Star Trek The Next Generation: Encounter at Farpoint (First Watch: S1E1)

Season recap is coming (later)

Death/injury count: red shirt (lt torres) frozen.  Security Chief frozen and re-thawed.  Bandi (?) city?  Well, Groppler was either disintegrated or transported.  Same thing if you don’t go the extra step of reassembly, really, but.

I don’t know why this seems more underwhelming of an opening—oh, hey, I think we played this in our band class.  Before I appreciated it.  sadface.

What is even play—oh.  Thanks for the title screen. That came just in time.

Is there legit no sound in space, er, on this starship?

I like that they chose an older Captain for this.  I mean, I know what Picard looks like, at least, and used his infamous Facepalm for a class powerpoint, but.

…uh.

…no sound.

Apparently there is sound in space.  It just cut out at some point.

Also that reminds me, no subtitles on.  Fix.

Okay, that’s so much less weird.

…how…why did you say Riker’s name like that??  Picard, what are you doing?

First impressions: Data is a naïve Spock.

I don’t think gumshoe is a synonym there.

That’s…the Betazoid?  Deanna Troy maybe?  I like her hair.  People on TV don’t often have frizzy hair.

Well, I know that sound.

Sure that’s not a Tholian web?

I don’t like that bridge design.

Didn’t anyone try to turn this ship around??

Oh, the Q.  You’re. uh.  Much different than I imagined.

…why is Picard, a Captain, a red shirt?  Or maroon, really.  that probably means that blue-shirt Captains exist too.

You’re forgetting the whole Nazi Planet incident, but still.

Yay, Klingon.  Friendly Klingon.  From the Brute Squad.

Security Chief is female.  And…wearing yellow.  Uhhh.

Ugh, disc issues.

That’s only one very limited view of humanity.

Do they still issue awesome boots, though?

Families?  Oh, huh.

Looks like the answer is a yes.

Hey, Vulcan kid.

That’s a lot of torpedoes.

No sound?  Again???

Oh, Security Chief wears pants.  I didn’t even notice because it seemed utterly normal.

She’s scared.

They didn’t play music this much in TOS, which means here it seems really melodramatic.

This must seem so alien to them.  Once you get far enough, the past doesn’t seem real.

Data.  Was that a joke?

…what did you hope to accomplish?

Well, if that’s how you react with any good points against you…

Humans are best described as contrarian.

No, we’re not perfect.  We are nothing like perfect.  But we try.

Actually, guilty until proven innocent is a thing in the Japanese legal system.  Wanna know why?  It’s because charges aren’t brought until they are 99.999999% sure the person did it.

Well, it seems you’ve already handed down a verdict.

Data can mimic voices.  This feels like it will become important info later on.

You’re just playing with that platform to make yourself feel superior.

Are you going with “who are you to be judging us?” because that’s a fair question.  I mean, if they can’t demonstrate that they’re so much better morally/ethically

I don’t see how it could be worse by trying, and this way we at least have a shot.

By the way, yes, Picard, if you’re wondering, if your previous commands have been normal, a command on the Enterprise is entirely going to be anything but.

I wouldn’t be too worried about Riker.  Unless he’s more than he seems, he wouldn’t have noticed.

Well, so far he’s interesting, and he’s not being a nuisance to Dr. Crusher.  We’ll see if that continues.

Weeeell that’s AWKWARD

Do they not choose their Firsts?

There’s that line.  Pretty much the only things I know about this season are memes.

Well that’s even more awkward.

Well he doesn’t have the charisma.

That look of ‘we’re all doomed’ yes good.

Oh come on!!!

The scratching on this disk is nuts.

This isn’t a well-oiled crew.

Are those grey eyes?  Wait, Data has gray eyes too.  That’s unusual.

INERTIA IN SPACE YEEEEESSS

….does everyone on this crew have grey eyes.

Why does the cg look worse here?

Tea!

It’s possible, yeah.  But also you might be Kirk and just get off on the danger.  Well, moreso being interrogated, seriously, the number of times he flirts with people interrogating him…

No, Picard has brown eyes.

Man, you’re a completely different kind of leader.  Now, I wouldn’t really like to meet Shatner, persay, but I’d serve under Kirk for sure and just chat his ears off about obscure ancient books and movies.  You?   Reserving judgement, but you’re less the kind of leader I’d want for now.

I like the ceiling, but in general it feels like just this massive room with some stuff shoved in.

It just feels like this is just one big infodump.  But that’s okay.  Star Trek Renegades (E1) felt exactly the same way.

WHAAAT BONESSSSSS???!!!!

*laughs*

“You treat her like a lady and she’ll always bring you home.”  Got that right.

Shooting that is not quite going to work.

You have all the time in the world.  Why would you?

You swear more than Kirk.

FISH TANK!

I mistyped her name.

What.  You both have some psi ability?

Empath then?

Was that a joke in…bad taste?  (eating others?)

Galaxy?  The saucer section thing?

Your computers are being sarcastic again.

Why was adm bones even there?

Not used to holodecks either?

Adequate is a low bar.

Seriously? Idiot.

You don’t set it up and then pay it off in the same episode.  That kid’s why Picard can’t deal.

…uh-wait.  Kidnapping?

There we go with the ‘who are you’ thing, which I asked a ton of time ago.

Is that Q or the alien ship, or are they the same thing?

Seriously?

I got it.  Picard, why?  They were keeping someone prisoner.  I figured that out, like, 900 years ago.

Q, how many times recently have they used phasers on stun to capture enemy lifeforms?

Seriously why would commenting be bad?

Is the future more militaristic?  Or is it just Picard?

…..you’re trying to throw the results.  Q, you’re nothing more than a bad bookie.

“If you’d earned that uniform you’d know that the unknown is what brings us out here.” –Picard

That’s pretty.

What if it’s its brother or sister or cousin or whatever.  You don’t know.

You didn’t wait until the all-clear “everyone’s off” alert sounded.

A stay of execution because you can’t deal with the fact that you lost?

Oh, it is.

That’s reassuring.

“Oh no, I’m sure most will be much more interesting.  Let’s see what’s out there.” –Picard