Rating: 1.5
A seemingly empty hole in space is actually a trap laid by a powerful entity named Nagilum, so that the crew of the Enterprise can be the subjects of lab experiments.
Comments
The plot has well-worn elements from other TOS episodes: the empty area in space, the all-powerful being with the huge scary head whose big voice echoes (and they are always males), and the crew as the subject of experiments have all been explored before.
Haskell is excellent as the doomed red-shirted ensign. "Hey, there’s a new guy on the bridge, it’s a black guy…oh, he’s dead."
Nits
After watching two probes disappear at different points for no logical reason, maybe it wasn’t a good time to move even closer to the black area. Sure enough, the Enterprise gets trapped immediately.
Memorable Moments
When the Romulan ship fires, the camera follows the directional path of the torpedo, zooming in on Picard, Worf, and Riker.
Quotable Quotes
"Captain, the most elementary and valuable statement in science – the beginning of wisdom – is, ‘I do not know.’ I do not know what that is, sir."
- Data
Data: Captain, sensors show nothing out there, absolutely nothing.
Geordi: Sure is a damn ugly nothing.
"Why do I get the feeling this was not the time to join this ship?"
– Pulaski (and most fans agree J)
Computer: Ten seconds to auto-destruct.
Riker: Captain--
Picard: Abort auto-destruct sequence.
Computer: Riker William T do you concur?
Riker: Yes, absolutely, I do indeed concur wholeheartedly!
Computer: Auto-destruct cancelled.
Picard: A simple ‘yes’ would have sufficed, Number One.
THis episode, which started out so promisingly, turned out to be awful. Picard destroying the ship for no reason, Picard hesitating to end the self-destruct sequence for no reason, Polanski (or whatever her name is) makes a complete guess at what the void is and is 100% correct for no reason, there is a duplicate Enterprise for no reason, and a Romulan ship for no reason. And there was the cool sequence in the alternate Enterprise which ultimately led to nothing.
ReplyDeletePretty much everything you said can be explained away. Picard destroyed the Romulan ship because it was firing, he hesitated to end the self-destruct sequence because it seemed improbable that the being would just let them go (in fact when this happened I was sure it was all an illusion), by the time Pulaski made that remark there was already plenty of evidence for what she said, and the duplicate Enterprise and Romulan ship were there as part of the experiment.
DeleteI thought this was one of season two's better episodes. The biggest flaw was, as the review pointed out, that it made no sense for the Enterprise to go toward the hole in the first place, but aside from that everything was pretty solid. Most importantly, the episode was fun - it was fun watching the crew get confused about everything and Worf panicking and seeing Picard face the fake Data and Troi.
Yes, I remember watching it when it first aired and thinking, "Wow, if they are just going to rehash the same plots from TOS with a less charismatic cast, what's the point?" (Of course, that opinion changed as the series continued).
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