FIRST CONTACT


Now this was an... interesting episode.  I'm not entirely convinced the
writers knew quite what they were trying to accomplish here, but they
did accomplish a few things.

One thing they accomplished was to bring in the worst actress I've yet seen
on TNG (easily beating out the woman Troi counseled in "The Loss" and the
twerp, uh, kid in "The Bonding") in the person of the nurse who tried and
maybe succeeded in seducing Riker.  Or maybe she was SUPPOSED to be acting
poorly.  Whatever, that scene was utterly unnecessary, not amusing in the
least, and had a really lousy script.  That in itself would keep me from
giving the episode an A.

But the other characters didn't seem all that hot either.  The woman
playing Mirasta was about as uninteresting (at least) as the women who
played K'Eheleyr or the one who played Ardra.  Aren't there any DISTINCTIVE
looking and sounding actresses left in the world?  And does the world
really need another character full of naivete and wonder (and not much else)
with the prospect of going to explore the cosmos?  I think not.

The man who played Krola was about as cliche as they come.  The only really
interesting character was the Chancellor, but that was merely because he
was basically a plot device.  All he had to do was be reasonable, and make
the decisions.  As a parallel to Picard, this made him relatively intriguing,
but far less than he could have been.

However, I did like how the writers focused on the doings of the Malkorians
rather than those of the Enterprise crew.  It gave the show an interesting
flavor that sets it apart from the rest of the series, and gave us the
opportunity to see the Enterprise from an outsider's point of view. However,
had the planet and its inhabitants been more interesting, it would have worked
better.

I found the Malkorian civilization and the unfolding of the plot were
bland in the extreme.  The planet was obviously patterned to resemble
present-day Earth, with a couple of unconvincing twists about the Malkorians
believing themselves to be the center of the universe and such hogwash.
(Not one character in the episode seemed to actually hold this view.)
I also didn't care for the method used to creat tension in the episode:
The National Enquirer-style paranoia about aliens.

The conclusion was at once satisfying and disapointing.  It was satisfying
in that everything that this viewer (at least) WANTED to have happen (down
to Mirasta's departing the planet) DID happen, but it was disappointing
in that it seemed obvious from almost the start that it was what was ultimately
GOING to happen.  A nice, tight wrapping-up of the story, no real ambiguities
for us to ponder, nothing unexpected in the plot.

The episode did leave me wondering why the Federation bothers to contact
cultures of the level of the Malkorians'.  What could either party really
stand to gain from the experience at that point?  It seems that waiting
until the Malkorians had developed their warp drive and done a little
exploring and colonizing on their own would have been more prudent.  Picard
said the Federation has found the reverse to be true:  Why?

I also wondered about the scientific development of the Malkorians.  They
were about to develop warp drive, but it seemed that they hadn't even
explored their own solar system yet (if they had, it would seem more likely
that the populace would be well accustomed to the propsect of space - and
interstellar - travel then they were).  This seems like a bit of an
incongruity to me.

I wondered why Riker was one of the infiltrators.  It seems to me that that
sort of job is better left to the pros, not to starship first officers.
It seemed to be a simple, and transarent, ploy to make the viewers care
about him.  Someone must not have through through the fact that a well-
written guest star would have served that purpose better, especially
since it would have left the possibility that he wouldn't have survived...

The plus side of the episode was that it was a good example of seeing
"the Federation in action" and seeing how they handle things like this.
The Picard-Malkorian interaction was usually interesting.  I also enjoyed
the aside about the botched first contact with the Klingons (so "Errand Of
Mercy" would not have been their first war, eh?).

Other plusses:  Nice sets, usually decent dialogue (it's just that the
characters were uninteresting), good pacing, and a fairly tight plot.

In summary, it was a fairly enjoyable episode, but didn't really have
any surprises or anything really NEW in it, save for the glimpse of the S.O.P.
of a first contact.  It wasn't so much BAD as just... uninspiring.

Grade: C+

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: B
Future Imperfect: D-
Final Mission: B
The Loss: D-
Data's Day: B-
The Wounded: C-
Devil's Due: C-
Clues: B
First Contact: C+
---
Total Points:  34 2/3
Average: 2.311 = C+
(Rise of 0.001 from previous episode)