| We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| "The Naked Now" | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 10 2005, 09:35 AM (156 Views) | |
| Fesarius | Jun 10 2005, 09:35 AM Post #1 |
|
Admiral
|
TNG: "The Naked Now" - June 8, 2005 Stardate 41209.2. The Enterprise is making a rendezvous with the science vessel U.S.S. Tsiolkovsky, which has been monitoring the collapse of a "red super giant star into a red dwarf." Once they arrive, they open communication, and hear what appears to be the sound (according to Data) of an emergency hatch being blown open as well as what to them sounds like a wild party. Riker, Data, Geordi, and Tasha, beam over and find all of the crew dead. Then they access a visual recording, which is emitting garbled images. Ten people are found frozen (dead) in Engineering. It looks eerily similar to how people on Psi 2000 met with their demise in "The Naked Time" (from TOS), right down to the frozen color and texture left on the bodies. We are shown that Geordi contracts the space sickness first--and when he does, we hear a somewhat recognizable sound effect which accompanies victims while they are contracting it. It's not precisely the same sound as we hear in TOS, but it is similar. Riker reports to Picard that all eighty people are dead. Meanwhile, the data from the collapsing star is gathered, and the transporter is set to maximum decontamination. When the away team beams back to the Enterprise, Geordi has brought back some kind of contaminant. It is the same one that infected the U.S.S. Tsiolkovsky. (We later find out that it spreads from person to person via water; this is similar to what occurred in TNT as well, but with some minute differences.) Geordi is checked over by Dr. Crusher in Sickbay. He is noticeably irritable, even snapping at her when she asks him a question. He is confined to Sickbay as a precaution. Riker, who has been reading various histories of ships, asks Data for any reference to people who 'shower with their clothes on.' His memory of such an event is vague, and it will take Data several hours to track down what it is Riker is trying to find. (I found it interesting that in the 24th century such a search would be as time-consuming [several hours?] as it is. It seems to me that combining keywords such as shower, clothes, and synonyms for acting strangely would have retrieved results rather quickly. But the point is made that the starting point is much too general. It may also be that *too many* results were retrieved initially.) Geordi leaves Sickbay without his communicator. Picard institutes a ship-wide search for him. Geordi visits Wesley (he seems to like Wesley's science project), and he gives Wesley the space sickness next. (N.B.: It is interesting to note that Wesley has taken snippets of Picard's voice from several conversations, and taped them together in various orderings. As such, Wesley, for his own amusement, can retrieve selected sentences of Picard allegedly giving orders for various crewmembers to 'report to the Bridge' by using these snippets.) Geordi asks Lieutenant Yar to help him 'see' better (meaning that he would like normal vision). He explains to Yar that he cannot only see well with the visor, but that he can see much better than most people. However, he takes off his visor, and explains that he wishes he could be 'normal' with regard to his vision. The contamination apparently acts on the mind like an intoxicant. Once Riker recalls that it was a history of Enterprise ships that he had read about, Data uses the keywords Enterprise history and aberrant behavior, and then employs medical cross-referencing. He zeros in on the reference to Kirk et al. shortly thereafter. After reading what Data has retrieved, Picard contacts Sickbay, and the following (excerpted) conversation takes place between Picard (on the Bridge) and Crusher (in Sickbay): "Including a cure" (Picard). "Are you certain Captain?" (Crusher). "Absolutely" (Picard). This is somewhat of an odd exchange. When Picard says "Absolutely," Data turns toward him slowly, and gazes at him suspiciously, as if to doubt him (although Data says nothing, and certainly does not question Picard's judgment this soon in the series). More probably, it was Data thinking that there is no way, given the evidence thus far, that Picard could have known that a cure was imminent. Picard probably thought that since McCoy had found a cure for it, that it would be as easy to do so here. I took this to mean that the Captain had been infected, but I don't believe he had been at this point. This is why I believe the excerpt to be an odd one. McDoogal is currently the Chief Engineer. Picard calls her away to report to the Bridge. We soon find out that it was not Picard who did so, but rather Wesley, using the aforementioned taped snippets, who called McDoogal away from engineering. Wesley then infects 'Jim' (apparently the assistant to the Chief Engineer). After a slight break (there would have been a commercial here), we hear that Wesley has taken over the engineering section. Stardate 41209.3. Data is ordered to escort Yar to Sickbay. Yar relates to him that she was five when she was abandoned, and fifteen when she escaped. We later find out that the two of them, at Yar's insistence, were somewhat intimate. After Data comes back to the Bridge, we know that he has been infected as well. One of the funnier scenes has him leaning his right arm against a surface right behind where he usually sits. The only problem is, someone forgot to tell Data that air is not a surface in the usual sense, and he falls completely over--a very funny scene indeed. Once Data has his faculties together, he goes to engineering to begin to reassemble the chips. He knows (and we are told) that he will not have enough time, even at his speed of reassembly. He believes that he could have finished if he had had one more minute. Wesley begins to 'see' the solution in his mind, drawing off his theoretical model (the one that he demonstrated to Geordi much earlier in the episode). Reversed fields are the key to saving the ship, but in order to do this, Wesley would need about 100 times the power than that exhibited by the model. The repulsor beam gives them the push off and the extra time that they need, and they barely get out of the way before the meteor goes sailing on by, just missing the ship. It is remarked that Wesley helped save the ship, and as a result, ought to be mentioned somehow. However, there is no mention or commendation in this episode (although we know that it will occur in future episodes). Notable lines: "According to our medical readouts there is nothing wrong with him." (Crusher) "The entire crew managed to kill themselves, Doctor." (Picard). "Why is it so hot in here, anyway?" (Wesley). Wesley is the second person (after Geordi) to have mentioned the temperature as being too hot. This is one of the first symptoms that someone may have been infected. "Acting Captain Wesley Crusher." (Wesley). This is quite a funny line, and reminds me of the line later in the series when Kern is participating in the officer exchange program (Riker went over to a Klingon ship, and Kern later comes over to the Enterprise as First Officer, both in different episodes). Kern spouts, "Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher!" "So many minds on this ship ... all free." (Troi). She is overwhelmed with sensing far too many minds during this space sickness. "I've never seen a rainbow ... sunset ... sunrise." (Geordi). "The formula from the older Enterprise didn't work." (Crusher). "You have lost the capacity for self-judgment." (Picard). "What the hell is happening in engineering?" (Picard). Right after this line is spoken, a wonderful segue occurs, which shows 'Jim' playing with the computer (I believe they are isolinear) chips as if they were dominoes. "What we're seeing Sir is a huge chunk of the star blown away ... heading toward us." (Worf). "Why not just see it in your head?" (Wesley). "Did he say Wesley? ... the boy?" (Worf). "I'm only going to tell you this just once. It never happened." (Yar). The ship continues on to its next mission: Warp 3, heading 294, mark 37. |
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| captain_proton_au | Jun 10 2005, 06:00 PM Post #2 |
![]()
A Robot in Disguise
![]()
|
I hate this ep, probably the most annoying Wesley ep |
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| Franko | Jun 11 2005, 01:21 AM Post #3 |
|
Shower Moderator
|
Gee, Fes. Your synopsis is more exciting than the episode. :lol: Admittedly, this is a bit of a lame episode, but it did bring back memories of the original series. Actually, I like the part when Data returns to the bridge after tucking in Yar, where Picard says, "Data. At least you're still functioning." Data (is that a wry smile?) "Perfectly, sir..." |
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| Fesarius | Jun 11 2005, 08:51 AM Post #4 |
|
Admiral
|
Franko, Thanks. I'm just writing what comes to mind as I view the episodes.
|
| Offline | Profile | | Quote | ^ |
| « Previous Topic · The Next Generation · Next Topic » |





2:00 PM Jul 11