You thought I forgot all about Star Trek didn’t you? How dare you sir! After an unexpectedly long hiatus, I am here to report I’ve reviewed two more episodes from season 7 of Next Generation, Dark Page and Attached.
Dark Page features Majel Roddenberry as Lwaxana Troi, and for once she’s not annoying. She is helping facilitate the transition of a new telepathic race into the Federation, and along the way we learn she had another child, Deanna’s older sister, who died tragically as a kid. Whoa. Deanna ventures into Lwaxana’s mind after her mom lapses into a coma to find the ‘dark page’ of her life.
This is an episode featuring one of the first appearances of Kirsten Dunst as an actress. This is also the final appearance of Deanna’s mother on TNG, and she does a better than average job. You may not know that Majel also stars in three episodes of DS9, or that this is one of only three episodes where nothing is shot on the bridge. Check out this and more by reading my full review.
Dark Page isn’t a great episode, but it’s still a bit better than Attached. In this episode Picard and Beverly are kidnapped by one of the civilizations on a world seeking entrance to the Federation. They have implanted with devices in their skulls which allow them to read each other’s thoughts, and after breaking out of prison they make their way to safety while learning A Lot About Livin’ And a Little ‘Bout Love, as Alan Jackson would say.
What’s sad is that the B plot, Riker dealing with the annoying Kes and Prytt, is actually more enjoyable to watch than the generally uninteresting plot A. You may not know this episode was written by Nicholas Sagan, the son of famed astronomer Carl Sagan. You may also not know this is the last episode that Picard wears his captain’s jacket–that’s right, he discards it and it’s gone! Learn a bit more about this episode by reading my full review if you like.
That’s it for this time. I’m sorry it took so long, I need to dedicate about three solid hours of my day to review an episode, and that is tough to come by for me these days. Still, I have an idea, and I may be able to crank them out more reliably in the future. Next time I’ll be reviewing the awful Force of Nature, followed by Inheritance. Keep checking my pages as Force of Nature will be up and available for viewing before I post my next update.