Genesis

The people who have problems with the science and plot-holes of this episode specifically (instead of the science and plot-holes of all of the other episodes) are the fans the Simpsons would make fun of, nudging their glasses up their nose and hoping someone got fired for their blunders.

This episode is a departure from anything philosophical or deep that the other episodes provide, and instead is just FUN. I always welcome these episodes to break up the season's tone and just do whatever they want.

Sure it's not realistic, sure it's got plot holes, but you know what it also has? A well-executed change of atmosphere, well directed build-up, and just a unique, Twilight Zone-esque journey through some space silliness that, at the very least, is a joy to watch the crew indulge in as its last crazy-hurrah of the season.

I do not envy anyone who can't voluntarily put aside their elitist fanboy-ism of a serie's tropes and universe and just take something at face value, for they probably don't get much entertainment from much else.

As if the writers run out of ideas in the second half of the 7th season.

The show's prologue involves Lt. Barkley acting like a worried whiner in the sick bay. Dr. Crusher gives him something for a fever. After the credits, the Enterprise soon becomes a mess! Slowly the members of the crew begin devolving into lower life forms. Fortunately, the Captain and Data are not aboard and when they do find the ship is a very sorry state, they set about correcting this problem.

This is a mildly entertaining episode. While it was pretty cool seeing the cool primordial makeup on a few crew members, a few things seemed odd. Shouldn't many of the crew members have been eaten by some of the more aggressive changelings? And where is all the manure and territory that the creatures would have 'marked'? In addition, the show never became enthralling...only interesting.

By the way, Data the living computer made a mistake in this one! He used the term 'de-evolution' whereas the correct term is 'devolution'. Look it up if you don't believe me.

The title says it all for me. These guys know that the "powers that be" do not want to pay the high salaries of seven year veterans for another season, that they can go cheaper with "Deep Space 9" and the soon-to-be-released "Voyager." So, with the light at the end of the tunnel, why worry? The series has been picked up for a full season, and it's too late to cancel the six episodes that remain.

Let the makeup people have some fun. Cut back on the writing talent, and above all, just shelve the science books for a week. Maybe this episode with pick up a cult following like the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" or something.

Better yet, while the first and second seasons were really not that hot, STTNG has never really made a total stinker like Voyager will do with "Threshold," or STTOS did with "Spock's Brain," among others. So it's time to make one so horrible, it will be remembered forever.

Except I had forgotten it. My wife remembered bits and pieces, though it was scrambled. She though that Troi would turn into a spider (she didn't; someone else did), so I'm sure we had seen it together. But my subconscious, protecting me, had erased it totally from my memory, but after watching it a second time, said, "Sorry, Bud. This time you have to live with the memory forever." So here I am.

But it's not the end of the world for me. I actually dozed off in my chair for about 5-7 minutes of the story, and had to ask my wife what had happened.

So many STTNG episodes will be with me forever, treasured and watched again. But I have marked this one mentally. I will never watch "Genesis" again. I would watch "Spock's Brain" first.

No extra words needed, best character on the Enterprise.

He should be on series 3 of Picard.

He Rocks and Rolls and I'm running out of words to say.