UNCUT REACTION - Star Trek TNG S2E15 - Pen Pals

I like this episode, but also find it frustrating. Like others, I really dislike the whole scene in Picard's quarters for the prime directive absolutism. I think Troi made a great point that if there is some "cosmic fate" then they have a part to play in it. Good on Pulaski(who is much improved by this point) and Geordi for standing up for what they though was right. Riker was kind of the "consider all options" guy, and Worf seemed unusually callous here. It's Picard that's most frustrating though because I tend to think of him as this extraordinarily principled, paragon type character, and here he's elevating the PD to a quasi religious status where he's willing to take part in passive genocide to be a prime directive absolutist. Like, I get that interfering in other cultures, especially pre warp societies, can be disastrous and should be avoided. But if they're going to go extinct, no level of interference can have a worse result. Even if it costs you your career, it's worth it to save a whole planet/species. I also hate the notion that the PD is this flawless divine philosophy when it was invented presumably by humans and perhaps some other founding members of the federation who were just as fallible as any of our crew. I'm more forgiving of Data in this episode. On the one hand, I get the criticism that he acted out of character violating procedure so many times, and a lot of that could have been handled better. But I think this story highlights that Data was programmed with certain ethical considerations in mind. He may not have emotion per se, but he does have an understanding of right and wrong. Certainly he knows what rules he's violating, but I think what they're getting at is Data's programming is telling him that in this case that the PD is wrong, and that they should help. Basically this episode made Data the crew's moral compass in this case, which I do like. It has it's flaws, but I'd say I like it more than most.

Don't sweat missing the odd bit you guys are great because you keep it natural

Was this the first showing of the riker maneuver? I'm so used to it it may have happened many times before but the scene with Wesley in ten forward suddenly stood out lol.

yes, there a few mediocre episodes but Contagion and Time Squared were reallyn good imo and i would have loved to see your reaction

why did you guys skip ahead to pen pals?

Good stuff guys keep it up. The genuine reaction is the way to go. This kind of content is great because if it’s authenticity.

I've been revisiting Red Dead 2 myself! Can't believe it's been nearly 6 years already.

This is one of my favorites. I know it felt so long but I just enjoyed the good conversations and good actings and it made me like Data even more.

Data definitely has low level emotions that are just inherent to the complexity of his positronic brain. They are always like "he has no emotion" but that's just obviously not true. He has to have subtle emotions that are just barely there, caused by how complex and similar to a human brain his neural net is

I love the authentic laid back reactions. My only friendly suggestion, is that it might be helpful to try to aim your long comments to quiet parts, transition scenes, etc. Just when they stop talking, blurt out your comments then? I'm sure it's WAY harder than it looks. And i appreciate the sentiment to let us know you did see it later! Thanks. Keep up the good work 🥰

Shit happens, your enjoying the show. Dont worry too much about chatting ;)

Before I rewatched this episode, I thought it was unseemly that Data would be secretly messaging a teenage girl for 4 weeks. But having watched it again, I've remembered that Data is probably about 7 years old, so the girl actually groomed Data.

This is only the second time I have seen this episode. Sometimes there are episodes that literally all you take away from it is a single sentence description or a single plot point, so rewatching them you really don’t know what is going to happen because on rewatch you mainly just watch the heavy hitters. So this episode was less boring just because it was mostly new to me other than the resolution. The Data scene was from a heavy hitter so I can see the comments but you can’t catch everything. Josh should clip some of those scenes he finds in editing, would be a cool thing for part of the season wrap up.

Watching you guys struggling not to talk during scenes is hilarious, I have to say. :)

I do not think you guys talk enough, please talk more....................................When Wesley is on screen

How dare you to talk over the INTRO!!! haha

I was thinking about Riker being Wes’ father figure.. Wil Wheaton has said that he wishes Jonathan Frakes were his real father! His parents were show parents he calls his TNG family his real family!

In case you guys don’t know who Nikki Cox is she was the girl in T2 who told the T1000 that John had gone to the Galleria. 👍

In just her (to date) two episodes, Melinda Snodgrass has left an indelible mark on TNG. The smaller being the addition of Picard's fondness for horses, but more importantly, she created the poker scene that became as much a part of the show as the Holodeck did.

I couldn't tell, but I think they talked over Sarjenka's initial "is anyone out there?" line, I got a good laugh out of that given the intro. They weren't confused later, so I guess they heard it.

Picard’s scenes with the horse on the Holodeck are the first location scenes of Season 2. Note how Picard and Troi’s opening dialogue about how the horse fills a need for companionship foreshadows Data’s friendship with Sarjenka. Something I had forgotten prior to this rewatch is that “Pen Pals” takes place over a span of at least eight weeks. I believe this is the longest timespan covered by any TNG episode up to this point; fortunately, the passage of time is conveyed more elegantly than the infamous time jump in “The Paradise Syndrome.” The “cosmic plan” discussion in this episode is one of the main examples I had in mind when I mentioned in the past that TNG is like a version of the dinner party scene in “Is There In Truth No Beauty?” that is seven seasons long. This scene epitomizes everything TNG is and everything you always hoped it would be, and, of course, features one of the actors from “Is There In Truth No Beauty?” Notice how fully Dr. Pulaski has come around to Data’s side by this point: “My emotions are involved. Data’s friend is going to die. That means something.” “Pen Pals” is a rare child-centered Star Trek episode which is impossible to dislike. Even if decades have gone by since my last viewing of this episode, it makes me feel happy just to think of the moment when Sarjenka is frightened of Data but is then happy to see him once he identifies himself, saying she knew he would come. As a huge Data fan my late mother adored this episode; watching it was sheer bliss for her. Unlike other child actors, Nikki Cox (Sarjenka) went on to success in the industry as an adult, although she is now retired. She starred in the eponymous sitcom "Nikki" on the WB from 2000 to 2002. The production team had to limit Sarjenka and Data’s physical closeness because Cox’s orange makeup smudged off easily. The composer of this episode’s score was Dennis McCarthy, who in TNG’s early years alternated episodes with composer Ron Jones; thus McCarthy scored “Encounter at Farpoint,” Jones scored “The Naked Now,” and so on. As I mentioned in my comment on “The Royale,” with its memorable score by Jones, co-executive producer Rick Berman’s preference was for music that did not call attention to itself. While both McCarthy and Jones are extremely talented composers, McCarthy was always more willing to give Berman what he wanted (perhaps because he had children to support), creating excellent music within those narrow constraints. For example, in “Pen Pals” the music at the end of the “cosmic plan” scene, when everyone hears Sarjenka’s voice, is quite lovely but does not grab the viewer’s attention. Jones always pushed much harder against the limitations Berman imposed. For the episode after “Pen Pals” (which I presume Alex and Josh have already seen), Jones used a 59-piece orchestra, the largest he would ever use on TNG.

Isn't this the first visit to the captain's quarters?

16:21 There's that ridiculous ENHANCE! Ugh. I forgot ST did that here.

"Who knew O'Brien was racist!" Hahaha just wait!

Have y'all tried the one-ear headphone thing? That way you can still talk to each other without completely drowning out what's being said on screen.

2:50 I think "more of an effort" is all we've been asking for. :) There's usually enough time between scenes for a few words. You guys' facial expressions can say a lot, too!

It's Chaka!

Alex's comment about the budget with the horse is not wrong. They shot very little outdoor scenes in season 2 because by this point they were over budget.

It's impossible not to miss certain things. I've been watching Star Trek my entire life, and half of the fun is rewatching old episodes and seeing stuff that you missed or didn't remember.

Don't worry about missing some parts, I'm sure most people back in the day missed some things while the TV was playing in their family room. People get too upset over nothing.

Just wanna say I really appreciate you taking the time to both discover and then comment on a missed moment like this. It shows how dedicated you are to the lore and to the fanbase. Kudos.

Maybe on stand out episodes you could do follow up moments you missed when you edit, just like this one.

Oh yay! I noticed you guys missed the wrapping paper joke, obviously, but I hoped you'd just see it when you edited it and then laugh at it then, lol. 😂 I'm just happy you eventually noticed it.

To be fair, anyone can watch something with 100% focus and still miss things. Would rather you react and be yourselves than censor or restrain yourselves ☺️

Super early post! A lovely surprise ☺️