We'll Always Have Paris

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:

This episode was embarrassingly bad at the time and hasn't aged well, either.

Why did the crewmembers, confronted with a potentially universe-ending, race against time, interdimensional phenomenon, spend so much time talking about their feelings?

Why on earth did Michelle Phillips agree to do this piece if she felt so uncomfortable in the role?

Why did Patrick Stuart, who has the skills to romance a cardboard cut-out convincingly should he feel so inclined, turn in a performance so completely devoid of charm?

The screen realisation of the Cafe Des Artistes was about as Gallic as plate of cold French fries and an insult to the Parisians of any century.

Best forgotten.

(Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5)

I must have been between 8 to 10 years old when Star Trek: The Next Generation first aired in my country. It became for me, as for so many others, a pillar in one's growing up and throughout life. I might have rewatched (rather: binged) the whole series about 20 times.

This episode is, in my honest opinion, misunderstood by lots of people, including the writers themselves. Making such a comment is quite bold, not to say filled with hubris, so please allow me to elaborate.

Reading the trivia and comments, there's a lot of focus on the love story, but I believe that this, as far as a story that wants to be told, was only the setting for the main events. The central story was dealing with time, gravity, and the distortions caused by meddling with them. It was dealing with the construction of space, time, and reality.

Similarly to "Where no-one has gone before", where there are several side-stories; Wesley's being ignored and then vindicated, Kosinski's arc from arrogance to humility and being needed, even Picard briefly getting a visit from his past. These stories are there to support the main event, they are there to bring depth, illustrations, metaphors and examples to the main event. The main event is about the fabric of reality, and the teasing notion that space, time and thought are connected.

I like to view this episode in a similar way. The main event is about time, gravity and the construct of reality. And the love story is a supporting arc. Unfortunately, the main event is shadowed somewhat by the side-story, as even the people involved (writers, producers, cast etc) focused more and got distracted by the love story and forgot about the grandeur of the main event. But the central story still stands out and I shall forever be fascinated with the turbolift incident, and of course the climactic ending where Data saves the day.

One of my favourite ST:TNG episodes, almost 40 years down the line.

What am I even watching here? Picard has a boring ex-girlfriend with a sleepy new husband? It has something to do with time loops, but not really, they never really get into it? Beverly is bummed out, for some reason? Also, at one point Jean Luc says to Data, "Well, Data, I'm gonna ask you to put a stitch in time - and save much more than nine", so that's not great. The set for Dr. Manheim's lab is cool tho.

This TNG story has the Enterprise racing toward an isolated planet where experiments in the space/time continuum are screwing up space and time, big time. Thousands of light years away the Enterprise is feeling the affects of these ripples in time.

There was a disaster at the experimental station and all were killed except the head scientist Rod Loomis and wife Michelle Phillips. She's an old flame of Patrick Stewart and the usual unflappable Captain Picard is having a hard time concentrating on business.

In this case good thing StarFleet's only android Data is part of the crew. Unaffected by the ripples he's the only who can do the job of repair.

Not a bad story. Of course Data does it or there wouldn't be a next week episode. Or our future descendants just wouldn't be.

I just watched this episode and i can barely remember what happened. Picard didn't go on a date once and he regrets it? Yawn. A potentially interesting rift in time is barely shown or used before being easily fixed? Wasted premise. Worst of all they turned Paris into "Space Paris". Ugly buildings right in the center. Ugh.