UNCUT - The First Duty (TNG S5E19) | Star Trek Journey 226

Props to Wes in this one. I would have folded the second I saw that Vulcan and probably confessed to a dozen other misadventures for good measure. Solid Episode. A+

Locarno really reminds me of someone… 🤔

Uniforms. I'll say nothing more. Iykyk

Shortly after I came out of hospital following a brain tumour, I saw my "Year 7" (UK system, age 11-12, at the time 17 years previously) form tutor while she was on a group birdwatch, when I had got up early (16mg dexamethazone gives you insomnia, as well as SERIOUS munchies) to go on a bicycle ride. I could tell that she knew I was about to announce that I had been one of her students, but I'm certain she didn't remember me specifically.

The Episde the new Starfleet academy should be but won't

Sex Scoreboard No entry (OR IS THERE?) A small moment leads the Board to ask: Did Weasely score here? How did Weasely's sweater REALLY get in Josh's room? Ski trip or cosplaying sexscapade? Did Weasely and Josh have wompa wompa? We do not have enough evidence so no score (but think about it as a maybe).

I was thinking about Nick being manipulative.. even before Wesley voices his concerns Sito and the other girl do and Nick almost tells them how they should feel.. and says like right guys? And speaks for them later.. I think he played on the underclass men’s fear of being caught to save his own ass

Hard “S” from me. One of the best of the series.

Listening to their ruminations, I find it funny to think that the guys are going to likely get a very minor spoiler (of sorts) from WWE of all places.

With regards to the occasional low resolution scenes: when they converted the show to high definition, there was no way to take the finished product that they had already made and up convert it to high definition because the finished product from the 90s was digital, so the higher definition information wasn’t there. So, they had to re-scan every piece of film and every element and pass in things like ship flybys and special effects. Then they composed all of it back together into the final product. However, on occasion, they could not find the film for some of the scenes, so they did have to upconvert the finished product that they made in the 90s to high definition for those scenes. Thank goodness they found most of the film, because I would’ve hated to watch the show up converted for the entire series.

At 57:09 regarding cadet uniforms in other colors… in the third season episode “Allegiance,” one of the aliens trapped in the room with Picard is wearing the mustard yellow version of the cadet uniform.

It's a shame how few 'good' Wesley episodes precede this because the pay off here is amazing. Few arcs get moments as strong as this episode delivers.

The “no proof” they lied thing is a little odd to me. Is the surveillance footage of their ships out of diamond formation not evidence their story was bogus? Since when do we say we can’t trust video? (Before AI) More than one character said either the video is wrong or you kids are wrong. 🤨Huh? The Vulcan knew what was up.

the best wesley episode

"Boothby, being in the flesh"... that is just perfect.

IMO this is the best Wesley ep of the show. As others say, it dispenses with the boy wonder trope of earlier seasons and kicks up some mud on Wesley, which makes him more human. I know RDM wasn't a fan of how it made him seem like a snitch, but I appreciate that his character needed to be humbled to learn from the mistake. The ready room scene is one of Picard's best speeches in the show. I've seen a ton of people who were growing up in the 90s cite Picard as a role model/father figure, and I include myself among them. Picard teaches us a lot about personal principles, about having integrity even when it comes at a personal cost. Wesley took that message to heart and emerged a more mature character for it. I do like that Nick decided to take the blame in the end. He comes across very self centered throughout the episode, but in the end he wasn't lying when he said he would put the team first. He still got a friend killed trying to show off, but at least he showed a shred of selflessness at the end. Of course the episode needs to happen, but given it's 350 years in the future, you'd figure they would have collision avoidance systems in their spacecraft. After all cars today have that, though I guess not back in the 90s. Still, S tier episode.

I hadn't seen this episode in a while, so rewatching today with you I raised my rating from an A to an S or S+. Why? Because there were several times during the episode when we just got a gut punch. Albert's father hearing how his son let the team down, Wesley watching that pain and knowing it was a lie, Picard's speech, Wesley telling Mom "don't protect me", Lacarno's leadership, and so on. If that's not what S or S+ is all about, then what are we here for? Pew Pew Pew???

I disagree that Wesley only fessed up once he had no choice. Yes, Picard said that if Wesley didn't say anything, he would - but as Locarno says, he has no proof. Whatever Picard might say, I think it would remain at "suspicion is not proof".

When I was a kid, this episode taught me a lot about ethics and how not saying anything is the same as lying. Banger episode

Wesley gets an unfair shake from most people. He was featured in a few good episodes. The season one with the traveler was probably one of the best of that season. The one where he created the little thingies was pretty decent too. The writers did the character dirty, Wil W too.

Good call, Josh. Cadet Sito is Bajoran.

The First Duty is an amazing episode. Easily the best Wesley ep.

got to give props to the actor playing the father, he really gave the vibe of a grieving father

What makes this better than the typical TNG episode, is it takes characterization but incorporates it into a very strong story, and the characters are revealed in how they react in the story. We don't need a monologue from Locarno telling us how he feels, we know how he feels from how he conducted himself. Usually, TNG writes character crap in a vacuum, just cheap one-dimensional sentimentality with Hallmark card writing (klingon bar mitzvahs, "daddy, the kids in school don't like me, I think I'll die now", "let me show you how complex I am by drinking tea during a ritual"). None of that here, and this is definitely an A; I'd put it in my top 5.

This one was pretty meh boring and not particularly inspiring or unique

I was surprised they never mentioned that model of the Enterprise in Wesley's room at Starfleet. There were a couple of shots where it was extremely prominent. It was the first pewter Enterprise officially authorized and sold by the Franklin Mint company. I had picked one up and thought it was really funny when I kept seeing it in the episode. Here's a link to the TV commercial on YouTube https://youtu.be/z09b92CdasY?si=AlGmOboyVqEbSLuQ

Dialog cost a lot less than Holodeck CGI. Also the look on Wesley's face when he hears that Geordi and Data are doing a thorough investigation.

"He's (just) a Gardner". Yes. Just like Guinan is (just) a bartender. I think Boothby is more than an elderly human and the Academy means a lot to him.

Boothby is like the academy’s Guinan

Ray Walston was a great Broadway star, he was in South Pacific, and played the devil in Damn Yankees. Ron Moore is the best writer in all of Trek.

You guys have pretty good memories.

This is how Wesley should have been used from the start, young person's perspective contrasted against a mature perspective, instead of the boy wonder nonsense.

Nick Lacarno - Cadet Gaslighter.

Funny how they mentioned Boothby along with "In the Flesh"

It is funny how some of the best episodes turn out to be ones with just one or two characters and not the entire ensemble..That is just good writing..

Mid ep at best.

On the subject of occasional bad looking shots in the show. Most of them are because that when they did the HD conversions of the show, sometimes the film segments could not be found, so in that case they have to use the standard definition video master to fill in the scene. Back in the day TNG was post produced to videotape after being shot on film.

As to cadet rank insignia, it very well may signify what year a cadet is...though it should be pointed out that real world officer training, such as military academies or ROTC, does assemble command structures from the corps of cadets itself, which are assigned cadet ranks such as Cadet Captain, Cadet Colonel, etc, as part of their training for command roles after graduation.

Alex would like to talk with this Ron guy….man, it’s a shame you missed the 90s. Ron had a bulletin board on AOL and he talked a lot with fans there. It’s because of what he said there I know how much he hated the resolution, feeling like Wesley ratted out his friends. Yes, he is the epidode writer but at this point in Trek, there was a writers room where a group would break down a story and a person or team were assigned the screenplay. I’m sure there were deviations from that norm but this was more typical. And Ron let us know on he wanted a different resolution for Wesley but was overruled. Knowing those stories doesn’t make me love or hate an episode more, but it does make me value those early internet days when folks like Ron were more accessible. Brandon Braga would answer IMs on AOL as well. I guess it was a smaller world. Gosh I feel old!

Not specific to this episode, but I love when you guys make offhand wild predictions and we know when they actually will come true in like 15 or 20 years of air time. As you get deeper in the franchise, you could probably make a montage of those.

I’ve built a backstory in my head that up until the academy, Wesley was the type of kid who was focused on impressing adults. Now he’s surround by kids his age and he’s having to learn how to fit in. Peer pressure can get to all of us and he just needed Picard to shake him up a bit to realize that confessing was the right thing to do.

One of my favorites. In no small part because Wes takes it in the chin instead of being the boy wonder who saves the day.

Also, am I the only one wondering what 'future ugly uniforms' Alex saw? I have a guess, but not sure.

Ah the one Wesley episode where we want him to speak up and not shut up.

Picard’s first duty speech is one of my favorites. Imagine a world where our leaders committed themselves to scientific, historical, and personal truth. We’d probably be traveling the stars by now.

Boothby was played by beloved character actor Ray Walston, best known as Uncle Martin on “My Favorite Martian.” He was also Judge Bone on “Picket Fences.” And he was Mr. Hand in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High.”

S-tier, but A because no Worf. But in all seriousness, love this episode. Returning to the roots of Starfleet and getting a court drama with Wesley that is a genuinely believable and well-executed? Sign me up. And yeah... being scolded by Picard? I'd rather be tortured by Q.

1:00:00 Picard TOTALLY would have told the investigators his theory about the accident.

On this rewatch, when I think about Locarno, I feel like this could almost be something Kirk might have pulled off when he was at the academy, but Kirk being Kirk, and the plot armor of being Kirk in Star Trek, his team would successfully perform the maneuver and he'd get away with it and become a bigger legend. Unfortunately for Locarno, he doesn't get that main character plot armor.

The actor who played Boothby was Ray Walston, who played a Martian on the comedy tv series "My Favorite Martian" in the early 60s.

You two didn't talk a lot during the dialogue, so you must have been really into it.

Ah always liked to think this episode was an apology for giving us the Game as Wesley’s comeback.

Fun fact: the legal drinking age is 18 in Alberta, Manitoba, and here in Quebec.

The HD conversion of TNG was intensive. They rebuilt every single episode by re-editing from the original film negatives, meaning they had to put episodes together using individual clips on physical 35mm film. So when you see shots that are in standard definition it is because the team which did the HD rebuild of the series was unable to find the original film negative of that specific shot, so they used the best footage they had available to them.

27:29 Josh, wide-eyed, shakes his head NO. LOL!

Wait, are you guys Canadian?

One of my favourite episodes! Along with a certain episode it may or may not be connected to in the future.

2:30 LOL @ "Jack Crusher is dead!" That's how many claimed his delivery was. bum-tssh.

Richard Fancy, the Vulcan on the tribunal, played Mr. Lipman in Seinfeld. "George, it has come to my attention..."

One of my favorites! Excited to watch this one.

You guys are brutal ---- constantly launching reactions early in the workday and making me face a moral dilemma about whether to wait. I need to have a word with Boothby about you.