerism of Data down. (I loved the head
movements bit, too. :-) ) Of course, with a name like Timothy, we knew the
kid couldn't be all bad. :-)
As long as we're on the subject of actors, applause to Brent Spiner for this
one. Data is starting to inch his way back to the "much more human than he
lets on" character he was two seasons ago [before something like "In Theory"
threw a spanner in the works], and it shows. The writing's obviously
responsible for some of it, but it's clear to me that Brent never really
wanted to let that part of Data go. Little things like Data's tiny flourish
after finishing the sculpture with Timothy, his "everything is going to
be...okay" line, and his "if I could taste...my dessert" speech rank among
the better bits Data's had in quite a few episodes. Nice.
From actors...to actors-also-directing. Well, Patrick Stewart isn't up in
the Rob Bowman/Jonathan Frakes first tier of TNG actors, but his sophomore
outing's a lot better than "In Theory", his first one. The cuts seemed much
crisper, and the presentation much better (at least in a few places, good
enough to make me sit up and notice, e.g. Data and Timothy's beam-out).
Okay, so the "Data finishes the sculpture at super-speed" scene still looked
a bit silly, but I'm not sure how easy it is to get around that. Lots of
improvement here.
"Most Improved" might have to go to Hilary Bader, the writer of the show,
though. Her only other TNG episode to date was the aptly-named "The Loss".
This one was equally character-driven, but it *worked*, unlike "The Loss".
Data took just the right tacks in most places, and without much in the way of
visible prompting. It was still a bit talky (most notably in Troi's
scenes--this time I'm siding with those saying "sure it was realistic, but it
got downright boring on occasion"), but on the whole it worked. Without
Brent and Joshua Harris, it wouldn't have--but it also wouldn't have without
a better sense of what works and what doesn't for Data. Nice.
The subsidiary, "Black Cluster from Hell" plot...well...it was secondary. It
was at least somewhat more plausible than the Soliton Wave from Hell-Squared
plot from "New Ground" [for example, there were no evident stooooopid
experimental blunders this time], but it still needed work. This time, at
least, they integrated it a bit better with the main plot--and it did have
the saving grace of having Data's "Captain--_drop the shields_."
[pause...stare...] save things. (That sounded a bit disjointed, I think.
Ah, well.) The "graviton wavefronts" were a complete bust for me,
though--this isn't water waves you're dealing with, guys, so having them
"wash up" on the ship just looks more silly than anything else.
The only objection I have to the Data/Timothy plot as far as what went into
it is more of a "what was left OUT of it". This called up a lot of parallels
with Data's raising of Lal in "The Offspring", as well it should have--and it
would have been interesting to have Data realize that he was getting, if only
for a short time, a second chance at fatherhood of sorts. 'Twould have been
nice.
The FX--same as always, nothing really new to report. The music, however,
was another Jay Chattaway outing--and the wood flute [is that what it is?
I'm no musician, but I think that's right] from "Darmok" was very much in
evidence here, and just as pretty. If we can get a few more like him...
Well, that should just about do it. Maestro, the numbers:
Plot: 7. 9 for the Data/Timothy, 5 for the Black Cluster.
Plot Handling: 8. A bit on the talky side, and Stewart's not tiptop yet,
but definitely getting there.
Characterization: 9. Troi got a little annoying here and there, but
everyone else worked very nicely.
TOTAL: 8.5, once I up it half a point for music/FX. (Actually, I'm upping a
full point for music and then back down half of one for FX, just in case
someone's actually masochistic enough to keep track. :-) ) Nicely done.
NEXT WEEK: A day's delay due to a basketball game preemption (bleah), and
then...
Telepathic aliens, coma central, and a lot of coerced memories. The long
awaited "Past Perfect" appears..."Violations".
Stay healthy, all.
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 have been told that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."
--Data
--
Copyright 1992, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
Jose Gonzalez
>[Followups set to r.a.s.current.]
>
>WARNING: The following article, which does not have the flu in any way, does
>contain spoilers for this week's TNG episode, "Hero Worship". Those readers
>without the flu (or with...what the hey) who wish to avoid being spoiled
>should bail out here.
>Wait a sec, that kid *can* act...
I was very impressed.
>
>First of all, I can reiterate what I said at the beginning. (Reminds me of
>an old Drabble cartoon: "first say what you're going to say, then say it,
>than say it again and then say that you said it" "I think I'll just write
>big" :-) ) After seeing the preview last week, I was somewhat skeptical
>about Joshua Harris's [Timothy] ability to act. Fortunately, the preview
>showed his worst scenes ("we were attacked!") without any of his good ones.
>An extremely pleasant surprise--and a *very* good portrayal of someone trying
>to get every last surface mannerism of Data down. (I loved the head
>movements bit, too. :-) ) Of course, with a name like Timothy, we knew the
>kid couldn't be all bad. :-)
If the rumor about the twelve year old son being a character on DS9, the
producers of the show could do themselves a *big* favor by asking Mr. Harris
to play him. There's no way they're going to find an actor with any more
talent at that age. He was a convincing kid, which was what he was supposed
to be.
>
>As long as we're on the subject of actors, applause to Brent Spiner for this
>one. Data is starting to inch his way back to the "much more human than he
>lets on" character he was two seasons ago [before something like "In Theory"
>threw a spanner in the works], and it shows. The writing's obviously
>responsible for some of it, but it's clear to me that Brent never really
>wanted to let that part of Data go. Little things like Data's tiny flourish
>after finishing the sculpture with Timothy, his "everything is going to
>be...okay" line, and his "if I could taste...my dessert" speech rank among
>the better bits Data's had in quite a few episodes. Nice.
Yes. I hope that sometime before TNG eventually ends, they have a show
dealing with Data's realization that he *does* have emotions. They are
obviously there, they're just a little bit different than ours are. He
needs to realize this before he can reach his full potential as a character.
>
>"Most Improved" might have to go to Hilary Bader, the writer of the show,
>though. Her only other TNG episode to date was the aptly-named "The Loss".
>This one was equally character-driven, but it *worked*, unlike "The Loss".
>Data took just the right tacks in most places, and without much in the way of
>visible prompting. It was still a bit talky (most notably in Troi's
>scenes--this time I'm siding with those saying "sure it was realistic, but it
>got downright boring on occasion"), but on the whole it worked. Without
I don't agree here. I think this was the best Deanna has been written in
a long time, maybe ever. She acted like she was councelor, and treated the
situation perfectly. If the writers keep this up, I could grow to *gulp* like
her.
>
>The subsidiary, "Black Cluster from Hell" plot...well...it was secondary. It
>was at least somewhat more plausible than the Soliton Wave from Hell-Squared
>plot from "New Ground" [for example, there were no evident stooooopid
>experimental blunders this time], but it still needed work. This time, at
>least, they integrated it a bit better with the main plot--and it did have
>the saving grace of having Data's "Captain--_drop the shields_."
>[pause...stare...] save things. (That sounded a bit disjointed, I think.
>Ah, well.) The "graviton wavefronts" were a complete bust for me,
>though--this isn't water waves you're dealing with, guys, so having them
>"wash up" on the ship just looks more silly than anything else.
This was one of the few times where I could actually forget that there was
no way the ship was going to be destroyed and simply enjoy the suspense. I
think we had enough of these subplots, however.
>TOTAL: 8.5, once I up it half a point for music/FX. (Actually, I'm upping a
>full point for music and then back down half of one for FX, just in case
>someone's actually masochistic enough to keep track. :-) ) Nicely done.
That's about right, although I have to warn you, it loses something on teh
second 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."
Atsushi Kanamori
>
>WARNING: The following article, which does not have the flu in any way, does
>contain spoilers for this week's TNG episode, "Hero Worship". Those readers
>without the flu (or with...what the hey) who wish to avoid being spoiled
>should bail out here.
>Wait a sec, that kid *can* act...
Absolutely. Why they waste our time with drek like the so-called "actor"
from THE BONDING when talent like that is available is beyond me.
>[pat. pending]:
>
>First of all, I can reiterate what I said at the beginning. (Reminds me of
>an old Drabble cartoon: "first say what you're going to say, then say it,
>than say it again and then say that you said it" "I think I'll just write
>big" :-) ) After seeing the preview last week, I was somewhat skeptical
>about Joshua Harris's [Timothy] ability to act. Fortunately, the preview
>showed his worst scenes ("we were attacked!") without any of his good ones.
>An extremely pleasant surprise--and a *very* good portrayal of someone trying
>to get every last surface mannerism of Data down. (I loved the head
>movements bit, too. :-) ) Of course, with a name like Timothy, we knew the
>kid couldn't be all bad. :-)
I was thinking of making the obvious retort about the main guest star
being named "Timothy", the director being named "Patrick Stewart" and
the title being "Hero Worship" but I decided against it :-)
Besides, the director should have been "The Ground that Patrick Walks On" :-)
>The only objection I have to the Data/Timothy plot as far as what went into
>it is more of a "what was left OUT of it". This called up a lot of parallels
>with Data's raising of Lal in "The Offspring", as well it should have--and it
>would have been interesting to have Data realize that he was getting, if only
>for a short time, a second chance at fatherhood of sorts. 'Twould have been
>nice.
I think was fairly clear even before the start. I'm not sure it needed to
be said.
>
>
>Plot: 7. 9 for the Data/Timothy, 5 for the Black Cluster.
>Plot Handling: 8. A bit on the talky side, and Stewart's not tiptop yet,
> but definitely getting there.
>Characterization: 9. Troi got a little annoying here and there,
Bah. If you're going to deduct points for Troi, charge it to NEW GROUND or
THE BONDING. Both those episodes were *far* more guilty of it than this
one was. The Troi scenes were at worst redundant here --- they didn't
*replace* the kid's on-screen struggles, like the other two shows did.
Gerald (Jerry) KUCH
see the sucker for almost 48 hours since Californians like "Tim the Dragon"
(in reference to recent flame wars) get the show well before we do here in
this frozen annex of hell where we suffer under the yoke or French Canadian
Apartheid but at least are close to Vermont and a good source of Ben and
Jerry's ice cream.... :-)
SPOILER PROTECTION:
^L
First off, Tim, you blew it! To say that Stewart is not up to the
"Bowman/Frakes first tier of TNG actors" is an obvious and forgivable
boo-boo on your part. Fifty "Bowman is not an actor"s will be your
penance. :-)
Ok, now that we've given Tim a hard time with a minor nit-pick, let's
give the makers of the show a bit of a hard time.
Was the kid really trapped under a beam? AAARRRGH! Is there nothing on
a starship other than beams that can fall down and trap people? Why not
a refrigerator, or the gory corpse of a crewmember, or a large crate of
cracked bowling balls? Why don't they secure these damn beams a little
bit better! Or at least acknowledge that they fall on people in every
other episode and make them a bit lighter. :-)
My tired late night babbling comes to an end. I return to my regularly
scheduled nausea and delirium.
The good Lynch Review rating of 8.5 has me looking forward to this one.
Far more than I could to "The Game" or "New Ground" which looked utterly
sad in the previews. This one sounded iffy, but this review has given
us some hope that we won't be doomed to a whole season of spoo like "TG"
and "NG".
Jerry
--
Jerry Kuch (je...@cs.mcgill.ca) -**Home of the Ever Changing .plan File!**-
"I was wrong to play God. Life is precious, not a thing to be toyed with.
Now take out that brain and flush it down the toilet."
--- M. Burns "Treehouse of Horror II"
Timothy W. Lynch
>In article <1992Jan31....@cco.caltech.edu> tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>WARNING: The following article, which does not have the flu in any way, does
>>contain spoilers for this week's TNG episode, "Hero Worship". Those readers
>>without the flu (or with...what the hey) who wish to avoid being spoiled
>>should bail out here.
>>Of course, with a name like Timothy, we knew the
>>kid couldn't be all bad. :-)
>I was thinking of making the obvious retort about the main guest star
>being named "Timothy", the director being named "Patrick Stewart" and
>the title being "Hero Worship" but I decided against it :-)
Now, now. Besides, if you're going to carry that through, you really need
the Enterprise to be hanging out in the Arnold Cluster or something. :-)
>>The only objection I have to the Data/Timothy plot as far as what went into
>>it is more of a "what was left OUT of it". This called up a lot of parallels
>>with Data's raising of Lal in "The Offspring", as well it should have--and it
>>would have been interesting to have Data realize that he was getting, if only
>>for a short time, a second chance at fatherhood of sorts. 'Twould have been
>>nice.
>I think was fairly clear even before the start. I'm not sure it needed to
>be said.
Aaigh. I'm not rehashing my old Spock/Valeris arguments again...
>Bah. If you're going to deduct points for Troi, charge it to NEW GROUND or
>THE BONDING.
I did from the latter--greatly. I don't agree with it on NG. Besides, it's
not like I took much off...
Tim Lynch
Matthew Gertz
>tly...@cco.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) writes:
>>[Followups set to r.a.s.current.]
>>
>>WARNING: The following article, which does not have the flu in any way,
>>does
>>contain spoilers for this week's TNG episode, "Hero Worship". Those readers
>>without the flu (or with...what the hey) who wish to avoid being spoiled
>>should bail out here.
>
>>Wait a sec, that kid *can* act...
>
>Absolutely. Why they waste our time with drek like the so-called "actor"
>from THE BONDING when talent like that is available is beyond me.
I absolutely second this. However, give him lines like the other kids had
in "New Ground" and "The Bonding" and see if the same reaction is
forthcoming...
>>Of course, with a name like Timothy, we knew the
>>kid couldn't be all bad. :-)
>
>I was thinking of making the obvious retort about the main guest star
>being named "Timothy", the director being named "Patrick Stewart" and
>the title being "Hero Worship" but I decided against it :-)
>
>Besides, the director should have been "The Ground that Patrick Walks On" :-)
And definitely not "The NEW GROUND that Patrick Walks On"
>>Characterization: 9. Troi got a little annoying here and there,
>
>Bah. If you're going to deduct points for Troi, charge it to NEW GROUND or
>THE BONDING. Both those episodes were *far* more guilty of it than this
>one was. The Troi scenes were at worst redundant here --- they didn't
>*replace* the kid's on-screen struggles, like the other two shows did.
I second this motion, too. I actually found myself *liking* Troi in this
episode, which hasn't happened in a long time, perhaps because she
reacted well, as opposed to acting well. I have this tendency to see the
crew of the Enterprise as a bunch of Woody Allen clones off to see their
shrink (Troi), which gets boring after a while. Not everyone with a
neurosis automatically knows it (i.e. Timothy -- no, I don't mean Lynch 8^),
and it was nice to see Troi deal with a psychological problem in such an
understated manner rather than driving it into the viewers face -- "Oh,
so you're an android? When did this happen?" rather than "I sense that you
are hiding from yourself. Tell me about why you think you're an android."
Definitely the way to treat a kid.
--
Matt Gertz, mwge...@cs.cmu.edu
Dept. of ECE, The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.
Timothy W. Lynch
>SPOILER PROTECTION:
>First off, Tim, you blew it! To say that Stewart is not up to the
>"Bowman/Frakes first tier of TNG actors" is an obvious and forgivable
>boo-boo on your part. Fifty "Bowman is not an actor"s will be your
>penance. :-)
Aaaaaaaaigh! Proof positive that I should NOT be allowed near a terminal while
on decongestants. Please replace "actors" with "directors" above. Yipe!
>Was the kid really trapped under a beam? AAARRRGH!
More like "wedged". It didn't appear that he'd actually been hit by it, just
that he had no way to get out from under it.
Tim Lynch
John Grohol
Tim Lynch writes:
>>The subsidiary, "Black Cluster from Hell" plot...well...it was secondary. It
>>was at least somewhat more plausible than the Soliton Wave from Hell-Squared
>>plot from "New Ground" [for example, there were no evident stooooopid
>>experimental blunders this time], but it still needed work. This time, at
>>least, they integrated it a bit better with the main plot--and it did have
>>the saving grace of having Data's "Captain--_drop the shields_."
>>[pause...stare...] save things. (That sounded a bit disjointed, I think.
>>Ah, well.) The "graviton wavefronts" were a complete bust for me,
>>though--this isn't water waves you're dealing with, guys, so having them
>>"wash up" on the ship just looks more silly than anything else.
Why bother with these silly subplots? Who didn't see what Data was
going to say in reference to the shields at the end was coming!?!?
El predictable...
And what's with there being a perfectly breathable atmosphere on
the other ship?? We're talking MAJOR hull breach there... I mean,
have we EVER on TNG seen them wear space suits!?!? This show is
so damn idealistic at times it makes me want to puke...
How about some realism folks?? (At least on the tech side.)
As far as the characters in this episode, it was just another
chance for Data's character to whine about how much he wants
to be human... Geez, just what we needed -- an android who
yearns to be human (how original!)...
--
"And from the dark secluded valleys :: John M. Grohol
I heard the ancient songs of sadness :: Cntr for Psychological Studies
But every step I thought of you :: Nova Univ, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Every footstep only you." -- Sting :: gro...@novavax.nova.edu
Rich aka Dead Security
>
>And what's with there being a perfectly breathable atmosphere on
>the other ship?? We're talking MAJOR hull breach there... I mean,
>have we EVER on TNG seen them wear space suits!?!? This show is
>so damn idealistic at times it makes me want to puke...
>
>How about some realism folks?? (At least on the tech side.)
>
Logically, the only suvivors would be in the section where the hull
was still intact. They also said bulkheads were activated to keep air in that
section.
Later,
-- Dead Security --
RIP
James K. Huggins
|Give me a break...
|And what's with there being a perfectly breathable atmosphere on
|the other ship?? We're talking MAJOR hull breach there... I mean,
|have we EVER on TNG seen them wear space suits!?!? This show is
|so damn idealistic at times it makes me want to puke...
In general, you may have a point. However, if there wasn't a breathable
atmosphere, that would've made it a wee bit difficult for Timothy
to still be alive ... :-)
--
Jim Huggins, Univ. of Michigan hug...@eecs.umich.edu
"You cannot pray to a personal computer no matter how user-friendly it is."
-- W. Bingham Hunter