Pros: Generally the best episode of the first season
Cons: Too much New Age philosophical claptrap for my taste
The Bottom Line: This is by far the best and meatiest of the first-season episodes, recommended for TNG buffs as well as those interested in the issues the episode presents.
Kidnykid's Full Review: Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 6
This episode of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION is aptly entitled Where No One Has Gone Before.
A Starfleet engineer, Kosinski, and his putative sidekick come on board the Enterprise, allegedly to help the chief engineer of the Enterprise improve its warp drive. When the experiment begins, however, the crew finds itself hurtling millions of light-years away; were the crew of the Enterprise to use state-of-the-art technology to get back to where they were originally, they would be destined to die aboard their ship.
While in this alien galaxy, the crew members find that whatever they think becomes reality. Capt. Picard finds himself talking to his departed mother, then finds himself almost sucked out into outer space. And so it goes.
The only character to find out exactly what is going on is Wesley Crusher, who is watching Kosinski's assistant. The assistant, an alien, turns out to have the English name The Traveler (his name, as pronounced in his native tongue, would be unpronounceable in Federation Standard, so he doesn't even bother to give anyone a clue about it). The Traveler tells Capt. Picard, out of earshot of young Wesley (apparently so he doesn't get a swelled head), just how talented Master Crusher really is. In fact, only a few brains that gifted are ever even conceived in the first place, or at least the Traveler implies this.
The crew of the Enterprise eventually does get out of this mess (I can't say how, or else you won't buy the DVD version of this program), and the Traveler, having established a bond with Wesley, promises to return for him.
I first viewed this episode on Halloween of 1987, and this plot is just strange enough to fit in on that night devoted to scaring the living daylights out of people. In fact, it took me several viewings to get the details of the Traveler's speech about Wesley down pat. This is one of the big faults of this episode - that the Traveler is either so advanced or so New Age in his philosophical orientation that it is difficult to understand what he is talking about.
The other big fault is that speech of Capt. Picard's at the end - something about thinking happy thoughts. That alone struck me as way-out-there New Age in the sense that it implied that there was no such thing as physical reality, and that everything was illusory.
On the plus side, it is by far the best-written and best-acted episode of the first season of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. It provides much fodder for discussion if one is of a philosophical or spiritual bent.
I'd recommend this episode not only for ST:TNG fans, but for those who are interested in discussing meaty philosophical issues without worrying about sounding or acting like a geek.
Recommended:
Yes
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older
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