FINAL MISSION Well, hey, this was pretty good! I quite thoroughly enjoyed the plotline involving Picard, Wesley and Dirgo on the planet. Wes was portrayed fairly well, getting him away from his "wunderkind" persona, and he actually looked less like a young kid once they got to the planet. I have to say that the episode opened on a horrible note: I was cringing at the lousy script during Wesley and Picard's exchange on the bridge. I just couldn't believe how nervous Wesley was; it seemed totally unrealistic. Fortunately, they pulled out of that tailspin in a hurry. I thought the movement of the plot on the planet was excellent, and, for once, they actually had music which added substantially to the atmosphere. I'm not sure if the desert was a matte or if it was location footage, but it looked damn good. Maybe the most impressive outdoor scenery the series has yet seen. In short, all the "trappings" were superb. I didn't even worry about little things like WHY anyone would bother to put a force field around a water supply or why Picard was using a hired shuttlecraft to take him to his destination. I did have a problem early on with Wesley's attitude toward Dirgo. He seemed like a simple snot-nosed little punk, and not nearly as mature as he had in the past. However, in the aftermath of Dirgo's death, it seemed easier to credit, considering his repentance and all. The characterizations of the trio were well-handled overall, though. I was glad they didn't play up the Wesley/Dirgo conflict TOO much, because it could have gotten real old, real fast. However, most of the dialogue and motivations were quite well handled. Even Wesley's "confessional" to Picard was well done. On the whole, as a character-building story, "Final Mission" succeeded. I look forward to seeing how Wesley will have developed after some time at the Academy. (I wonder if he'll be attending Starfleet Academy on Earth? Say, in Los Angeles? :-) My one reservation is that the "stranded" plotline seemed to go a little too fast. I think there was more that they could have done with it to make it even better, develop the characters even more, and maybe even handle the aforementioned question of why the force field was there. And it certainly would have been easy for them to find the time, because... The second plotline SUCKED! From start to finish, the story dealing with the garbage scow irradiating the planet was an absolute disaster. It served only one purpose: To keep the Enterprise from searching for Picard and Wesley. It served that purpose extraordinarily poorly. Problem #1: The alien woman looked entirely unconvincing. How the hell does she eat with that junk stuck over her mouth? How silly! Problem #2: Since when do asteroid belts form SPHERES around a sun, and why would they then be called BELTS? What the Enterprise SHOULD have done was take the barge out of the plane of the ecliptic and then aim it AROUND the asteroids at the sun, and let it go. A LOT of time could have been saved there, but that's not the worst of it, because... Problem #3: They didn't even have to pull the thing to the sun in the FIRST place! ALL they had to do was yank it out of orbit, give it a little momentum (I'd say half impulse power should be PLENTY) and leave it heading out into space! That would have taken maybe ten minutes, and then they could go search for Picard. Afterward, they could return for the barge and THEN send it into the sun! This HAS to be the most ill-thought-out plot I've seen on TNG. It really bit the big one. What I think they SHOULD have done was simply have the planet which need help be REALLY far away, several days' travel, for instance. Then the Enterprise would have been tied up for a sufficiently long period of time, and the writers could have devoted more time to the "stranded" plotline, which is all that was really important in this episode to begin with. In the "nice touches" department, did anyone else notice that they made not one but TWO small references back to TOS in this episode? First, "Hieronalyn", used to counteract radiation sickness, was first mentioned in "The Deadly Years". Second, the phenomenon of using a phaser to turn rocks into small heating units appeared in either or both (I forget exactly) of "The Enemy Within" and "Spock's Brain". Overall, this episode had some nice characterizations and interplay, with a solid "stranded" plot and nice SFX, cinematography, and decent music. However, the absolutely unforgivable "garbage scow" plot knocks this one down a few notches. Still, it's a good episode. I enjoyed it. Grade: B (Sanity Check: Yeah, I'd say on the whole this one was as good as "Brothers", while I'd say that "Reunion" is also about as good. I think the latter is going to get revised down to a "B" when I get the chance to see it again.) Next week: It's re-run time! Time to see if "The Best Of Both Worlds" Part Two is really the C- I thought it was the first time around! SEASON FOUR TO DATE: The Best Of Both Worlds Part Two: C- Family: A- Brothers: B Suddenly Human: C Remember Me: A+ Legacy: D+ Reunion: A- Future Imperfect: D- Final Mission: B --- Total: 23.333 Average: 2.593 = B- (Rise of 0.081 from last week)