It's my x-th rerun of this show. My first one after my first run of the disappointing original series. The first episode already shows why I love the TNG installment of the franchise that much. It looks so much better than the original series or the Kirk movies. I must admit, the HD remaster looks great and adds to my overall satisfaction. Well done!
This episode is of course somewhat silly (all Q episodes are, but the cage is also strange) and there's much room for improvement in the seasons to come, but it's also an important episode. You may not know it yet, but Q's trial is actually the show. The raison d'être for their mission. The philosophy of the whole show: mankind has come a long way but you can watch them striving to become something better. Of course the crew won't understand this until the show's finale. It's not exactly an overarching story arch (didn't fit into late 80's TV scheduling as DS9 painstakingly dscovered later) but it's a bracket that holds the show neatly together.
It's always astonishing to watch how well the core concept and characters are working from episode one: the ship is the star of the show (the saucer separation is always a spectacle). You immediately realize that this is a behemoth. Yet it is elegant and powerful. We also learn that this ship is primarily made for exploration and has hundreds of civilians aboard. This is not Kirk's boring Enterprise with only three leading officers at the helm while all other officers are dwarfed by the larger than life personalities of this triumvirate. You immediately understand how well the characters are designed from the beginning. Of course they will change over the course of the show (in case of Deanna that's very welcome), but you immediately realize each bridge crew's core character and core skills. You immediately realize what an outstanding leader Picard is. All characters seem to have more depth already than all the guys from the original Enterprise. And you immediately realize that some of the elements of the original installment are not totally forgotten: this is still a show with it's fair share of supernatural beings, mystery (and silliness).
It's a great premiere... until the second strange part at Farpoint. That's a weak story. It's basically Deanna feeling pain. And enslaved jellyfish. That's minus one point, what otherwise could have been a very respectable 7/10 (premieres are hard to nail anyway).
Review by Alexander von LimbergBlockedParent2023-01-13T17:28:47Z
It's my x-th rerun of this show. My first one after my first run of the disappointing original series. The first episode already shows why I love the TNG installment of the franchise that much. It looks so much better than the original series or the Kirk movies. I must admit, the HD remaster looks great and adds to my overall satisfaction. Well done!
This episode is of course somewhat silly (all Q episodes are, but the cage is also strange) and there's much room for improvement in the seasons to come, but it's also an important episode. You may not know it yet, but Q's trial is actually the show. The raison d'être for their mission. The philosophy of the whole show: mankind has come a long way but you can watch them striving to become something better. Of course the crew won't understand this until the show's finale. It's not exactly an overarching story arch (didn't fit into late 80's TV scheduling as DS9 painstakingly dscovered later) but it's a bracket that holds the show neatly together.
It's always astonishing to watch how well the core concept and characters are working from episode one: the ship is the star of the show (the saucer separation is always a spectacle). You immediately realize that this is a behemoth. Yet it is elegant and powerful. We also learn that this ship is primarily made for exploration and has hundreds of civilians aboard. This is not Kirk's boring Enterprise with only three leading officers at the helm while all other officers are dwarfed by the larger than life personalities of this triumvirate. You immediately understand how well the characters are designed from the beginning. Of course they will change over the course of the show (in case of Deanna that's very welcome), but you immediately realize each bridge crew's core character and core skills. You immediately realize what an outstanding leader Picard is. All characters seem to have more depth already than all the guys from the original Enterprise. And you immediately realize that some of the elements of the original installment are not totally forgotten: this is still a show with it's fair share of supernatural beings, mystery (and silliness).
It's a great premiere... until the second strange part at Farpoint. That's a weak story. It's basically Deanna feeling pain. And enslaved jellyfish. That's minus one point, what otherwise could have been a very respectable 7/10 (premieres are hard to nail anyway).