Angel One Preview

Sometime soon, my review of Angel One will go live on TV Squad. Until it does, here’s a little preview:

While Data and Trent are off seeing the wizard, Riker gets ready to
play dress up for a meeting he has with Beata. She’s sent him one of
the hideous twink suits, apparently unaware that body wax and muscle
definition have gone out of favor in the Federation. Tasha and Troi and
throw up in their mouths a little when they see it, one of the first
times in TNG when we can clearly see the characters sympathizing with
the audience, instead of the other way around. Riker gets really
defensive about the whole thing, and essentially accuses them of being
jealous, because he’s putting on a Siegfried and Roy costume to go meet
up with Beata, who is "a woman, and an attractive one."

Oh, brother. Can we get a tiger sent down to Angel One?

. . . what? Too soon?

Back on the Enterprise, Picard is crankier than usual, and Dr. Crusher says he’s just too sick to stay in command of the Enterprise. As she escorts him to his quarters, he gives command to Geordi, who is all too happy to get away from Worf, who is about to shower Geordi and everyone in the first ten rows of the arena with a Klingon Sneeze. Turns out that those forehead ridges are just extra sinuses. Ouch.

Geordi approaches the captain’s chair, and a ray of awesome breaks through the clouds of crap that have obscured most of this episode: As he sits into command, we can feel how much Geordi respects the responsibility he’s been given, and just how cool it is to sit in the big chair. Worf starts his scan and quickly locates the Odin survivors.

(Personal aside:  LeVar and I were the only two original cast members on TNG who were self-proclaimed Star Trek fans. I never asked him, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this moment meant a lot to LeVar, personally. I know that when I got to sit in the captain’s chair in Farpoint, even though it was kind of silly and lame, it still meant a lot to me. Fun fact: when we weren’t rolling, nobody ever sat in the captain’s chair except Patrick. Sure, we’d get visitors who would want to have their picture taken in the chair, and it was a popular stop for studio executives who wanted to impress people, but for all of us in the cast and crew, there was a very real reverence for the captain’s chair.)

Okay, that wasn’t as little as I thought it’d be.

That’s what she said!

Oh boy. It’s going to be one of those days . . .

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14 thoughts on “Angel One Preview”

  1. Wil, I just watched this episode yesterday! I’ve been converting TNG episodes to play on my ipod (…squints eyes…) so I can relive my Junior High years all over again during my commute. Angel One has got to be the worst episode from season one, and the whole gender power flip-flop hasn’t aged very well since ’87…
    Good note on LeVar’s reaction shot while in command of the bridge. I noticed that for the first time in re-watching it.

  4. After initial confusion (it’s early and the coffee hasn’t kicked in) I realised what was going on and then I laughed. Out loud. That was really funny so I checked out your other reviews. Brilliant!
    And since you brought up Star Wars (in your review of ‘The Big Goodbye’…) can I ask a question? I found your blog originally some time ago when looking up the lineup outside Graumans. I read your post about it on WWdN and it really captured my imagination. I’ve been lurking here for a bit now, enjoying your blogular perspectives and waiting for a chance to ask – what happened next? Was there a reconciliation with the lineup? Was there a showdown with martial arts choreography and rousing music? Would you be interested to know that there might be another lineup for ‘The Clone Wars’ in August?
    Thanks for reading and I hope other people might be interested in this, too.

  5. Another fun review, Wil! I’ll be sure to check out the whole thing when it’s uploaded.
    Though, is this a typo perhaps?
    “Tasha and Troi and throw up in their mouths a little when they see it…”
    An extra “and” in there, maybe?

  6. Man, you have some really kickin’ writing chops indeed! Very fun.
    I *did* notice that you managed to sneak a sinus reference in there, though. Projecting one’s own angst, much?
    Thanks for the giggles, and hope your own sinuses are better than, apparently, Worf’s.

  7. Amusing preview, sir.
    Off topic: I want to thank you for bringing magnatune.com to my attention. I’ve been having a fine time the last few days checking out various artists.
    cheers

  9. Turns out that those forehead ridges are just extra sinuses. Ouch.
    *snerk* I see what you did there. And it’s made of win. Looking forward to the full review. (These still make me laugh — it’s like getting to rewatch the entire first season again only this time with someone putting into words what I’m thinking in my head. But you know, in a funny way, not lame like my attempt at snark would be!)
    Cheers!

  14. Andrew,
    I’ve got five quid here sez that loads of people got it, but were too worried about looking like anidyut to comment. As a chronic punctalacrimalist myself, I just couldn’t let it pass.
    Great job the both of you – FINALLY I derived some enjoyment from that gh0dawful ep.

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