@dgw Interesting, I always considered Lwaxana's DS9 appearances to be among her best. They treated the character far better.
@lefthandedguitarist When I think of Lwaxana's DS9 appearances, I think of her crush, I guess you'd call it, on Odo. That never made sense to me, and it felt forced.
Review by dgwVIP 10BlockedParent2018-09-09T02:04:22Z
I thought it was awfully early in the series to pull the "series regular might be leaving" card, and that was before I looked at some episode trivia and learned that this was filmed as the third in the season. Thank goodness it didn't air as such. Way too early!
A couple of goofs I noticed that weren't mentioned in the sources I found:
1. Wyatt's entrance onto the holodeck from off camera is not accompanied by the sound of the doors opening and closing, but Riker's subsequent exit does come with sound effects.
2. The Tarellians are allegedly trapped on their ship and unable to transport due to the Enterprise's tractor beam. But Wyatt is able to transport over with no issue. Either both ships' transporters should work regardless of the tractor beam being engaged, or neither should.
Lwaxana Troi is a divisive character, I think it's safe to say. Even with myself, I have arguments about whether or not she belongs on Star Trek in general (especially when she shows up on DS9… oy). At times, she's hilariously funny—Gene Roddenberry allegedly described her as "the Auntie Mame of the galaxy" (Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 p. 033)—but the writers seemed to misuse her at times. I'll leave further discussion of that for when I get to the relevant episodes, though. This appearance (her first) was mostly great.
What wasn't so great, though: This story. Unsurprising, then, that the script for this episode (as written by Lan O'Kun) was going to be cut from the series. Tracy Tormé rewrote it and "saved" the episode from getting cut, but he still wasn't very happy with how it turned out. I bet a lot of that came from feeling like a lot of the comedy failed to make it all the way to filming. Goodness knows the episode seems to make plays at seriousness here and there, only to fall flat.
The best parts really are the funny bits with Lwaxana, and Data trying to observe more of the human condition. The worst parts all involve Riker ducking out of the room because he's uncomfortable with the situation for some reason that isn't adequately addressed. Oh, and the central idea of Wyatt and this Tarellian girl connecting across the light-years through their dreams. Star Trek usually stays away from that "woo~" sort of thing…