UNCUT REACTION - Star Trek TNG S3E19 - Captain's Holiday

The only purpose is to introduce lady love Vash who pops in and out of this and a future ST series. Not to worry, this was not her best. lol!

Yeah this episode is just mediocre, fun at the start overall meh but I can’t say I hate it or like it. It’s just there.

I can't argue against any of the points you made in the post show, you are spot on. All I can do is suggest that you use this episode in the future as a bench mark for future episodes. There is some amazing story telling coming.

I only thought that the pacing was a little bit weird, but other than that I actually genuinely liked this change of pace. And I did actually feel a little bit of chemistry and at least some level of intrigue. But perhaps it is because I tend to like things that are bad... No clue why

I can't see all the comments, but if no one else has said it, Patrick Stewart almost married this guest actress! So it's really wild that they didn't have on-screen chemistry.

I was curious why I had no recollection of this episode at all. I discovered that yes, I had seen it, but... yeah. The words "forgettable episode" fit this one to a T.

It's unfortunate that this is one of Ira Steven Behr's few main credits in TNG. Keep a lookout for that name though. The dude may have pushed out a stinker here, but he is capable of so, so, so much better. Overall, this is a bad episode that could have been good with minor changes. It does call back to Picard's interests in Archeology, which we see in Booby Trap. However, it also shows Patrick Stewart's "Give me more of the 2 Fs" influence on the character that is toyed with in the series sometimes, which is not to TNG's benefit.

There are far better episodes, but many far worse than this. 6/10 for me.

I love this episode only because it's so fucking bad. Vaush is one of the worst supporting characters ever put to screen in TNG or basically any Trek of that time period. And Patrick Stewart shouldn't be punching people or doing action. He's much better at giving an inspiring speech or something.

I have never particularly liked this episode, in fact it's sub par, but I'm fairly surprised it was THIS disliked. For me it's probably a 3.5 or 4 out of 10. There's way worse, though I suppose maybe not for Josh and Alex😄. There's way too many comments for me to bother reading them all, I just skimmed the names I'm more familiar with and a few others. Lots of opinions being passed off as facts above. Everyone needs to chill. The issues with the time travel struck me even as a kid. They seem to just be able to go wherever and whenever at a whim. Maybe they could only go back in time once and do a return trip and that burned out their time travel device, and the rest of the time they were just transporting around. I dunno, it's certainly not explained. While I think the first quarter of the episode if fun enough and the jokes land, I get why the rest doesn't work for everyone. There's definitely an element of "putting a square peg in a round hole" element putting Picard in that scenario. It's just not what we know Picard as. While Ira Steven Behr did write this episode, please don't blame him too much for it. He originally meant for the story to be one of Picard facing the prospect of being promoted out of command of the Enterprise against his wishes, and that being his greatest fear he had to face. Given this seemed to be rock bottom for you, I struggle to imagine you wouldn't have liked that story much better. Alas, Stewart wanted more "fighting and fucking" for Picard, and Gene was just being Gene. Rick Berman was the moderator, but well, this was still a product of Gene's lechery and Stewart's ego, and it hurts the final product. Behr ends up having a writing credit in around 1/3 of DS9 episodes. You're not going to bat 1000 across that many eps, and certainly his name is tied to a few stinkers, but he has broad creative abilities and tells a lot of different kinds of stories, including some real masterpieces.

First time I've actually disagreed with you guys on an episode. Is this an S or A tier episode, obviosuly no, but a fun Picard episode. Hard for me to see this one being painful to watch.

Gotta agree. This episode left me cold. Jennifer Hetrick and Sir Patrick have absolutely zero on-screen chemistry. The threadbare plot is weighed down by a few good ideas poorly conceptualized by and strung together flimsily. A mediocre episode made worse by following 4 bangers in a row.

Yep. Its shit.

Totally disagree with your assessment at the end. The episode had my attention the whole time, and I think it's one of my favorites from Season 3. But like you said, different strokes for different folks.

Its been shown in previous eps that picard loves historical digs , him and vash made sense to me

Yeah Stewart was dating her at the time

12:40 No, they don't have the budget. Each new uniform is, like, $5000.

5:35 Excellent logic there, Josh!!

3:40 "He will come." Pun intended!

I'm gonna watch this 66 times just to make sure you guys dont feel bad!

Just some fun trivia for anyone wanting a bit of a pallette cleanser (although the comments have been an interesting read): The first human to appear on screen in this episode, the guy with the purple tank top -- that's Michael Dorn. And I believe it's his only appearance without prosthetics.

"I would have missed every one of those hints." You and me both, brother.

It's a shame they're missing out on a stereo sound mix when watching these. Must be some open backed headphones or something out there. Less important in this episode, but it's going to diminish the immersion in more SFX heavy and score heavy episodes.

I thought this was actually a Dixon Hill-like story that Picard got involved with. There are sort of Indiana Jones elements that people point out but in another setting this could be a classic private eye story like the Maltese Falcon. The hero gets involved with a beautiful woman who is "trouble", looking for something valuable and runs into a weaselly little villain. You could easily drop the story into 1940s LA.

Gotta love when the comments are inevitably sidetracked by the “We hate Crusher/Troi” peppered with wildly misogynistic language contingent.. just saying

After this one and Deja Q, I think I'm going to reassess what our reactors are going to think of comedic episodes in the future. Humor is subjective, anyway. Though I'd probably categorize this as more of a "fun" episode than a comedy.

She is absolutely his type. The only reason she got cast is, some guy named Pat wanted some strange.

My head canon is that Vash and the Frengie killed Dr. Samuel Estragon

Enjoy it a bit more now than I did back in the day. It’s a breather after the last five eps and what is to come.

"Fucking painful" is about how I would describe this episode too. The beginning part with everyone trying to get Picard to leave should have been released as a short and the rest of the episode should have been canned.

Normally with you guys I find myself coming away from an episode with greater appreciation. I actually came away from this episode liking it even less than I did before, and if I could i'd add a few F-bombs into my Patron take.

This is one of my favorites, but I don't watch episodes in the same way as our friends. It is possible to like an episode that isn't perfectly crafted. Sometimes a swim in your pool can be just as satisfying as a swim in the ocean. I did notice in the re-watch with them that it is slowed down by a lot of exposition.

I didn't know this was a Ira Stephen Behr episode.. This episode seems as far removed from anything I associate with the man as it could possibly be?

Fluff episode we were due one

If the director does come back, I'm sure a couple episodes down the line it won't be one of their most beloved episodes of the whole series

For a "fucking painful" episode at least they didn't shit on it for 44 minutes, it kind of comes out of left field that Josh disliked it at all

I'd give this episode a solid C+ and find it a bit of brainless fun, so your strong negative reaction was a bit of a surprise, but I don't think any of us have the ability to predict how you will feel about episodes that aren't the stone-cold classics that everyone loves at this point. It will be interesting to see how you get on moving forward when what most consider mid-tier episodes become more frequent in this and other Trek series. I'm here for it, though.

A weapon that can destroy a star, what a dumb concept, i hope they learned never to use that again

Yeah, this episode was just sorta there to fill the quota for the season. It was just...there.

For the people who are saying Picard and Vash aren't a good match / she is not his type and so on: Picard wasn't looking for his future wife, he was on vacation. He meets a beautiful intelligent woman and ends up in a little adventure. For a man in his position, Starfleet captain, always on missions…it's understandable how he would allow himself to live in the moment, given an opportunity like this one. That being said, I like Vash and I do think there is a character in the franchise that is/could be a perfect match for Picard. It might be her or someone else. Unfortunately I can't say more at this point for obvious reasons.

This episode could have been good, had good moments but fell flat. I agree on the chemistry. Always seemed forced to me, despite them both getting together off-screen. Always found it odd Picard just took the Vorgon's word they were from the future and was about to hand over a powerful artifact. That Vorgon rhymes with Horga'hn was also a strange choice.

They do have good chemistry. But I remember as a kid this was a middle of the road episode. And looking back, it's still kinda fun with the banter, but I can see why you wouldn't like it. It's really a Picard meets a Beautiful Intelligent Female with a plot written around it, Many episodes have been like that, where it looks at life on the ship, a more comedic/light hearted look at the characters, and oh right, we need as ST plot written around it.

By introducing the sex resort planet of Risa, “Captain’s Holiday” raises an interesting question: Why does it not feature Argelius, the sex resort planet from TOS: “Wolf in the Fold”? Two possible answers spring to mind. The writers may have felt that the depiction of Argelius in “Wolf in the Fold” was problematic from a 1990 perspective and did not want to call back to it. They may also still have wanted to avoid TOS references to allow TNG to stand on its own (despite this season’s repeated mentions of the Daystrom Institute). Although my head-canon is that Picard and Philippa Louvois made love after dinner at the end of “The Measure of a Man,” “Captain’s Holiday” is the first TNG episode in which Picard obviously has sex during the episode’s narrative. Patrick Stewart had repeatedly asked for more “sex and shooting” (or an equivalent alliterative phrase) for Picard, and Ira Steven Behr crafted his first solo TNG script to fulfill that request. However, Gene Roddenberry gave Behr some advice about the script which he did not follow, which I think is regrettable. Gene wanted same-sex couples (both male and female) to appear in the scenes on Risa; Rick Berman told Behr to ignore this and “just get the captain laid.” There are three possible reasons for the lack of LGBTQ+ representation in this era of Star Trek. Some commentators have accused Rick Berman of homophobia. There was also the concern (which was sadly realistic in 1990) that local affiliates would refuse to air episodes depicting same-sex relationships in family-oriented timeslots. Most understandably, perhaps, there was a desire on the part of TNG’s production team not to introduce same-sex couples in a tokenistic way. It was possibly for this reason that they had previously rejected proposals to have same-sex couples holding hands in Ten-Forward. In my opinion, “Captain’s Holiday” was an occasion when TNG’s production team should not have been concerned about tokenism. It would have been far more appropriate to include fleeting glimpses of same-sex couples in an episode set on a sex resort planet than on the Enterprise, where fans could legitimately complain that there were no in-depth depictions of such relationships. As Gene Roddenberry’s health declined, his colleagues may have begun taking his advice less seriously, but, in this case, they should have listened to him. Amazingly, there is an Andorian extra in one of the scenes on Risa. Even more amazingly, unlike the holographic Andorian in “The Offspring,” they are the correct color (blue)! I do not recommend waiting to use the restroom until the next time an Andorian appears on screen. As one of the guys recognized, there is also an Antican (one of the dog-like species from “Lonely Among Us”) in an early Risa scene; an Antican had previously made a cameo on Starbase 173 in “The Measure of a Man.” Chip Chalmers, this episode’s director, was one of TNG’s rotating first assistant directors. He had a severe fever during shooting of the Risa scenes and had to lie on a cot between takes; therefore, the portions of this episode that Alex and Josh disliked may not fairly represent his directorial talents. For what I believe is the first time in the series, Data has no dialogue in this episode. Geordi and Wesley do not appear at all. This is only Geordi’s third non-appearance in the series, after “A Matter of Honor” and “Manhunt.” An earlier draft of the script confirmed Picard’s prediction by ending with the Vorgons returning to Risa at the time of Picard’s visit for another try. The writing staff decided this ending was too confusing and removed it. Max Grodénchik (Sovak) had a small role in "The Rocketeer" (which has repeatedly appeared on your Audience Cut polls without winning yet) and played FIDO Gold (i.e., the Flight Dynamics Officer on the Mission Control Gold Team) in "Apollo 13." (Sovak is a confusing name for a Ferengi because it sounds much more like a Vulcan name.) Finally, I regret to report that the production of this episode resulted in the end of Patrick Stewart’s first marriage. Based on their comments at the end of the episode, Alex and Josh may not be able to guess why. (Word of the week: "sybaritic" = "pleasure-seeking.")

Jennifer Hetrick and Patrick Stewart were a thing after this episode, as detailed in his autobiography...a little controversial as he was still married...

I made the mistake of peaking at the comments first, dunno if I'll watch this one with them knowing they hate it. From the comments sounds like they heavily disliked it. Odd I thought they'd enjoy the Picard focus and fun light hearted adventure and romance for him. Jen Murray on her channel just got through this one and she really liked it, so this is a bit shocking. I have big video game I've been anticipating releasing tomorrow, I also go on vacation for the entire week of the 4th next week, starting tomorrow. My mood is great its a happy time, Don't need these two soulless Romulans bringing my good mood down :P

Didn’t like Pulaski, a woman who stood up for herself. Didn’t mention Rachel Garrett from Yesterday’s Enterprise. Strong dislike for Vash, another strong female character. I’m sensing a pattern (this isn’t a criticism, just an observation…we all have our tastes).

From an MBTI perspective, Picard and Vash are not a good match at all. Picard is an Idealist and Vash is an Artisan. There are a lot more Artisans in the world than there are Idealists, so I can see why a ton of people like Vash, because she's THEIR match, but personally, being an Idealist myself, I can't stand her. Those two types tend to really clash because they have completely different core values. And yeah, like most relationships of this type pairing, it's completely based on novelty. It's maybe fine for a fun fling for a while, but anything long term here with Picard and Vash I totally do not buy. This is a product of certain writers and Stewart himself wanting to make Picard more of an Artisan, probably because that's what they are so that's what makes sense to them. Artisans tend to get bored with Idealists pretty quickly.

Ah man, I was actually excited for this one and looked into the comments before watching the reaction. I always liked this episode.

We get it: you’re team Picard/Crusher, the duo that absolutely had noooooo chemistry (Beverly pining for Picard isn’t chemistry).

This is one of those useless episodes that I care nothing about. And the whole Picard-Vash relationship is.... well, I just don't buy any part of it. And the writer tries to push it as a perfect match. I only saw this when it debut.... and a second time only now. There won't be a third time.

I just got to the end of the video--I hope Josh wasn't serious when he said he wouldn't be reading the comments.

Huh. I always thought Picard and Vash had great chemistry. And I found it odd that you didn't think she had any kind of personality. She's avaricious, untrustworthy, carefree and fun--a charming rogue of a character, and I thought she played off Picard very well. And I also have to disagree about the Ferengi--he was weaselly, backstabbing, completely profit-driven, and wary of sly females--a perfect example of who the Ferengi are and not at all like the season one types in my opinion. Guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this episode.

Ira Steven Behr is Star Trek royalty. Needless to say. this is not his best work. I don't think this episode is bad, but it just feels like a Season 1 episode for some reason.

The story may have been compromised by Gene and Patrick both demanding a sex planet and fight scenes, lol

I just wish they had run in to Doctor Stubbs there on vacation to really push you guys off a cliff on this one.

Offscreen chemistry doesn’t always translate to onscreen chemistry.. and romantically it seems it rarely does. I may be somewhat prejudiced here though, as there’s only one actress I think Patrick Stewart really sparks with on TNG.

Well, I liked the episode better than you guys, but to me, it's Star Trek's homage to The Maltese Falcon (look it up). It was okay. I agree with you on the chemistry between Picard and Vash to a certain extent, but not as strongly as you guys. I'd give it a C+/B-.

That's usually how it works from what I understand: if two actors are hooking up off-screen, then the chemistry and heat isn't on-screen. I've always found this episode pretty mid, myself.

In my bottom third of the season, but always considered it watchable

Amazing you guys thought the actors had no chemistry with what happened between the two off screen.

Was worried you guys might like this one. Glad to see I was wrong. Always hated this piece of shit.

Did Picard bring digging tools on his vacation, or did he just buy them at the gift store on their way out?

Captains Holiday - curious to see your reaction to this one. Ultimately all a bit naff haha Watchable tho

Safe to say that broke the streak? Amongst other things 😅