UNCUT REACTION - Star Trek TNG S2E7 - Unnatural Selection

Obviously, there's a comparison to be drawn with The Deadly Years, but I agree it's a significantly better episode, largely because they don't use it as an excuse for the cast to act stereotypically old. And of course, we finally get a ton of development for O'Brien, who not only got a name, but more to do this episode than some of the main cast has this season. I also find the explanation for the disease much, much more convincing that in Deadly Years where it was just a lazy "radiation" explanation. Likewise, the cure was a lot more convincing than "adrenaline". Also the old age makeup wasn't perfect, but it was better than Deadly Years, and certainly better than in Too Short A Season. After Khan and the Eugenics War, it seems rather ill advised that they would be taking part in this kind of genetic engineering, which clearly goes far beyond stronger and smarter. Though, if it wasn't banned before, or if the ban was lifted, that banhammer is coming down hard after this incident. I get for dramatic purposes they destroyed the Lantree to drive home "the cost of progress". I'm sure they could have sterilized the ship with radiation or something. IIRC, this is the only real "Pulaski episode", and at this point she's finally really growing as a character. I still intensely dislike how she treated Data in the first few eps, but she clearly developed a newfound respect for Data here. I appreciate the arc, but they didn't need to have her go that hard at the guy at first. This doesn't even land in my top 8 eps of the season, but Pulaski gets valuable character development, especially in relation to Data, and O'Brien gets a name and more than enough to do to kickstart his development. It's a solid episode.

Love to see Obrien finally get some screen time!

Older Josh! Ha! Best introductory scene photo yet. You guys could really have fun with those, although perhaps you would need to have a trunk full of props along with Star Trek specific stuff -- a Klingon forehead, Vulcan/Romulan ears, a Riker beard, phasers, etc.

I would have loved it if, after blowing up the ship at the end Wesley spun around and shouted "AWESOME"!

In my mind I predicted the thumbnail image for this episode.

One of Alex's comments in this reaction (obviously, I can't say which one) is a major "be careful what you wish for" moment.

Funny observation. Only the root of the hair follicle is alive, and typically doesn’t leave the scalp unless pulled out. Sometimes, by hairbrush, however typically not as the hair follicle breaks I think the writers just glossed over that one.

@William McRae - Outpost Scientists man. Smart as Einstein and Dumb as a box of rocks. (Note: Not the sentient rocks. Also, No rocks were harmed in the creation of this comment.)

Everyone's favorite transporter chief finally gets a name.

Just FYI, "Colm" is pronounced like "Cullum"

I think Pulaski regards Data as a friend and colleague by this point. No dramatic conversion, just a gradual growth of respect.

Exactly, where did they get the DNA to restore the planet occupants? Also, they would have had to also blow up their own shuttlecraft.

My favorite part was how you politely took the water, placed it on the table, and drank Fireball the whole episode. 😃

Diana Muldaur mentioned in her interview for Shatner's Chaos on the Bridge that she had trouble with her dialogue on TNG, as it was often too technical. Between that and the frequent script changes that happened in the first two seasons, that likely explains the need for cue cards.

Deadly years is still top tier tos imho

Season 2 in general has many episodes like this it was a season of transition

Colm Meaney is the man!

47:26 I think a respectful moment of silence isn't the same thing as "being depressed about it."

37:20 It always bothers me that Data beams up but what are the chances some of the antibodies in the air around him would be captured with him?

"Repulse" is a ship name with a long history in the UK's Royal Navy. There have been twelve English/British warships named Repulse since the sixteenth century. The last HMS Repulse was a ballistic missile submarine.

The fundamental problem with this episode (which is NEVER addressed) is why is the Federation engaged in this type of genetic research when it's been expressly forbidden? The type of children that the team have "created" (who have the bodies of full-grown adults as well as telepathic and telekinesis skills) are the exactly the "superhumans" that were created in the Eugenics wars. None of this makes sense at all.

One of my favorite episodes of Season 2, and even more of a favorite of my late mother, “Unnatural Selection” has one positive quality more important than all others: it is a retread of “The Deadly Years” so vastly superior to the original that we can now at last forget that episode exists. We can also forget “Too Short a Season,” since this episode’s superb old-age makeup effaces memories of the abomination perpetrated upon Clayton Rohner as Admiral Jameson. This episode features what was one of my mother’s favorite moments in TNG: Riker and Data’s discovery of Pulaski’s DNA on her hairbrush. For the rest of her life after seeing the episode, when my mother lost a hair she would often hold it up and exclaim, “It has a follicle: living cells!” As a result, watching the scene now makes me want to scream with grief, much like Sally Brown’s comment in "A Charlie Brown Christmas" that “All I want is my fair share” or Aragorn saying, “What say you?” to the Army of the Dead (two other favorite lines of Mom’s). I have a bizarre comparison to make between this episode and a classic children’s story that entered the public domain on January 1, 2024. I think of “Unnatural Selection” as TNG’s equivalent of “In Which Tigger Is Unbounced,” Chapter 7 of "The House at Pooh Corner," in which Rabbit, who has disliked Tigger since he arrived in the Hundred Acre Wood, tries to teach Tigger a lesson by allowing him to become lost but changes his opinion somewhat when Tigger rescues him from being lost instead. Although Pulaski had already softened toward Data a bit, this episode marks a further turning point in their relationship, when, like Rabbit with Tigger, Pulaski becomes reliant on Data for help after putting him in danger in the first place. The parallel springs to mind even more readily because, somehow, both as a child and as an adult, I have never been able to imagine Rabbit as male, even though the narrative constantly reminds us that he is. He has always come across to me as a fussy, bossy female, like Pulaski. This episode is the first to reveal that Colm Meaney’s recurring transporter operator is “O’Brien.” When Meaney received the script for the episode, he had to ask the producers who “O’Brien” was before learning it was his character. One reason O’Brien has such a large role in this episode is that he took over the plot functions of a character named Rina, an Enterprise crewmember who was a potential love interest for Geordi and who caused male crewmembers to become comically clumsy around her due to her great beauty. With this character not working in the script, the writers had O’Brien assist Geordi instead. At an earlier stage of the story’s development, the recovered Dr. Kingsley, now back to her actual age, would have appeared on the Enterprise viewscreen at the end of the episode. The writers removed this scene to save money by not casting a younger actress. It is also for budgetary reasons that the boy who beams aboard the shuttlecraft communicates with Pulaski telepathically rather than speaking, as he did in earlier drafts: TV actors with speaking parts must be paid more (as you pointed out with respect to the non-speaking Andorian and Tellarite in “Whom Gods Destroy”). The genetically engineered “children” were originally going to be nude, but this proved impossible due to the use of transparent furniture in the episode! Please note: TNG Season 2 Episode 9, which you should be watching this Monday, is available on the Blu-ray in both the televised version and (via the “Additional Data” menu) an extended version. It may be simpler and more straightforward for you to react to the televised version; however, you may want to consult a knowledgeable person (Andreas Schmitt, perhaps?) who can advise you about how to proceed with S2E9 without spoiling anything. Edit: Sorry, Presidents' Day is the following week.

I have one word to say KKKHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNN!!!!!!

You’re enthusiasm for Colm will be well founded as you go along

All hail to the chief!!

I never noticed the cue card reading, but I think you're right now that you had me looking for it. But I never watched this one all that much, anyway.

Worf isn't really in this episode but I love the one scene he had which was looking totally pissed off in the meeting when Picard agreed to Dr. Pulaski's request to beam the potentially sick kid on board xD

I did like moments like Pulaski's joyful skipping off the transporter pad. Muldaur did her best with the role, but the writing didn't do enough to justify her being out of sync with the temperaments of the established crew members.

A very TOS storyline but well executed with some good moments and growth of Pulaski and Picard's relationship

I think this is the first time we have heard Transporter Chief O’Brien’s name The actor Colm Meaney did a really good movie in 1991 Called “The Commitments” It is not sci fi. It is about Irish rock bands Really good movie, I would recommend it

Is this our first real Chief O'Brien episode?

Cursed thumbnail xD

I love that you're digging O'Brien. He's a legend.

loving your enthusiasm for chief o'brien

This is not one of my favorite episodes but it does not suck, it is just to much of a similar story to the deadly years and isn’t giving Diana enough Room to be Dr Polaski, and leave her a cheap cardboard cutout of Dr McCoy.

LMFAO!! I cannot add anything that beats that thumbnail!

Diana Muldaur actually requested to not have her credit be in the title sequence. She didn't want it to be. In Hollywood it is considered to be higher prestige to be credited with "Special Appearance by..." in the Guest Starring credits.

Thank you for that. I needed that 🤣

I just wanted to comment on how great this thumbnail is. Which one is Josh and which one is Pulaski?