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Today, I'm going to do a really weird thing. At least a thing that's patently unusual for this blog. I'm going to review an episode of a television show. Or at least talk about it; I guess I really can't properly call this post much of a review. Also, the television show originally aired over 26 years ago.

At my house, we've been working our way through the entire series of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and recently hit this episode, about which I'd entirely forgotten. But somehow it struck me as interesting enough that I'm now writing about it.

It's really not the best episode, even of season six. I'll grant that seasons five through seven have nearly all the best Trek episodes, but quality isn't what struck me about this one. This episode introduced an antagonist race in a similar way to how the Borg were introduced at the end of season three. And they were nearly as interesting! Whereas the borg were a monomind collective mishmash of cybernetically-enslaved species, this race (which I'm just now realizing was never named in the episode) are extradimensional bug-eyed monsters. They can't exist in our space, nor we in theirs. So much of the episode is them trying to construct a space that they can exist in within cargo bay four while they pull crew members into a pocket dimension of human-livable-space to study them. There's a distinct alien abduction theme, which is odd in a show where every single episode has aliens and space ships.

The show also went to a creepier and eerier place than pretty much any other episode of Trek, especially when Doctor Crusher told Riker “Your arm has been amputated and surgically reattached”. While he was unconscious!

It does look like the show-runners may initially have intended these aliens to be a recurring foe, but then dumped the idea. While researching for this article, I found the following.

Director Robert Wiemer, Brannon Braga, and Michael Piller were all disappointed at the look of the aliens, and decided not to bring them back, despite the open ending. Braga stated, "I felt they looked like monks - fish monks - and monks aren't terrifying." (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion)

It's sad really, because unlike Klingons, Ferengi, Cardassians, and even Borg, this race occupies an entirely different space than us, and has utterly mysterious motives. It could have made for some fascinating plots.

Lastly, I couldn't conclude this article without citing Data's cat poetry from this episode.

An Ode To Spot
Felis catus is your taxonomic nomenclature,
An endothermic quadruped, carnivorous by nature;
Your visual, olfactory, and auditory senses
Contribute to your hunting skills and natural defenses.

I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations,
A singular development of cat communications
That obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
For a rhythmic stroking of your fur to demonstrate affection.

A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents;
You would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when not being utilized to aid in locomotion,
It often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.

O Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display
Connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array.
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.