UNCUT - Gambit Part II (TNG S7E5) | Star Trek Journey 286

Goddamn fuckin’ Star Trek, out here settin’ fuckin’ unrealistic expectations for workplace professionalism. Not unreasonable ones, of course, this is the way it should be. But *unrealistic*. Curse this show for disappointing all of us who saw it before we started working. 😆

Klingon does almost nothing: "Great Performance!" ^^

I think the Data/Worf scene is a nice culmination of all of the scenes we've seen them have alone throughout the series. From their wedding gift scene in Data's day, to them discussing religion, and their conversation that led Worf to realize he needed to go look for his father. And that's just some of their scenes. They've had more interactions than I think people realize that established their friendship. When everyone thinks Data died in the most toys, Worf is the one on the bridge that appears the most devasted when his shuttle explodes. Their scene here also shows how much Worf has grown. I can't imagine season 1-4 (maybe even later) Worf admitting his own fault and being genuinely emotionally upset that he put their friendship in jeopardy. Anyone notice how short the main bad guy captain is though? His legs are literally hanging off the chair when he's talking to riker in his ship's ready room

So Robin Curtis is playing a different character than she did in the past. Why does this bother you? This happens all the time. It’s called acting. Actors are not their characters.

Sabrina LeBoeuf, who portrayed Ensign Giusti, was better known as the eldest daughter on the Cosby Show.

I have also always been skeptical that Worf could have pushed all the violent thoughts out of his mind at a near-moment's notice like that. Doesn't seem very likely for a Klingon. I'm glad you both found the end amusing.

I didn't watch this in time to give a take because the show is so painful so often I dread putting it on at times, but this was pretty decent, and seeing Saavik here just illustrates how dumb the TNG art direction is with those ridiculous bumps on her face. This was better than the one where Troi went undercover.

I always found Baran's mascara too distracting. Just looks weird. Otherwise, I think the observation is spot-on that its more like one 90-min episode that was forced to be split in two.

I just realized that LaForge isn’t in Part Two… 🤔

Capt Data for the win!

Saavik is a Positive Leagacy character why ruin her character making her a villian, you'll get enough of that post 2009

the woman helmsman is form the Cosbi show

They already didn't let Meyer make Saavik a bad guy in VI, even though it was his character. They're not going to allow it here.

The Worf and Data scene make this episode, I appreciate the ending with a great final scene but this ultimately feels like a story with too much going on for one episode and not quite enough for two. Overall a solid, fun adventure tho

By far the best moment of this two-parter is between Data and Worf in the ready room. Data is firm, stern, even a bit cold as you mentioned. However, he's also fair. Offering to transfer Worf back to his prior Security position, not as a reprimand or demotion. This kind of professional decorum may seem small, but it inspires me. And it's something I find extraordinarily lacking in modern shows.

It's fine.

The Square would be a great name for a radical Vulcan group, as Vulcan philosophy can be fairly... dull. Arctus Baran always reminds me of Peter Stringfellow; a guy in the UK who was famous for owning several strip clubs. They definitely had the same barber.

I don't think this two-parter is as strong as some others in the series, but it's one of my favorites nonetheless. It just has a different vibe and has some great character moments and interactions. I find it a nice change of pace.

Also, instead of Riker /Diana scene I would have preferred a Beverly, Diana scene. Where Diana is counselling her as Picard's oldest friend and Diana feeling not just her grief but the ship's.

I really liked the dialogue in the heist part of the episode. Riker's "You're surprised to see me?" was coded for Beverly and Worf not to react to Picard (since they would have still believed him to be dead) and Picard's "Is he Dead?" to Troi so that her being half-betazoid would say, "Yes." because he wanted her to make the mercinaries trust him more. This is one that gets better on rewatch.

I am impressed how many Trek characters and their actors you remember already. But conviniently 'forgetting' Valeris and Kim Catrell is a bit too obvious.

I'm on Alex's side on this one!

Someone should've told Patrick Stewart that his mercenary needn't have the line delivery of a one man show on Broadway. "Stop yelling to the back row Patrick!"

On paper a nice difference in environment for the cast. Ultimately pretty boring and kind of laughable.

I wonder if they brought back Robin Curtis because it’s hard to find actors that can convincingly play Vulcan. EDIT: In STIII they could have had Harry Mudd be the person Dr McCoy approaches for a trip to Planet Genesis. Also Harry Mudd was originally going to appear in the TNG s1 finale but it had to be rewritten when the actor died.

The ONE two-parter that should've had a poker game in it. As it is, not enough card-exploding Cajuns, E-Tier!

Josh showing his true colors by assuming all Klingons are angry and violent 😛

I enjoy these two simply for being so different from what we usually get with TNG story telling. And any time Data is in charge is fun.

I would assume the captain sleeps with a locked door and a security system. My only problem with this episode is in terms of suspension of disblief, it seems unthinkable the captaIan wouldnt be monitoring his crew at all times, which tech wise is super basic relative to warped travek. Yes then we wouldn't have a story, but it's just the part that's so unbelievable. Like on the Enterprise, the compuer should easily have records of exachtly where everyone's been at all times, who they interacted with, visual, audio etc. I get there could be some privacy issues, so there would be things like senor readings in your room are sealed and if they are ordered to be lookd at there needs to be a solid justification. Oh, and the compuer should have no trouble telling who everyone is with or without there com badge. Of course the real reason is that otherwise we couldn't have tonos of stories we do, because that basic logical step would fix so many problems. I mean, sure, there are some other things but I can fanwank them. Yes, there would be more direct neurointerface tech, so Imagine thats what it was in TOS then they got it away from it. I imagine the universal translator reads brain waves, and creates both a holographic version of your mouth moving and what you see. They probably also fucntion like the TAS belts, doing some basic air filtering and metabolic processing. It might even be fun if aliens were "smoothed over" to make them more palatable. So then all the different face ridge humanoids actually have a number of differences that would be uncanny valley but rhere appearnce is filtered through neural holograohy software. Yes, I get this kind of speculation is not at all Josh and Alex's thing (trying to imagine and flesh out a real universe) but hopefully some fans will find it interesting. Seriously though, if the sensors were just tracking everyone on ship and recordinjg everything all the time, this would solve like a third of the epiosdes

Oh damn. That was James Worthy. He was retired by this point, but only for a couple years. Such a random cameo. I get thr sense you guys might not be big on NBA histoiry, so for context James Worthy was the "third" star of the Showtime Lakers 1980's dynasty that won 5 championships, with Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Magic Johnson being the top two. Hall of Fame Player with five rings.

The thing is you don't want to turn Savik into a violent extremeist, especially because it's already becoming a bad trend of "vulcans characters are bad guys". Once you've done it, if you don't have any normal Vulcans, it just looks silly.

they can't get out of the way, it's a psychic resonance attack

You'd think Baran would just record audio and video all over the ship...

if you were in this crew, you would actually give yourself a safety margin, but in turn the captain would know you wre doing it

We don’t want Saavik to be the villain! Not in this and not in 6.

Data has seen good captains so he is able to put on the act. Its just mimicking though, he really is just a toaster. In a way he has not really progressed any further in 7 years than his Pinocchio story in Farpoint and never can.

I will break the ice. What is up with the purple girl between you?

Yeah, I think B tier for the overall 2 parter is fair. Nothing here knocks your socks off but I do think the episode is fairly entertaining, especially Riker and Picard putting on this show of hating each other that can really only work in this kind of situation. The main problem I have with part 2 is the wrap up to the resonator story is very underwhelming. Honestly I could never buy that weapon was a threat. In Frakes of Mind a phaser on level 16 wide beam is said to be able to level half a building. This thing takes like 6 seconds to kill one person. In that time someone with a phaser/disruptor could have shot Picard, the mercs, and the away team, regardless of their state of mind. If they had showed someone try to shoot her and the beam just immediately disappears and causes that distortion to appear and kill them, then I could buy it being a threat, especially if some exposition implies that even more powerful weapons will only amplify the effect, such that it could even destroy ships. Basically in addition to being able to to attack, give it a defensive function that works essentially like Kirk's "corbomite device". As is it just allows for lame telekinesis. I very much disagree with wanting Curtis' character to be Saavik though, or her kid. I wouldn't want either her or her and Spock's child to end up being a terrorist. Sure, if she was actually Vulcan security, it could work, but as the story is, it would tarnish her character. Even for ST6 I'm glad it was Valeris and not Saavik in that role. At least in beta canon there's a somewhat understandable reason for Valeris' actions and she does get some redemption. Also my read of the final scene is that Data knew full well that Picard was joking. As with the time he told Worf that he was so much like the ambassador he hated, I think tossing Riker in the brig was 100% just Data being a master troll. My head canon is that at this point, Data has a much better grasp of humor than he lets on, and pretends to be overly literal so he can pass off doing stuff like this as taking things too literally. Picard was with the mercs even longer, AND he commanded their ship at the end. He'd be as much a renegade as Riker. They uncovered the secret message detailing their flight plan, and Data played along with what he deduced Riker wanted them to do. He stunned Worf and Crusher to make sure one of the other mercs didn't kill them. Clearly both Riker and Picard made the best of being captured to both stay alive and minimize the damage they could do, and eventually stop them. Data has all these facts, and he 100% knows exactly what he's doing at the end there. Data's trolling game is on point. Also he's a pretty great captain.

Oh also: the young woman on the bridge at the conn is Sabrina Le Beauf, who is probably most well known for playing Sondra Huxtable on The Cosby Show

I really liked the double twist with Tallera's character, I can tell TA guys did too! The psyionic weapon scene seemed too slow mostly, like the woman dying to it because she just stood there. If there was some visual cue that she was frozen in her spot, or she tried to run away but got got, anything. Maybe giving the scene a few more minutes would have helped. Maybe it could have been the key to a much larger weapon, as Alex and Josh mentioned. But yeah, time and budget constraints.

Anyone who thinks this is a bad episode has absolutely no idea what they're talking about. It's not highbrow, it's not an episode that keeps you up thinking about it after you finish watching, but it's good entertaining fun and there's nothing wrong with that. that's the bread and butter of a show.

Picard "Empty your minds of violent thoughts!!" Worf "Alexander, I must think of Alexander." (Immediately dies from thinking violent thoughts)

On rewatch, the weird acting from Riker in part 1 made me wonder if they got bad direction or something operating on the idea that they knew Picard was undercover. So when it becomes clearer that they don't the weird acting is even more highlighted

Fun fact: Gene Roddenberry had a rule against stories involving space pirates. Rick Berman had a small bust of Roddenberry as a memorial in his office - when discussing this story that broke Roddenberry's rule, he put a blindfold on the statue. Anyway, I love this two-parter. Love all the deception on the alien ship, love Data and Worf as captain and first officer, even love the somewhat goofy "the only way to defeat it is with peace!" ending.

We don't get enough of Worf and Data together

Ok, first time I'm noticing the girl's face in the gap between the chairs. Freaky. I really am not a fan of pt 1 of this story, it feels kind of plodding and Frakes' acting seems goofy. But for some reason, I feel like pt 2 is a lot of fun and I always really enjoy rewatching it.

I just noticed, Robin Curtis' "Romulan" used logic when the Enterprise was "crippled"

I suppose one reason they possibly didn't want to use Saavak's character because it may have upset fans portraying her that way. But ST6 would have done that anyways if she was used.

The ensign who got more lines than normal is somewhat of an actress of note. She was the eldest daughter on the Cosby show, and she got this role because she knew the producers and asked for it, saying she had always wanted to be on Star Trek.

We caught Frakes "acting" in that Part 1 scene with Deanna, instead of being Riker and being in the moment.

I agree that Robin Curtis' performance in Gambit is better than Search for Spock.

Did you notice Data doing a Picad maneuver just after Worf left the ready room? Also was I the first one to watch this?

The ops ensign is played by Sabrina Le Beauf, who was already recognizable by most TV viewers at this time for playing the eldest daughter on The Cosby Show.

Fun getting to watch this before i log in to work!

Always appreciate a drop that will be ready for my lunch break. Just need to finish up this Klingon spinal surgery first.

Out for breakfast at the moment, Be back home soon to catch gambit part two not my favorite episode. It’s barely an episode in my opinion. But I can’t wait to see the reaction. Catch you guys in about an hour.