[For my daily workout, I'm pedaling on a recumbent exercise bike while watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. I'm posting my reviews here.]
(195.6 pounds)
Now, most folks who build ham radios just use them to rant back and forth about the damned revenuers coming to tattoo our arms with barcodes–”Mississipi Mudcat, this here’s Bloat Possum, come back. You got them serial numbers filed off that shotgun for me yet?”
But on Drema IV, kids like Sarjenka use them to plead for help from beings in space. And sometimes, if they’re very very lucky, those beings will respond, saving the planet and beaming them aboard the Enterprise to wipe their minds of the memory of it all.
Actually, I like this episode a lot. Both stories–Wesley’s first command in charge of a geological survey team and Data’s contact with Sarjenka–are nicely individual, moments in which characters get to feel and grow and make decisions. Pretty much every scene has personality and everyone seems comfortable in their roles; it’s fun to watch Riker’s command advice, Picard’s discomfort with rescuing Sarjenka, O’Brien’s “nap” while Data beams down, the debate in Picard’s quarters.
The name “Melinda Snodgrass” among the writers correlates highly with good episodes, I’ve noticed.
My grade: A.
This is a good episode. I like the exploration of murky grey areas of ethics. If this Melinda is on the credits for Inner Light, Tapertry, etc… I may have too look up more of her work outside of ST.