Where Silence Has Lease

The Enterprise encounters a space phenomenon unlike anything else the Federation has discovered, a mysterious void which fails to register on any scanners. After investigating a little further, the void envelops the ship and plunges the crew into a nightmarish trap.

Yes, it's another godlike entity treating the Enterprise like a play thing but unlike Q, this one is a bit more secretive and a bit less enjoyable. Still, it at least has some of the old TOS spirit about it and seeing Worf go slightly mad in fun, if a bit beneath the character. A decent mystery that generates a bit of tension for a while but its conclusion feels a bit of a let down. Personally, I was hoping it was the monster Worf spoke about...

Enterprise enters a void in space where the crew experience strange events.

This is a difficult episode to review as it's hard to know if the writers are taking it seriously or not. I will take the assumption that it's meant to be serious and consider it an entertaining episode for being so bad it's good.

The story is another God-like being v Enterprise and contains a lot of comically bad scenes of dialogue, visuals and performance.

Everything from the fantastic 'hole' related dialogue near the start to the final scene is hilariously entertaining. The abuse directed from Pulaski to Data feels ridiculously forced, then we have a break with long periods of the bridge crew slowly pondering and speculating about the 'nothing' appearing on the visual screen. I do not recall seeing actors standing still and observing blank space for so long.

That especially bad scene with Riker and Worf on the Yamoto is comical. "Is this the same bridge? Or did we step from one bridge..... to another bridge?" Worf is one of the best characters in the franchise, but this episode presents poor characterisation.

Then we have more bad dialogue and body language back on Enterprise. Picard's response to Dr Pulaski's suggestion they are in some kind of laboratory is as bad as Pulaski's reaction to Nagilum.

The death related discussion towards the end is bizarrely philosophical for something that up until that point is so random. I maybe overthinking it, but the whole episode struck me as some kind of strange meditation on the meaning of existence and the nature of reality.

The visuals are mostly forgettable, particularly the Nagilum effects which resemble a sort of creepy, dark version of the Teletubbie sun. Although considering the amount of bridge time the camera moves effectively enough to prevent it from feeling totally static, which is good work by the director.

Most of the actors are good, however the physical aspects of the performances I do not think are particularly well directed.

The whole setup for this episode is quite good. We have a mysterious void in space where the Enterprise finds itself buried. Since there is nothing on the sensors, there is no escaping it. Add to this, the illusions of a Romulan battle cruiser that actually fires on the ship and a federation starship which has no crew. It is obvious something is toying with the crew. Soon a sort of cat-like face appears on the screen. It is the chosen representation of an alien force that sees the Enterprise as a mere curiosity. It has no respect or concern for the crew. It even kills a bridge officer to watch him die. It is hard to enjoy an episode when the forces working against the crew are so unfathomable that there is no strategy to counteract them. The best Picard can do is to destroy the ship. He and Riker initiate the destruct sequence. The crew gets twenty minutes to get its affairs in order. The entity continues to toy with them. I guess saying enough is enough is the last resort for Picard. Still, the universe is so complex and the villains are around every corner (are there corners?). This episode is clever and dramatic and does keep our attention. Perhaps that's all we can ask for.

The Second Season of Star Trek the Next Generation has often been downplayed due to multiple production and writing staff problems, and several major cast changes. Although of mixed quality, it does contain some outstanding and brilliant episodes, and Senior Trekker is extremely grateful to all those people who worked so hard under difficult circumstances to keep it on our screens.

This episode was pretty weak and would have been very unlikely to have attracted many new viewers with its wordy script and total lack of atmosphere. In fact, I think I read somewhere that the catlike Nagilum creature was created by projecting an upside down face onto green-painted glass. Sounds like they were as short of cash as they were of ideas.

Diana Muldaur replaced Gates McFadden as the Doctor in this series but her role was posted as Special Guest Star throughout the season, suggesting that no one was quite sure whether she would stay. This fine actress had worked with Gene Roddenberry several times before and held him in great regard but it would not be an exaggeration to say that her time on TNG was a very unhappy one.

Primarily a theatrical actor, her style did not fit in so well with the rest of the cast who were still smarting from the involuntary and precipitous removal of the "Dancing Doctor". We will never know what went on behind the scenes before Dr Crusher returned for the 3rd season but it is most unfortunate that it left Dr Pulaski with so much hostility towards the series that she would never return in any further guest roles.

After twice appearing in the original series, this was the THIRD Doctor she had portrayed for Star Trek and she did make a very convincing medic.

(Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5)

The first part of the episode is a stupid attempt at misdirection. Picard is worried about... a Holodeck simulation? What? The simulation itself has dreadful fight choreography even by the low, low standards of Star Trek personal combat.

The second part is yet another all-powerful being testing the Enterprise. The first season already had 4 episodes dealing with this, and they were all bad as well. The main problem with all of them is that there is no tension. By putting the Enterprise against an overwhelming force you know the only conclusion can be a succesful escape, because the only other option is utter destruction. The supreme beings involved also are overly interested in "us" and always end up respecting "us".

The nadir of the episode is that Wesley is suddenly replaced by a black redshirt. It would only have been a surprise if he had survived.