| Review : |
I like most people didn't particularly like this (then) new series. But it grew on me over time. What I most disliked about "Farpoint"; and all of the early TNG episodes; was the horrendously clumsy dialogue. People do not take time, particularly during urgent situations, to explain things that everyone around them (other characters) are already supposed to be aware of. Seeing De Kelly as the 137 year old 'Admiral McCoy' was pretty cool; but even his dialogue was clumsy. Plus, he played it like a liquored up old red-neck; not an elderly, but highly intelligent physician. In addition to these problems there is the oft mentioned phaser beam from the Captain's yacht. They were attempting to mimic the TOS Enterprise; which fired phasers from the bottom of the saucer; which, on that ship, was supposed to be the lower nav. sensor array not a weapons array. Such gaffs must run in the 'family' All in all,a good idea; somewhat poorly executed. |
| Review : |
Usually when reviewing pilot episodes, I try to give my overall impressions of what the series will be like. However, I first watched this with my parents at age 3, so that's quite hard to do. Trying to look at TNG in a detached perspective, it happened just after the success of TVH, so a good time for the new series. Still, it didn't quite deliver in terms of the story. The whole section with Q was bolted on, essentially as an afterthought, but Q recurrend many times. He was clearly inspired by Trelane, yet with an attempt to provide more menace and a bigger threat. Unfortunately, that only half-worked, and he turned out to be far too silly for this threat to fit together. As for Farpoint, the Bandi and the space jellyfish, a simple story as a basic plot and a good start. There was an odd bit where they mention the Ferengi as the new 'big threat'. Everyone had their own contribution (albeit brief from some) and we got some sense of the various characters' back stories. As for the people themselves, Picard did not seem very sympathetic at first, and we had an eclectic mix of others. Riker seemed OK as the series' 'action man', the typical 'tough guy' role was taken by a woman (Yar), we had a ship's counsellor on the bridge (what the...?), plus a KLINGON (weren't they the baddies once?), a blind navigator, etc., etc. Data would seem to stand out with the most potential, an arifical life form, what would they make of that (please allow for perspective here)? I went through a phase of not liking the Enterprise D, yet now I think of her as a big, stately ship, the 747 of space. Here, we got some sense of what she could do, including the woefully under-used saucer separation. Overall, while it wasn't exactly brilliant, there was certainly potential (as we found out). I can get some sense of how it might have been perceived at first, but eventually it just WORKED! |
