The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From AW on 2015-12-29 at 7:07am:
  Props to Morn for plot relevance.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Dstyle on 2015-06-16 at 12:59pm:
  Why does Seven (and sometimes Harry) seem to be the only person who ever does any work in the astrometrics lab? It's like that room was just empty space until Seven arrived. I mean, do the Delaney sisters EVER show up to their shifts?
• From Jadzia Guinan Smith on 2015-06-16 at 1:34pm:
  Lal + Hugh = One
• From Dstyle on 2015-06-16 at 3:52pm:
  Seven of Nine rushes to the bridge with a dermal re-generator after the ship flies into the nebula and the crew starts reeling from the effects. She flips over a nameless red shirt, face horribly burnt, and looks up as the camera zooms in on her face. "He's dead," she says. The music swells dramatically and the scene ends, unfortunately cutting off the rest of her speech. "He's dead," she says. "Fortunately I have already demonstrated that my superior Borg technology can bring him back from what you call 'death.' Hopefully he doesn't suffer a tedious crisis of faith, like Nelix did a dozen episodes ago, earlier this season. Hey, you guys remember I can bring people back from the dead, right? Guys? Seriously, it was just a couple of episodes ago. [looks down at the crew member again] Oh wait, this one isn't important. I don't even know his name. Never mind."
• From tigertooth on 2017-05-29 at 3:17am:
  To me, the worst part of the premise is: what would they do if something went wrong? If there was another anomaly within the nebula or they got attacked? Or if there was a problem with the stasis units that they never used before?
  
  
  Once they're inside the nebula, you can't take people out of stasis for any reason. You're counting on the month-long trip through this nebula -- that has already shown itself to be unlike anything they've seen before and they're unable to scan -- to go extremely smoothly.
  
  Way too risky. An extra 11 months is a small price to pay.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From hmad on 2010-07-17 at 8:51am:
  My God, to see this sweet and respected devotion to not only canon but TOS homage not seen since DS9's "Trials and Tribble-ations" and done in a way that would make Matt Jeffries and D.C. Fontana jealous of the Mirror Universe in true epicness.
  
  It was the almost flawless run of this fourth season that made me lament (a full three years after the end) that this series had finally, after shedding the burnt out Brannon Braga for Coto, found its legs and teeth. Too late, unlike TOS their would be no revival via the fans, even Trekkies were almost trekked out, or at least needed a siesta.
  
  But man, if only Enterprise was given the three more seasons that other franchises were with the same level of bravado that the 4th season had. In the words of a Klingon warrior, it would have been "glorious....!".
• From Azalea Jane on 2022-01-01 at 6:34am:
  I watched The Tholian Web right before watching this one, so the continuity was cool. So far I've only seen a bit of season 1 of Enterprise, but I decided to treat myself.
  
  I was a little put off by the midriff-baring uniforms on the women. Don't get me wrong -- Hoshi and T'Pol are both gorgeous and fit and this is not lost on me -- it just seems like such gratuitous pandering that it takes me out of the story a little bit. (Do people less confident about their figure have to wear those too?) I also can't forget what a lot of actresses go through to maintain figures like that, just to be able to get work. Jeri Ryan "joking" that she would barely be able to eat while on the cast of Voyager comes to mind. And considering the myriad reports of Rick Berman being a horrible misogynist, it's hard to enjoy those uniforms, gay as I may be.
  
  I'm sure there's an in-universe rationale for the uniforms, but I think it could have been done better. I'd understand if it were in the culture to have uniforms that emphasize certain features, or for crew to have the option to wear "sexy" versions of their uniforms. But if it were me, I'd tone down the women's uniforms and tone up the men's. There is something to be said for subtlety. If "sexy uniform" is an option, I'm sure plenty of the dudes would be into it too! This is himbo erasure! LOL.
  
  Great episode overall, though. Really kept me interested. It's always fun seeing Trek characters out of character. Mirror Archer is unnerving. The sadistic Phlox is downright creepy! And I find the Tholians fascinating. It's always nice when Trek uses non-humanoid aliens. That's pretty rare.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Simon on 2012-06-21 at 9:28am:
  You missed a factoid: type K planets only support life on the surface in pressurized domes with life support systems - or words to that effect.
• From Peter Collins on 2015-03-13 at 11:35am:
  I think you're a bit harsh on this episode in that it's just a bit of fun, as TOS was prone to. Something that marks it as 'of its time' is the horribly sexist portrayal of Mudd's nagging wife.
• From jd_juggler on 2015-03-23 at 12:56pm:
  I disagree that this is a "skippable" episode. Roger C. Carmel was a funny guy, and his character actually had a personality, which is not necessarily a given among TOS villains. As for the problem of getting back on board the enterprise, remember that after Norman et al. were defeated, the androids were reprogrammed, and presumably that included the androids that were aboard the enterprise.
  
  Here are a couple of problems, though. McCoy and Scotty were both amazed and delighted at the level of medical and engineering technology (respectively), but there was no mention that they took any of the technology with them. Uhura pretended to be sold on the idea of an android body, but wouldn't it have been a good idea to have one created and standing by (not yet activated) and ready to be "moved into" when your natural life is nearly over? This is assuming, of course, that androids aren't going to turn out like Roger Korby, but since they were made with a different (and presumably superior) technology, that shouldn't have been a deal breaker.
  
  It also amuses me that these androids apparently can serve as sexual surrogates, no doubt with great skill. Having a few of those around would be handy.
• From Chris Long on 2018-05-29 at 5:20pm:
  This episode could have been a lot better than it was.
  I did not find it funny in the least, even as a child when it first aired...
  
  Looking at it recently, couldn't they have found better looking women androids than the ones they Harry with? Yeesh!

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-06-28 at 8:19am:
  - As the shuttle prepares to leave the Enterprise , Wesley says, "Shuttle Craft 2 is ready for departure." Yet all of the markings on the shuttle say "01."
  - Why doesn't the Enterprise warp over to Starbase 515 instead of sending Picard and Wesley on a shuttle? If it did, it would be a short show because all the dialogue between Picard and Wesley would be missing.
  - Troi warns Riker that La Forge is in great danger. Although Troi has demonstrated her accuracy and worth many times before, Riker does nothing. If he did listen and beamed La Forge back to the Enterprise ... it would be a short show ;)
  - After surveying the Pakled ship, La Forge claims that it contains equipment from the Romulans, Klingons, and the Jaradan. First of all, the Pakleds don't seem like brilliant strategists. Nonbrilliant strategists tend to use the same approach over and over. If that's true, the Pakleds did the same thing with the Romulans and the Klingons. Does this seem like an approach that would work with Romulans and Klingons?
• From CAlexander on 2011-04-10 at 4:40am:
  An average episode, the Pakleds are amusing and there is some good interaction between Picard and Wesley.
  
  DSOmo: I agree that their tactic of stealing a crewmember wouldn't work too well with the Klingons or Romulans. But frankly, it wasn't working too hot with the Federation either. The whole idea is, appropriately, idiotic. My best guess: The Pakleds suckered some benevolent race, acquired some technology, then went around robbing small vessels and obtaining second-hand technology one way or another. When they saw how big the Enterprise was, somebody had the bright idea of using trickery again, but didn't think it through so well.
  
• From lordcheeto on 2017-07-29 at 3:15am:
  After the main power failure, Geordi uses his communicator to inform Riker that it's going to take him longer than he expected.
  
  Riker says "on screen", even though Geordi wasn't communicating with the ships system, and it still works.
• From McCoy on 2017-11-18 at 8:44am:
  I'm rewatching the series and still wandering... Why most people hate Pulaski, but call Picard best captain of all Trek series? This episode is one of best evidence that Picard is jerk, while Pulaski is great doctor and compationate person. Picards attitude towards her after his surgery is horrible. On her place I would leave Enterprise at once.
  PS - Pulaski once claimed she could help Geordi with his eyes. I bet she could. If she says she can do something, then she can:)
• From Azalea Jane on 2021-07-22 at 2:34am:
  Agreed with DSOmo above. Riker, you of all people know better than to ignore Troi's warnings. Seriously! Geordi wasn't even sent over with a security detail. In just the previous episode, "Q-Who?", the crew learn an important lesson about complacency, and now this!
  
  SO disappointed they didn't utilize the captain's yacht in this episode. I know, I know, budget. ...but still. I wish they had contrived something better than a tiny, slow shuttlecraft. Overall a pretty solid episode, though. Good backstory for Picard that gets revisited in "Tapestry" later.
  
  "Any rumors of my brush with death are greatly exaggerated."

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-04-16 at 2:10am:
  Worf: "I hate questionnaires"
  
  I rather enjoyed Picard telling Rasmussen that he doesn't give a damn about his past.
  
  I also enjoyed the end. "Oh professor: welcome to the twenty FOURTH century." Oh yeah. That's what's up, professor. You just got served. Picard style. Fun episode that I liked quite a bit.
• From Jeff on 2006-06-03 at 3:17am:
  Problem:
  After arriving on the Enterprise, Rasmussen informs the crew that he is from the late 26th century and has traveled some "300 years" into the past to visit the Enterprise. Well, if he traveled from the late 26th century back to the late 24th century, that's a span of only 200 years.
• From Sherlock on 2006-10-12 at 2:11am:
  This is another of those episodes were the logic of the plot is bizarre, as Kethinov points out in the comments, but I have to say that I liked Matt Frewer's performance. He's so goofy that it makes the episode fun to watch. And I love in the beginning how he tells Picard to move over! Classic!
• From DSOmo on 2007-09-09 at 7:17pm:
  - Troi says that she only feels Rasmussen is hiding something. Why can't Troi sense Rasmussen's deception? In "The Battle," Troi sensed "considerable deception" from the Ferengi captain. Troi should be able to sense Rasmussen's deception, but if she did, there would be no show! Then again, why can't Geordi sense Rasmussen's deception? In "Up The Long Ladder," Geordi immediately spotted the deception from the prime minister of the colony of clones. In that episode, Geordi claimed that his visor allowed him to see the physiological changes that accompany lying. He said it didn't always work on other races, but when it came to humans, he had them "pegged." Rasmussen is human.
  - During a conversation with Picard, Rasmussen continues to act out the part of a historian by measuring the width of the captain's ready room. He backs up against the door and methodically paces off the distance to the window. So how did the door know not to open? Rasmussen backs right up to it and it remains closed.
  - During the drilling, Worf tells Picard, "Target fourteen complete, sir." This means there are at least fourteen drill sites. Later, on one of the workstations, Riker shows Picard a graphic of all the drill sites. There are only eight drill sites in the picture. What happened to the other ones?
  - Rasmussen tells Data he intends to take the items he stole from the Enterprise back to the twenty-second century and "invent" them one at a time. Rasmussen's plan simply will not work. Suppose an inventor from the nineteenth century appears in our time and steals a laptop computer. He returns to his century - certain that fame and fortune await him when he "invents" this incredible contraption and markets it to the public. Let's say the "inventor" quickly learns how to operate it. Next, he disassembles the computer and confronts a very big problem. To him, the inside of the computer would be "magic." For the sake of argument, let's say that he figures out how the insides of the computer work. Now the "inventor" confronts an even worse problem. He has no way to manufacture the computer. An invention won't make you any sunstantial money unless you can mass-produce it. The infrastructure of manufacturing technology that allowed the creation of the laptop computer doesn't exist in the nineteenth century. The inventor has nothing more than an interesting artifact.
  - One of the items Rasmussen stole was a Klingon dagger. Don't they have knives in the twenty-second century? ;)
  - At the end of the episode, when Rasmussen begs to return to his own time in the twenty-second century, Picard won't let him. In fact, Picard asks Rasmussen a very peculiar question as Rasmussen continues pleading. Picard says, "Now, what possible incentive could anyone offer me to allow that?" Maybe Rasmussen is the great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of Riker. Maybe he helped Cochrane with a few conceptual ideas in the early stages of development of warp drive. Maybe he inspired a whole generation of leaders with his "fictitious tales" of life in the future. No one can know the impact of a single life. Yet Picard, with all his supposed knowledge of temporal logic, rips Rasmussen from the past by refusing to allow him to return.
• From Remco on 2007-11-10 at 7:37pm:
  I'm not natively English speaking, so I could be wrong, but before the title sequence, Data says: "The odds are extremely unlikely." That's strange, because it's a contamination of "The odds are extremely against it" and "It's extremely unlikely". An android that doesn't produce contractions certainly shouldn't get creative with other parts of the English language.
• From JRPoole on 2008-07-31 at 8:14pm:
  This one is entertaining if you don't think too hard about the ridiculous plot. Are we to believe that a 22nd century con man plans to steal items from the future by happening by the flagship of federation? Surely there's a better way to smuggle contraband back in time than screwing around with a starship. The post above that mentions the impossibility of "inventing" these types of items out of context is also right on, but maybe he just wasn't a very smart con man.
  
  This one gets a couple of points for me because Troi is pretty badass for a change, and the humor actually works here. Matt Frewer plays Rasmussen well as well.
  
  The thing that makes this ridiculous to me, and the reason I don't generally like temporal plots is that it's impossible to figure out the right course of action to keep history intact. What if, in the "real" timeline, many of the innovations common to the 24th century came about as a result of Rasmussen bringing them back?
  
  Bottom line: utterly ridiculous, but thoroughly entertaining. This is a 3.
• From nirutha on 2010-09-29 at 4:11pm:
  I think your too hard on Picard in what I consider to be the only redeeming scene of this episode.
  The argument between Rasmussen and Picard spotlights the moral dilemma rather nicely and Patrick Steward delivers it very well.
  He has broken the Prime Directive when the ends justified it, and he's also willing to use information from the future to save lives and possibly change the course of history - but to him, it's the future, and it has yet to be written.
  I don't think it's hypocrisy at all, but it's up to the individual viewer to make a judgement. And I like that even more.
  
  Apart from that, I found Rasmussen utterly annoying. Would anyone really believe that's how a historian from the future would act?
  
  And then there's sloppy writing: All Troy can read is that Rasmussen is holding something back. And she really can't tell the difference between holding something back and outright deception - how convenient.
  Then they try to fix the planet's cimate with a procedure that could instantly kill the whole population in a terrible firestorm? And the colony leaders are o.k. with that? Of course, everything works just fine and the huge risk Picard is taking is not really felt.
  In the last scenes, Rasmussen is back in his ship, has taken Data prisoner and is about to return to his time - oh boy, how do we get out of this mess? Luckily, the Enterprise's computer could detect and disable all the equipment in Rasmussen's ship the second he opened the door, including the phaser he was pointing at Data.
  A very, very poor deus ex machina ending, even for ST:TNG.
• From Doddzy on 2012-07-10 at 10:39pm:
  wat about at the end, his time ships destination was 22nd centuary new jersy, woulnd'nt someone else find it and use it?
• From ChristopherA on 2019-04-30 at 3:22pm:
  The plot twist (guy from 26th century is actually from 22nd) is clever and I didn't see it coming, but otherwise I agree this episode is bad. Episode spent watching Rasmussen be annoying, then it turns out his plan was poorly executed (there were much easier ways to make a profit with the time machine!) and is solved with a deus ex machina.
  
  I can come up with some hand waving justifications after the fact. Maybe he chose the flagship of the federation (of all places) to try his con because he is a poor time pilot with a lot less control of the time capsule than he pretends to have. And the ending could have made more sense if they had set it up with Geordi rigging some sort of radiation pulse directed at the time capsule to fry the electronics as soon as the door was opened.
• From Chuck the Canuck on 2023-07-03 at 8:03pm:
  Rasmussen's behavior is just too intrusively obnoxious while trying to pass himself off as a future historian. He says he just wants to observe, and yet the crew is well aware and annoyed by his continuous comments and interruptions. I have a hard time believing they didn't challenge him sooner. Several of them suspected something was up with him, so it's frustrating to see them all play along.
  
  I did enjoy Picard's discussion with him when trying to get insight on his decision about the planet. He made some great points, and clearly Rasmussen was not prepared to have a philosophical challenge to his ruse.
  
  I give this a 3. Pretty silly but at the very least, entertaining.

No fan commentary yet.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Krs321 on 2012-02-24 at 8:42pm:
  Have to give some props for the way the neck pinch was introduced. Low key.
• From Azalea Jane on 2021-07-28 at 5:30am:
  I guessed that the characters were under a hallucinogen or shared delusion, a common enough plot in Trek. But I didn't anticipate the resolution; that was delightfully unexpected. I actually loved the little story they concocted to get Trip to back down involving T'Pol and Sato speaking Vulcan. I thought the tension was well-done, though it didn't endear me to Trip at all. And I agree, the neck pinch was a nice touch.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2008-11-26 at 4:27pm:
  Gul Dukat and Garak are fantastic characters, both have a large role in this episode. The best part is where Keiko cooks Cardassian food. SO ackward -- since she does not know the kid hates the Cardassians.
• From Bernard on 2010-04-05 at 8:17pm:
  Further to Orions comment, I love the moment when O'Brien and the boy push their respective plates away from each other.
  
  This episode shines a light briefly on O'Briens own prejudice, hats off for that, furthering his own development as such a small part of an episode.
  
  As usual Gul Dukat and Garak are a treat to watch. I would rate this episode slightly higher, 6 I think.
• From omg@kthx on 2011-08-22 at 7:39pm:
  This episode was decent but vaguely unsatisfying. Perhaps a custody battle just doesn't make for very good Star Trek... a similar thing was attempted in TNG: Suddenly Human, and I think done much better there... at least in the TNG episode there were weird alien rituals, traumatic flashbacks, and more credible accusations of abuse... oh yeah, and Picard got stabbed in the chest...
  
  There just wasn't enough here to be really interesting... I guess Garak got his hand bitten, but that's not quite the same, is it?
  
  Speaking of Garak, as much as I like his character, and as much as I liked how he explained away his computer expertise as "dabbling... a hobby... like sowing on a button," I think this episode brought him too much into the spotlight. Bashir mentioning him to Dukat, Sisko calling him in to questioning, his attending the custody hearing at the end... I think it's too much limelight and detracts from the mysteriousness of his character.
  
  Garak was more compelling when he worked out of the shadows, spoke in pure riddles, and "sold suits" out of his tailor shop... when his role was to observe and facilitate the "back channels" of communication, as Sisko put it.
  
  So, I agree with the reviewer, decent but a bit flawed and unsatisfying. Probably a 5.
• From Jeff Browning on 2011-10-19 at 7:04am:
  Obvious glaring problem: in every legal system in the Western world of which I am aware, a child this age has the right to decide which parent he / she wants to live with. This episode completely misses that point where TNG: Suddenly Human gets it perfectly. In that episode, Picard attempts to persuade Jeremiah Rosa to agree to come live with his human grandmother. Picard obviously knows that the child's choice will be decisive.
  
  This is of course absent any other compelling issues like abuse, or mental incompetence in the parent. The abuse issue was explored and disproven. The Bajoran father is obviously capable and loving. There is no compelling reason to violate the wishes of the child in this case.
  
  The end of this episode is terrible: The child is forced to go live with a parent He neither knows nor loves, and the rights of the adoptive parent are trampled upon. (What has he done wrong here, other than provide a loving home for the child?)
  
  In the end it is not the best interest of the child that prevails: It is the Cardassian father. And where has he been for all these years? did he make any effort to investigate, to determine if his child is still alive?
  
  A very cruel, irrational and unrealistic ending to an otherwise great episode.
• From Mario on 2012-03-20 at 1:22am:
  I did like this episode very much, much more than the average here. It has a lot of intriguing moral dilemmas in it and does not paint them black and white. But I really hated the ending: Forcing the child to leave his adoptive parents (the only one he knows) against his will is in my mind the absolute wrong moral decision and I guess I am not the only one who shares this view.
  
• From Penguinphysics on 2013-01-16 at 3:09am:
  Also, in terms of long term plot development, this is the first episode to refer to the station's original name: Terrok Nor

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From JRPoole on 2008-12-11 at 1:15am:
  Isn't Malcolm McDowell's character in "Generations" another El-Aurian?
• From Paul on 2010-09-18 at 2:23pm:
  Generations came out after this episode
• From Bernard on 2011-02-15 at 12:32pm:
  I do have a soft spot for this episode, but it is fairly predictable and ultimately only serves to continue the Bashir/O'Brien friendship story that runs throughout the series.
  
  My favourite moment is when O'Brien walks into the racketball court to find Bashir squatting on the floor showing him the 'V-sign'. Probably not funny to Americans but Colm Meaney's expression has me in hysterics every time I watch it.
• From Jeff Browning on 2011-10-19 at 12:48pm:
  Obvious perhaps, but I enjoyed the appearance of Chris Sarandon (possibly best known for his role as Prince Humperdink in the Rob Reiner film "Princess Bride" who played Martus in this episode.
• From Selador on 2013-01-21 at 11:09pm:
  The luck devices were preposterous, but not actually impossible so the episode wasn't spoilt. I'm starting to like Bashir, he's irritated by the strangest things. Saw the twist coming a mile away, strange that the conman didn't, but on the whole a solidly fun episode with good dialogue that asks the viewer to suspend just a little too much belief.
• From AW on 2015-12-01 at 7:31am:
  "Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack." I think this might might be my favorite rule.
  
• From Mike on 2017-05-20 at 2:39am:
  What I've always liked about Star Trek science fiction is that it offers some ideas that are plausible, some that are annoyingly ridiculous, and some that are implausible but entertaining or interesting. This episode falls in that last category. Sure, the devices are nonsense, but the attempt at explaining how they work, as well as the plot of the episode itself, are all just good fun. The Martius/Quark rivalry is enjoyable, as is that between O'Brien and Bashir. This episode strikes me as being more of the DS9 trademark standalone episode. The crew isn't out exploring the galaxy; instead, the galaxy's intrigue comes to them. Usually it's serious, but occasionally it's lighthearted. A well done episode, worth watching a second time.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Wes on 2012-02-25 at 5:12pm:
  @kethinov, in your analysis of the Voyager series you said it was established in TNG that Borg space is between where Voyager was in the Delta quadrant and Federation space. Do you recall in which episode of TNG that was established? I'd love to watch that episode again. I always thought it was just a nice coincidence the writers came up with for Voyager to run into the Borg.
  
  Additionally, I like these two episodes. I'd probably give them both an 8 or 9 because I agree with you that they could have this episode for the end of season 4 or sometime soon thereafter. There are so many pointless fillers in Voy. But I may also be a bit jaded by my love of DS9's arcs and TNG's lack of needing to get somewhere (e.g. home).
• From Kethinov on 2012-02-25 at 10:57pm:
  Wes,
  
  The first on-screen confirmation that the Borg are delta quadrant residents comes from the TNG film Star Trek: First Contact. However, fan speculation about the subject was commonplace as far back as the early 1990s and many non-canon novels quasi-established this as fact, which the producers of Star Trek were eventually inclined to absorb as canon.
  
  It was so common to assume this as canon that during Star Trek Voyager's pre-production phases in the early 1990s, Michael Okuda is reputed to have told Rick Berman that "since the gamma quadrant is the province of ships from DS9, [then] this new show [should] be set in the delta quadrant. One of the few things we know about the delta quadrant is that the Borg homeworld is located somewhere there. This might present opportunities for the Borg to be recurring bad guys."
• From Wes on 2012-03-16 at 2:37pm:
  After watching a lot of Voyager in the past little while--thank you, Netflix--I've noticed another gripe I have. Out of the three series I have really watched (TNG, DS9 and Voyager) Voyagers class is the weakest. In fact, I am often annoyed with the acting of Voyager's cast. I do not discredit their hard work, by any means. However, Jeri Ryan, Robert Picardo and Tim Russ are the only above-soap-opera-caliber actors on Voyager. I'll admit that some of my frustration may simply be due to the writing, but I counter that with the idea that I believe the writers write the characters to the actor's abilities.
  
  Since I wasn't alive during the run of TOS, it's hard for me to criticize their acting since I don't really know how it compared to the acting of the day. Although, I thought their acting was pretty good in Star Trek IV and VI.
  
  I feel quite secure in saying the actors of TNG were the best actors of all. They were each fabulous in their roles and in the movies. You could rarely say that it seemed like they were acting. Instead, it more often seemed like they actually were the character they portrayed.
  
  The DS9 cast is a close second to TNG's cast, for me.
  
  So, while I like some of Voyager's episodes (mostly the ones Kethinov has rated high), the acting annoys me far too often to be a really great series for me.
• From Nightwish on 2014-12-15 at 2:41am:
  Well... from having tried to watch it twice before and really not liking it to seeing it all in a year and feeling emotional in the end went quite a distance. Sure, some characters were annoying and never did anything right, and other's were inconsistent, but I felt happy for them all in the end. And I'll miss them.
  All and all, not a bad trek series after all. I wonder when we'll get something similar again.
  And I've found that I mostly agree with your likes and dislikes, which is nice.
• From Dstyle on 2015-08-13 at 1:59pm:
  Without any "reunion" scenes at the end of the episode, it definitely left me feeling like we, as invested viewers, were denied closure. After all the years trying to get back to Earth, we at least deserved a chance to see Tom reuniting with Admiral Paris, Tuvok's unemotional reunion with his wife and children, Seven's reunion with her Earth family, Harry's long-awaiting reunion with his fiance UH I MEAN PARENTS HIS PARENTS RIGHT I FORGOT WE ALL AGREED TO FORGET THAT HARRY WAS ENGAGED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SERIES. Ending the series the way it did just left me feeling empty.
• From Andrew on 2016-12-12 at 4:13pm:
  I just finished watching the entire series on Saturday. After 172 episodes, I definitely enjoyed seeing the future versions of the characters since I feel a strong bond with each.
  
  For that same reason, I share Kethinov's disappointment that we don't see any of what occurs on Earth after they return. Yes, I understand that the show was about "the journey." Yes, I understand that you always want to leave viewers wanting more, but I could not shake the empty feeling that I got when the final shot of the show was Voyager approaching Earth from space.
  
  Voyager could have easily returned in mid to late season 5 (or even season 6) and then used season 6 and/or 7 to explore the crew's lives on Earth. How would Seven of Nine and the Doctor adjust to Earth? How would the new technology and experiences affect Starfleet? What kind of homecoming would the crew receive?
  
  Anyway...I loved the episode and I loved this series. Definitely captures the brilliance of TNG and DS9, but clearly not on the same level. I was just disappointed with the way they left it. Seemed so sudden!
  
  
• From Mike on 2017-06-07 at 3:28am:
  TNG: All Good Things. Still the best finale in all of Star Trek. This one almost became a close second if they'd just given us some idea what happens after the real return of Voyager. Now I'm in the awkward position of liking a finale with Vic Fontaine more than this one.
  
  In addition to all the things left out of the finale you mention, I'm also bothered by the destruction of the transwarp hub. It's one thing to want to get rid of the Borg, but that is too cool of a phenomenon to just get rid of mere minutes after we find out about it. It also raises the question of why we never got to see a Borg-Dominion War. Plus, the destruction of the hub and the success of the pathogen, though unexpected, seemed a bit too easily achieved. It was a pretty quick denoument after so much build-up.
  
  I do like the twist this finale gave us of showing a potential future for all the characters, and then altering it based on the episode's outcome. That was very similar to TNG: All Good Things, where we know the events that "future Picard" experienced will change. So in this finale, as with that one, I say...if JJ Abrams can muck up the Star Trek timeline, why can't Star Trek play games with its own timeline?
  
  In response to Wes: the acting of the TOS cast was one of that show's strengths. They had an on-screen chemistry that I don't think any of the other series reached. Each series had some amazing actors, but as a group, I think TOS was the best.
  
  It made up for the fact that the storylines on several episodes were pretty weak. Some were downright ridiculous. I'd even say that overall, the science fiction on Voyager was better. But then again, TOS was itself a sci-fi innovation and it all had to start somewhere.
• From McCoy on 2017-11-12 at 10:27am:
  I think it was a decent closure. I like it more than DS9 (which is a better series, but all that Star Wars-like duel between jedi Sisko and Darth Dukat was... horrible). Don't think we should see the reunions between crew and their families. Final shot with Voyager approaching Earth was great. I'm satisfied:)
• From President Obummer on 2020-01-19 at 10:06am:
  Maybe not the families, but they could have at least made the final scene near earth longer than 30 seconds.
  Also, what's the big deal about destroying the borg hub? The Borg have 5 more and they build them once, they can build them again...

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From EKH on 2007-05-02 at 8:34pm:
  Why does this movie get so much flak? Sure, it is darker than most Trek, but it is still a good movie.
  And the final confrontation is any spacecraft lover's wet dream!
• From JTL on 2008-01-15 at 7:18am:
  I believe the critics hit TNG:Nemesis too hard.
  
  Yes, the Romulans aren't as captivating as the terror-race of cyborgs that is the Borg, but the movie had a good deal of effort put into it; and a great execution to boot! It is a solid TNG finale.
• From Al Rizan on 2008-05-17 at 7:29pm:
  This movie was horrible. I can't believe there are people actually saying it was good. The director was the same guy who directed U.S. Marshals! He made the movie into an action packed, explosive filled story that doesn't belong in star trek. The plot was okay but the characters and outlook were so dark in their natures it wasn't pleasant to watch.
• From Nick on 2010-09-01 at 12:32am:
  This movie is terrible, terrible, terrible. I was astounded that it got as high a rating as it did.
  
  -Shinzon's motives make no sense.
  -Shinzon's existence makes no sense.
  -B4's existence was retconned and handled far too lightly. It was the only potential for character development here.
  -The Troi mind rape scene was unnecessary and in poor taste.
  -The dune buggy chase was campier than anything in ST:V, and they went camping in that movie.
  -Overall it feels like an action movie with Star Trek terms and themes thrown in, not a Star Trek movie. The last 3 Star Trek films have had that problem.
  -At the end, we learn nothing.
  
  -This film killed the Next Generation film series. No other films will be made in the main continuity of Star Trek now. Only reimagings.
• From tigertooth on 2010-12-14 at 4:22am:
  I thought this was better than Insurrection, and generally good, though it certainly had flaws, as mentioned above. The mindrape thing seemed like it was originally intended to be a bigger subplot. Once they decided to cut it for time (I'm guessing), they just should have killed it altogether rather than give it short shrift as they did.
  
  Honestly, though, I'm mostly posting just to mention the huge missed opportunity:
  
  When Shinzon gets impaled through the chest at the end, I suddenly freaked out and got excited! I expected him to look down at the metal piercing through his heart, then throw his head back and laugh. That would have been a great reference to "Tapestry" (and Picard's history generally). And to those unfamiliar with that detail, it would have simply come across as Shinzon being creepy.
  
  It would have worked perfectly, and I can't believe nobody thought of it. Why on earth did they kill Shinzon via impaling if they weren't going to go that route?
• From Axel on 2015-06-01 at 5:11am:
  I agree about the timing problems and storyline omissions in this movie. It could've actually been more than just another TNG film, incorporating DS9/VOY characters (other than Janeway) and building on those arcs a bit. Voyager especially leaves a lot of unanswered questions, mainly about whether the Borg survived that pathogen at all. Using the Romulans to set up the antagonist made sense. DS9: WYLB mentioned that they and the Federation would be the main powers in the Alpha Quadrant for a while. This movie could've focused more on that than Shinzon's own personal agenda. And, Worf's involvement in this one doesn't make any sense. In First Contact and Insurrection, reuniting him with the Enterprise crew was explained decently. But isn't he the Federation ambassador to the Klingon Empire now? Joining the Enterprise crew just because he was there for Riker and Troi's wedding seems like a real stretch.
  
  But this is honestly the only one of the TNG movies I didn't like. It had an exciting premise, but there were just so many parts of it that seemed very far removed from what made TNG a great TV series. Some scenes just seem like they were contrived action for the big screen, like the high-speed buggy. The fact that there was apparently a fifth movie in the works that was supposed to tie up all the loose TNG threads but which didn't get produced because of Nemesis "franchise fatigue" makes me even more dissatisfied with this one.
• From Graham Bessellieu on 2019-09-08 at 4:05am:
  Honestly, the studio should be ashamed of this film.
  
  It starts out excellent. The wedding scene is a lovely reunion with just the right mixture of humor and camaraderie. Then it's all downhill from there.
  
  The performances and overall tone of the entire film are stilted, monochromatic, and with an air of graveness. There is almost no humor or levity (which First Contact as a fellow action film knew how to balance skillfully). There is no *heart* to the film, which is the essence of Trek.
  
  The rape scene (as Nick mentioned) is in *extreme* poor taste and unnecessary. Shinzon is well acted, but underdeveloped. And unlike Kethinov's reaction, I found Data's death (one of my favorite Trek characters of all time, I might add) to have not much emotional depth, or gravitas to it. Certainly nothing matching the performance of Spock in ST:II. I found it somewhat arbitrary.
  
  Data's sign-off would have been more appropriate in another context and if tied in closer to his ark with both Geordi and Picard.
  
  It doesn't even function well as an action film, in my opinion. I found the second-half drawn out and without the narrative foundation to keep the action justified. Overall, a very disappointing finale to TNG.
  
  Thankfully, with the news of the upcoming "Picard" the TNG narrative finale will have a chance to redeem itself! Crossing fingers.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From John on 2011-01-12 at 4:28am:
  I have to agree that this episode starts out really well, but descends into childish bickering by the 25-minute mark. By 30 minutes you're just tired of seeing it. I find this rather distasteful, given that Worf has, until now, been the hallmark of honor in the Star Trek franchise. I don't like seeing him scheming or plotting "like a Ferengi", as he would say.
  
  I give it a 5, only because the beginning was so good.
• From Laroquod on 2012-06-12 at 12:35pm:
  The DS9 producers apparently chose this episode as their first to focus on Worf in order to demonstrate that they completely fail to understand him as a character. They brought on this character to try to win over fans of Worf from TNG and then immediately pissed all over his honourable image treasured most by exactly the fans they were trying to court. I found it extremely insulting at the time, but now it's just one of the many signals that the producers of DS9 did not really understand much about Star Trek or its fans.
• From Axel on 2015-05-31 at 4:46pm:
  For a while there, it seemed like the sword had been forged by the Dark Lord Sauron in Mt. Doom. It was having the same effect on people as the one ring :)
  
  Anyway, I do buy the bickering between Worf and Kor although they dragged it on way too long and screwed up by making it the story. Worf, as honorable as he is, has never been confronted with the opportunity for this kind of power, and it can make good people go a bit nutty. It did for Kor as well. But it would've been a lot more interesting to explore the impact of Federation officers helping to retrieve the most prized artifact in Klingon history.
• From lumzi23 on 2016-12-27 at 7:44am:
  What an amazingly bad episode. It starts off well then takes a left right into crazy town. A virus that changes people into loonies would have been preferable than both of them just suddenly losing their mind. TBH I have not really watched much of TNG but it seems to me that the DS9 people/makers really did the famous Worf a disservice here.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From peter on 2015-09-22 at 7:36pm:
  I never liked the Q-stories of the TNG and otherwise, because they are fanstasy and not SF. Only they are fun due to John de Lancie who is a very gifted and funny actor. Otherwise the whoke Q universe is complete stupidity. I wonder why the original series never ever came up which such utter nonsense and shite
• From Hugo on 2016-03-17 at 7:43pm:
  I was neither impressed nor amused. Part of the fun with Q on TNG was the chemistry Picard/Q - there is not much of that with Janeway. Loads of overacting in the first part of it too. Then of course, the whole idea of these omnipotent beings is over the top.
  
  I reacted to a few things that I found sexist, that is not usually in Trek - like Q jr q-uing away Seven's clothes (I liked her reaction though!), and the skimpily clad go-go dancers in Engineering.
  
  The good from this ep: Itcheb, great acting!

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From John on 2011-09-21 at 12:04am:
  While I love the O'Brien's, and would have enjoyed seeing more of their story, in this case I was more than willing to do without, since any story about them would also involve Kira, whom I cannot stand.
  
  I thought the Ferengi plot was more entertaining anyway.
• From Martin on 2014-04-04 at 3:57pm:
  until the very last moment i actually though garak would appear out of nowhere and try to fulfill his part of the contract, killing quark without he even knowing it...
• From Abigail on 2021-08-20 at 8:58pm:
  I actually thought this was a cute and entertaining episode. I really like Quark and Rom, so I enjoyed it. I also agree with John that Kira is really not my favorite character. (I don't love Jadzia, either.)
• From The Obam-Hadar on 2022-10-18 at 7:02pm:
  The contract says Brunt gets Quarks bodyparts when he dies. Is there a timelimit or something? I don't see why he needs to kill himself.
  Brunt can still get his parts when he dies in 50 years or whatever.
• From Alex on 2023-01-18 at 12:33am:
  @The Obam-Hadar: Brunt directly quotes the contract - the dessicated remains must be available within 6 days. Surely this means 6 days since the auctioning.
  -----
  I think this episode is definitely above 3 for me. 6, maybe 7? What I enjoy the most is the delightful acting. I always was fond of Ferengi episodes due to the actors and them having to perform in that kind of heavy makeup, and they always put up a great show, intentionally caricaturish. And the comedy was just really good as it usually is on DS9.
• From Rob Uk on 2023-01-26 at 1:19am:
  Rule of acquisition 17
  
  A contract is a contract is a contract... but only between Ferengi
  
  As long as Quark is not in drag I usually enjoy a Ferengi-centric episode, especially when Brunt is involved ????

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Rick on 2013-03-28 at 3:55am:
  Factoid: The actress that plays the female Q also played worf's baby momma in tng. Interesting because of her conversation with the other half klingon in this episode.
• From Inga on 2013-09-02 at 6:43am:
  This episode was painful to watch. And not just because I hate most of the Q episodes. The biggest problems were:
  
  1) Omnipotent beings with Earth-like gender and relationship stereotypes? Seriously? The interactions between the two Qs seemed like they've been taken out from a cheap soap opera. Not a fan of that.
  
  2) Again with parallels to American history. And (at least) a second parallel to the Civil War (the first one is in TOS).
  
  3) Wait, how did the Q suddenly lose their powers?
  
  4) And I'm saving the best for last - that horrible chauvinism of Q's, which he didn't demonstrate with the female crew members aboard the Enterprise.
  
  I wish this episode didn't exist, so I'll give it a 0.
• From TheAnt on 2013-09-21 at 4:56pm:
  A fun Q-episode, and quite some mudslinging from Janeway.
  
  Problem, a serious problem. How the heck do the shockwaves from the supernovas affect the warpfield of the starship before said wave yet have to reach Voyager? So the cause and effect breaks down here.
  
  As said in the main review, even though we cant expect scientific correctness in any episode. We do need things to be believable - and this detail make the episode fail.
  Which is too bad, since I do enjoy the interaction and banter of episodes like this one.
  
  
• From thaibites on 2014-03-09 at 11:25am:
  This episode absolutely sickens me. It's an abomination. It completely destroys the mysterious nature of the Q by giving them human attributes - quarreling, unresolvable conflicts, male/female relationships, war, and procreation. It's so wrong, I don't even know where to begin! I love the Q episodes, especially the one before this where the one Q committed suicide. ARRRRGGHHH!
  Plus, this episode also cheapens the Q because of its disgusting jumping on the bandwagon of civil war mania during the time this was made. Remember, Ken Burns and his Civil War documentaries? This idea had to have come from the bean counters upstairs. If it didn't, there's no forgiving the writers and producers.
  I seriously hate this episode.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From rhea on 2008-04-27 at 9:33pm:
  Two things I would like to point out that have not been mentioned (therefore in the review section):
  1. Problems: in Amok Time Spock is unwilling to tell anybody about the Pon Farr - this goes so far that he is almost willing to die instead of confiding in his best friend, his captain. And all of a sudden he tells Droxine about it, a woman he has met maybe a day before? Not granted he is smitten with her (which is a little out of character, anyway), but this is one of the greatest characterization inconsistencies of TOS.
  2. Praise: One of the very few occasions where we have a woman who is a) the leader of men, b) smarter than most of them c) willing to physically fight and d) even kicks some serious ass. Have we ever seen Kirk in a true fistfight with a woman which he did not win easily? Gotta love Vanna.
  The reference is probably indeed to The Time Machine, only that in Wells's book the upper class people were mentally degenerate, while the lower class people were physically ugly, but highly intelligent. But then, there's gotta be some variation on the theme.
• From Strider on 2012-07-02 at 3:38pm:
  I liked Vanna, too. I loved that she was resourceful enough to figure out how to use the communicator and then to call the Enterprise to beam them up. And you could see Kirk liked her, but he never made a real move on her, besides one or two suggestive comments. Probably afraid of getting his butt kicked.
  
  I have mixed feelings about the Spock/Droxine aspect. Spock's "flirting" is so low-key and subtle, it is wonderful to watch. It's like with the Romulan commander--he doesn't make overtures, he receives them, he just answers questions, but he does so in that slow, deep, thoughtful voice and some serious eye contact.
  
  And I know that Droxine seems childish and naive, but I can see why she appeals to Spock. She's intellectual and artistic, and those are two primary values for Spock--even if the Stratus-dwellers were prejudiced, they did produce good art and science. Besides that, for a man who has seen every kind of violence, horror, abuse, and flaw of nature, someone who is soft, welcoming, and likes him, in addition to being aesthetically beautiful, could be very appealing.
  
  And I expect he's learned from Jim that there are joys to be found in the opposite sex. How many women did Kirk hook up with in the series, sometimes almost right in front of Spock? You have to think that every now and then Spock wonders, "Maybe I should get me some of that." In a more Spock-like way, of course.
  
  I was also a little put-off by the "ponn-farr" conversation, but I realized that he never speaks about his own experience. He only speaks theoretically. It made me think that she was the one who asked the question and he was answering it. She's probably read about it. Bringing up such a sensitive subject is one way very young people flirt.
  
  Besides, it isn't very clear in the whole early ST world whether Vulcans ONLY have sex during the ponn-farr, or if that's just the drive toward the specific mate that happens in that way. Weren't we all just a little curious?

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2006-05-12 at 2:02am:
  Problem:
  In some of the scences where Troi is "flying" you can clearly see strings attached to her butt.
  
• From DSOmo on 2007-08-24 at 11:31pm:
  - When the crew looks for a way to create a massive explosion and escape the rift, no one mentions setting the Brattain to self-destruct. Wouldn't an uncontrolled overload of a warp drive system cause a pretty good bang?
  - When looking for a message to send the aliens, Data scans through the available elements on the Enterprise. One shot shows the elements zipping by, from bottom to top. When Troi spots hydrogen, she tells Data to stop and go back. The next shot shows the elements scrolling slower, but they are still scrolling from bottom to top. It would confuse the hell out of me, going forward or backward through information and having it move in the same direction.
• From Mark McC on 2008-12-30 at 4:42pm:
  At one point we're told the ship doesn't have enough power left to replicate any explosive elements. Maybe if they shut down all those replicators producing synthahol in Ten-Forward they might have had more power and saved themselves the embarassment of a bar-room brawl.
  
  It was convenient that Data decided to visually review the elements available on the offchance that Troi would look over his shoulder and spot something that correlated with her dream. Normally he would have just accessed his memory banks for the information instead of slowly (by his speed) scrolling through them on a terminal.
• From CAlexander on 2011-04-29 at 4:16am:
  The plot of the episode is good in the abstract. But I agree that it progresses rather slowly and without a lot of interesting things happening. And Troi's silly-looking dream sequences are definitely not the high point of the episode.
• From ok@ok.ok on 2011-08-26 at 8:32am:
  This was a fairly decent episode. I like the explanation behind what was happening, and I like how we never actually see the aliens or get a clear shot of their ship... all we get is some indication that they were in the exact same quandary, and could only communicate briefly and indirectly, hoping on a whim that someone will figure out what's needed...
  
  Seeing Data as acting captain was awesome.
  
  Seeing Guinan pull out some crazy plasma rifle from behind the counter was amusing.
  
  As for everyone going more or less insane, well I feel like there were a few missed opportunities here... but at the same time there were some nice subtleties, for instance Crusher trying to tap her com badge and missing the first time (there were a few of these very subtle, easily missed things). Also Wharf being late to a meeting. Things like that which vaguely hint that something just isn't right.
  
  So, maybe not great but certainly not awful, and the premise and explanation hold up and are surprising and interesting enough.
• From Jeff Browning on 2011-09-30 at 8:52pm:
  This episode had two basic problems, in my view:
  
  1. The plot was too simplistic. There just wasn't enough here. Almost all good star trek episodes consist of two story lines woven together. For example, in TNG: Family you have the threads of Picard on Earth with his brother's family, and Worf on the Enterprise with his adoptive parents. (In that episode you even get a bit of a third with Wesley and his father's holorecording.) Another great example is TNG: Galaxy's Child where you have the two threads of the space creature and Geordi's relationship with the holographic Dr. Leah Brahms. In this episode we have just a tiny bit of that with the crew's struggle with lack of REM sleep and Troi's issue with nightmares. But effectively these issues are one and the same. Thus, there is just not enough storyline here to sustain a one hour episode. Effectively, the plot summary becomes:
  
  A. Enterprise gets stuck.
  B. The crew's condition deteriorates.
  C. Trio has bad dreams in which she flies around in a very unflattering outfit.
  D. Repeat steps B and C a truly mind numbing number of times.
  E. Enterprise gets unstuck.
  
  2. The music sucks. Not only was it very consistent ( reinforcing the repetitive nature of the episode itself ), but it consists almost entirely of this depressing dirge. It certainly did not help to improve the episode.
• From Bronn on 2013-11-08 at 1:04am:
  The Troi flying stuff is what really ruined this for me. It's not that I hate every episode in which she's featured, it's just that when she's featured, the writers often had her saying stuff repeatedly, with highest level possible of melodrama. "I have to find you! I have to tell you...!" That was a terrible climax for this episode. Face of the Enemy was a great episode in which she was featured because she wasn't constantly repeating herself, or using a melodramatic delivery.
  
  The funny thing is, that was a beautifully creepy dream sequence if they didn't have her take off flying. The effects were fairly nice-greenish clouds with the moon circling, always in her line of sight. Having her constantly walking through it with that music playing actually WORKS as a nightmarish dream sequence. Having her flying around in that leotard turns it on its head. It's also ridiculous that it took them all the way until season six to realize that they needed to give her a uniform.
• From Axel on 2015-03-24 at 3:28am:
  Great concept for an episode, but poorly executed. This had the makings of a really good Troi moment. Instead of always saying things that are blindingly obvious or telling the captain she senses...something...from some aliens, Troi is the key to solving a dilemma that the ship is facing. It's a situation for which her Betazoid powers are perfectly suited.
  
  Unfortunately, she puts too much drama into the role. There are also scripting problems. Her telepathic dialogue with the other Betazoid and aliens stuck in the rift sounds awkward and child-like.
  
  Overall I like the story for this one. But this is a rare case where the cast's acting just doesn't seem on point. They do this eery sci-fi type of stuff quite well in other episodes, but here it's fumbled.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Bernard on 2011-03-17 at 9:13pm:
  Really dull I'm afraid, there is no real chance of discovering Odo's background in this episode and no real chance for his character to develop. As a result nobody really cares what is going on.
  
  The B plot might be well handled but it could have been done during any episode and in a way that actually complimented an A plot.
  
  Thankfully bigger and better things are just around the corner....
• From Tallifer on 2011-03-19 at 9:34am:
  10 points for Noley Thornton and Odo. The stories were pretty good too. (I found out that Thornton is now a university student studying to become a director.)
• From Dstyle on 2013-09-12 at 3:51pm:
  Why are Dax and Odo so surprised to learn that one of the people in the valley is not a hologram? Doesn't it seem obvious that this must be someone's personal planetary holodeck? Why else would it exist?
• From peterwolf on 2013-11-04 at 9:59pm:
  A rather emotional episode, which lacks action, but is just very nice. Besides the Yadera holograms with the Odo-Taya friendship and the Sisko-Jake plot, the third story of Quark´s diversion was overlooked in the comment. He managed that Vedek Bareil came to DS9 and met Kira. This encounter is certainly the start of their relationship (already predicted by the orb of prophecy). Since this development is very important for the DS9 story arc, I suggest a reduction of the filler quotient.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Dstyle on 2015-09-09 at 7:07pm:
  According to T'Pol, there were fewer warp capable species when Vulcans first went into deep space. Really? That seems odd to me. Okay, I know from TNG: The Chase that all humanoid life in the galaxy was seeded from a single humanoid species, but I also know from various other TNG episodes that Jean Luc Picard is interested in the archaeology of ancient civilizations, many of which were warp capable. There could be an understandable ebb and flow in the number of warp capable species over time, but I would assume the number would be relatively constant as some older civilizations collapsed while other younger civilizations developed the technology. T'Pol's statement makes it seem like they were one of the earliest civilizations to have warp capabilities, when we know from Picard that that is not true.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From EKH on 2008-01-12 at 10:53pm:
  I think we can assume that Star Trek has been "re-dubbed" for a modern audience, and that Bashir actually uses a term we wouldn't recognize. Otherwise, the language of the future represents a huge break of realism.
• From Benjamin Baxter on 2008-07-13 at 4:15am:
  There are also several occurrences of "man" in the series that could be explained away with the above explanation.
• From JRPoole on 2009-02-08 at 8:16pm:
  I hate to see Bareil die in such a seemingly pointless way, but the character had to be killed off. He's just too humble, too pure, to be interesting.
  
• From A. Rust on 2009-04-18 at 3:43pm:
  I find Bareil's decision neither meaningless nor foolish. His people were constantly haunted by the shadow of Cardassian Occupation and the only way to totally move forward was through a process of forgiveness of the enemy. Though Bashir may have been right in his analysis of Winn's less than noble motivations, I think Bareil would have been in sympathy with her statement that one man's life meant little in comparison to what could be gained. Having not gotten further in the series, I don't know if his sacrifice is in fact meaningful in the long term, but as Kira observes at the end, he was comfortable with his confusion and made the best choice he could for his people under the circumstances. While I think the episode could have had more scenes of drama at the negotiating table to reinforce what he was fighting for, I found Bareil's sacrifice both noble and totally consistent with is character.
• From Azalea Jane on 2021-12-06 at 4:58pm:
  I don't think Bareil was being foolish. Some things are worth dying for. He couldn't live with himself knowing he didn't do everything he could, especially if the talks had failed in his absence. In his own way, he went out fighting. Kira would have died for her cause as a freedom fighter too. I also think Bashir was being rather bullheaded, stubbornly and myopically trying to prolong Bareil's life and ignoring the various reasons it's not so simple.
  
  I really think the original writers of the Ferengi painted themselves into a corner with the Ferengis' over-the-top misogyny. In a different episode, Quark protests that the Ferengi have never had slavery, but that's false on its face: they continue to treat half their population as slaves/livestock when we know full well that female Ferengi have equivalent mental abilities to the men. I can't exactly blame Nog for being the product of his culture, but I can't entirely let him off the hook, either. The writers were right to point this out in the dialogue, of course; it just seems half-hearted. It's treated as an annoyance rather than a moral emergency. It's like nobody really cares too much that this species is keeping half its population in a state of abject bondage and degradation for no logical reason. It's almost played for laughs here. Yeah, sexism is absurd, but it's not all that funny. At least, it's not funny to those of us who experience it as a fact of life. (Thanks, Rick Berman.)
  
  Winn seemed unusually not-evil in this episode to me. She really seemed sincere! It added some character depth. One reason for that might be that, according to Memory Alpha, Louise Fletcher was rather ill during filming and couldn't quite bring herself to act the nasty and conniving overtones usually present with Winn. It's quite telling how useless Winn is in this situation, though. She managed to become Kai but can't handle the heat. Whoops! Bad luck, Adami! Gosh, I hope she doesn't freak out and do anything reckless later.
  
  The "humanity" thing bothered me too; I suppose I'll have to assume he meant something like "humanoid-ity." Lazy writing in an otherwise quite interesting and important episode. Good call in killing off Bareil, too. He became sort-of interesting, but he became even more interesting as a quasi-martyr. Bareil would have been a great Kai for Bajor, but Winn is a much better Kai for storytelling. :)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Bronn on 2013-07-10 at 10:23pm:
  I can understand that Worf's black and white morality makes it difficult for him to know what to do with Quark. But any time there's a plot based upon a misunderstanding because of a lack of communication, it's a hackneyed plot. Odo says that he's not in the habit of talking about his long term undercover work-that's fine, but since Worf is ALREADY snooping around in the investigation, it's probably better to limit the damage. He mentioned that Worf's surveillance was useful in keeping up appearances...but if that was the case, he could have just told Worf the plan and asked him to cooperate, and it would have worked out fine.
  
  There's also a whole contingent of Starfleet security on the station at this point that nobody seems to have remembered. That doesn't really bother me, it's the culmination of events surrounding Worf. It's stupid that Odo's investigation fails not because Worf won't leave it alone, but because Odo refused to tell Worf what he was doing despite having plenty of golden opportunities to do so. And somehow Worf comes out looking like the idiot here.
  
  The A-plot for this episode, however, is awesome. There's conflict between Bashir and O'Brien, the tension of a young idealistic officer and a veteran non-commissioned officer. It's a complicated issue, and O'Brien raises a few valid concerns: What if freeing the Jem'Hadar dependency turns them into renegades? What if the Founders decide this interference is an act of war by the Federation? It's really a huge decision for a Lieutenant to take full responsibility for, even if his motives are completely pure. If only they'd sacrificed the stupid B-plot, they could have focused even more on this part of the episode.
• From peterwolf on 2013-11-23 at 10:26pm:
  Regarding the problems with "Goran'Agar doesn't eat, doesn't drink, ...": Goran'Agar explains to Bashir that he came back to the planet in order to cure his men like himself from the Ketracel White addiction. He thought the environment contained some healing factor. Roughly around minute 15 in the episode he clearly states "we breath the same air, eat the same food". Thus, the Jem Hadar do eat, although it is not mentioned whether Goran'Agar might have started eating after he stopped taking the drug. But then his body seems to produce always small amounts of the drug, as Bashir finds out. Also, it would be very unlikely to get all the energy the Jem'Hadar need from small doses of a drug.
• From Martin on 2016-03-10 at 10:30am:
  I understand Odo could've told Wolf about his long term plan, that could've saved them all the trouble. Still, there is a chain of command and Odo's the chief of security in that station. Worf was out of line to interfere with the investigation without explicitly telling Odo. Lesson lerned, we hope.
  About the other part of this episode, being this episode about black and white moral standars, i honestly think O'brian's a stupid man. After all those years looking up to Picard and another few years learing to change his beliefs about cardassians and other ethics related issues, he shoud NOT have decided to see the matter in a black and white manner. Bashir could see beyond his own experiences with the Jem'Hadar and that the matter was a big plain grey. They were dealing with a group of people trying to break free from slavery, trying to be free. Isn't that a top priority for the federation? To help people in such meaningful manners? What about TNG "I, Hugh"? They understood that Hugh was becoming an individual with his own rights to be, and chose to help him instead of taking the oportunity to cripple the Borg right there, taking his life. O'brian was right there, wasn't he? Shouldn't he have learnt the lesson? Damn him! Damn him i say!
• From Mike on 2016-10-31 at 9:49pm:
  Yes, this was definitely an episode that deserved a sequel of some sort where we find out something more about Goran'Agar's fate. The premise of the episode was too interesting to simply leave alone. Other episodes dealt with the Ketracel White addiction, but not in an interesting way like this one.
  
  Re: Martin, O'Brien makes it clear that the reason he opposes what Bashir is doing is because there's no way to predict what the Jem'Hadar will do once free of the White. Bashir is doing what we'd expect a Federation doctor to do, but O'Brien makes a good counter-point; they could indeed turn into a destructive, uncontrollable force that kills at will. Using the Hugh example, the next time we saw Hugh in TNG: Descent, he explained the confusion and chaos that resulted when those Borg were free of the collective.
  
  That's what makes all these episodes great, IMO. The Federation values of freeing sentient beings from things like the Borg collective or the Dominion are portrayed as the right path, but not an easy one and with plenty of opposing views and unforeseen consequences.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From mnp on 2011-11-12 at 12:41am:
  After Tom gets out of solitary, B'Elanna calls him on the comm and says she's heard he's "free for dinner", which she then schedules for "0700".
  
  In regards to what is a download or an upload, that's a matter of perspective. If they logged into the gravity core and started the copy from there, it would technically be an upload:
  
  KIM: Looks like the reactor's controlled by a core computer. I'll try to upload the database and get some answers.
  PARIS: Initiate the interface.
  
  ... could go either way.
• From pbench on 2015-09-13 at 12:00pm:
  amazing episode. for once i truly didn't know which direction it was going to go either way, down to the moment that both crews yelled "fire!". all the characters were allowed to play on their strengths--tom's strongheadedness and hidden idealism beneath the cynical exterior (though surprised that b'elanna didn't mention the maquis when he said 'i'm not one for causes'), janeway's liberality but ultimately stern hand as a ship captain...
  
  so many great moments in this episode--dealing with themes of cultural conflict, political impotence, environmentalism, and even the unintended consequences of poorly-thought out projects...was great. loved the scene of the monean ambassador staring down paris in that moment of cultural chauvinism, even though he's probably a snake on his planet, like climate deniers on our own.
  
  all in all was very impressed with this episode. here's how you do a TRUE moral dilemma, each choice really truly mixed, with great directing and subtlety; loved the novelty of it being recounted backwards. kudos voyager!!!
• From tigertooth on 2016-11-21 at 5:14pm:
  Kind of jarring that Janeway sentences him to 30 days solitary confinement when it's well documented that solitary confinement of even a few weeks is psychologically damaging and is widely considered to be torture. Maybe they have figured out ways to make it less damaging by that time.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From g@g on 2012-02-01 at 4:15am:
  I second the reviewer's take on this being a kind of Matrix analogue. In fact, I'm pretty sure the writers had this explicitly in mind. It's a pretty direct homage. If you listen closely to the music just as the Doc and Tuvak bring Janeway into the Unimatrix, (itself similar in some ways to Neo's first plunge) there's a telltale audible cue - for a few bars, the music is very much like the Matrix theme! And Seven's subsequent introduction, "Welcome to Unimatrix Zero," is not unlike several of Morpheus' famous lines. I thought this little touch was neat.
  
  - - -
  
  I also want to point to a small but annoying problem that occurs shortly after. Janeway, Axum, and Seven interrupt a Borg drone attacking the Klingon, and for some bizarre reason, out of the three of them it's only Janeway who jumps into battle. The other two (who should obviously be much more invested in Unimatrix Zero and its residents) just watch, like bumps on a log. Doesn't really make much sense. The whole thing was scripted to make a dramatic segue to the Queen, so she could see the events unfolding and scream, "Janeway!" like some evil witch looking through her magic mirror or crystal ball. It doesn't make sense and it's annoying.
• From Dstyle on 2015-07-30 at 3:01pm:
  Borg Queen: "I can give you transwarp technology to get you home faster if you just stay out of affairs that don't concern you."
  Janeway: "Sorry, I can't do that."
  <Queen closes channel>
  Chakotay: "Why this stab at diplomacy?"
  Janeway: "She's trying to find out what we're up to. She's worried."
  Chakotay: "You're probably right. It's a shame they don't have a more efficient way to find out everything we know; to 'assimilate' all of our knowledge, so to speak."
  Janeway: "Yeah, lucky for us! Whelp! Tell B'Elanna and Tuvok to meet me in the shuttle bay. It's time to go get assimilated!"
  
  Ugh, this show sometimes. I'm becoming convinced that Voyager needs to just stay away from Borg story lines entirely: they're defanging them to the point that they're not even remotely scary anymore. As I watched this episode (and Part 2) I found myself constantly thinking "This makes no sense! And THAT makes no sense! What? Why? How...?" Seriously, as Voyager makes its way across the Delta Quadrant they should be running like hell anytime they detect anything remotely Borg-like on long range scanners. Travelling through the Borg-infested Delta Quadrant should be harder that travelling through Mordor, and, as we know, one does not simply walk into Mordor. Voyager, however, seems to be simply walking through Borg space, engaging cubes left and right like they were the Kazon or something. This episode had an interesting premise, but the way this show has been handling the Borg is really ruining it for me.
  
  

No fan commentary yet.

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• From rhea on 2008-04-27 at 9:40pm:
  ... also watch the way especially Shatner acts trying to impersonate a woman (at one point he is sitting at his desk talking to Spock while doing his nails). Very campy, slightly sexist, but for once not too much over the top, which is an achievement for William Shatner.
• From Strider on 2012-07-06 at 5:25am:
  I don't think it's necessarily true that the "no women starship captains" rule is canonical--it depends whether you feel Janice Lester is a trustworthy source. She was "unsuited by training and temperament" for a command, and we know she's nuts, so she might have just been using that as her excuse to herself why she didn't get that position. We can see she didn't fare that well in a man's body even when she finally had what she wanted.
  
  I thought Sandra Smith was great in this, when she wasn't being "crazy Janice." When she was Kirk, she played with intensity and strength. I liked watching her.
• From Alan Feldman on 2012-10-07 at 5:42pm:
  "Turnabout Intruder"
  
  I would add the following to "remarkable scenes":
  
  Apparent Kirk knocking down apparent Lester. Again a simple karate chop to the shoulder brings a person down. It doesn't even look like he's hitting her hard.
  
  Apparent Kirk announcing to the entire crew that Spock is charged with mutiny. Here Lester's mind is descending into total wacko-land with a sharp increase in speed.
  
  These two lines of Spock's powerful steadfast defiance:
  
  SPOCK: No, sir. I shall not withdraw a single charge that I have made. You are not Captain Kirk. You have ruthlessly appropriated his body, but the life entity within you is not that of Captain Kirk. You do not belong in charge of the Enterprise and I shall do everything in my power against you.
  [...]
  SPOCK: Yes, sir. An immediate vote before our chief witness can be left to die on some obscure planet with the truth locked away inside of her.
  
  The entire episode is so jam-packed with remarkable scenes that it's hard to narrow the field!
  
  >----o----<
  
  General Comments
  
  Re "life-entity transfer" in "Turnabout Intruder":
  
  [Apparent Lester's room]
  
  SPOCK: Complete life-entity transfer with the aid of a mechanical device?
  LESTER (with KIRK's mind): Yes, that's what it must've been.
  SPOCK: To my knowledge, such total transfer has never been accomplished with complete success anywhere in the galaxy.
  
  Did this not happen in "Return to Tomorrow", "What Are Little Girls Made Of?", "Wolf in the Fold", and "Metamorphosis"? Even if you limit this to the use of a mechanical device, the second in the list still qualifies, albeit to an android. This is one thing apparently written into the story just to make it harder for transferred Kirk to prove his case. On the other hand, things could hinge on just what Mr. Spock meant by "complete success". Still, what happened in these episodes is enough to make a case of "complete success" quite credible.
  
  I don't see how Kirk/Lester could have passed the Robbiana[sp?] dermal optic test. How could there have been no measurable psychological changes between such vastly different personalities? This is another thing apparently written just to make it harder for transferred Kirk to prove his case, while at the same time causing some anxiety for Apparent Kirk (Lester).
  
  The scene with Spock and (apparent) Lester trying to leave her room and Spock giving the guards neck/shoulder pinches somehow comes across as a little awkward. Spock takes apparent Lester's wrist.
  
  It's incredible and fun to see Shatner acting as lunatic Lester.
  
  Notice that Lester in Kirk's body is able to duplicate his famous cadence. Impressive! This makes for yet another thing to make it harder for Kirk in Lester's body to make his case. Correspondingly, it would have been fun if Smith as Kirk had imitated this same cadence! I guess cadence doesn't get transferred along with "the life entity". You'd think it would, no? (Perhaps Shatner couldn't help but do his trademark cadence and Smith simply couldn't do it well enough.)
  
  Also, at times, Smith doesn't come across as very Kirk-like when playing Kirk.
  
  One thing I like about this story is the fact that each side gets more and more frustrated as the story unfolds. Lester (apparent Kirk) is continually frustrated that there is an endless stream of obstacles placed in her path while at the same time Spock and Bones (and later, others) are continually frustrated that those same obstacles don't thwart Lester's takeover plans while getting themselves in more and more trouble. Fascinating.
  
  All in all, a fun episode, but not to be taken too seriously.
  
  >----o----<
  
  Re Strider's remark on Lester's excuse for not making Captain:
  
  LESTER: Your world of starship captains doesn't admit women. It isn't fair.
  KIRK: No, it isn't. And you punished and tortured me because of it.
  
  Evidently, Kirk agrees with lunatic Lester.
  
  AEF
• From Glenn239 on 2012-12-14 at 2:11pm:
  ‘7’ A much better episode than I remembered. Shades of Mirror, Mirror with the internal conflict in the crew. The power and authority of the captain are really driven home in this episode. (Like The Cloud Minders, it’s good to see that starship captains have some weight to throw around in the Federation). Also, the plot had more of an ensemble cast feel to it; a nice change from the Kirk and Spock show. Uhura’s unexplained absence from the episode yet again makes me wonder if the producers might have been fishing for ratings with with younger eye candy in the communications seat.
  
  McCoy’s testing of Kirk obviously would have included basic memory recall that the imposter would have immediately failed, and then he would have had adequate grounds to relieve him. Scotty’s intention to vote for Spock in the court marshal was in character, but his private incitement to mutiny was not. It is also not clear that Kirk would have the authority to prevent McCoy from treating Lester or examining her as part of his investigation of Kirk’s capacity to command.
  
  Still, not at all bad. I like the last line about ‘what if’ or ‘only if’ or whatever. Perhaps aimed as much at this being the last show as at the episode itself. What if indeed.
  My numbers for the whole series are
  
  1st Season 5.48 rating. (Best: 2x‘10’ episodes, 1x‘9’, 3x‘8’. Worst were 1x‘1’, 3x‘2’, 3x‘3’)
  
  2nd Season 5.59 rating (Best: 2x‘10’, 2x‘9’, 3x‘8’. Worst: 1x’1’, 1x’2’, 4x‘3’)
  
  3rd Season – 4.38 rating. (Best: 4x’8’. Worst: 2x‘0’, 3x‘1’, 3x‘2’, 2x‘3’)
  
  The Third Season had serious problems with subpar scripting (only 46% of episodes rated ‘5’ or above, in comparison with 69% for the first two season). It also had no ‘magnificent’ episodes of score 9 or 10. It also had the only two of my zero rated episodes of the whole series (The Empath and Plato's Stepchildren), a rating I reserved for rejecting that the episode was even Star Trek.
  
  But the final 10 episodes of the 3rd Season showed a considerable improvement in quality relative to the first batch of 10, (47 points vs. 42). So I see no reason why the 4th Season could have been better than the 3rd.
  
• From Alan Feldman on 2013-10-05 at 2:56pm:
  Replying to Glenn239:
  
  He writes, "Uhura’s unexplained absence from the episode yet again makes me wonder if the producers might have been fishing for ratings with with younger eye candy in the communications seat."
  
  She was on vacation. Hey, even working for Star Fleet, evidently one gets some vacation time. And probably sick time and personal days, too.
  
  On rhea's comments about Kirk acting ladylike:
  
  Note how he places his hand on his hair after beaming up from the planet when mentioning his previous romantic involvement with Janet. Kirk wouldn't do that.
  
  AEF, aka betaneptune
• From Scott Hearon on 2014-04-13 at 6:26pm:
  I give it a 6/10. A few rather serious problems, but they're just barely overcome by the amusing and sometimes impressive acting, as well as the general rise in tension throughout the episode.
  
  I agree that there is a strong sexist overtone to this entire story; the funny thing is that there didn't really have to be. With a few thoughtful lines of dialogue, it could have been established that either: (1) Lester clearly had a persecution complex that she saw focused solely on her gender rather than a lack of requisite skills, or (2) that the Federation had no such sexist rule against women as captains. The screenwriters didn't do either one, and the tale suffers for it.
  
  Also, you mean to tell me that not ONE person thought to simply start asking questions to Kirk and Lester about things that only Kirk would know? Any one of Spock, McCoy, Scotty, or the other longer-term crew members certainly had certain intimate moments with Kirk which they could draw from. As Scotty says in his line, "I've seen James Kirk afraid, drunk..." etc. All it would have taken to convince them, even the all-of-a-sudden logically-minded Bones, is to ask about one of these private moments ("Hey Jim, what was the name of that purple alien chick you banged back on Rigel 7?"). The very moment that the false Kirk couldn't and the real Kirk could answer a few of them, end of story.
  
  It was still a compelling enough episode, though, just to gain the satisfaction of seeing Kirk regain his body from a raving loony. I especially liked the passive resistance of Sulu and Chekhov. Understated, but very effective.
• From Alex on 2020-06-26 at 4:19am:
  Despite how I like "All Our Yesterdays" way, way more (it's one of my favourite episodes!), and despite how the series was cancelled prematurely instead of being wrapped up in a more prepared manner, I'd say "Turnabout Intruder" kind of *is* a decent final episode.
  
  On the character side of things it boils down to "what makes Kirk - Kirk" and how the crew comes to believe it and trust him enough (and Spock and others). I'll even say it has some advantqages over "AOY" in the way how it feels more structured, how it better progresses - "AOY" may feel less cohesive with itself, because it tracks its character lines more separately (still, I like it so much, like I said).
  
  I think "Turnabout..." had some pretty good dialogue and character moments. It has quite a few good laughs from the growing hysterical overacting (of the character, not actor), it has a few bad/omg laughs, it has tension. Also Lester-as-Kirk finds time at one point, to file "his" nails! Lol.
  
  I always like it when TOS manages to remember its continuity and call back to previous episodes. Still, there was totally way more times when stuff wasn't recorded and could've served as proof, right? Well, maybe it all fit into the single mind-meld, I suppose. Without having to be said out loud.
  
  I thought the resolution was a bit anti-climactic, I'd expect them to backtrack to the planet and the ancient equipment, but it just happened on its own, the reverse body switch. Oh well.
  
  I'll give it... yeah, I'll give it a 7 too.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2006-06-23 at 1:56am:
  Problem:
  
  When the one Boraalan left the holodeck and dissapeared, never to come back, why didn't any other members of his species notice he was gone? Surely he had family.
  
• From Wing Fat on 2007-10-03 at 4:22am:
  This episode has many holes. How did Nikolai have the knowledge and authorization necessary to lock the chief security officer (Worf) out of the holodeck (not to mention rigging that whole stunt in the first place)? Nikolai committed a laundry list of Starfleet violations, wouldn't Picard be bound to take him to a Starbase for some kind of hearing and punishment? Why is it one of the few remaining (and most prominent) Boraalans disappears and the others just go about their business like nothing happened? What's going to happen when Nikolai's baby is born and, because it's half human, doesn't have the same facial features as the other Boraalans? And less significantly, isn't that huge grin on Worf's face after he asks LaForge to generate a storm a bit out of character?
• From JRPoole on 2008-10-29 at 7:55pm:
  The noted problems aside, I think this episode is mostly successful. I love episodes that explore the prime directive, and this is one of the stronger ones, perhaps even better than the proto-Vulcan society episode from a few seasons ago (can't recall the title).
  
  I think Nikolai is absolutely right here. However, the best decision would have been to save as many of the Boraalans as possible and not even try to do a cover-up. They're going to die without Federation help. I don't see how saving as many of them as possible is a violation of the prime directive. Obviously, it's best not to interfere, but it's better than letting them die.
  
  The best solution would have been to beam as many of them up as possible, keep them together, explain the situation as well as possible, and find them a new place to live. Not a perfect solution, but the best one possible. That would also erase the problem of leaving Nikolai with the Boraalans. I just don't see how leaving them to die is in the spirit of the prime directive at all. It ensures non-interference in cultural affairs and societal development. Here there's going to be no development without Federation assistance, and you might even argue that not helping them violates the prime directive because it allows a culture to be destroyed rather than preserved.
• From djb on 2009-01-26 at 5:49pm:
  Atmospheric dissipation?! Are you effing kidding me?!?!! Make up as much Treknobabble as you want; you'll never convince me that a planet's atmosphere will spontaneously ... go away.
  
  That aside, this episode definitely reminded me of Who Watches the Watchers (season 3), which was actually one of my favorite episodes. Far better than this one.
  
  I do like the moral quandary it brings up. I'm surprised that Picard, who was always such a bleeding heart (second only to Crusher) took such a firm stance on this issue. After all, non-interference is kind of moot when there's nothing to interfere with.
  
  Imagine how neat it would be if they just beamed them all into the holodeck, told them "we're aliens, from another planet; your world is dying; we're taking you to another one," then beamed them down to their new planet. The story would pass down from one generation to another until it just became myth, and most people wouldn't believe it. Then, a few thousand years later, the Boraalans achieve warp, they make contact with the federation (assuming it still exists), and maybe find out from federation records that the story was true after all! That would be awesome.
  
  In addition to the issue already raised about obvious interference on Nikolai's part, this also occurred to me: what about his surgical implants? Could they last permanently? What if they became damaged? The jig would be up. I also wonder if the handful of Boraalans we saw have a large enough gene pool to repopulate a planet (the same issue brought up in Up The Long Ladder in season 1). Oh well.
  
  Interesting ideas, but poorly executed.
  
  Oh, and Worf's grin isn't out of character. He just doesn't do it very much. It adds depth to his character.
• From Tallifer on 2011-03-13 at 7:56am:
  Unbeliveably bad.
  
  1. The prime directive is made to look ridiculous here. "Is it better to save life or to kill?"
  
  2. But on the other hand, a culture which cannot survive without the same plot of land is not worth saving. The stray Boralan commits suicide because life in a universe of other cultures is unacceptable. Good riddance. Imagine if all the countless ethnic groups who have made happy lives in the Americas had thought that way.
  
  3. Worf looks stupid in his disguise, and the whole Boralan male costume is horrible. Another reason top leave them on their dying planet.
• From JB on 2020-06-07 at 12:22pm:
  Why did Worf take part of the villiage chronicle? What use could he possibly have for it? It seems incredible that he would even think to ask for it given his honorable character, especially after Vorin explained to him how important the chronicles were and then essentially gave his life trying to save one of the other scrolls. And Nikolai let him have it?! He must not have any respect for the Boraalan culture... he had just appointed himself the new chronicler and then as his first act he starts by giving the chronicles away??
  
  Sometimes I wonder WTF is wrong with the writers.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Remco on 2009-01-29 at 3:59am:
  Odo called the station "DS9" in this episode. I don't think we've heard this abbreviation on the show before.
• From John on 2011-01-12 at 5:27pm:
  I found this episode highly enjoyable, and the fact that it features Leeta has absolutely nothing to do with it. :)
• From hugo on 2012-05-09 at 5:37am:
  Just dull and uninspired, and a plot where not much happens. And Leeta is not a good actress.
• From peterwolf on 2013-11-30 at 9:05am:
  This is THE Rom episode. It provides all the reasons and feelings why Leeta will love Rom (soon after her affair with Bashir). It is very funny how O´Briens´ story of his ancestor Sean (made up or real) inspires Rom to stand his ground against Ferengi laws and tradition. Although Rom seems to trade his Union ideals in the end, he wins: all his conditions for the workers will be accepted by Quark and he gets his job in Starfleet as technician "junior grade"! Similar to Damar he will do things in the future that decide the war against the Dominion. Also, the tiny subplot of Dax and Worf prepares the basis of their relationship. A very great episode, if you know what is coming later on!
• From Martin on 2014-04-02 at 6:29pm:
  Nice episode.
  One detail i couldn't stop noticing is Liquidator brunt's bodyguards are Nausicaan...the same nasty race that stabbed picard on the heart.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Inga on 2014-02-16 at 11:10am:
  I'm tired of T'Pol being sexualised all the time and, like you said, it IS getting worse than Seven of Nine was...
  

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-12-27 at 12:12am:
  This episode did something I was fearing would never happen in the series: it explored the relationship between Neelix and Tuvok (which I find to be very similar to the relationship between Quark and Odo in DS9). For too long their relationship has been nothing more than a simple device for comedy in the show.
  
  However, here the writers reveal how deep Neelix's feelings for Tuvok really are, and perhaps the feelings for Neelix that Tuvok is hiding under all that Vulcan logic. I found the scene where Tuvok is having doubts about the operation to be deeply moving. This was really one of Voyager's best character development episode offerings. Tuvok and Neelix both are the most underused characters in all of Star Trek, and it was infinitely pleasing to have an episode that centered around them instead of the Janeway/Doctor/Seven show.
  
  Great acting, and superb writing. One of the few times Voyager has lived up to its potential. 9.
• From Pete O. on 2011-09-26 at 4:53am:
  I feel weird following up a comment from 2006, but I have to agree completely!
  
  I also found this episode deserving of a far higher score than a 6. I though that the Tuvok-Neelix relationship was explored very well in this episode, and that this is also one of the times that Voyager really shined a light on its true potential.
  
  I actually felt myself tearing up during that scene where Neelix is convincing Tuvok to go through with the procedure.
• From Bernard on 2011-11-04 at 12:16am:
  I just watched this episode for the first time and I have to say that I am shocked to have just unearthed one of the hidden gems that are scattered throughout Voyagers seven year run.
  
  This is a truly moving episode that is well written and wonderfully acted by both Russ and Phillips and successfully explores the two characters relationship with one another.
  
  Unfortunately, Voyager never ever used to expand on character developments from one episode/season to the next so I'm willing to bet the events of this episode were totally forgotten over the last two seasons.. maybe I'll be proven incorrect in that assumption as I rewatch them.
  
  Anyway, I would give this episode 8 or 9 and that would have been even higher had it not been wrapped up with a fairly tedious alien of the week.
• From Psycroptic on 2013-01-15 at 10:16pm:
  I totally agree with the others here, completely underrated episode and one of best so far in Voyager.
• From Hugo on 2015-03-15 at 8:29am:
  I guess they can only do a Tuvok story when he is out of character? Good point about Naroq btw, I was waiting for him to switch sides...
• From Jadzia Guinan Smith on 2015-07-02 at 6:06pm:
  This episode is the final proof of what I've always suspected: Tim Russ is THE unsung MVP of the show.
  
  He is as fantasic as the "emotionally controlled and logical" Vulcan as he is angry, scared, childlike, excited, fun -- a whole range of emotions he showed here and not ONE instance of overplaying (which often happens when actors playing Vulcans finally get their "emotion" episode). Russ made a deeper impression during the large chunk of the episode where he lost speech than most people with lots of lines!
  
  The guest star's performance AND the way his character was written were subtle yet quite engaging. The story explored cook things on multiple fronts -- Tuvok and Neelix's friendship, Tuvok dealing with loss,the Xenophobic B'nath, Naroq's academic curiosity -- sometimes getting out of hand, but ultimately responsible and selfless. I can't believe this got just a 6, meanwhile the Doctor falling in love with Seven got a 9? This is certainly a "riddle"!!
  
  
• From Dstyle on 2015-07-21 at 1:07pm:
  Doctor: "Captain, Tuvok's situation is very delicate. As his synapses reform he is experiencing volatile and unpredictable emotional reactions. I recommend assigning Ensign Vorik to serve as his guide as he works to rediscover and reassert his logical Vulcan self."
  Janeway: "Nah, just have Nelix hang out with him for a while."
  Doctor: "But Captain, that makes no sense! We have another Vulcan on board! Considering the circumstances it would make the most sense to have Vorik guide Tuvok through this experience."
  Janeway: "Yeah, but we also have Naroq and invisible aliens this episode. We don't really have the budget left after that to pay Alexander Enberg to be a guest star. Besides, I have a feeling those two have some hidden chemistry they can explore."
  Doctor: "..."
  Janeway: "No seriously, I'll just have, I don't know, Harry or someone fill in at Tactical for a while. I'm sure this will all work out fine. Janeway out!" (drops mic)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Glenn239 on 2012-09-27 at 7:23pm:
  '9'. Picking up on the idea of ditching the destruction of the freighter scene and substituting more military exercises with the starship fleet, I think that’s a good idea. Have two military exercises instead of one. M5 loses the first engagement outright, and because M5 is patterned off the egotistical Daystrom, the computer concludes the humans must have cheated the first time.
  
  Anyways, the Enterprise "pooper scooper" effect is demonstrated in this episode. Enterprise just phasered 430 guys deader than doornails aboard the Excalibur not just ten minutes ago, but now the episode is over and Kirk and the boys have no time for that. Lexington…you and Potemkin go scrape that one off the pavement.
  
  I also find it curious that none of the forces trying to take over the Enterprise ever realized that the easiest way to do so would be to open the hanger bay doors with all the internal doors open too. "No one can hear you overact in the cold, dark vacuum of space, Kirk."
  
• From penguinphysics on 2013-01-10 at 9:06pm:
  I think that this episode should have a better rating in the 'filler' category, considering that the Daystrom Institute is so frequently mentioned in later stories.
• From Kethinov on 2013-01-10 at 10:46pm:
  Occasional casual mentions of the Daystrom Institute are little more than trivia. Such is not an adequate justification to regard this episode as nonfiller.
• From Paul Bonzulac on 2013-01-14 at 5:12am:
  Great review. I disagree about one thing, though: you have to have Kirk talk the machine into killing itself. Otherwise, the hero is just standing there while the guest-star does all the work. The star of the show has to save the day, after all.
  
  Great point about making the show more about a protracted war-game, but they didn't have the budget for that. They could barely afford Blackula.
• From Scott Hearon on 2014-04-10 at 2:09am:
  Very nice review, and one I agree with very much. I gave this episode a 7/10 - a really good one, but with a few relatively minor flaws.
  
  I do like your idea for an alternate ending. And to the poster above me, I understand that it's more "Hollywood" to have the "hero," Kirk, be the one who saves the day, but having Daystrom do the talking would have been far better. And Kirk still would have needed to make the decision to leave the deflector shields down, which gives him a chance to use his human intuition and experience to save the lives of his crew. This kind of tag-team action between Daystrom and Kirk would have been more fulfilling to me.
  
  Excellent pacing in this one. The premise grabbed me rather quickly. Once it was clear that this was not merely some social ommentary on machines making humans obsolete and taking away jobs, I was right on board.
• From McCoy on 2016-11-02 at 4:10pm:
  Sorry, guys, but you don't know many scientist, do you? 90% of them are just megalomanians with no distance to themselves. Your concept of alternate ending is illogical... According to historical sources - most of nazis scientists didn't realised they were doing wrong. They've keep talking about science and progress in turning people corpses into useful things (i.e. making lampshades from human skin). Daystroms "ilumination" would be too utopian happy end for my personal taste. Kirk was the one, who needed to do talking. Well, maybe Spock in that role would be interesting.
• From Chris Long on 2017-11-13 at 5:59pm:
  Late to this party as usual, but I agree with most of the review.
  The death penalty for murder was standard in 1960's USA along with most of the rest of the world.
  
  When the episode first aired, it made perfect sense, in that light... at least to this youngster!
  
  It's easy to armchair quarterback the lack of progressiveness in this episode with regard to that except that... In the episode, 'The Dagger of the Mind', there are "clean hospitals for sick minds!" implying that psychos and murderers were treated rather than executed. Same with 'Whom Gods Destroy'.
  
  Another episode where the Federation shows it has a death penalty is of course, 'The Menagerie'!
  
  TOS can be all over the place when it needs to be.
  
  P.S. I really enjoy your reviews and having a place to spout off! ;-) Thanks!
  
• From Chris on 2019-02-24 at 9:13pm:
  One more comment, late as usual...
  I didn't understand why the other ships didn't raise their shields when the Enterprise hit them with full phasers. Surely four fully armed and shielded starships should have handled the Enterprise, super-computer or no!
  
  I can only surmise that the reason for setting the crew ashore was for security reasons since the whole operation was classified.
  
  Then, in the end, as Glenn239 pointed out, there are close 500 dead spacemen and Kirk, Spock, and McCoy as usual, are yukking it up!
  
  I didn't mind the ore-ship bit but a double episode would've been great!
  
  BTW, what do your spam robot checker mean? "OMG Kethinov The Holy Cross" or something? ;-)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-08-23 at 8:41am:
  - During a meeting with the senior staff, Data claims that the people of Ventax II consider it bad luck to speak Ardra's name. However, the prime minister does it quite frequently.
  - When Ardra shows up on the bridge, Picard has her beamed back to the planet. Immediately afterward, he orders an ensign to put up shields until further notice. The ensign turns around, it is Ardra again. A few minutes later, she leaves on her own. Picard never repeats his orders, and everyone on the bridge must have forgot he said anything about putting up the shields. The end of the show makes clear that she is using standard transpoter technology. That means the crew never raised the shields, because if they did, Ardra could not have beamed into Picard's bedroom later in the show!
  - During the trial, Ardra demands that Picard explain her abilities. He claims he can't. Granted, he doesn't know exactly where her power source is during this scene. However, earlier in the episode, he gave a good guess about her methods during a discussion with his senior staff. Instead of repeating that explanation, Picard simply replies that he can't explain Ardra's abilities.
  - After Picard performs Ardra's tricks, he explains that a team from the Enterprise took control of Ardra's ship. Picard then touches his communicator and thanks Riker for his help. Picard explains that the team had monitored him on his communicator. In other words, the communicator was already on. Does that mean that Picard shut it off when he tapped it?
• From CAlexander on 2011-04-23 at 7:51pm:
  A solid episode. I thought the underlying concept was clever.
  - This episode seems a little confused about how it is trying to portray Ardra. In general, it seems to be saying that she is just a magician using clever tricks (like when they comment on her "bad copy of a cloaking device"). But at other times it seems more like the message is that she is a hyper-advanced alien, but still a con artist. In particular, her ability to undetectably beam people on and off the Enterprise is beyond any capability we've seen from normal Federation opponents.
  
• From John on 2012-03-14 at 12:56am:
  Factoid: Patrick Stewart would win the 1992 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show for his one-man adaption of "A Christmas Carol" on Broadway.
• From Rick on 2014-03-07 at 5:44pm:
  Problem: Two parties cannot make a contract that binds or obligates a third (unrelated) party. I dont care how alien a world is, no one can make a contract that will give away the enterprise in 1000 years. That does not stand up to scrutiny.
• From Rob UK on 2014-06-21 at 2:42pm:
  Got a problem for you, the quote mentioned between Data and Picard when discussing the con game in regard to the P.T Barnum quote is incorrect, it was actually said by Barnum's competition Mr. George Hull, who said "There's a sucker born every minute." after Barnum tricked the press into believing and publishing that his stone giant was real and Mr Hulls a fake, both were fakes but Hull was the original creator of the scam

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Tallifer on 2011-03-26 at 4:37am:
  Two problems for me with this episode:
  
  1. Are a few soil reclamators used by a handful of farmers actually supposed to reclaim enough soil elsewhere to support an interstellar trade in foodstuffs? Why not build a couple new reclamators?
  
  Furthermore these reclamators are very ineffective. There is a tiny community of farmers, and yet one of them has not even benefited from the machines yet, but must wait her turn.
  
  2. The politics are startlingly naive. To me it was obvious from the beginning that Kai Wynn was engaged in corrupt relations with a huge corporate agribusiness which intended to exploit Bajoran government funding for profit. The reclamators were intended for the feeding of Bajorans, not the profits of a food-export corporation.
• From Mike on 2016-11-01 at 7:51pm:
  I liked this episode a lot. The Bajorans, like so many real-world peoples, are dealing with internal turmoil and conflict after throwing off their occupiers. In this case, it's driven by an aspiring despot who hopes that boosting her planet's economy will also aid her own personal ambitions. It pushes her to risk civil war, something few others have the appetite for given the issue is the use of farm equipment. It's a well-written, well-acted episode.
  
  Why not build more reclamators? Well, I'm guessing they are sophisticated pieces of machinery that rely on several industries to build. Bajor, still wartorn and relying on aid and loans, can probably only afford to build a couple of them. Plus, they probably have to wait a while because it takes time to detoxify large amounts of land. Real-world soil detoxification takes months or years and requires lots of composting and solarization. Even in sci-fi world, this process probably takes a while. I think the reclamators make a good plot device in this episode for the premise that the writers were going for.
• From Kevin on 2020-08-02 at 3:58am:
  The B plot in this episode is so strange. I know it was just to pad out some runtime in the episode, But maybe I wasn't paying attention to it enough- I don't recall the Chief making plans with Bashir to fake the injury - as i'm pretty sure that is what happened. Bashir played along, and because of it, ended up stuck with Quark at the end instead. That would've made for at least a more logical side story.
• From Azalea Jane on 2021-12-15 at 8:02pm:
  Ah, I love Winn. Love to hate her, anyway. Louise Fletcher is amazing. Seeing her go from calm to livid with the most subtle of facial expressions is amazing. Anyway, I recall from early season 2 that Winn was associated with the Circle, and thus seems to be an isolationist and/or a complete opportunist. Thus her flowery language of joining the Federation is probably all a ruse. It's been so long since I saw the whole series last, I don't even remember! But by now it's basically established that if Winn is breathing, she's up to something, and if her lips are moving, she's lying. And she knows Kira is onto her, but can't let it slip that she knows. Visitor and Fletcher play off each other wonderfully.
  
  I just love the character development in this series, especially compared to my bae TNG. All these events in Kira's life are changing her and affecting her and keeping her interesting. Her covert/overt antagonism toward Winn is always shifting. I like the accumulating backstory of her as a freedom fighter, and how her relationships with other fighters has changed. It's also fun to see Bashir and O'Brien become bros.
  
  Watching this I thought O'Brien and Bashir faked the injury together so O'Brien could get out of the spotlight. I like how they left it open to interpretation.

No fan commentary yet.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Bernard on 2007-12-03 at 9:09pm:
  I like this one, but it could and should have been so much better. The guest characters are excellent too.
• From CAlexander on 2011-02-17 at 2:23pm:
  I thought this episode was fairly successful, especially by first season standards. In many of the early episodes the characters seem unreasonably obtuse just to move the story along, but here their decisions mostly made sense. I liked how everyone knew Kozinsky's equations were nonsense, but since they worked on other ships, they had no choice but to let him try them. I liked how Picard decided to skip the science after the first trip and concentrate on getting back home. That is what I would have done, if I thought I had discovered a new warp formula; the potential military and scientific value of nearly limitless warp speed would far outweigh the value of one more scientific survey. I liked the pacing of how the first trip takes them far, and the second takes them some else totally different, and the way Picard comments on how he could believe the first, but not the second. Riker's dismissal of Wesley seemed rather obtuse, but I like how he admitted his mistake. The main down side: I wasn't that fond of the "super-Wesley" idea when I first saw the episode, and it doesn't seem any better now.
• From Jason on 2011-07-15 at 6:16pm:
  I agree with Wil Wheaton from his Season One reviews: this is the first episode that is not "a stinker", and it's leagues beyond the five episodes that precede it.
• From Omcn_7 on 2012-01-25 at 4:47am:
  
  On first viewing (when I was a kid) this was one of my favorite episodes for the series. I watched it so many times I wore out the tape. :)
  
  As an adult viewing this episode I remember why I liked it but it doesn't have quite the same appeal. However I give it a 9 because of how much enjoyment I had as a child. I think this is the very episode that made a trek fan out of me for life.
  
  Watching again I noticed one error. Kozinsky mentions that being out this far they have an excellent chance for scientific discovery, to which Picard replies and we report our findings how and to whom? I am not certain this is consistent with Picard's character. In later episodes it would seem to me that Picard is out there to discover, period, regardless of if he can report it to Starfleet or not. The man is kinda a loner.
• From Trekkie on 2012-07-07 at 5:06pm:
  One of my favorite TNG episodes.I just wish they could have explored the far away galaxy more.It would have been cool to see all the civilizations that inhabited some of the planets.
• From dms on 2012-09-22 at 6:00am:
  In my opinion, this is the best episode in the series up to this point. While the Picard turbolift scene was surprising, the scene that really struck me was the one with his mother.
  
  One of the problems you did not mention was that some of the "hallucinations" are visible to everyone, but others only appear to the person having them.
  
  Kozinsky I thought was over-the top. A little bit too much of Wesley also. The actor playing the Traveller did a good job though.
• From SJ on 2013-03-04 at 3:20am:
  Remarkable 1980's futuristic fashion in this episode:
  
  Wesley's sweater. Did grandma knit that, or did he swipe it from Bill Cosby? Possibly worse than his infamous rainbow GrrAnimals suit.
  
  Redshirt ballerina's Jhericurl.
  
  Redshirt dude's manskirt uniform.
  
  Factoids: Chief Engineer Argyle was later sent to by the Traveler to the Star Wars universe, where he assumed the name Porkins and tragically died in the battle of the first Death Star.
• From Oren on 2014-02-03 at 3:18am:
  One of the most memorable episodes of my younger years. Watching it now that I'm older doesn't have the same impact but as a teenager the mysterious episodes, those with a sense of wonder where some thing go unexplained, were my favorites. Both the Traveler and the far away galaxy ignited my imagination during and after the episode.
• From Axel on 2018-06-10 at 9:49pm:
  I swear I've seen the "edge of the universe" in one of my digital effects libraries as a Christmas/winter holiday background.
  
  Ah, the Traveler. He's TNG's version of Prophet/wormhole alien, albeit thankfully far less featured. I agree that this brand of New Age/sci-fi fusion is annoying, although it was all the rage in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
  
  It would be interesting to see an episode like this made now, given what we've discovered or theorized about what's beyond the observable universe. It could make for a cool, fascinating episode without delving into "thought becomes reality" crap. Humans have always fantasized about our thoughts, dreams, imaginations, whatever somehow being connected to reality. What may be at the "edge" of the universe is far more mind-blowing.
  
  Anyway, enough geeking out. The episode was at least entertaining and attention-grabbing, a very nice break from turban-wearing African stereotype aliens, Aryan free-love aliens, and humanoid fish and snake aliens.
  
  

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-05-06 at 9:23pm:
  I completely agree with eric. The episode is captivating, and in my opinion the aliens are thoroughly creepy with all their clicking and whatnot. Very disappointing to see them not return. This episode was a breath of frsh air from that crap with troi and scotty.
• From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2006-05-21 at 3:20pm:
  When Riker, Worf, Geordi, and Troi are in the conference room discussing their shared experience, pay attention to the "ordinary" woman in there. The writers gave her one of the worst lines in the history of TNG. Her line was "yeah, cold." The way she says almost ruins the whole scene.
  
  When they step into the holodeck, she has another bad line, "yeah, it was long." It just seems like she was pasted onto the scences at the last minute.
  
  
  
  
• From JennyDaTrekkie on 2007-08-03 at 12:12pm:
  Although this episode was engauging at the time, and I really enjoyed the holodeck sequence, I feel the 'inteligent cliffhanger' merely made the episode seem unrewarding and pointless.
  However, I found the episode worth watching just for the use of the holodeck and Data's helarious attempt at poetry.
  
• From DSOmo on 2007-10-11 at 7:34am:
  - When Riker first goes to Crusher complaining of tiredness, she finds nothing physically wrong other than muscle tension. She then wonders out loud that his problems might come from REM sleep deprivation. In "Night Terrors," Crusher said that this condition causes a unique chemical imbalance in the brain, and she is able to verify that crew members have this imbalance. If she really suspects dream deprivation, why not just check for the chemical imbalance?
  - In the last captain's log of the episode, Picard reports that all crew members are "safe and accounted for." He must have an interesting definition of the word "safe" because one of the abductees, although "accounted for," is dead!
  - Since everyone in the group remembers a table of some kind, Troi asks the computer to create a conference table. Geordi responds that the table is too high and orders the computer to lower it. Then, Worf says the table should be tilted. Instead of tilting the conference table, the computer replaces it with an entirely different table! Then Riker says the table should be metal, and the computer replaces the angled wooden table with a metal examination table. At no time does anyone ask for a different table design, simply modifications to the current design, but the computer takes it upon itself to start from scratch every time.
  - Everyone in the holodeck agrees that the aliens' examination table was tilted. However, when the episode finally shows the aliens' lair, the tables are flat.
  - After Geordi makes his modifications to the sensor array, the computer reports a massive explosion in Cargo Bay 4. The next shot shows the emergency team "rushing" to the scene. Did I say rushing? More like strolling!
  - When a crew member reappears after an abduction, Worf reports his quarters as being on "deck 9, section 17." However, when Crusher needs a plasma infusion unit for the stricken crew member, she tells her medical technician to bring the unit to "deck 9, section 19."
  - Just before Riker makes his desperate dash through the closing subspace hole, he grabs a fellow crew member. This action pops his phaser loose from its holster, and it falls to the floor. Once Riker returns to the Enterprise, the phaser is back! Yet at no time does Riker stop to pick it up.
• From JRPoole on 2008-09-11 at 6:11pm:
  This episode is more genuinely creepy than any of the Halloween-y episodes or ghost stories that Trek sometimes trots out, and it’s one of the best stand-alone episodes of the series.
  It’s not truly great in the same way that, say, “The Inner Light” is, but it’s still good solid sci-fi.
  
  The only thing keeping this one from a 9 for me (10 is reserved for story-arc episodes and really exceptional stand-alones) is the weird random lady mentioned above. She’s cozying up to Picard at Data’s poetry reading, and their body language seems to indicate they’re pretty familiar, then she shows up to deliver those incredibly stupid lines like “cold. It was cold,” that some of you have mentioned. What in the world is she all about?
  
  The other-universe aliens concept is great. My only question is what Data mentions at the end about the aliens’ cells being salanogen based. WTF does that mean? I love the way this one ends in mystery, and I also like the lovely little ensign who’s been manning the helm for the past few episodes and gets taken by the aliens. I give it an 8.
  
• From IUU on 2010-02-13 at 3:11pm:
  Trivial continuity note: Dr. Crusher *prescribes* a hot milk toddy, and ascribes the recipe to Picard's Aunt Edell.
• From Quando on 2011-08-24 at 12:05am:
  I was frustrated that everybody kept dogging on Data's poetry, suggesting that they should pretend to like it just to be nice. I thought it was brilliant and wanted to hear more! Whoever wrote that should get a gold star.
• From Percivale on 2011-11-10 at 2:00am:
  Great episode. Skilfully creepy.
  
  One comment: I always find it funny when characters get impatient when the computer doesn't understand their incredibly vague commands. Usually it's Geordi - the very adaptable, technically minded engineer - as demonstrated in the holodeck scene of this episode, when he's talking about the lighting. Calm down, dude, and just tell her how much light you want.
• From lumzi23 on 2017-03-16 at 9:00pm:
  This episode is great. The whole concept of alien abduction in the 24th century is great. It is excellent and clever.
• From Shrub on 2019-10-24 at 7:18am:
  I have an issue with the hot milk toddy in this episode. In the episode "Cause and Effect", Picard shares this recipe with Dr. Crusher, however the ship is destroyed in this loop, and the recipe is not shared in the following loops. I suppose it is possible that she could remember the recipe, but it seems unlikely that she would remember that specific detail. It's also possible that the recipe was shared between these episodes, but I find it odd that it would be shared twice within a year when it had not been shared in the several years prior they spent on Enterprise.
  
  Just a thought.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Dejan on 2007-12-19 at 11:39am:
  How could they communicate with the alien with no communicator? ;-)
• From hmad on 2010-06-09 at 5:44am:
  Well obviously voyager's prison guards had them in some way, ya hairsplitter.
• From thaibites on 2014-05-22 at 8:17am:
  This episode has to be the writers' ultimate fantasy - not only is it a holodeck episode, the alien ship has holodecks everywhere! The writers must've been creaming in their pants while they were writing this. It's like mega-mega hoo-haw holdeck extravaganza. How can they top this? How about a wormhole full of holodecks, and each holodeck leads to another wormhole full of holodecks, which leads to another...
• From tigertooth on 2016-10-08 at 6:38pm:
  Paris and Torres in the frozen world: the acting, makeup, set design... pretty much everything looked so fake. I never believed for a second that they were even slightly chilly. And when they phasered the ice above the aliens to make it crash down on them? Ooof. Awful.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Dio on 2009-02-05 at 5:17pm:
  This one got a 9 from me, really enjoyed seeing the young officers trying to fill roles of mature officers. After hearing about "Luna" I wanted to see a shot of it, perhaps to see the girl reunited with her family, oh well. Still, very well done and one of my favourites!
• From MJ on 2011-01-31 at 4:56pm:
  The most interesting scene in this episode to me is when the escape pods are leaving the Valiant. We're used to seeing escape pods get away successfully in Star Trek, but the Jem'Hadar ruthlessly target and destroy some of the pods; others don't get away in time and are consumed by the exploding ship. I think this scene was reinforcing the brutal dose of reality these cadets got. It's as if their mistake was pursuing them even in the end, denying them of the chance to learn from it.
  
  But all the other lessons about the cult of personality, the arrogance of youth, and the danger of the group mentality are aptly explored and upheld here. Nicely done episode, including some interesting moments between Jake and Nog.
• From Christopher Wright on 2012-01-19 at 1:53am:
  I agree with the other comment how it was a dose of harsh realism to see escape pods being destoyed, but having only one escape (the one with our heroes) was a little too contrived. Anyone else wonder why the secret battleship even allowed their pod to survive? I mean was the dominion captain like, "oh well, we missed that pod with one torpedo, better let it get back to federation space with knowledge of our top secret ship."? Other than the plot holes like that a very well-acted and entertaining episode.
• From McCoy on 2017-03-03 at 4:44pm:
  Hm... J.J. Abrams obviously didn't saw this episode before filming his first Star Trek film. If you give a ship to cadets, you can expect nothing more than a disaster.

No fan commentary yet.

No fan commentary yet.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Roth Mantel on 2009-03-16 at 8:37am:
  One of the things that troubled me throughout watching this episode was that even if Ilon is correct in his legal claim that the relevant Federation treaty with Klaestron IV authorizes the unilateral extradition of a federation officer with no notice to her commanding officer--which seems quite odd itself--it still surely does not authorize them to use violence against federation officers (Bashir) in the process, nor does it authorize the sabotage of the station's tractor beam.
  
  Since the manner in which Ilon attempted to execute the warrant surely violated either Federation or Bajoran law (probably both), it seems to me that they could have held him on the charge and delayed extradition proceedings at least until Klaestron IV sent another representative to pursue the matter through the Bajoran government. Not only would it have been sensible to pursue the charge to deter future sabotage, but this would have created a much more effective delay than a mere extradition hearing with the Bajoran arbiter.
  
  Also, Sisko asked Kira to investigate any relevant legal precedent, but we never heard back anything. That seems odd--I can hardly imagine that the issue, or at least highly analogous issues, have not been resolved before on Trill. Perhaps we heard nothing more on the subject because it wasn't useful for Sisko. Furthermore, tThe "expert" on Trills either doesn't know or nobody bothered to ask!
  
  Otherwise, I though the episode was pretty average. Dax's obstinate refusal to cooperate was irritating, even if it was explained at the end. I also thought that Anne Haney did a wonderful job playing the Bajoran arbiter.
• From Sheriff__001 on 2009-08-23 at 7:35am:
  I found the grounds for extradition entirely absent. The question is broached poorly in the episode, but the initial argument was correct: the defendant named on Tandro's warrant was already dead. Jadzia Dax is not liable for any of the actions of her previous hosts (meaning that others may believe she is, and Jadzia Dax may believe herself obligated but she is in fact not obligated).
  
  I cannot believe that no one thought to ask if Trill law covered such a fundamental question. If there was a Trill equivalent to the Bill of Rights, it would surely say that no joined Trill is liable for the actions of a symbiont's previous joinings.
• From Bernard on 2009-11-23 at 12:06am:
  An interesting episode that brings up an intriguing question about Trill society. Unfortunately the question is never really answered adequately because it turns out that Dax is innocent anyway. Luckily they return to similar themes later on, but not regarding Curzon but Joran.
  
  On the positive side though we learn loads more about Trill society, Dax and even Sisko.
  
  I find it difficult to accept criticism of the way the Jadzia character is played since she is consistantly played in her serene, relaxed manner upto this point in the series. The writers seemed to make an active decision to write her differently around the season two episode 'Playing God'. But this Jadzia came first! I found her to be within character at this point in the series and that aspect of this episode was believable. Another steady episode.
• From Jeff Browning on 2011-10-11 at 5:50pm:
  Again, speaking as an attorney, the idea of "unilateral extradition" is utterly ridiculous. If we are to accept the Federation as being a more evolved version of our own society, how much sense does it make to sign a treaty that authorizes a foreign law enforcement officer to violate the law? There is absolutely no precedent for this in any international law.
  
  Further, as others have pointed out, since the treaty did not apply anyway (DS9 being Bajoran, not Federation, territory), Sisko could have simply clapped Ilon in handcuffs and thrown him and his goons into the brig. Not doing exactly that is simply spineless, and does not accord with Sisko's character.
• From Wes on 2012-11-20 at 10:20pm:
  I guess they didn't have the have the wardroom (or hadn't found it yet) by this point. Thus, they resorted to using Quark's for the trial. This was just a bit annoying, but somewhat understandable. Just interesting that this would have been a great time to introduce the wardroom, but they just didn't think of it. Another trial/hearing took place on DS9, Worf's, and it took place in the wardroom.
• From Bronn on 2013-06-11 at 1:33am:
  Just realized. The person turning 100 years old at the beginning of the episode is Keiko's MOTHER. That means she was at least 60, unless you buy Keiko being over 40 at the time of this episode (Rosalind Chao was 35 at the time). Medicine of the future, I guess.
• From Dstyle on 2013-09-03 at 5:57pm:
  I can't believe all of the negative reactions to this episode! The purpose of this episode seemed pretty clear to me: a deeper exploration and explanation of what a Trill is, at least in DS9. I found it very useful in that regard, especially since the Trill species we see in DS9 is very different from the species we previously saw in TNG: The Host.
• From Damien Bradley on 2013-10-02 at 7:59am:
  Poor Dax. Swore an oath to secrecy and bound by honor to keep it. (Later season spoiler alert: even though it's pretty annoying, but she definitely proves herself worthy of Worf, honor-wise.)
  
  I agree with the criticisms about the legal issues here. Unilateral extradition does not mean illegal entry/assault/kidnapping. It would mean "hello, I am so-and-so, I have come to claim so-and-so by order of this warrant." Annoying to see Sisko not throw the book at the intruders. And Trill society would have determined guidelines for legal ramifications of previous hosts' crimes long ago. And Quark's being the only appropriate venue for a hearing? Come on! There would have been dozens of conference rooms, not just the single wardroom that somehow hasn't been discovered yet.
  
  And yet, somehow, I still kind of liked this episode.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Abigail on 2009-03-15 at 1:11am:
  I had a really hard time getting over the ethical problems that I felt this episode had. I was not necessarily opposed to the idea of creating another being who only lives fifteen days in order to save Trip. I was opposed to forcing him to give his life to do so, which Archer clearly showed that he was going to do. ("Even if it means killing you!") I don't feel that Sim gave his life voluntarily. He noted that one reason he opted not to escape was "Where the hell would I go?" He shouldn't have had that lack of option. He should have been allowed to live out the rest of his life (albeit very short... or perhaps longer) on the ship.
  
  The idea that Trip had to be saved in order for the mission to succeed was a bit absurd to me, too. First of all, if Trip had just died, that means that all hope would be lost for their mission? That seems silly. And with another being with all of his memories and abilities on it, it's even sillier. If you watch the episode with commentary, the writer says about Sim's delimma, "Would you give your life to save billions? Most people would." Sorry, but I'm not convinced that Sim saved anyone except Trip by dying. I don't know why Archer and everyone else seemed to see the mission as a failure without Trip around.
  
  The commentary in itself is a little odd. The writer has a strange perspective, in my opinion, which is maybe why the episode itself sits so poorly with me. For instance, he says that to him, the episode is not about cloning; he was more interested in examining a being whose entire life span is seven days. It is about that, of course, but it seems much moreso about an ethical delimma. It seems like the writer didn't notice the delimma. To him, there was only one possible outcome. To me, that outcome is not acceptable.
• From Pete on 2011-01-06 at 2:50am:
  I agree with Abigail's commentary. I found most aspects of this episode to be morally offensive. In fact, it is fair to say that the episode disturbed me. All the morals were backwards. The eulogy at the end felt fake and creepy, given that Captain Archer had mere hours earlier told him to his face that he was prepared to kill him--essentially that Sim's life was objectively worth less than Tripp's. How can any person's life be worth more than another's?
  
  If Archer and Phlox were living on Earth NOW, they would certainly be tried and convicted of crimes against humanity for their actions in this episode. And this is supposed to be "the future"?
• From Kyle on 2012-07-07 at 4:48pm:
  Great Episode! I think it's pretty clear how much Archer and Phlox were struggling with their decision. But as Archer said, it was all about the mission: "Desperate times call for desperate measures".
  As for the importance of Trip, sure, sometimes the role of someone can be exaggerated in movies or tv series. But in this case, Earth only had Enterprise, and Enterprise needed Trip (as Archer said). When Trip is on Columbia (season 4), it's clear how important he is. Or when Archer is ill (twilight), when things start to fall apart. It can be true in real life. Sometimes only a certain doctor can perform a certain surgery. The Bulls wouldn't have won anything without Michael Jordan.
• From Zorak on 2016-10-09 at 11:02am:
  An even more moving episode then Twilight, indeed. Contrary to a few things I've read from other people, I feel Trip is the strongest and most likeable character on this show. Early on it was T'pol, but they've degraded her character too much and Trip overtook her a while back. That being said, I was definitely concerned to think they killed him off here.
  
  The actor that brings us Trip gave another compelling performance as Sim. I also really liked the actor who played Sim as a kid (the one flying the model starship). They did a fine job making Sim relatable and sympathetic.
  
  A fantastic episode.
  
  However, the thing that stands out for me most is the possible long term implications of Archers development. Archer is not a man with the highest of moral codes. He's a giant immature space baby who thinks every issue is black and white and his side is always righteous and pure. The show constantly rewards this behavior and lauds him as bringing justice to the galaxy.
  
  By now making Archer desperate and giving him an "anything for the mission" attitude, perhaps they are setting the stage to drop the ridiculous pretense that everything he does is morally justified. I don't even care about the actual morality of his actions anymore. That ship sailed long ago. I just want them to stop insulting our intelligence by trying to convince us that he is right.
• From McCoy on 2017-07-24 at 9:53am:
  I know almost from the beginning that Archer is a hypocrite and moron, this opinion won't change:) Now I have another antihero in this series - Phlox - he's just future Mengele, amoral and purely evil. First denying to help whole species, because of cruel darwinistic babble, now this - creating a sapient being just for ripping of part of its brain. What next? Making a soap from aliens? He's disgusting...
  Jim! I'm a doctor not a murderer!
• From Rick on 2019-03-06 at 12:21am:
  I think the above commenters are underselling the importance of Trip and this mission.
  
  You really think that four days of a person's life is worth risking the death of 10+ billion people?
  
  Of course in a vacuum it is a morally and ethically wrong decision. As Archer said in an earlier episode, "I cant let my morality get in the way."
  
  He is right.
• From Urdomen on 2022-04-21 at 10:02pm:
  Only a few episodes ago he self-righteously proclaimed: "I can't try to save humanity without holding on to what makes me human.", and now he openly supports a procedure that is forbidden by the very society it originated, and considers murdering a sentient being without regards for its wishes or inherent rights because he deems its life less important than that of another. A better Starfleet captain once asked, how many people it would take, admiral, to make it wrong. If only he had been there.
  A part of me wishes that Sim had refused to undergo the operation until the very end, and that Archer would then have to be forced to show his true colours. That then would have been the end of me watching the show at least.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Abigail on 2009-04-20 at 12:28am:
  These two episodes were very intriguing! I loved the continuity with TOS -- the ship (of course), the Tholian web, the gorn (although he looked and acted nothing like the TOS gorn). I also loved the opening credits! It caught me completely off-guard!
  
  I do have one pretty big complaint ... It was very odd that the crew of "our" enterprise never came into play. Despite its intrigue, it felt a bit like a waste because it has nothing at all to do with the rest of the show, plot-wise. I kept waiting for them to bring in "our" characters! Because of this, when it was over, I felt like it needed a part III.
• From peterwolf on 2012-10-04 at 9:54am:
  Two more and mirrored heavy arguments why the 4th Enterprise season was so amazing. The first two seasons I saw only dubbed in German after watching it now on DVD, but I still liked the characters of T'Pol and Captain Archer. For example, characters like Reed you can only really appreciate in the original version. Anyway, the last two seasons of Enterprise were so much better with their continuous plots and unblievable great topics and good stories leading to TOS (like Andorian and Vulcan "history")! In fact, the decent, closer to real life characters were great then, overall much better than Voyager. Sheer madness to cancel this series!
• From Dstyle on 2015-11-04 at 2:44pm:
  I was really disappointed that the two Vulcans who helped T'Pol release Captain Forrest in Part I didn't have evil Mirror-Vulcan goatees, so I'm glad to see Soval was at least sporting one!
• From Luke on 2016-07-27 at 8:37am:
  There is a HUGE continuity problem here - if the ship from our universe was the USS Defiant, and it was build along time before DS9s Defiant, the why wasn't the one from DS9 the -A?
  
  It shouldn't matter that it was the first of class - in fact I don't think they would reuse a name for the lead ship of a class in the same was the lead Sovreign wasn't the Enterprise.
  
  Of course, DS9 was made before ENT, but still it's another small yet irritating continuity problem.
• From Temlakos on 2016-08-15 at 9:47am:
  The numbering of USS Defiant NX-74205 is in no way inconsistent with the numbering of USS Defiant NCC-1764. The only reason for the A, B, and C designations for the Enterprise is that Starfleet honored Captain Kirk by retaining the original NCC number of his ship, and adding A, B, C, etc. for each successive iteration. Consider the real-life naming of multiple ships named Enterprise in the United States Navy. (With another one--USS Enterprise CVN-80, the third Ford class carrier--already in the graving dock, if I am not mistaken.)
• From McCoy on 2017-08-01 at 2:23pm:
  I like everything related to TOS:) Shame that upcoming Discovery doesn't look like true retro sf (looks quite opposite, sadly). However I see one continuity problem here. If they managed to get Defiant, why they didn't improve technology over time? Kirk visited his mirror Enterprise, not some advanced vessel. So Terran Empire just keep building Defiant-era ships with no upgrades over 100 years? Unlikely:)
• From Azalea Jane on 2022-01-06 at 10:16pm:
  Hats off to the production designers. I thought they blended TOS and ENT designs seamlessly. Reminds me a little of the Tribble episode in DS9. Though they didn't recycle footage for this one, they still had to have sets and costumes that bore close enough resemblance to TOS without clashing. For me it really helped bridge the gap between eras a bit. We all just have to collectively pretend that the Duplo-looking controls on the Defiant are more advanced than those on the NX-01!
  
  Hoshi's last-minute coup was quite surprising to me, too! Especially with it ending right there. Mirror Archer was much too much of an egotistical hothead to handle being an emperor! Sato, on the other hand, knows the value of patience and subtlety, and letting your enemies underestimate you while you take advantage of their weaknesses. I agree the Gorn subplot was kind of random. They catch him, then just kill him, and that's it? Oh well. I also thought that gravity trick was pretty clever - I wonder why we don't see that more often!
  
  One could call this two-parter irrelevant because we don't see them interacting with "our" universe characters, however I think it was pretty cool to see the aftermath of what we see in The Tholian Web. It does raise the question of why mirror Terran technology isn't more advanced, but my guess is that Mirror Sato never let the Defiant be studied or reverse-engineered and that it eventually got destroyed when enough of her enemies got wind of it and the threat it posed. It is technology from far in the future with a too-small crew. It's eventually going to be too unwieldy.
  
  I don't think it's an error that we've seen two ships called Defiant. The first Defiant was lost over a hundred years before the second one. There's no chance they'd be confused.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-06-03 at 5:52am:
  - Removing water from the crystal life form kills it. There is no salt water in the med lab. Shouldn't it have died as soon as it left the planet?
  - The woman terraformer told the away team that the planet has a balanced day and night. How does the crystal survive on the surface of the planet at night?
• From CAlexander on 2011-03-06 at 11:09pm:
  Until the discovery of the microbrain, this episode was great. But I totally agree with you, I was annoyed by the lack of continuity. It wasn't just that they were surprised by the inorganic lifeforms, but they kept repeating over and over how unbelievable it was. And it wasn't just the Horta they were ignoring, but a long history of energy-based lifeforms. "Lonely Among Us", in the same season, featured a life form more alien then this; if it isn't even composed of matter, it certainly isn't organic! Equally annoying is that the technobabble about the capabilities and limitations of the organism is full of inconsistencies, such as those noted by DSOmo.
• From Jeff Browning on 2011-09-19 at 11:46pm:
  Huge science problem. Geordi states that the light pulses from the microbrain consist of "positively and negatively charged ions". Light consists of photons. Ions are made from normal matter. Light cannot consist of ions.
• From Inga on 2011-12-23 at 1:48pm:
  -Why didn't Geordi switch off the power when Data was attacked by that laser drill?
  -Why did everyone leave the med lab when the aliens first tried to communicate with them?
• From Azalea Jane on 2021-07-11 at 5:33pm:
  I'll always appreciate this episode for the phrase "ugly bags of mostly water."

No fan commentary yet.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Zorak on 2016-09-25 at 5:52pm:
  I liked this episode. I really liked this episode. In a lot of ways, this is what Star Trek is and should be.
  
  However, like every episode of Enterprise there is always a moment when things start to unravel and stop making sense. 9 times out of 10 it is due to Archer, and this episode falls into the 9 times category. Putting aside Archers decision to turn the ship around (I'm just going to ignore it), it's his absolutely convoluted and ridiculously complicated plan (that never should have worked) at the end that made me have to roll my eyes once again.
  
  Instead of getting into how ridiculous all the theatrics were and that the Mazarite captain fell for a trick a 5 year old wouldn't fall for, I'm just going to point out one thing. The second the Mazarite captain boarded Enterprise it was checkmate. Archer won. With him on board the Mazarites had no leverage. It was over. The fact that they let the Mazarites keep their weapons and let the whole drama unfold was ridiculous. Just once I'd like to see consequences to such incompetence.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Tallifer on 2011-05-14 at 7:03pm:
  Mountain and cave climbing are two of the easiest and most boring ways for producers to pad any episode or movie. (And car chases, fortunately only Star Trek: Nemesis subjected us to that one)
• From Dstyle on 2015-10-05 at 8:19pm:
  Centuries ago, before this episode occurred, humans discovered that the best way to explore caves was to do so while wearing a helmet, preferably with a light source attached, so that your head would be protected and the direction you are looking would always be illuminated. Shame that hard-learned lesson didn't get passed down to the twenty-second century.
• From Zorak on 2016-10-04 at 9:43pm:
  I'm just going to have to respectfully disagree with this review. I think this was one of the worst episodes they've done. Cheesy, utterly predictable from the start, cliché and the stalest and most overused of all social messages. Star Trek is at it's best when it goes outside the box and shows us something new or at least has it's own spin on something. This was a tired old rehash that could have been (and has been) done on any/every other show.
• From Subcommander T'Obummer on 2023-02-23 at 4:27pm:
  I gotta say, 28m dead sounds like a lot, but for an interstellar conflict between who knows how many planets? And then 300 years later the guy wants to refuse treatment and die for it? I don't think so. I mean we had wars on earth where single nations had that many dead.
  Voyager did this story much better.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-05-22 at 8:23am:
  Some overall comments about a couple of things I noticed while watching TNG (and continued on to the next Star Trek series):
  1) The inconsistent use of the communicators. Sometimes they touch the combadge to begin a conversation, sometimes they touch the combadge to end a conversation, and other times the communicators are never touched.
  2) The "don't give a straight answer" syndrome. Picard will ask a direct question and the most common response will be, "I think you better get down here and see for yourself." This syndrome isn't limited to the TNG, I've seen it in the other Star Trek series and even other TV shows.
  
  At the beginning, Picard calls Deneb IV a planet at the edge of "the great unexplored mass of the galaxy." The station there is named Farpoint Station. In other words, it's located out in the middle of nowhere. Yet the Enterprise picks up several of its officers there AND the USS Hood brings an aging Admiral McCoy to visit the Enterprise. So it's common practice for Starfleet to send officers all the way to "the boonies" just to visit another ship? It's not like the Enterprise picked up its officers at a midpoint somewhere. Farpoint Station isn't on the way to anywhere!
• From Bernard on 2007-09-16 at 7:28pm:
  May I say firstly that this site is excellent, your thorough attention to all star trek series' shows how much time you have put into this, kudos!
  
  I remember the first time I watched Encounter at Farpoint, I was 7 or 8 years old and I was fresh from seeing Star Trek III for the first time. I had seen little bits of the original series on re-runs so only had a general feel for that series not an in depth knowledge. But I was excited about this new series
  
  I was engrossed in The Next Generation from the first five minutes of Encounter at Farpoint, the excitement and newness seems so tangible in my memory even now. Of course I have watched it again many times as a kid, adolescent and now adult and I realise that it isn't the greatest episode of star trek ever made but it will always be special remembered through the eyes of a child
  
  As a side note, John de Lancie is remarkable as Q and I'm glad he became a recurring character throughout TNG, DS9 and Voyager
  
  
• From Michael B on 2009-12-20 at 2:12pm:
  As you say, the acting by Patrick Stewart and John de Lancie is indeed very good, and I also thought both Beverly and Will Wheaton to be believable, but the rest of the cast come off as amateurs. Eric Bana, in an interview about the latest Star Trek film, talked about how good the acting was in that film, and that they accomplished it by not letting the weight of their responsibility of upholding the canon rest on their shoulders. He said that when an actor does that, they freeze up. There are many "reaction shots" in this episode, and most of the actors look like a deer caught in headlights when asked for a reaction. I think is is mostly the job of the director to give the actors room to be comfortable, and I think it is one of the flaws of a television show such as this that the actors have no time to bond with a director, and develop a relationship of trust, since the director changes every episode. The acting certainly gets better as the series progresses, but I wonder if it would have gotten better faster, if they were given good, consistent, direction.
• From CAlexander on 2011-03-26 at 5:06pm:
  I'm finding it difficult to review the first half separately from the second half, but I do have an issue for the problems section.
  - The timing of Q chasing the Enterprise is odd. The Enterprise flees, and Q almost immediately follows. Several seconds later they announce that he is gaining on them, and he continues gaining for quite a long while. It is hard to believe he hasn't already caught them by now. Then they fire photon torpedoes, and it seems Q is way behind them. Eventually they separate the ship and turn to face Q, and the Enterprise waits for some time before Q arrives. Where has he been? Did he hit a stop light?
  
• From Amiable-Akuma on 2017-06-01 at 12:03pm:
  It's not hard to convince me to give this 2-parter a 10 out of 10 review due to it being "the first", something that led to a major resurgence of sci-fi of it's ilk, nostalgia, and more.
  
  I love how flamboyant to the point of being near-insane that Q, Picard, and even Tasha Yar are with their line delivery sometimes. Yar's moment of "This so-called court should get down on its KNEES...!" is super memorable. It all adds up to strong random entertainment value and campy fun.
  
  I agree that the saucer separation/reconnect stuff is more boring but I wouldn't cut it either. That stuff looks great on blu-ray to the point it reminds how cool a well-done live-action "multi-section mecha-robot in space" series might one day work.
  
  All the shots introducing the bridge, engine-room, and aspects of ship overall are uniquely interesting as is our basic introductions to these characters period.
  
  -at first I didn't understand Picard's complaint about a ship full of children, I thought he meant figuratively, that his adult crew are still "children" in his mind due to being untested on a new voyage/etc. That that is what he wanted Riker's help with, lol. Now I kinda dig it though, that they wrote that in, 'cause I get sick of kids too in real life, hah.
  
  -check out how well-built Worf is during the "blast a hole through the viewscreen" scene, the whole cast seems in great shape in this particular ep.
  
  -I love how Q's visage says "You are dilatory", just a cool, intriguing moment/diction
• From Encounter at Obamberg on 2023-04-15 at 3:57pm:
  When Data is in that tree on the holodeck, he acts like Lore!

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Jens-Ivar Seland on 2009-07-18 at 5:41pm:
  Come on! Don't you thionk it's a "problem" that Odo's knocked unconscious by a blow to his "head" ? :)
• From Bernard on 2009-12-01 at 10:22pm:
  Okay, this episode has quite a few flaws such as Odo being knocked unconscious and Odo piloting the prisoner back into the gamma quadrant alone!
  
  It does provide a different angle with which to view Odo though. It also seems to have an emotional impact through the storytelling. I love the final line of the episode. I also love that the writers obviously thought their casual made up name for Odo's 'people', changeling (first heard in this episode) was really quite good so continued to use it as seasons two and the rest continued.
  
  I gave this a 5... unfortunately we now head into a run of mediocrity with the next few episodes...

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-05-28 at 1:33am:
  I think that for these data dream episodes, the writers employed one of their teenage sons that trips out on acid all the time. The dream sequences are so extremely bizarre, I'm glad I've never experienced something that messed up.
• From Robert Koenn on 2011-06-23 at 11:35am:
  I could only give this episode a 3. As the previous comment said, dream episodes in Star Trek tend to be quite bizarre and surrealistic and I suppose that throws my senses off a bit. I particularly dislike the warped camera views but that only happened briefly during the dream sequences. It was interesting that the dreams meant more than simply Data's imagination developing strange scenarios but were actually tied into this alien presence. However where these "creatures" came from, the lack of the prime directive in dealing with a new life form, and just general plot line seemed a bit absurd to me. Sometimes I know that just to develop a new episode the writers obviously search for a plot and a few times these plots have been quite poor.
• From thaibites on 2012-12-19 at 3:21am:
  I thought this was one of the better episodes. It's nice to have some surrealism instead of soap opera. It was a little like that 80's movie Videodrome.
• From Rob UK on 2015-02-25 at 10:25pm:
  For me this episode falls flat on it's arse for one reason the unrealistic character representation in the way of Geordi, throughout all seven seasons he has less pussy than Data's cat and here he has some hot young ensign throwing herself at him and he is acting like she is an annoyance that he doesn't have time for
• From CAlexander on 2019-04-08 at 6:02am:
  I like the intent of this episode, setting up a major mystery and a minor mystery, and solving it by figuring out the symbolism of Data's nightmares. But I find the end product doesn't come together that well, it's just OK. It hurts that the final solution is pure technobabble and most of the symbolism just isn't that important.