UNCUT REACTION - Star Trek TNG S3E1 - Evolution
Y'all survived the break, congratulations.
DOWNLOADABLE version now in the Shop tab here on Patreon. FREE for Target Demographic tier Patrons, $5 for everyone else. If you buy it on iPhone it is $7.50 because of Apple fees just FYI. There is no visual sync with the downloadable version, only timecode.
Comments (71)
It's OK that Colm Meany (Miles O'Brien) get's less screen time occasionally as he did appear on 50+ episodes of TNG, and eventually transfers to DS9 (dropped off by the Enterprise/Picard) for a more prominent position as Chief Operations Officer where he remains until the end of that series. Fun Fact: TNG and DS9 ran simultaneously for a year and a half before TNG ended and at that time Worf would join O'Brien on DS9. The thing that makes Star Trek so great as it holds together characters, timelines and events giving a known world and comfortable feeling, series to series.
Ken Jenkins is Dr. Kelso in Scrubs. For the episode, it's kinda mid, I just don't like "Mini-machines become sentient and take over the ship"-plots, but the character stuff is always nice.
Another big shoutout to Director of Photography (DP) Marvin Rush who is responsible for the noticeable (and arguably improved) look of the show.
Just Like Sarek being revealed in the credits of Star Trek 3, wish they kept that a secret wanted to see you guys go ballistic
That would've been fun, but there's no way a show back then was going to care about making her return a surprise. People weren't so precious about casting then.
Well, it’s been an unreasonably long day and I have been waiting for this so I’m up to the point where we’re investigating Humpty Dumpty with the guy that used to be in a TV show called wise guy. I think he appeared in a couple of X-Files episodes but I won’t swear to that. But I’m ready my coffee is loaded with fireball. Have a great night I’m about to.
I just don’t get the crusher love, she’s an ok character, but she’s not all that. The scientist guy is supposeded to be unlikeable that’s how he was scripted. So I thought he was ok. The episode was average. I agree they should have given Pulaski some acknowledgment
Episodic tv will have varying degrees of shows.
Yes thank you Data.
In the end it worked out well for everyone. Gates McFadden returns to the fold (and the majority of the fanbase were happy with this development) and Diana Muldaur moved onto "LA Law" which saw her earn an Emmy nomination for her work on that show. Muldaur confirmed in interviews that whilst the TNG cast and crew were polite and professional to work her, her experience on ",LA Law" was a better fit overall for her. Meanwhile McFadden (although hesitant at first to come back) said slipping back into the show was an easy transition as she knew everyone there.
You guys could see a deleted scene on the Blu-ray with Wesley interacting with the group of teenagers earlier in the episode, setting-up for their reappearance at the end of the episode. The girl Wesley walked in with (Amy O'Neill) was the teenage girl in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (if either of you have ever seen that movie).
I actually saw season 1 way later than most of the other episodes. When I finally did see it, it really looked different but still great stuff in there. (I guess it was 1 and 2, as I never saw that original opening till I was way older. *Grew up falling asleep to parents watching the new episodes, I got into TNG heavy as a teen.)
And we're off. Been lurking on YT for a few months and just recently signed up and started to binge TOS on the way to catching up. Up to A Piece of the Action now. This is the first one I'm watching at release. Anyway, I have no issues with the audio being gone. As long as the blur to match scene changes/fade ins remains, synching is fine. One suggestion I would offer is to boost the level of your own audio. I have the episode on Amazon at about 25% audio and your reaction at full blast, and I can barely hear what you guys are saying most of the time. In principle, I do like that the episode pushed the idea of expanding the horizons of what can be considered a life form, but yeah, the nanites weren't all too interesting. I get the dislike of Stubbs, especially being willing to sacrifice the ship and crew for his own fame. In a way I pity him though. He poured his whole life into this project, his idea of a reward to himself is daydreaming about a centuries dead sport(not even finding some other baseball appreciators to actually PLAY with on the holodeck), and he's basically sacrificed his whole personal life to have a shot at fame. I mean sure he got that, and he looked like a kid on Christmas morning at the end there, but really it's all downhill from here for him. That's the peak of his life right there. Now he gets to grow old alone. At least we see Wes finding some balance in life. Largely though I see Evolution as a vehicle to give the show a bit of a reset and a fresh coat of paint. New uniforms, some other subtle updates to sets and props, new intro, the return of Crusher. There are maybe 2 or 3 episodes I'd judge to be worse than this in S3, but there are a lot that are really engaging, and a few that are just fun. 2 around the middle of the season rank among my absolute favourites of the series. Good stuff coming up. I also appreciate Picard here. Even as he has a rogue scientist interfering and his ship seemingly falling apart under him, he remains calm and rational throughout, and managed to negotiate a peaceful resolution.
Yeah, I had to use Boom 3D boosting and leveling of apps to be able to hear you over the show at low level, otherwise one of the easiest syncs I have had to do for a reaction. *edit: also a yt follower, but took the trial to see how the sync process would be and I am going to probably be staying after the 7 days. Love catching up on TNG again with new people's takes. I have probably watched this show over 20 times through at least, and I usually watch every 3-5 years anyways so this is a great fit! Anyways, great stuff and keep doing what you are doing!
New uniforms, new intro, new cinematography. What did you guys think of the cosmetic changes to the show?
Wow, you REALLY didn't care for the guest star. I thought he served as an interesting "adult Wesley gone wrong" hypothetical. The burden of having to fulfill his potential kind of messed with his head.
This is the “first” version of the final uniform. You can see two seams running down the front and under the arms. Almost there but there wasn’t enough room for the actors to move around. It will be refined.
I actually like that character. Screw the nanites. : )
I'm looking forward to seeing you guys see the show get consistently good. Not all home runs but they're on base almost every episode.
I also liked the fact that the episode audio is gone. Takes a lot of work to get it 100% synched, so watching the episode and your reaction, there was always this millisecond discrepancy that left an audio echo, which was irritating. Much better now! Great reaction as always.
You two have entered, THE ERA OF SHIRT TUG! It is a glorious time.
Haha! Yes indeed. And Patrick Stewart had it down to an science.
Why did you switch to headphones?
Can't have the show audio in there since we are offering the downloadable version.
I thought Ken did a good job as a actor. He was playing a jerk you mostly aren't supposed to like, and that's what he accomplished.
I agree
The last system wide computer failure being 79 years earlier may have been a reference to ST V, when the Enterprise computer was failing throughout the movie
What are the timecodes synced with? It's way off on Paramount Plus for me.
The Blu-ray. The commercial break length on streaming is different than the disc, so it gets off sync every few minutes.
Good news is this is bottom 3 this season.
Been a follower on YouTube, now here for Patreon. I knew you guys would go crazy over seeing Gates McFadden's name back in the opening credits. As far as the uniforms, after complaints about how uncomfortable the ones from the first two seasons were, the new designs, while retaining the black shoulder overlay, made them two-piece, as opposed to the jumpsuits, and added a collar, making the new uniforms more militaristic. They became popular almost immediately. For this season, however, only the main cast, recurring cast members (Colm Meaney) and prominent guest stars as Starfleet personnel wear them. The background characters still wear the jumpsuits.
Ken Stubbs is a fine actor, who is generally a supporting character actor. But his character is designed not to be likable. Thats just part of who the character is. But even if you didn't care for his performance (and to each their own) you can clearly see that they aren't just making a caricature mustache swirling bad guy. He's a rounded character. We see him with humor, with self reflection, with fears of his future, and with his own ego, and self reflection of what his life has been. In fact you see right from the go that the show is already dealing more realistically with characters. Beverly and Wesley's interaction are easily the best written scene the characters have had yet together. Crushers interaction with Picard and Guinan and solid character moments. Wesley being shown as not perfect, with flaws, getting overwhelmed, and even his remark and how his performance reflects things like I always get an A. All things that we didn't see previously. And yes Evolution's plot isn't anything to write home about. And just to let you know this is my third least favorite episode of the season, and I consider this an average episode of Trek. And its my third worse of this season. For seasons 1 and 2 this would be in the top 8 or so of each of those seasons. Troi, you comment about seeing progression for how they write her character. And almost every writer who has talked about working on the show, will freely admit that Troi is the hardest character to write. It's a concept that is part of its time for sure.
The lows of season 3 can rival the above average seasons 1,2,7 episodes, that's for darn sure.
No more audio, UGH, bummer. 9 times out of 10 I listen to the track by itself and the ever so quiet audio lets me keep up with what's going on. Was it a copyright thing? Even with headphones, you could pipe in a quiet track underneath in post.
Yeah was hard for me to watch, means I can't watch it during my lunch break now 😢
Also not a fan of Ken Jenkins’ performance in this one, but my vote for worst acting performance by a guest star thus far has to be Clayton Rohner as Admiral Jameson. Just painful. As far as this episode goes, while it focuses on Wesley’s growth as a human being, it also displays the growth of the production values of TNG. Better costumes, lighting, cinematography etc.. There’s a new maturity present which is even more apparent when you watch it right on the heels of Shades of Grey. Lots of great stuff to come, you’re in for a treat.
Clayton Rohner's performance was fine; the problem was the old-age makeup, which looked horrible and which there was no way for him to act through without appearing to overact horribly. There was a last-minute change of plan about the stages of de-aging Jameson would go through (in earlier drafts of the script Jameson survived but regressed into a teenager and forgot about his wife), which messed up the makeup department's ability to get the job done.
Isn't this the season where the silly stripes are taken off of the uniform shoulders?
It is indeed. Less "taken off" and more "We made new ones that don't make the actor's lives a living Hell. If you look closely though, you can see the old uniforms on extras.
Here we goooooooooo! Love this season! I remember really missing Diana Muldaur but I was happy to see Dr Crusher again.
Michael Piller was a baseball fan. A baseball fan as in, baseball was the thing he loved most in the world. A baseball fan as in, his colleagues never saw him without a baseball cap. A baseball fan as in, his colleagues have no memories of him other than in the office and at baseball games. “Evolution,” Michael Piller’s first Star Trek script, reveals that baseball is no longer popular in the 24th century. Why Piller chose to establish this in his very first episode remains an enigma for the ages. Prior to his departure from TNG, Maurice Hurley, a long-time friend of Piller, asked him to submit scripts to TNG. The quality of Piller’s work led to Michael Wagner, TNG’s new Co-Executive Producer (and co-story writer of “Evolution” with Piller), recommending that Piller succeed him only four episodes into Season 3. Wagner found TNG a difficult experience, exacerbated by the fact that, in a repeat of what happened early in Season 2, Season 3 began with a lack of stockpiled scripts. Thus, in Michael Piller, “Evolution” marks the Star Trek debut of one of the franchise’s most important creative figures, comparable in significance to Gene Roddenberry and Rick Berman. As of this episode, Worf has received a promotion from Lieutenant Junior Grade to full Lieutenant, and Geordi from Lieutenant to Lieutenant Commander. In addition to the rank pips on the characters’ collars, the latter change also appears in the opening credits, which list the characters by name and rank. I believe the opening credits for this episode reveal another notable change to the show, but I cannot remember what it is right now – ideas, anyone? The new uniforms for TNG’s main cast (background players remained stuck with the old ones for a while) were an urgent necessity. The original TNG uniforms were so uncomfortable and confining that there was a danger of them doing permanent damage to the actors’ backs (and Frakes, of course, had a preexisting back problem). My late mother hated this episode because she found the concept of the nanites nightmarish. The thought of small objects invading a person’s body or living space was always one of her biggest triggers. On the other hand, Dr. Stubbs’ comment to Troi, “My dear Counselor, no insult intended but please turn off your beam into my soul,” perfectly encapsulates the reasons my mother strongly disliked the Troi character – she felt that her presence on the Enterprise was an intolerable and continuous violation of everyone else’s privacy. Piller intended Data’s comment, “There has not been a system-wide technological failure on a starship in seventy-nine years,” as a shout-out to the events of "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," which debuted three months before this episode. However, the technical problems on the Enterprise in that movie seemed far less serious to me than those aboard the Enterprise-D in “Contagion,” less than a year before this. You have in fact seen Ken Jenkins (Dr. Paul Stubbs) before, quite recently: he played Gerard Kirkhill in "The Abyss," released the same year that “Evolution” aired (1989). He is now best known for his regular role on the medical sitcom "Scrubs" from 2001 to 2009. He is also the nephew-in-law of legendary American movie star Katharine Hepburn. Internet commentators have objected to Dr. Stubbs’ assertion that viruses are lifeforms, pointing out that modern-day scientists are not certain that viruses are truly alive. However, Dr. Stubbs is an astrophysicist, not a biologist. One real-life fact that dates this episode, however, is that the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park no longer erupts as regularly as it did in 1989. We learn a little more of Guinan’s backstory in this episode, including confirmation that she is hundreds of years old, that she has been married multiple times and has children, one of whom was a handful. This is also the first time Guinan has formally described her people as “a species of Listeners” (with “Listeners” capitalized in the closed captions), although we still do not know the actual name of Guinan’s species. Stubbs’ speech to Wesley, “Call your shot. Point to a star. One great blast and the crowd rises,” refers to Babe Ruth’s legendary “called shot” during the 1932 World Series, the precise nature of which remains a controversial topic among baseball historians. In the Revised Final Draft script, available on the Star Trek Minutiae website, Picard refers to David and Goliath rather than Gulliver and the Lilliputians. This is an example of Star Trek avoiding a Biblical reference that might conflict with the secular nature of its future society. Is there anything else about this episode I forgot to mention? Oh, yes, there was one thing. Diana Muldaur did not find TNG as enjoyable an environment as TOS had been and was uninterested in doing more than one season. Maurice Hurley, who had fired Gates McFadden at the end of Season 1, also left at the end of Season 2. Rather than devise and cast the third doctor character in three years, it was far simpler and more efficient for Rick Berman and Patrick Stewart to call McFadden and ask her politely if she would like to come back to TNG, which she did.
And I thought my writeups were long😁 Lots of great trivia, can't think of much to add to that
Diana Muldaur went right from TNG to L.A. Law, where her character there was also hated. By the end of her run there her character was killed off by falling down an elevator shaft. Many fans have headcanoned that the two characters are distant relatives.
To be fair, she was actually playing the villain on L.A. Law. In producer David E. Kelly’s autobiography he states he killed her off because he was leaving the show and didn’t want another writer/producer to ruin her character by redeeming her. (She was his favorite character to write for).
I love hearing the "manual control is offline" lines. Its manual right, which means its not online, its a hand crank.
Right, it’s not a hand crank, it’s just a person hitting buttons
When Dr Stubbs is talking to Data when he's controlled by the nanites, when Dr Stubbs says I'm an important scientist have a look at Picards face 🤣🤣 never noticed before, such a look of oh ffs lol.
Great reaction, guys. Thank you.
I like the new format without sound. I was able to sync up quickly and just enjoy the episode without constantly thinking "Am I synced up properly?" So good job all around, and your reaction was pretty much the same as mine every time I watch this episode. Good job!
Same here.. I’m a little ocd, and before if the sync was off by even a second I was constantly pause/starting one or the other, so MUCH better!
They new uniforms look so much better. I low-key hated the jumpsuit look of their polyester suits.
I can't watch until tonight because I was called into work this week for the first time in a month. Great timing. Paycheck to pay for membership upgrade or reaction. Hmmm.
NOTHING BUT BAD TAKES GUYS HOLY SHIT. No, I'm kidding. Yeah, Evolution isn't the best episode this season, to be sure. The thing with Dr. Stubbs, and this is what I got out of it on revisiting the episode... This is what Wesley could become if he doesn't learn to balance his lifestyle. Stubbs is a bitter son of a bitch because all he did with his life is work and focus on his accomplishments. The only "rose smelling" he seemed to do was wax nostalgic for a seemingly dead sport. That's why we end with Wesley on a date. There's hope for him yet... At least, in his mother's eyes. Some bangers coming up. I can't wait. The hype was real.
The real question is did you actually sync up the fucking episode Steve?
I didn’t get any video synced up so I’m basically just watching You guys looking at a screen. 😂 🤷♂️
I like the new uniforms they are more like a sweatshirt and slacks combo, but I miss the stripes around the shoulders. Gave them a little color, and like a speed lines on a track suit?
Ah, the OTHER "Picard Manoeuvre", repeatedly tugging his top down lol
Patrick Stewart turned that move into a science.
{Disney birds are chirping, a Princess is singing, sunlight bathes the Patreon estate} "...A WHOOOLE NEEWWWW WOOORRRLD..."
The old uniforms were mostly Lycra/spandex/polyester and got rather rank by the end of a day's shooting, not to mention being uncomfortable for the actors. They were able to spring for new uniforms made of more natural fabrics. The collar was a nice touch, too.
Introducing Michael Piller. The main cast got better uniforms. Secondary cast still wearing the old ones.
The Hubble Space Telescope had just been launched (and fixed after initially faulty ‘glasses’) and then the world saw the colorized nebulas for the first time. That’s why there was a new intro. SPACE SCIENCE!
Hubble was launched in spring of 1990; this episode aired in fall of 1989. We saw colorized nebulas for many years prior to Hubble with Earth-based telescopes, just nothing like the pictures that the corrected Hubble gave us in 1993.
I already rewatched the episode. I'm just here to see your reactions.
Apologies if it has been asked elsewhere, but how will you be handling things come TNG season 6 when you have two concurrent series? Alternating TNG/DS9 episodes or pick a season and run with it?
I think we should make the equivalent of a “swear jar” for this question. Dollar in the jar! Haha but no worries, we are watching in strict release order so we will alternate to match how it aired. We have it all mapped out already.
I love Diana Muldaur in other roles, but Crusher is THE DOCTOR on TNG. Gates just gels so nicely with the rest of the cast, and shares great chemistry with Patrick Stewart. ❤️
Best ever is when she fell down the elevator shaft on L.A Law
👏
at last :)
And here. We. Go