Lonely Among Us

Indubitably...

This is actually a rather interesting episode although from the way we know that the transporter "technology" developed, The solution to this conundrum was probably not viable...

What makes this episode of note is that it is Mr. Data's discovery of Sherlock Holmes, The beginning of his lifelong interest in the character.

Plus he was actually, literally, smoking a pipe...

I thought the Anticans and Selay we're pretty interesting and funny with the Anticans preferred live game targets. Also, we have Miles Edward O'Brien walking the corridor is wearing a gold shirt, he started off wearing a red shirt.

After season one we never saw aliens of this type much, they pretty much stuck to humanoids with weird noses or foreheads, etc. I thought the Anticans rather hilarious, being totally disgusted with replicated meat- "Barbaric" as they called it...

Mr. Data used Holmesian detective techniques to figure out what was happening, and who/what was responsible.

If they had given just a little bit more details about the energy conundrum, it could have been a very interesting episode.

As it stands it is simply amusing, worth watching a few times.

Later on we learn that the Enterprise while passing an energy cloud has taken on a being that exists as pure energy. It goes from being to being in the ship's crew and eventually it's Captain Picard on whom it settles as the host, obviously sensing this is the guy in charge.

As if this wasn't enough problems two delegations of aliens are on board who hate each other are being transported to Federation HQ to apply for membership. They are Commander Riker's responsibility if he can prevent them from killing each other.

The climax of course is separating Patrick Stewart with what is inhabiting his body. It's a close run thing.

This episode also introduces Data to whom he adopts as a human role model, Sherlock Holmes, pipe and all.

When I watched "Lonely Among Us" again, I was surprised at how crappy the look was of the show. The graphics for the planet looked poor and the costumes of the snake-like and mouse-like aliens were very poor (stiff and with unmoving mouths). This is NOT to say the show was awful--but through the course of the series, they sure got better!! Think about how the Andorians looked in the final series, "Enterprise"--they were BRILLIANTLY made and seemed like real aliens. So much we have come to expect with costumes is the result of earlier efforts like "Star Trek: The Next Generation".

The Enterprise is escorting two really annoying and aggressive enemies to a conference--no easy feat. However, when they come near a giant cloud in space, a new and far more serious problem develops. Soon, an electric shock attacks Worf and it passes to various crew members--and even kills Mr. Singh*! What's worse is that eventually the electric shot hits the Captain and he begins giving seemingly irrational orders.

This is a pretty decent episode--even with primitive costumes and graphics. I could easily looked past this. However, I could not look past a portent of dumb things to come-having Data acting like Sherlock Holmes. This plot is just awful and would lead to one of the worst episodes of the series--the one where Moriarty takes over the ship. So, we have an interesting plot, a dumb subplot and some odd graphics compared to later ones. A mixed bag, but worth seeing if you are a fan of the series. If not, I say try another episode instead.

*This is VERY sad. This was a great opportunity to FINALLY include an Indian crew member and they kill him off!! The show tried VERY hard to be ultra-politically correct yet they somehow killed the guy. Sad, but at least they'd EVENTUALLY bring on crew members like Dr. Bashir in "Deep Space 9".

Enterprise encounters a cloud of energy that has an unusual affect on some crew members.

This for me was a poor example of a Star Trek 'possession' story, that has a decent concept but is fairly tedious in its story telling.

First for the positives. I like how it's starts with a decent early exchange between Picard and Riker about Earth societies divided over God concepts and economic systems. The main sci-fi concept regarding the non-corporeal being is a good one. I also liked Picard being commanding and pushing his staff hard for answers. Also Data doing his Sherlock Holmes impression, although silly, is pretty funny.

What I struggled with was how slow and predictably the main plot unfolds. This is contrived storytelling at its most painful, to stretch out an episode and at the same time it makes characters look silly for failing to see what's going on.

As for the sub-plot, it again feels like padding and the terrible make-up and costumes seem worse when it is for the sake of something so uninspired.

The visuals are fairly good outside of the costumes, but the tendency to film everyone from low angles on the bridge continues to distract me.

Patrick Stewart gives a strong performance as always and Brent Spiner is great.

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:

In this episode we see the classic "two stories in parallel" motif with (a) an alien cloud-like entity hitching a ride and getting stuck in the Enterprise computers and (b) some comical aliens intent on eating one another rather than engaging in more conventional diplomacy. The presence of Dorothy Fontana on the writing team ensured that it kept up the pace and made sense, and the prosthetic team and guest actors excelled themselves.

Senior Trekker liked the character of Assistant Chief Engineer Singh, played so sympathetically by Kavi Raz and would much prefer to have seen him stick around than be so casually killed off. Otherwise, this was a sound establishing episode much appreciated by fans and toy-makers alike.

(Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5)