TNG: Evolution
September 29th, 2003 at 9:50 pm (Trek Talk)
Watching TNG: Evolution was in the words of Yogi Bera ‘like deja-vu all over again’. TNG: Home Soil felt like a complete recycling of the original series “The Evil in the Dark” and Evolution felt like they were yet again bringing the old plot out, wipping some of the dust off and recycling it for yet another round of ‘lets see if we can communicate with these creatures that we did not even recognize as sentient and are threatening us, but have just as much right to live as we do’. On the plus side we do get to see Westley, the wonder boy, Crusher fuck up AND loose it, giving him a bit more humanity, and we get the beautiful and talented Gates McFadden back.
heathcliffe said,
September 30, 2003 at 6:53 am
I agree, this is one of the episodes where the writers put a lot more subtlety and realism into Wesley’s character, allowing more people to enjoy this episode. I also thought it was interesting, the tension between him and his mother, which they could so easily have let slide in favor of some dumb Prime Directive speech on the bridge.
However, I don’t feel that this falls under the ‘Recycled from Moth-Ridden Scripts’ category. For one thing, it was too well done to feel really Original. I grant you, the ‘who-knew-they-were-sentient’ trick is much overused as a plot device, but this episode gave it a completely new spin. Overall, I felt this episode struck well on the main fronts: characterization, plot, pace and denouement.
dyingofluv said,
October 1, 2003 at 7:30 am
how can people like it that Wesley is f%&*ed up in this episode and then hate The First Duty, where the circumstances are far more interesting.
Diane Gibson said,
October 1, 2003 at 4:17 pm
For my part, I can’t help wondering about when it cuts to the ship’s interior, and the camera slowly goes around, showing us the lab. One of the first things that we see is this sign that says ‘Stand By’ and I always expect the rest of the sign to say ‘Me’ as in ‘Stand By Me’, and the very next thing the camera shows us is Wesley. I can’t help wondering if this is some sort of Stand By Me reference.
Leopoldo, are you by any chance, going to review ‘Hollow Pursuits’?
Leopoldo said,
October 1, 2003 at 7:47 pm
I like it because for the first time Wesley becomes a human being and not the boy-wonder.
Leopoldo said,
October 1, 2003 at 7:49 pm
Good eye for the Stand By reference. The writers of STNG loved in jokes so it is very likely that this was done on purpose.
I probably will review Hollow Pursuits once I get further into Season 3.
Diane Gibson said,
October 2, 2003 at 10:36 am
All I have to say is they better not say anything about Leeches on Star Trek anywhere…or is that why Felix Leech was named that?
I’m kind of paraniod about Stand By Me references, can you tell?