The Price

New uniforms, new credit sequence and Doctor Crusher returned to us but was Season 3 of The Next Generation really as good as we remember? Some of that enthusiasm may have have been generated by relief that the series had not been cancelled but the 1990's also heralded an era of considerably more stability behind the scenes. Senior Trekker will continue to score every episode with a 5.

One of my favourites, of course. Senior Trekker is such a sucker for Babel-type episodes where we get to see a whole variety of alien races and customs, showcasing the prizewinning work of the make-up and costume departments. It seems almost inconceivable nowadays that these creative teams would have to produce the entire look of the episode in a matter of days, often working on more than one storyline at a time. That we can call to mind so many of their creations: the Barzans, the Ferengi, the Caldonians after such a long time has passed is just downright miraculous. However, it has to have been the guest actors who really brought them to life. Given how long some of those scenes must have taken to set up and how much gunk they were carrying around on their foreheads, its amazing how the individual performances stand out.

Elizabeth Hoffman, who played premier Bavhani is currently enjoying her retirement at age 94 Castulo Guerra, as Seth Mendoza, still has a very busy career Kevin Hall, the 6' 9'' actor who played Leyor died tragically young, while our two Ferengi, Scott Thompson and Dan Shor, are no doubt still looking for their chairs.

Troi's romantic storyline was probably the weakest part of the episode, despite the fact that it gave Marina Sirtis some comedic opportunities and the chance to have a sexy, well oiled foot massage. Apparently, the intimate scenes gathered quite a few complaints which is ironic because fans could have seen a great deal more of her had they chosen to look out a copy of Michael Winner's film The Wicked Lady. Her co-star Matt McCoy, as Devinoni Ral, was so oleaginous that most women's "creep alert" would have firing loud and clear before they got anywhere near the bedroom. This makes Counsellor Troi's infatuation even more of a surprise. Her holier than thou attitude when he explains his mildly-underhand negotiations at the end, definitely hints at morning after regrets.

This episode is a gift to Marina Sirtis (Dianna Tori) to try and develop her, so-far, one dimensional character. But instead of giving Tori a pathway to create a more interesting and involved character, they give her a plot where she looks like more like a 'women-of-the-night' than a respectable member of the Enterprise crew.

It begins when the Enterprise is in orbit around the planet Barzan that has a stable wormhole nearby. They are in negotiations along with the Chrysallis and the Ferengi over rights to the wormhole. But little does anyone know, the Chrysallis negotiator Devinoni Ral, a nice outward looking fellow, is part Betazoid and can read a person's feeling while negotiating. He is also rather nasty person that will do, say or use anything just so his side gets the best over another in any situation. And for some reason Counselor Troi hops in bed with the slick agent and actually abets him by not revealing the truth about the good-looking negotiator.

An uninteresting episode that seemed way slow in developing. The part of the story that concerned the wormhole was a good story but when it was paired with the Troi/Devinoni relationship, it got old fast. The best part of the episode was between Geordi and a Ferengi shuttle-craft operator concerning the wormhole becoming unstable. But other than that short moment, there is little to entertain in this slow and uninteresting offering.

Love the Wormhole thing. However on entrance of Devinoni Ral i had to fight the immediate impulse to puke. Not in the least in how he looks. As the episode evolves it becomes clear that the character's immoral way of negotiating only adds to this premenition...

Some interesting and entertaining elements here (wormhole, Ferengi), but the episode is marred by the predominance of soap opera elements in which Troi becomes even more annoying than her usual Captain Obvious role.

On the plus side, there's not much Wesley and no Whoopi, so the episode gets double what it would otherwise deserve.

If you like soap operas... well, it's not even good soap opera, so I still can't really recommend it.

This is pure vileness. A guy "oozes" his way into the life of Deanna Troi. How did she even let this walking slime enter her room, let alone her life. He is disgusting.

I would say this episode just ruins her strong character. "Oh you have big blue eyes... therefore I will sleep with you!" I do not think any thought went into this episode at all. It is a disgrace.

If there is anything in the episode, it is totally ruined by this tacky "character". I use the word "character" loosely. He is more like a cartoon caricature.. It basically just revolves around smut. It is like a bad porn movie with no actual sex scenes.

The scene involving Riker is pretty pointless. The fact that Troi even considered this guy palatable is amusing at best. Vomit bags at the ready for this episode.