Coming of Age

In this TNG story the Enterprise is hosting a few visitors. Admiral Ward Costello and his aide Robert Schenkkman are on board, but the Admiral won't tell Patrick Stewart the reason for the visit. In the meantime Schenkkman who is an officious little twit goes around the ship poking his nose into a lot of places that don't concern him. That has the crew really annoyed and Jonathan Frakes duly reports said annoyance to the captain.

I think the subplot is stronger however. Commander Robert Ito and a few candidates for StarFleet Academy are also on board and the Enterprise is used as a training exercise field. That offers no advantage to Wil Wheaton who is one of those candidates. Some really interesting tests are given the candidates, especially the last one for Wesley Crusher who is reminded of the great family tragedy in his life.

Nicely done with both Costello and Schenkkman returning in the future in the same characters.

Enterprise faces an internal review and Wesley goes through Starfleet recruitment tests.

This is a strong episode with an excellent story and a number of great character moments.

The story has two interesting plot threads that are similar in theme and unfold superbly with the lead characters coming together at the end for a nice moment of reflection. Another strength is that it displays good continuity with other episodes with a number references that help the Star Trek universe feel connected.

Several characters have moments to shine. Picard is especially strong as he displays great leadership throughout and one incredibly cool moment that impresses everyone.

It's enjoyable to see Riker's hostility to outside inspections. This is written in a way that brings out his pride in Enterprise and extreme loyalty to Picard.

Other crew members have solid moments under interrogation, such as Dr Crusher, Data, Troi, Worf and Geordie. These scenes are very well done, particularly the ones that seamlessly transition between each other.

Certain aspects of what happens are slightly predictable, but for me it does not diminish the level of entertainment.

The visuals are quite effective with some great makeup effects and costuming of one character. There are some action based moments that work well. The strongest aspect of the episode is the editing as there is a perfect balance between the two plots and generally great pacing.

Performances are great with Patrick Stewart and Will Wheaton leading their character arcs well. All the series regulars such as Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Brent Spiner, Marina Sirtis and LeVar Burton contribute well.

Writing in 2021, it is great to see that I am not the only person taking a retrospective look at Star Trek, the Next Generation. When this series was first released in 1987, a little less than twenty years after the end of the Original Series, many people thought that, without Captain Kirk and his crew, it couldn't really be Star Trek. However, original creator Gene Roddenberry, was fully invested in the casting, writing and overall look of the new series, so let's see how it shaped up:

Coming of Age: a classic interweaving of two stories, neither of which were thought capable of standing up on their own. I'm not so sure.

The hostile inspection by a slightly creepy Star Fleet representative was clearly meant as a forerunner to Conspiracy, aired later in the season. By jettisoning the B story and having the new Captain and crew admit to the occasional mistake or lack of confidence, this episode could have been made to feel much more ominous.

On the other hand: Wesley's competitors were an interesting bunch and the tests they were put through properly challenging. Certainly, this too could have made an interesting stand alone episode. We know now that young Mr Crusher went on to fail to get into Star Fleet on multiple occasions, then got involved in an ugly conspiracy that cost the life of one of his classmates, quit Star Fleet in a huff towards the end of the series and then, mysteriously, fetched up back in uniform in the film Nemesis. I hope the other recruits did better.

(Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5)

It took 18 episodes but finally TNG *works*. Wunderkind Wesley at long last becomes a real boy. Picard really shines as both as a leader and a substitute father. And while the whole "mysterious threat" thing has been overplayed and makes you roll your eyes nowadays (see: JJ Abrams mystery box), here it is a detail, not the entire focus. Plus there's an actual payoff which isn't awful. Those were the days...

"Coming of Age" is an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" that is very transitional in nature. In other words, it concerns events that will SOON be unfolding. Because of that, you might not enjoy the episode so much until you learn more about what REALLY is happening. In one plot, Lt. Cmdr. Remmick and Admiral Quinn later appear in "Conspiracy"--and exactly WHO they are and WHAT they are doing finally becomes apparent. Here in this particular episode, however, their goals are unclear and the pair are involved in some sort of loyalty investigation--and it comes off a bit like the investigations during the so-called 'Red Scare' of the late 1940s and into the 50s. The other plot involves Acting Ensign Crusher going to take the Starfleet exam. While Crusher does not yet enter the academy, this will take up quite a bit of the show later--when he is absent from the ship and a few episodes involve his academy life.

Despite not having the answers, this is a very good episode and when seen as a whole, they are excellent and should be seen by fans. Well worth seeing and well written.