FULL DISCUSSION - Star Trek TNG S3E3 - The Surviviors
Can't seem to escape the technical issues lately. A couple chunks of this video's footage was corrupted, so those periods are a picture over the audio. Luckily, we recently started recording our audio separately from the video file. What isn't so lucky; we started charging the mics while recording the discussions so they wouldn't die, and that apparently causes a minor buzzing in the audio. SORRY!
How will we handle this for the YouTube version? No idea! Isn't creating content fun!?
Comments (55)
Regarding the fish people, Lwaxanna is full Betazoid, so she can read minds. Deanna is only half betazoid so she can only sense emotions, and sometimes telepathically communicate, like with her mother.
Isn't it just natural that they had to investigate what happened here? A whole planet was obliterated, thousands of federation settlers dead and a suspicious couple enjoying tea in the middle of this holocaust?
A hectare is a metric into of area right now, today. It is 10,000 square meters, like a square 100 meters on a side. It is not an SI unit, but it is a metric one.
I'm not the most faithful and diligent participant, but watching all of Star Trek is going to bring me in. Having rewatched season 1 and 2 with you guys, they were better than I remember. Season 3 has a few "meh" episodes, and I personally think one real dud. But on the whole, most episodes are at at least the level of this one, and it has at least 3 absolutely amazing episodes, and I can hardly wait to see you react to them. Trust me, you will know each one when you hit it. You may have a few more than I, but I'm quite sure you will rate my 3 in both of your top lists at season end.
BTW it looked like you guys were at some Star Trek news-desk. lol. The audio was fine, no worries.
Too bad they didn't have a B plot about the disappearance of a crew member, who happened to be a member of the race Kevin annihilated. Maybe that would have put this episode over the top?
Ooh, that's a great idea. The two plots could have seemed to be totally unrelated until the end.
Hooshkins.
Love the conversation! Technical issues always happen. ALWAYS have a backup recording the audio in case the audio is corrupted too. A cheap audio recording is much more preferable than nothing at all. A simple iPhone would even work.
Usually whenever our hosts say something doesn't make sense I get their point and generally agree. But in this case I'm kinda shocked they don't immediately get why the enterprise wouldn't just leave. Even if the mystery of why Kevin and his wife survived didn't exist...it would behoove them to try to discern who attacked a Federation colony and killed 11,000 people.
Exactly. They never do anything to confirm Kevin's final story is the truth either. There's nothing to suggest that he didn't kill the colonists himself. We have no laws to fit your crime? The crime is murder... they don't have laws for serial killers? If he wiped out all Vulcan's they'd leave him there to drink her cruddy tea in peace? Pretty good episode until the ending.
are they putting their crew in jeopardy? other then the injury to the random crewman and what was going on with Troi, there wasn't much to indicate they were in danger, and Picard got something was off.
part of him is Dixon Hill. I think you guys still don't fully get Picard yet.
Because Picard plays a private eye in his fantasies. he can't resist a good mystery.
"The Face: is from a different galaxy or dimsension/ Plain of existence as if he was from the Milky Way Neebum would have encountered humanoids before.
Are you talking about Nagilum from "Where Silence Has Lease" ?
Picard says that they have an obligation to protect the colony. That's why they stayed even though there were only 2 colonists left. Probably a Federation agreement. Great job in spite of the technical issues.
Well, it was a Federation colony, so it would be the Federation protecting itself.
Probably a good take that this is kind of a baseline episode of the season. I'd probably put it as B/C tier episode.
Bonus for the crew and the Federation! Since this new mysterious murderous race was completely wiped out by Kevin, they don't have to bother to investigate the threat!
It would have been interesting if it was the Sheliak Kevin destroyed, which would mean the Tau Cygni V colonists could go back to their planet. But TNG was an episodic series which didn't generally tie episodes together that closely, even consecutive episodes (remember Gene Roddenberry's refusal to allow "Q Who" to be a sequel to "Time Squared," which I think would have blown Alex and Josh's minds).
I didn't think it was that hard to see why Picard would stay. A mysterious alien race they never ran into before just wiped out a colony, and this guy was hiding something an was potentially involved. Plus when he said he would not leave as long as the people were alive, he just did that to prompt Kevin to "kill" him and his wife.
For sure. They first met the Borg less than a year ago and are particularly sensitive to new planet destroying alien races coming onto the scene.
Easily remove buzzing from audio: Download "Audacity" (freeware) -> open the audio file -> effects -> noise reduction. It takes a second and works perfectly, hope that helps.
Thanks, I have Audacity already. I’ll try that.
Deanna is not telepathic with other species; being half-Betazoid, she's empathic (can sense general feelings), but she's only telepathic with close family members (her mother, for instance ) and possibly other Betazoids. Also with Riker, but they were lovers, so it might be the case that she requires a certain connection to be able to transmit thoughts.
Admiral: Who killed our people? Picard: Kevin did Admiral: What did you do about it? Picard: Nothing Admiral: Okay
Josh, I know score is an important part of your appreciation of a given episode, but there are reasons for it being largely absent here. Music is used as a weapon; it'd have less impact as such if it were blended into a broader score and not highlighted. And I still think being able to hear a pin drop during Kevin's confession really underscores his loneliness and the weight of the consequences of his actions. Sometimes the silence is just as resonant.
It's also a matter of the evolving styles of Dennis McCarthy and Ron Jones. They alternated scoring the episodes. Jones did Evolution, McCarthy did Ensigns and this episode, and Jones does the next episode (since they were broadcast out of order). McCarthy followed Berman's orders and reduced scoring to a minimum. Generally when Josh and Alex notice the music, it's a Ron Jones score.
Troi isn't as good a telepath as her mom. She can mostly just read feelings and emotions where as her mom can read that and full conscious thoughts. Troi is half human after all. (Edit people already said this)
There’s actually a great reference site called “Memory Alpha” that is basically the universal reference for the franchise, even the actual show writers use it. And you guys should absolutely NOT visit it, it’d be a spoilerpocalypse.
Anderson had lost his own wife shortly before appearing in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) "The Survivors", and said that the subject matter made the role of Kevin Uxbridge one of the most difficult of his career
Gotta love how those old teaser trailers spoil every episode lol
Enjoy the banger scores while they last. Dennis McCarthy acquiesced to Berman's insistence on "sonic wallpaper" and you can hear the difference. He brought it with his earlier scores, but toned them down greatly. He and Ron Jones alternate episodes except when Jones was unavailable. You can tell right away when he scores an episode because it usually starts with a unique melody.
That attitude towards music from Berman carried through to the TNG movies. It was clear that 'functional' was Berman's motto.
I believe that Deanna and her mother have slightly different power sets. Lwaxana is fully telepathic, as are all Betazeds. Although she is more powerful than most. Deanna however is half human and not a full telepath. She is an Empath. Basically Lwaxana can read thoughts and Deanna can read emotions. Compared to a full Betazed she is pretty weak sauce.
For the record, "telepathic" is not an adequate description of Betazoid abilities. The dictionary definition is stricter, but "telepathy" is usually intended to mean intentional communication from mind to mind. Sending words or images from your mind to another to convey information and ideas, as a substitute for but without the use of mouth/vocal chords, eyes, ears, touch, nose, etc. (or vice-versa) Betazoids can freely sense the thoughts or feelings of the minds of others, whether those others choose or want to share them, or not. Betazoids can "hear" or "see" the internal thought processes of others—what you think to yourself, without any filter or desire to address others. Deanna does not have this ability because she's partially human. Her abilities are "dulled" to only being able to sense emotional states, and frame-of-consciousness or psyche. She can telepathically communicate with those she is close to whom possess innate telepathic abilities, and presumably any other Betazoids.
Record a small into in the YouTube version stating the technical difficulties and people will understand
26:20 Kevin is not a god. He may have amazing powers, but he can't reverse time or bring back the dead.
Yeah the powers, as far as we have seen them on TNG (to this point) is definitely Q at the top. Maybe Kevin or Nagilum next. I'd say Kevin above Nagilum. Something like Armus is many steps down as he can't project his powers past the planet surface (the same could be said of the "God" imposter in Star Trek V).
14:45 It's not that hard to pilot the Enterprise-D. It's all computer controlled, more or less. A monkey could do it. Eventually.
Centons FTW!
13:32 Yes, Deanna is only half-Betazoid. She can't read minds like her mother can.
Lwaxana is a full telepath, mind-speaking/seeing, etc. Deanna is half-Betazoid, so she is just empathic (can sense emotions, semi-telepathic). Troi wouldn't have been able to read their minds the way mom can.
She couldn’t have rolled an insight check for deception? She gotta be proficient
4:20 Yes, Q can do that.
Love the performances in this one. John Anderson’s scene in Deanna’s quarters is heart wrenching knowing that his own wife had died months before.
Sorry to hear about the technical issues there! Love the discussion. Can't wait for the next one!
Humans have been wiped out on a planet Picard/the Federation would certainly want to know who did it and why. I guess thats why its their duty to stay
Yeah, that seems like a really odd thing to get hung up on. "Why would the Enterprise stick around to investigate the murder of 11,000 people"?
I never really considered that if the Uxbridge house is fake from the opening scene, then Kevin also created that phaser that didn't work so it couldn't hurt anyone.
Probably had it before. The house and property were recreated just as they used to be.
I'm glad you guys don't even look at the episode titles, for some will be a big surprise.
I'm glad you started checking the teasers out. I had forgotten how either meaningless or overly spoilery they got
It's funny how much TV culture has changed. Nowadays, it's all about preventing spoilers, but back then, they would do anything just to get you to tune in, including basically revealing the entire plot.