The Naked Now

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.

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.

Near a collapsing star the crew catch a virus that makes them act intoxicated.

This is a distinctly average episode and the positives I take are the performances.

The story is almost an exact remake of the original series episode 'The Naked Time', just with worse character moments. The original series episode was entertaining, but this one unfortunately doesn't do it for me.

Data, Picard, Wesley C, Beverly C, Geordie, Troi and others become fairly annoying when infected with the virus and like other reviewers have stated it does not work so early into the series. The only character who pulls it off is Tasha Yar because you get some insight into her past. The fact that Data is infected is probably the biggest implausibility and it's difficult to suspend disbelief when what you're watching is not particularly interesting. What irritates the most is seeing Enterprise hindered by this type of problem.

The visuals are good with some nicely framed shots and interesting technical scenes in the engineering room, especially as data reconnects the control chips. Also Wesley's handheld tractor beam contains some decent effects. My favourite images are rather macabre in the scene with the frozen bodies.

Performances of most cast members are pretty strong considering they have poor material to work with, however LeVar Burton really struggles to convince, particularly in his sickbay scene.

When the crew of the Starship Enterprise find a ship adrift in space, they need to find out not only what killed the crew, but what appears to be affecting their own crew as well....

This episode was actually the first one filmed, and it's certainly a rather intimate one to begin with! Probably why the cast became so tight knit over the 7 year run.

There's humour abounding and several scenes now considered "classic". It was the first ever episode I watched of Star Trek (I never saw Original as a kid) and what an introduction! It led to a love of both the series and Data in particular.

Definitely one not to miss!

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.