A Fistful of Datas

It's and ongoing joke with my friend Chad but this tough Klingon character is often put down by what ever threat comes aboard the Enterprise. Very funny that he's not very macho for a Klingon. I would have been pretty ticked off if I was that actor. I mean come on. Let him do some UFC knockouts just to give him street cred in the galactic travels. I feel for ya Worf. They didn't write your character very well and it only gets worse for you once you are off the Enterprise and involved in some sort of political position. Very lame to say the least. Keep trying old boy and someday you'll lift that victory belt.

Alexander talks his father, Worf, into using some time off to go back to the "ancient" West. That is, they go back to the Old West as a Sheriff and his deputy. At first, it is easy, because he simply punches out the bad guy. But Alexander doesn't like it because it is too easy. So they up the odds by making the holodeck program more sophisticated. Unfortunately, as often happens, a glitch occurs in engineering and they are left to fend for themselves. Also, all the bad guys begin to look like Data because it was during the use of his positronic brain that all this took place (he was wired to the computer and images of him are being sent to the holodeck). What occurs is a predictable shootout between Worf and the data/father of the young gunfighter that is in jail. There is one really good line. I'll paraphrase. The bad guy looks at Worf and says, "Is that your face or was your mother scared by an armadillo." The great humor is watching Worf use his stuffy dialect to speak to the characters. It is such a contrast. Back on board, Data begins to act like a stereotypical movie cowboy. Great fun. Deanna also plays a gunslinging woman who is just as formidable as the others.

The Enterprise is awaiting a rendezvous so Geordi and Data decide to experiment with the ship's engines interphasing them with Data's neural net. Big ,mistake, as the old adage says, if ain't broke don't fix it.

Worf and his son and Counselor Troi are in a hollowdeck program from the old American west where Worf is a sheriff and Alexander his deputy. The safeguards go off and the other characters start looking like Data.

This was a little more light than most TNG shows. Michael Dorn slowly gees int the spirit of the west and Bent Spiner does an Alec Guinness like gallery of characters.

One not to miss.

The Golden Age of Star Trek: we had the 6th Season of The Next Generation and the 1st Season of Deep Space Nice on our televisions, Generations on view in our cinemas and First Contact due out soon. This season of TNG contains some excellent stand-alone episodes and several spectacular two-parters, with only the occasional make-weight. Despite the length of time it had already been on the air, it still represents some of the highest standard of television Science Fiction ever broadcast.

Oh dear! The holodeck has broken down again. Let's all have fun with another ridiculous premise because fresh ideas are in short supply. Well, now I've got that out of my system I'm going to admit that I am as fond of this episode now as I was when I watched it with my young children giggling all the way through, first time around.

If you can get over the "pastiche of a pastiche" Sci-Fi/Old West genre mix and Marina Sirtis's dreadful Western accent, and if you can suspend your disbelief for long enough, you can enjoy some great jokes and entertaining performances. For anyone who can't, it isn't worth getting hot under the collar about. The Kirk-era Original Series was not above raiding other series' sets and costumes, after all.

Brent Spiner gets some of the best lines & costume changes but it is Michael Dorn, as the gruff Klingon gradually being sucked into this fantasy at the behest of his son, who's delivery is close to perfect.

Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5.

This episode (like many other of the worst Star Trek episodes) is bad not because of its poor acting or nonsensical storyline, but because the plot is completely devoid of substance. The key moments of this episode (of which there are few) lack any weight or important, and are resolved immediately and seemingly without any result or consequence.