PATRON TAKES - Star Trek TNG S4E8
TAKES WILL BE READ Wednesday 9/4 at 8pm eastern
Make sure you read the other takes and give a like to your favorites.
Most liked comments & choices from Alex & Josh will be read for the video
Comments (41)
Some people didn’t like the little alien at the end, but he’s always reminded me of the “greys” that like to abduct drunken humans. I’d like to think that his race had visited Earth in earlier centuries.
...but THEN it turns out that Josh and Alex were in a simulation all along and TNG ended with season 2!
Some great lines from Riker in this one. "Shut up! As in close your mouth and stop talking!"
Plot twist #3: Barash's enemies were the Husnock! I wish. Would have been a great callback.
Excellent episode, with a solid double twist, and an outstanding performance by Jonathsn Frakes. Another excellent chapter in season 4.
I enjoy the double twist, especially the callback to the Bynars episode. If you remember Minuet, you figure out that the future is fake before the rest of the audience. I thought that was a lot of fun. When the prison was also a fake, eh that was still fun but not as good. The episode would actually have been better if Riker were just beamed up from the prison by the Enterprise in a rescue that the audience was unaware was going on until the climax of the episode.
When Deanna casually drops "Min" as a diminutive of Minuet's name, you should instantly know something isn't right!
Do the Enterprise conference room windows look green-screened this episode? Or is it just me? There is something janky about that scene( with Captain Riker, Admiral Picard, Troi)
The ending is kind of underwhelming, but it is interesting to see the writers depicting a possible future. This episode also has one of my favorite Riker moments of all time. I give it a B.
My only problem with TNG, even at its best, is the endings sometimes feel like someone in the writers room remembered they have to wrap things up before the end credits.
This episode also contains two of the best of the TNG outtakes: Worf clarifies his scar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K1RiiNTWuo Georgi and Worf celebrate their rescue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgPy2kU9nEk
Yes, in combat too.
The episode title is a clever pun. Past and present imperfect are verb tenses, but there is no such thing as future imperfect, a hint that what's happening is not real. Also note the lack of external Enterprise shots.
Good catch! Though that tense does exist, just not in every language.
This one had me going. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. It kept my attention because of that. And it holds up to a rewatch. Not the best ever episode but one I still very much enjoy. I expect you will enjoy this and probably give it a solid B
We finally get to see Tomalak in person and not just on the view screen. I enjoyed this episode, and the glance into the possible future. I’ll be waiting to see if you recognized Min or if you were like me originally where I had no clue and had to go back and watch it again to see if it was the same actress. It’s super cool that it was her, even if her part only lasted a few seconds.
Well ..... SORT OF in person
I hope you didn't put together the pieces too quickly. If you didn't, I think it's a lot of fun. I'll like any episode that gaslights Riker. This episode gives a glimpse of the future -- what aspects of this episode do you think end up coming true?
We can never really tell the boy is doing it until Riker figures it out. They keep the true twist well hidden till the end.
A new reacuring character will make a debut in this episode. Sadly the actor who played this character died about a month ago. Hopefully that was vague enough so it won't spoil anything
A new c
So...will we ever see "Jean Luc" again?🤷♂️🤔
The alien at the end looks like a cheap Halloween costume you'd see at a dollar store. Was money really that tight?
I solid B to B+. I think you guys may rate it higher possibly but I can't really let the actual alien at the end pass so that holds it back. They have shown they can do much better (pen pal for example). It's a cool mystery, good twist within a twist bottle episode. But it just kind of falls flat at the end for me. Which I think you may possibly agree.
The good: unexpected twists, continuity, Riker as captain, aging makeup (makes you appreciate how great LaVar is with the visor), Tomalak, Minuet. The bad: middle to end feels like S2 Shades of Grey done with an actual budget, except for the ending alien costume; high tech bug-eyed race with the fancy cave close to the neutral zone will likely never be seen again.
Prediction: The guys will love the constantly-evolving mystery. But won't be particularly satisfied by the final ending.
Even knowing what is going on, this one is very re-watchable. The base premise is bit sketchy, but I enjoy this one. I like seeing all the "realities" come crashing down.
Man, this season is just throwing everyone into fatherhood roles. First Picard, then Worf, now Riker. And another episode pulling on elements from past seasons. I wonder if you'll recognize Min right away or not.
My personal highlight of the episode is seeing Deanna in a standard uniform.
This is one of my favorite episodes of Season 4. It's not going to be everybody's cup of tea, but I do love the double-bluff, even if the kid is, once again, the weakest link in an episode where he's supposed to be the most important part of the episode. Andreas Katsulas is at the other end of the spectrum of guest cast; he elevates anything he appears in, Next Generation's loss in his rare appearances is Babylon 5's gain, in that he appears in nearly every episode of B5, and elevates that show just as much. I like a good mystery episode, where it isn't all given away first, and who doesn't love a holodeck episode? You get both wrapped into one, even if you don't truck to it until the end.
Tomalak can be a bit of a characture because of his limited screentime, especially now that I've seen the depth he can bring in the 3 seasons of B5 that I've watched so far.
Me when someone is posting spoilers in the Patron Takes: “Shut up, as in close your mouth and stop talking!”
This is a clever episode, does a good job of making you think it's a ruse but tricks you into thinking about the wrong ruse.
Even though everyone knows the whole thing is not real, I still find this episode to be an incredibly fun watch. Riker telling the crew to shut up and telling Data he's full of shit is worth it.
I love how the Romulan guards in the room look at Riker after they know his greatest love was a hologram...like they think this guy's sad and kinda gross.
First time seeing an alien holodeck, so that's interesting. Riker was really horny for that season 1 hologram lady, eh? Kind of ironic in retrospect how much he bullied Barclay for his holodeck perversions. This is another typical B or C TNG episode to me. Some fun moments, but nothing super noteworthy.
Great point, I think the difference between what Riker did and Barclay ( and Jordi ) did was that Riker did not conjure up a hologram of someone he knew or even a real person. She was just a fantasy girl that he developed real feelings for. I have to wonder if the binars had not deleted her, would Riker had continued that ‘relationship’?
I like this one, not S tier but a banger for sure! I like the mystery and the Romulans in this one. The twist of Riker’s holographic side piece bring the mother of his fake kid was great, what a sentence. Only on Star Trek…
An OK episode but the final act where Riker realises what's going on is one of the greatest TNG moments ever. Riker telling Picard to "SHUT UP! As in close your mouth and stop talking!"is possibly the greatest line delivery in all of Star Trek :D
Riker's horniness gets him out of danger for once.
I like the badge on this “ Future” A LOT. I don’t really care that much for the rest of the episode.