The Naked Now

The Enterprise crew seem like they are intoxicated.

Being a massive fan of classic Star Trek, I welcomed this follow- up/remake with open arms and after watching it, I felt like more direct re-makes should have been made.

Who could forget that early scene where Picard mentions Captain Kirk going though all this years ago. This bit nicely lines up old Trek with TNG.

This episode gets all sorts of reactions from fans and cast members, many like it while others say it is terrible.

And finally, I would just like to make the point that the Enterprise uniforms looked better in season's one and two. Too bad they changed them in season three.

The Enterprise-D probes the mysterious fate that befell the crew of a starship called the Tsiolkovsky. Although their time is short, as they are in the vicinity of a super red giant star that is due to collapse, the Enterprise-D crew will have their hands full. The party that boarded the Tsiolkovsky bring back with them a strange contaminant that affects many of the crew members - Data included, oddly enough. It makes these individuals behave as if they are drunk. Certainly, their inhibitions are greatly lowered.

Written by famed 'Trek' scribe D. C. Fontana, based on a story by her and John D. F. Black, 'The Naked Now' is overall quite silly, with an awful lot of comedy, although things finally start getting really tense as the Enterprise has to avoid being struck by debris from the star. Some tension is derived from the fact that the affected crew members have to struggle mightily to control themselves - especially Beverly, as the starship doctor, who works hard to find some sort of antidote. (The script references an incident from the original 'Trek' series (on the episode 'The Naked Time'), and what Kirk & others did to combat the problem.) Wesley creates some huge problems as he too is not unaffected, but at least at the end he plays a large part in the outcome.

This first "official" mission for the Enterprise-D *can* get too goofy and comical for its own good, but this viewer would be lying if he said that he didn't have some good laughs watching it. The oddest touch: a scene with Tasha & Data which she swears they must never mention again.

Guest starring Brooke Bundy ("Firecreek"), this second episode was directed by Paul Lynch, whose feature credits include such Canadian shockers as the original "Prom Night" and "Humongous".

Seven out of 10.

Shamelessly borrowing a story from the original series, the Enterprise falls prey to a powerful virus that causes the crew to act and behave as if heavily intoxicated. This results in characters behaving goofily and, for the first time in this series, wanton lust and desires.

Feeling very much like a Roddenberry episode, this is far more comical than most episodes. Spiner makes the most of his character displaying genuine progression but generally speaking, this is a fairly weak episode that exposes the lack of depth the characters possess at this point, especially Yar. Trek can do comedy better than this.

The Naked Now, is the sequel to the Original Series episode, The Naked Time. Much like the original series episode, this one is full of cheese.

To be fair it is a good cheesy Limberger quality, because it's a hilariously bonkers episode. However in a show purported to be more high quality in comparison to its predecessor, this one just doesn't feel right.

The best way The Naked Now works, is if we already know and love the characters. This being the second episode of the new series, we haven't really gotten a chance to know the characters yet, which can lessen the impact of the episode for some.

However it should be noted that its predecessor, The Naked Time, was the fourth episode of the Original Star Trek, which is still beloved by fans. Still, the humor in this episode seems too broad, and inappropriate for this cast, which is why it is not as beloved.

This episode is a sequel to TOS The Naked Time. Although The Naked Time was a very early episode as well, it featured deep character development, most especially with Kirk and Spock.

When Kirk was infected, his fears of losing the Enterprise were laid bare- and indeed the ship was in imminent mortal danger. When Spock was infected, his fears of losing control emerged, and indeed he HAD lost control.

That's pretty good stuff.

The Naked Now, however, pretty much just showed everybody drunk, with little character development. To the extent there was character development, it was mostly bad. Picard looked terrible, like a doddering old man, while Riker looked heroic. Also, the first Wesley Saves The Day episode.

The Naked Now would have been received much better if it came way later in the season, mainly because this early, we didn't know these characters well enough to contrast their behaviors.

Geordi's behavior when Yar finds him is chillingly effective though because we know what it portends when he asks her to not let him give in to the crazy ideas he's having. It's frightening because Yar doesn't know just how dangerous he is at this point.