Star Trek

1) Goldsmith is Goldsmith
2) By the time Goldsmith came along to do Trek 8, the musical restrictions had been laxed quite a bit. Around maybe fourth season DS9 the whole "no emotions, no melody" thing seemed to have been dropped.

Makeshift Python wrote:

"Symbiosis"

The drug PSA episode. Actually, it's not too bad I think. It's just too preachy be effective. Subtlety doesn't seem to be in the lexicon of TNG's first season.

But it does have a nice downer ending feel to it. When asked for course directions, Picard replies 'I don't care.'

even middle of the road TOS eps lilke PRIVATE LITTLE WAR seem somewhat memorable because they end on disquieting notes, but TNG seemed strongly resistant to this for awhile, with relatively few (but memorable) exceptions (back to QWHO again.)

As for Stefano's input on SKIN o' EVIL ... Shearer did a page one rewrite, including all the Yar being the one to die stuff, and so all of the funeral stuff is hers. I absolutely LOVED that she reversed course on typical-Worf and had him point out the objective is to rescue their guy, not engage the tar baby/oilslick guy.

I think this is the show where Patrick Stewart ran across the funeral set singing THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Will have to look for that online, have heard about it for 20 years.

Sykes, I look forward to hearing that as I get into the DS9/VOY back to back viewings. Only notable music I can recall from VOY was Jay Chattaway's work in "Scorpion".

trevanian wrote:

Makeshift Python wrote:

"Symbiosis"

The drug PSA episode. Actually, it's not too bad I think. It's just too preachy be effective. Subtlety doesn't seem to be in the lexicon of TNG's first season.

But it does have a nice downer ending feel to it. When asked for course directions, Picard replies 'I don't care.'

I forgot to mention that. Yes, it's refreshing to see Picard in a situation he can't resolve so all he can do is move on and hope for the best.

Quote :

As for Stefano's input on SKIN o' EVIL ... Shearer did a page one rewrite, including all the Yar being the one to die stuff, and so all of the funeral stuff is hers. I absolutely LOVED that she reversed course on typical-Worf and had him point out the objective is to rescue their guy, not engage the tar baby/oilslick guy.

That was a nice moment for Worf, his first act as chief of security remaining on the bridge to track the creature with the Enterprise sensors. At least Worf was doing something useful.

Quote :

I think this is the show where Patrick Stewart ran across the funeral set singing THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Will have to look for that online, have heard about it for 20 years.

Would be a hoot to see, Sounds as fun as his dedication to Gene.

Yeah I started noticing that the more dramatic DS9 offerings had better music. That being said, it was from new composers they were bringing in, other than McCarthy and Chattaway. Guys like David Bell and Paul Baillargeon.

Keep in mind that you guys keep stopping and starting your various Trek runs, starting over or from different spots -- I started TOS in the build-up to the new movie and gone straight through on a fairly constant schedule of about 4 eps a week until now, in DS9 S6 and VOY S4, so I've been able to notice these slight evolutions through time.

True. Having started with TOS and on I look forward to seeing that evolution.

"We'll Always Have Paris"

Nice episode. I take his romantic relationship was well after the bar fight. Picard in S1 has for the most part been very aloof with few exceptions. Sometimes to an extreme such as when that little girl holds her arms out and Picard just looks down at her and says "hello..." with an expression on his face that says "what the fuck do you want child?". It's nice to see those walls break down on occasions like this. And Beverly's feelings are the most explicit here, clearly the writers were gonna take this somewhere. But it's forgotten after S1. But I don't care much, I don't find Beverly to be all that interesting and Gates is just a very weak actress especially when having to share scenes with Stewart.

I do like the nifty time breaking down plot. Pre-Braga kooky stuff such as how we follow characters into the turbo lift but then shift to characters from another timeline/dimension.

"Conspiracy"

Is it really true that TNG fans at the time didn't like this episode? In retrospect this is fresh. I like the very unsettling atmosphere and Dennis McCarthy's music takes a much darker turn than usual. And the ending where the characters seem uneasy after hearing of Data's news about the beacon sent to a far distance and the final shot of the Enterprise leaving the frame and we focus on the stars as that beacon sound plays, that was well done. This might have served as a nice season finale, a prelude to something like "Q Who" had that been the premiere and the Borg were more insect like in early stages hence the hive mind.

But now it's time for "Imbalance of Snobbery".

What I mostly remember about "Conspiracy" was that it was Roddnberry who insisted that it be aliens and not a real conspiracy and that the aliens here where supposed to be the advance Borg scouts -- before they were even called Borg of course.

Writer's Strikes -- always F***IN shit up.

It's too bad "Q Who" got delayed so far into S2, would have been a strong opener than what we got. Kind of like how "The Advesary" follow ups "Homefront"/"Paradise Lost" got pushed back though for very different reasons and it was not as severe.

"Q Who" should've either been a premiere or a finale, not buried midseason like it was. Instead we got a reworked Phase II script and a clip show.

Come to think of it, it would have been more sensible as a finale. Assuming they didn't go overbudget on earlier shows they wouldn't have had the problems that had them resorting to a clip show.

Frankly I think doing Q Who mid season was part of why they needed to end on a clip show to begin with.

Basically between Roddenberry's story-muting idealism, Roddenberry's lawyer's insane prejudices and meddling, the constantly shifting writing staff and the Writer's Strike, it's a wonder any good episodes came out of those first two seasons at all.

The weakest portion of S1 is definitely the first half. With the writers having no general idea of where the show was going and the actors not fully grasping their characters. Besides "The Big Goodbye" It was a really rough patch. Plus nonsensical stuff like the Chinese finger cuffs, over the top delegates hunting eachother in the corridors in "Lonely Among Us". Very awkward first half. I think it started to vaguely find its groove with the second half of the season with episodes like "Too Short a Season", "Coming of Age", "Heart of Glory" and "We'll Always Have Paris" showing where the series could go with a more cerebral approach and focus on characters. I don't think the producers would realize that was TNG's real strength until "The Measure of a Man" hit it out of the park which truly paved the way for how TNG would be in seasons 3-7.

"The Neutral Zone"

There's a good idea here. Basically it would be "Balance of Terror" but from the perspective of three 20th century civilians who were discovered by chance. They're trying to comprehend what is going on but Picard and the crew do not have the time to help them out because they have to prepare themselves for the possibility of Romulans returning.

Instead that whole idea creeps up for a few mins in the actual episode with Ralph Offenhouse snooping on the bridge pointing out the obvious that the Romulans are only around hoping the Federation knows what's going on.

Major rewrites must have been done because a lot of things really do not add up. For example we see RIker hang out with the civies for quite awhile and he's shown to be pretty amused by these characters. Right when he and Data walk out for the corridor suddenly his attitude changes and he says that he doesn't think there's much to redeem. IT JUST COMES OUT OF NOWHERE! During the whole time he was chilling with them the civies never do anything that suggests there's nothing to redeem them. All they do is ask questions about what's still around from their time like TV, baseball and the Wall Street Journal. Finally during the last minute tag Riker thinks it's a shame they can't stick around on the Enterprise a little longer because he really got a kick out of meeting people from Earth's past, clearly he enjoyed their presence.

I can understand Picard's irritation only to an extent. Trying to sort out a situation that might cause a major conflict with the Romulans the last thing you want is to have the lawyer disrupt a conference meeting.

Anyway, there's a good idea having these two aspects mixed together. Problem is the two rarely have anything to do with eachother as the episode plays and major rewrites just makes it very jarring like Riker being cool with the civies, then condemning them for no reason, then being cool with them again. Only Data seems to find them intriguing throughout the whole episode.

There's that scene where Data reports that people are on board the old Earth probe. Riker says "are you suggesting they should be transferred to the Enterprise?" already knowing full well that the probe is heading for a sun. Data's twitches for a moment as if he's thinking "what the fuck Riker, OF COURSE WE SHOULD" but keeps his cool "I don't think we should leave them here sir". Exactly.

What a mess.

With S1 out of the way here's the list of episodes I liked in this season:

The Big Goodbye
11001001
Too Short a Season
Coming of Age
Heart of Glory
The Arsenal of Freedom (only for the Geordi half of the story)
Conspiracy

That's 6.5 out of 25 episodes. Pretty poor. Who would have thought this would last seven seasons? Plus there's the high ratings. It's too bad the same couldn't be said for ENTERPRISE.

Sykes Journeys Through the Delta Quadrant (VOY Season 4 Reviews)

"The Killing Game, Parts I & II"
While I enjoyed this two-parter while I was watching it, once it was over I couldn't help but wonder "So what?"
I mean, what was, really, the point of this episode? I mean, it seems the whole thing was cooked up for the WWII actiona and Hirogen in Nazi uniforms and I just wonder why two whole episodes were spent on it. There were times when the episode tried to make me care about the pointless holodeck drama and I wondered why. Then there was the ending, where Janeway gives the Hirogen holodeck technology in exchange for a cease fire -- is this the same woman who two years prior absolutely would not give the Kazon a frakkin' replicator in exchange for safe passage through their space?? And though it was a minor detail, it bugged me that for some reason in the Klingon holoprogram the computer ADDED Klingon features to the crew, yet did not REMOVE alien features in the WWII program -- nevermind that its already been established that the holodeck doesn't alter the appearances of real people. I dunno, it was like a big action movie -- it was fun to watch, but one wonders what the point was other than the spectacle. Also about half the ship is laid waste to, including all of sickbay BLOWN UP, and I know that next week everything will be fine.
# of Crew: 139 Total -- 123 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 1
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: 11
# of Gel Packs: 46
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 62,253.2 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 9

Sykes Goes to Quark's (DS9 Season 6 Reviews)

"Change of Heart"
Fantastic. Probably the best exploration of the Dax/Worf relationship, and a great change to standard Trek cliches that Worf sacrifices the mission for his wife, and is seriously reprimanded. It really shows the depth of his love for her. I found it touching, really.

"Wrongs Darker than Death or Night"
Revealing. It's a bizzarre, sick, nightmare scenario Kira finds herself in. It puts the relationship between her and Dukat in a whole new, insane, light. And I found it interesting that after six years it seemed almost as if Kira didn't really remember how hard things were during the Occupation, that she had gotten used to the luxury of always being able to make the right decision. Good show.

"Inquisition"
Ah, Section 31. There's a percentage of fans who hated the notion, and believed that it never should have been introduced. Not me -- Section 31, the premise, is great, this episode is great, Sloan is great, Bashir is great, DEEP SPACE NINE is great. Great episode.

"In the Pale Moonlight"
What can I say? Greatest episode of DEEP SPACE NINE by far, equalled maybe only by a couple of TNG episodes and a couple of TOS episodes. Glorious -- well played DS9 writing staff. Well played.

Also, Sisko and Garak are the greatest ever.

Another DS9 episode that blew me away.

"The Child"

Lousy episode. Poor season opener.

"Where Silence Has Lease"

Pretty good episode. Few things make Worf lose his shit: Romulans, water and "TWO BRIDGES!?" Picard's speech about death is a nice moment.

I notice that starting with this episode the colors seem to be far more vibrant and correct. In the first season colors were muted and at times off hue to the point Picard's skin looked pink. S2 looks much much better. Was there some significant change in post production video transfer?





Still the set itself needs more color, I think that would have made a real difference. Having most of it being beige is just ugly. Still, nice to see the console seats upright that can spin. The leaning seats in S1 looked so uncomfortable that's the last thing I want to sit in while trying to drive a starship.

Yeah, there were some corridors in S1 that looked like the inside of a late 80s mall.

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

Yeah, there were some corridors in S1 that looked like the inside of a late 80s mall.

To be fair, i think those were Phase II corridors with all the TMP framework torn out, so if you consider they started life as SPACE 1999 looking corridors (if Mike MInor's concept art for Phase II is to be taken at face value), looking like an 80s mall might be a slight upgrade.

I remember watching FARPOINT the first time it aired and thinking the whole 2050-ish setting where Q comes in on his boom arm was very mall-like. Didn't jive with PostatomicVille in my mind at all, but then again, FIRST CONTACT totally failed to deliver those goods either.

"Elementary, Dear Data"

Second holodeck malfunction episode but they manage to keep it fresh exploring the concept more with Moriarty gaining consciousness, becoming a sentient being. It's too bad the follow up had to be delayed for so long because of legal issues, this felt like a beginning of an interesting arc rather than a standalone episode.

"The Outrageous Okona"

I love the whole idea behind this episode. A lighthearted entry with Data trying to grasp humor and Bill Campbell plays his role well. Sadly this suffers the case of being written by someone who can't write comedy and there's nothing more pathetic than watching bad comedy while it actually tells you "it's funny!" In concept this could have been a classic lighthearted TNG episode. What a waste.

As I'm watching the series I am also reading liner notes by FIlmScoreMonthly covering the episodes scored by Ron Jones. So this is the first episode that Ron Jones scored that featured scenes in Ten Forward.

Quote :

Jones’s first episode featuring Ten Forward led to a philosophical battle over whether or not it would have source music. “The characters are drinking in a bar and the producers wouldn’t let me write music for it,” Jones says—still frustrated, over two decades later. “I said, ‘Let me write it and you can dump it if you don’t like it.’ They’re relaxing in this bar—I figured they’d been on the bridge for eight hours and you wouldn’t have martial music or some kind of deadness there. I said, ‘This is easy, if they’re this far in advance then Jimi Hendrix is like classical music to them.’ I did a lecture in Malta and I did an algorithm that projected what music would sound like in the future, so I said, ‘Look, I’ve already figured this out.’”

Consequently, Jones wrote and recorded the breezy, jazz/New Age tracks “Ten Forward” (in 5/4 time) and “Endless Night,” but Trek’s producers remained true to their word—they rejected both. Throughout the series, Ten Forward would be as quiet as a library. “I was compromising and trying to make it this New Age-y thing,” Jones says. “I think it would have worked. I even suggested they just do a needle drop, but they didn’t want them listening to anything contemporary. We always had to deal with those time issues, and if there was a thing where they went back in time, then you’d sample something.”

The producers were likely reluctant to pin down the nature of future pop music for the same reason that The West Wing never referenced a U.S. president more recent than Kennedy: Star Trek is set not so much in a future universe as a parallel one, and to call attention to modern-day trends might unravel the illusion that the show unfolds in a fictional vs. actual future. Hence, source music in Star Trek is almost always from a genre considered historical—typically, classical or jazz.

And it wouldn't be the last time he fought producers over source music. A excerpt from liner notes covering "The Price"

Quote :

The score also marked another of the composer’s periodic attempts to convince the producers to provide some source music for the Enterprise—this time for a workout scene designed to show off Beverly Crusher and Counselor Troi in futuristic spandex (“Exercise”). “I said, ‘Don’t you think they’d play some kind of music while they did that?’” Jones recalls. “’Wouldn’t they have something to make it enjoyable to exercise?’ They let me try it, but they would never use that stuff—they never believed people in space would relax in a bar with music. They thought they were all hermits.”

I never thought of it that way but realizing it makes Ten Forward come off more stale and lifeless. Music would have helped add atmosphere. At least Quark's occasionally had music and when not there was at least ambiance provided by dabo tables and such.

And Shat's ST5 Paradise Lost bar has music, too.

But the -D just has air conditioning. No beat, you can't dance to it

I'd love to hear Jones' unused stuff. any of it get to youtube? I know the big CD set was some enormous price.

Over time I bought most of the albums on iTunes, $9.99 each. FSM published all of the liner notes online: http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/notes/box05_intro.html

Here's this link with interviews including one with Rob Bowman: http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/notes/fsmbox05_notes.pdf

The source music itself isn't all great, it is what it is. However I experimented by playing the music while the DVD ran and it really does make a difference.

Yeah, Quark's > Ten-Forward.

Who the hell was it who pushed the whole anti-septic future thing? Was that really Roddenberry, because I know Roddenberry thought civillians in the 24th century would just be fucking each other all the time and we NEVER really saw that, and I know some of the worst decisions from that time period were actually the fault of Roddenberry's lawyer, so who's really to blame?

Also, Ira Behr > Rick Berman.

Probably because of Berman, Lauritson and other factors. Once guys like Justman left the show Berman got more control over how the show portrayed 24th century life.

"Loud as a Whisper"

Felt a lot like Piller-era in many ways. If it weren't for the spandex uniforms I would have thought it was S4. Riva's chorus was a very cool idea and came off very well. Troi was actually utilized here greatly, without any of that touchy-feely crap. Overall good entry. I always credit "The Measure of a Man" as the moment the show finally found its identity but I now think episodes like this and "Elementary, Dear Data" emphasized on it while "Measure" would pretty much confirm it.

I totally forgot about Pulaski revealing that Geordi could have his eyes regenerated and he'll have vision. I was wondering where this would go but then the episode ended. Looking up MA, apparently Burton campaigned to have Geordi's sight restored but the subplot was quickly dropped afterwards.

I can see why, given how iconic Geordi's VISOR quickly became. Also, Pulaski specifically says that LaForge could get optical implants -- essentially what he has in the later movies.

The main reason Burton campaigned to have Geordi get his sight back, and I can understand it, is that Burton has exceptionally expressive eyes and they were sort've his main acting tool.

But damn if 70% of my friends know TNG simply as "the one with the blind guy"

Amusing story, my friend just started getting into Trek. She's been wanting to watch it for awhile and was excited to hear it would be available on Netflix. She's pretty unfamiliar with Trek but the movie and pretty much all her friends being Trek fans got her interested. Sometime in July we hung out and she started talking about Trek.

"Yeah, I just started watching it. I didn't expect the pilot to be like a movie."
"Oh, wait, you mean The Cage?"
"No?"
"....What happens in the pilot?"
"Some powerful alien puts the crew on trial for the crimes of humanity."
"That's TNG, not the original!"
"Really? That makes so much sense now! I was so confused watching it because I kept expecting Kirk to take over command from Professor Xavier. (she thought Riker was Kirk)"

Apparently her roommate put TNG on the instant queue instead of TOS. So I had to straightened shit out.

UGH! But Netflix only has Remastered Trek, doesn't it? You can't intro someone to Trek with that shit! That shit is terrible! The CGI effects look WORSE than the 40 year old low budget ones.

I warned her of it, she doesn't really care for the F/X changes since she's more interested in the stories and characters.