Trek On: Shades Of Gray

Title: Shades Of Gray

Airdate: 07/17/1989

Plot Summary

Riker gets stuck by an alien plant called “an excuse to have a clip show.”

Make It So

Picard is magnificent in this. His argument at the end is amazing and compelling. Patrick Stewart has shown he’s a good actor in this show, but here he gets a script that really allows him to shine and show what a master he is. You can’t look away.

Number 1

Jonathan Frakes plays William T. Riker. Unlike Picard, he takes some time to settle into his character. Over time he would become a much more jovial guy, someone who could find amusement in the unlikeliest of situations. He’s fiercely loyal to Picard and to the crew. He just needs some facial hair on that baby face. Maybe they’ll consider it in future seasons.

Fully Functional

Data is pretty much the only one who’s suspicious of Lore. I actually kind of liked that. In any other story he would be the one most forgiving as this is a possible link to his past and brother and the rest of the crew would be suspicious. But his unemotional state allows him to be more objective about Lore, calling him out on his lie about who was built first.

Even so, he doesn’t do enough to let everyone know and stupidly allows Lore to poison him.

Today Is A Good Day To Die

This is Worf’s episode. We see he hasn’t much contact with Klingons, though he longs to be with them in a many ways. He has to kill Korris and is not happy about it, but much happier than letting him be executed.

Phase Inducers

Geordi takes command of the ship when Riker, Picard, and Data are on the planet. I don’t know if that technically makes him third in command or just what was necessary in the moment. He does a pretty good job for his first command and doesn’t even get sick! He handles leadership very well.

Counselor Cleavage

This is mostly Troi’s episode, with her unwillingly going to get married to a total stranger and having to deal with losing Riker and her career.

Doctor Not Bones

Pulaski is slightly less abrasive in her Data racism. She makes a friendly bet with LaForge that Data doesn’t have the capacity to be able to solve a mystery he doesn’t know the answer to. She gets captured by Moriarty. One wonders if she changed her view on Data after seeing new life come to be right in front of her.

Security Chief Dead Meat

And now we come to the episode that inspired my header for Yar. She starts out talking with Worf about a tournament. He shows such confidence in her that he’s placed a wager in ship’s betting pool. She’s touched by it. Unfortunately we never find out how she does since Armus kills her without a second thought early in the episode.

We get her message to her shipmates in a recorded message in the holodeck which comes out nice.

Shut Up, Wesley

Wesley is front and center this episode and it really redeems his character a lot. This is probably the first time I really liked him. His uncertainty about the test, his talk with Worf, and his revelation about himself was all great.

Guinan?!

Guinan gets a bit of backstory here. Her homeworld was overrun and destroyed by the borg. She wasn’t there but she’s clearly afraid. She even takes up the role of old man telling the teens don’t go to the cabin. Turn back, Captain.

Enlisted Man

I will have this for O’Brien as he’s more and more having moments in this show. Here he has a nice discussion with Riker, scoffs at Geordi being all butthurt about the inspection, and attends Worf’s ceremony.

Canon Maker

This is the second time Riker will be offered the captain’s chair. It won’t be the last.

We find out a little of Riker’s upbringing in Alaska, that his father is well known and liked in Starfleet, and a little about Riker’s mother, namely that she passed when he was a child, though that was mentioned in the last episode.

Flaherty, who is unseen, speaks 40 different languages. Among the races we know like Klingon and Romulan, we get a couple of new ones: Giamon and Stroyerian.

12 years ago, the Federation was still in conflict with the Tholians, telling me they are still around. Sometime between The Tholian Web and now, the Tholians and the Federation were in some sort of war, or at least low level conflict.

Canon Breaker

I find it not credible that you need put a phaser on kill to stop someone who has a parasite just because they have adrenaline. A phaser on kill can vaporize you, I don’t think adrenaline could fight that.

Speaking of phasers, they have stun and kill settings. What the fuck setting is it to blast all the skin off the face and then make the head explode?!

A Little Bloody Nose

18 people died when the Borg pulled out a small section of the saucer like a cork from a wine bottle. This is the episode that inspired my heading for this section.

Technobabble

Dragging a ship into the atmosphere is a great way to nullify a cloak.

We get what I think is a great use of starship separation. Here they take off away from the planet to get close to a starbase, separate, send the saucer to continue on to the starbase with the civilians and children, and then take the stardrive section back to battle. This makes a ton of sense and not sure why they didn’t do it more.

Please Repeat Your Communication

Picard: I understand what you’ve done here, Q. But I think the lesson could have been learned without the loss of 18 members of my crew.

Q: If you can’t take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It’s not safe out here. It’s wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it’s not for the timid.

–Picard understandably upset but an unmoved Q gives a blunt response.

Library Computer

Thanks to going overbudget on some episodes, Paramount held the production to their original budget. This means that we get this clip show episode to save money.

What It Means To Be Human – Review

Yes it’s the clip show episode, so you get clips of my past reviews. If they aren’t putting in effort, neither am I.

So we got a much better season, though still not up to the quality we will be getting. There are some bangers though with Peak Performance, The Emissary, and Elementary Dear Data. We get Q-Who, a 5 star episode and the true classic of the season, The Measure Of A Man, a top 10 episode in all of Star Trek.

Unfortunately we also get a lot of stinkers, like Manhunt, Unnatural Selection, and The Icarus Factor. And the while the rest are hit and miss, there are still some gems like The Royale intermixed with bland nothing like The Dauphin.

Of course we end the season like a turd hitting the sidewalk with Shades Of Gray. But the gems are there and we really are finally starting to see what will be coming. The introduction of the Borg and Worf’s story with K’Ehleyr will have last ramifications over the course of the show. The lore is starting take shape and it’s finally disengaging from it’s TOS roots and starting to become it’s own show. Season 3 awaits!

And unfortunately will be awaiting a while, as I am moving in December, which sounds like a long ways away but there’s a ton to do between now and then and a cross country move is a lot. If it looks like I got things squared away, I’ll see if I can start in October, otherwise it might be in February. Sorry guys!