LogFAQs > #969394783

Episode 5: Where No One Has Gone Before

There is something quite fun at seeing various flavours of ludicrous speed. A world where thought and reality blur is a nice bit of fantasy.

Picard's getting a little protective of Riker. Correcting Kosinski on his rank was kind of sweet. Breaking into french upon seeing his mother was adorable. The standout moment, though, was grumpily, but kindly, giving Wesley his commission. It's a beautiful scene of him and Riker rewarding the boy in a way that tracks with Picard's social awkwardness. I still love his general impatience with everything.

Riker annoyed me with his "not now, kid" bit. Given how he's been the nicest towards him out of anyone, it doesn't seem right. Love the skepticism written on his face anytime he hears Kosinski babble.

La Forge gets a sweet moment with Yar, which is nice coming off their interaction in The Naked Now.

I'm back to liking Yar. Get a brief look at her backstory. She wears worry on her face throughout.

Worf gets a sweet moment with his Targ. Conceding that it's basically a cat is cute.

Crusher didn't do too much, but it seems that, while she's just as passionate as McCoy, she's willing to make more allowances for pragmatism.

Troi still feels like Captain Obvious. Sirtis got to have a great moment of expressing the whole ship's emotions, though.

Data and La Forge seem like they're going to have a double act similar to Sulu and Chekov. His confusion over sleigh ride was kind of amusing.

Didn't hate Wesley for once. The scene of him looking over the Traveller's work and especially when he comforts him at the end are actually kind of great. His child genius nonsense didn't completely annoy me and him getting a commission warmed my heart a little. Seems that Wheaton is actually a decent actor who's just been poorly served a bit.

Kosinski is great. Delightfully arrogant and snotty. Utterly adore how his overly flowery technobabble is actually just gibberish. Gets elevated a bit from complete stereotype with his sweet moment at the end with the Traveller.

Speaking of the Traveller, it's nice to have a godlike alien who sort of respects humanity. His conversations with Picard are great and, while he's used to shill for Wesley, their relationship is alright.

I'm still impressed with the use of lighting on the Enterprise. It has quite the unique look. The VFX shots of the warp effect and the weird parts of the universe are beautiful. A lot of lovely surreal imagery, especially when Picard nearly falls out of the turbolift. A pretty great piece of music when the Traveller starts to permanently fade. Had a nice ticking clock motif to it. The scene where Picard asks for opinions was really clunky. Everyone going in order and starting with captain. It's a little insulting.

It's basically a meta story. Star Trek is, in a way, fiction, even in universe. Kosinski's technobabble is correctly pegged as meaningless nonsense, like all technobabble is, whereas, as revealed by the Traveller and (the not completely insufferable) Wesley, the real source of the Enterprise's motion is thought. Picard's mother outright says that the weird place they're in could be just as accurately described as the beginning of the universe, where everyone's imaginations become reality. The crew, of course, are not quite ready to be completely meta themselves (just as we're not. How many of us suffer through a shit reality, wrongly believing we have no power to change the narrative?), but the Traveller does leave them, alongside some character shilling, a gift: a peak into the true soul of their universe and, so, Star Trek itself: curiosity. Even the highly advanced value curiosity.

Probably the first great story. Quite liked this one.

Lonely Among Us, next.