I concur. The Federation missed out on first contact with a race who had the technology to turn the entire Jem'Hadar race into reptilian pudding and would have GLADLY shared, because Alien A crowded Alien B and messed with his vials.
Starfleet has long been incapable of producing an AI of even middling quality purposefully... It's quite in-character for them to have a ship that doesn't care if the crew number is changing randomly as long as it isn't blowing holes in the walls. Knowing their track record, the computer is probably laughing to itself about how the meatbags are disappearing.
@@KertaDrake It was a feature put in after previous systems kept having lock ups and errors over all the dead red shirts Kirk was leaving all over the galaxy.
"Stop hovering over me! I have a system!" 😜 God, I love Chuck's humor. I feel privileged being part of this small community who get his humor (that belies his intelligence). Hope that makes sense. I'm really tired and I'm actually writing this in bed before going to sleep. I love you guys! 😉 Take care and be well, all! 😀
Chuck had way too much fun with the translation. Having an unknown enemy who can just snatch people and do who knows what to them has great potential for a persistent threat. Maybe not easy to not make them kind of overpowered and unstoppable but if done right it could be a great danger that always lurks in the background and you never know when they strike.
That potential conversation is hilarious. It gives a whole new spin on the motives for what the aliens were doing. So much for positive interspecies relations.
the concept of this episode should be remade as like a standalone blumhouse movie set in the star trek universe. enough budget to give the aliens proper scary artdesign, maybe in a HR Giger direction.
Your writing between the aliens was totally great. Connecting the events on screen with your alien characters dialog was a nice touch. I've worked in labs where this could be a very relatable experience. Nice writing my dude!
I feel like it would have been a cheat, but an effective one, if they had just made the aliens really really big. Like you see their hands mostly. Very literal, but it would capture the feeling.
That's a really neat idea. Imagine if the set was just Riker and the Ensign strapped to two tables, two pools of light in inky darkness. Riker starts scrambling to get the Ensign out...and two gigantic fingers reach into the light to pick him up before they jump back through the portal.
@@turtek12 The giant fingers reach forward quickly to grab Riker, and in the process partially travels through the portal with him, just in time for it to be shut by the Enterprise. Riker and the Ensign fall back into safety, and the top knuckle of the finger lands on the ground with them. Ends with a captains log stating that there have been no further incursions so far, and they are analyzing the "sample" of the entity on the other side, but there is little hope of significant insight into these creatures. After all, it's hard to extrapolate an entire being from just the tip of their finger.
I love Ode the Spot, I think one of my favorite comedy moments from the series when commander Riker reads a line of it by mistake in a Fist Full of Datas when one of Dr. Crusher's plays is replaced by it. It's also kind of weird that even super intelligent spacemen from the future in an interstellar starship still have to deal with the threat of Alien Abductions.
My problem with alien of the week episodes is it feels like wasted potential. Like the episode "Conspiracy", it screamed for additional episodes. Unfold that mystery. Have them grab Klingons, Romulans, etc. too. Explore the horror aspects more. Here is an alien that exists outside our universe and abducted people. Studying their enemies for an invasion. They could have been as interesting as the Borg. The boogeyman come to life. Have the Enterprise form a coalition of Romulus and Klingons to open up the rift and explore. But suddenly physics doesn't work the same in this dimension. Perhaps weapons don't work but gravity does. Use real (not technobabble) problem solving. Launch an attack on the alien base. But I can't even tell you if these aliens had a name because we see them for 5 minutes. Wasted potential.
Conspiracy was originally going to tie into the Borg actually! But the insect alien species they had intended would have been too expensive and difficult to do, so it was reworked as the Borg we know today and the connection was dropped. So, they'd planned to follow up on that one and budget got in the way.
@@planescaped I've always suspected he (Nageelum, or however you spell it) was behind the cloud vampire from TOS Obsession being it had to be made from a substance only found in lab experiments.
This episode was almost tailor-made for me as a kid. A big fan of storylines where the monster under the bed gets a light shone in its face... *The more we learn* about the Alien Abductions (who are as alien to Trek as they are to us), *the more horrifying it is.* The crew have the tech to scratch at the surface (tracking disappearances, visualizing half-erased PTSD memories, deep-scanning for medical chicanery) but are still clueless as to the what and how, with their best plan being loading Riker up with stimulants and letting him be bait again.
For me what sold this Episode was its idea. The execution of it was secondary. Best part of the execution was the holodeck chair making scene or more over the fear and realization of the horror they've been subjected to.
To be fair, nobody has tasked the Enterprise computer with keeping track of people. It would have been a serious, most invasive breach of privacy and human dignity. Meanwhile.... on Voyager.....
To be fair, Voyager's primary mission for the run of the series is to get everyone back home, safe and sound. Keeping tabs on their whereabouts is a logical extension of that directive. And considering that a Vulcan is their chief of security, it makes sense that they would be tracking if anyone left the ship without warning.
One flaw in your logic. The Enterprise is a military vessel. Now, maybe the ship doesn't record your where abouts, but it's not unreasonable to assume it keeps contact with your combadge to ensure you don't go somewhere you're not supposed to.
Gods I remember the holodeck scene from this show. Real SCP vibe to it, honestly...now that SCP is a thing I mean. Like, it's there, it's horror, but it's the unknown horror sort of thing.
I will say this about Braga in this era: He was willing to be brave and shake up the status quo. Look at season 6 alone: The Enterprise visits DS9 in Birthright. Picard and company fly back to the Enterprise in a Runabout in Timescape, an episode that is brave enough to actually show damage on the Enterprise hull, bridge set, and has the extremely rare exploding console. He was also brazen enough to destroy the Enterprise on multiple occasions, until unfortunately, it stuck for real....for at least 30 years....
I really like the design of these aliens, as they convey a very believable sense of being truly inhuman, and not just guys in makeup. I do agree, though, that they should have been largely unseen, except perhaps their hands. Their lab should have been foggy and dim, perhaps with a walleye lens and a Dutch angle, so as to illustrate how otherworldly their dimension really is. Some filtered sound design could have completed the scene, showing how strange and unknowable this new threat could be. These things were never going to join the Federation, and we needed to get a better sense of the gulf between Us and Them.
At least they're not missing any decks. Although considering the size of the _Enterprise_ compared to her crew, that at least would be more understandable.
It’s a tv show so I get it but it’s weird to see these off duty events attended by the main cast and a handful of extras when there’s over 1,000 people onboard.
Just goes to show that even when you're in control of your own flying saucer, you can still be abducted by aliens. They should have looked more like greys. Tall, slender, pale skin, three really long fingers, no clothing, big black oval eyes. 👽 Those have always creeped me out.
I was surprised to see this get an above average score. I agree it was good, but good was average for TNG. Although maybe I see the point that TNG has the first two seasons dragging is overall quality down a bit :| But there are a few other scary TNG episodes, like the one where they all can't REM sleep and they start hallucinating, just as effective. But the holodeck scene and buildup for this episode was phenomenal horror
@@redpillfreedom6692 Not by choice. Another server change and loss of many videos which have to be reuploaded. I feel bad for Chuck with the crap he has to keep doing to keep this stuff up and running.
I despise this episode. Alien abduction is utter bilge, and for Star Trek to give the idea any credence at all degrades the show. That said, the episode was better in execution than in the idea. There are eerie moments. But they lowered their standards in employing the concept.
The most annoying character goes to... Chuck himself. 10:45 People want to watch sci-fi and sci-fi reviews to escape such annoying diatribe. I can throw my computer and devices in the garbage if I wanted to hear that. I'll just visit relatives and my crazy neighbor to get that kind of entertainment.
His interpretation of the alien conversation is canon and nothing can change that.
WIth this and the ST4 subtitles, I would pay for a whole album of "Chuck interprets..."
I concur. The Federation missed out on first contact with a race who had the technology to turn the entire Jem'Hadar race into reptilian pudding and would have GLADLY shared, because Alien A crowded Alien B and messed with his vials.
"...most human beings are larger than a micron."
[Citation Needed]
I laughed so damn hard when you went into the idea that this was a first contact mission from the other side and it got totally fuked up.
Crew: Are any crew members missing?
Computer: Oh yeah, two nobodies left the ship at some point. Who cares...
Starfleet has long been incapable of producing an AI of even middling quality purposefully... It's quite in-character for them to have a ship that doesn't care if the crew number is changing randomly as long as it isn't blowing holes in the walls. Knowing their track record, the computer is probably laughing to itself about how the meatbags are disappearing.
@@KertaDrake It was a feature put in after previous systems kept having lock ups and errors over all the dead red shirts Kirk was leaving all over the galaxy.
"Everyone *left* is safe and accounted for" Jean-luc Picard probably
"Stop hovering over me! I have a system!" 😜 God, I love Chuck's humor. I feel privileged being part of this small community who get his humor (that belies his intelligence). Hope that makes sense. I'm really tired and I'm actually writing this in bed before going to sleep. I love you guys! 😉 Take care and be well, all! 😀
The holodeck scene creeped me out back then and still creeps me out today when I heard that clicking...
Not just the clicking, but everything after they made the room dark and the suspenseful music slowly building up to the clicking.
Chuck had way too much fun with the translation.
Having an unknown enemy who can just snatch people and do who knows what to them has great potential for a persistent threat. Maybe not easy to not make them kind of overpowered and unstoppable but if done right it could be a great danger that always lurks in the background and you never know when they strike.
That potential conversation is hilarious. It gives a whole new spin on the motives for what the aliens were doing. So much for positive interspecies relations.
the concept of this episode should be remade as like a standalone blumhouse movie set in the star trek universe. enough budget to give the aliens proper scary artdesign, maybe in a HR Giger direction.
Whats with ppls obsession with plastic hose aliens
I mean, it's not as if David Cronenberg, yes that one, is a guest star on a current Star Trek show or anything... :P
Imagine if the aliens ended up being Species 8472.
Sto would later identify them as Solanee, servitor race for the IcOnIaNs
Your writing between the aliens was totally great. Connecting the events on screen with your alien characters dialog was a nice touch. I've worked in labs where this could be a very relatable experience. Nice writing my dude!
One of his best interpretations on an episode.
I feel like it would have been a cheat, but an effective one, if they had just made the aliens really really big. Like you see their hands mostly. Very literal, but it would capture the feeling.
That's a really neat idea.
Imagine if the set was just Riker and the Ensign strapped to two tables, two pools of light in inky darkness. Riker starts scrambling to get the Ensign out...and two gigantic fingers reach into the light to pick him up before they jump back through the portal.
@@turtek12 The giant fingers reach forward quickly to grab Riker, and in the process partially travels through the portal with him, just in time for it to be shut by the Enterprise. Riker and the Ensign fall back into safety, and the top knuckle of the finger lands on the ground with them.
Ends with a captains log stating that there have been no further incursions so far, and they are analyzing the "sample" of the entity on the other side, but there is little hope of significant insight into these creatures. After all, it's hard to extrapolate an entire being from just the tip of their finger.
Oooh I like that
I love Ode the Spot, I think one of my favorite comedy moments from the series when commander Riker reads a line of it by mistake in a Fist Full of Datas when one of Dr. Crusher's plays is replaced by it. It's also kind of weird that even super intelligent spacemen from the future in an interstellar starship still have to deal with the threat of Alien Abductions.
...and bad poetry ;)
My problem with alien of the week episodes is it feels like wasted potential. Like the episode "Conspiracy", it screamed for additional episodes. Unfold that mystery. Have them grab Klingons, Romulans, etc. too. Explore the horror aspects more.
Here is an alien that exists outside our universe and abducted people. Studying their enemies for an invasion. They could have been as interesting as the Borg. The boogeyman come to life.
Have the Enterprise form a coalition of Romulus and Klingons to open up the rift and explore. But suddenly physics doesn't work the same in this dimension. Perhaps weapons don't work but gravity does. Use real (not technobabble) problem solving. Launch an attack on the alien base. But I can't even tell you if these aliens had a name because we see them for 5 minutes. Wasted potential.
A lot of these interesting aliens really are too interesting for their own good. Another one being that alien from Where Silence Has Lease.
Conspiracy was originally going to tie into the Borg actually! But the insect alien species they had intended would have been too expensive and difficult to do, so it was reworked as the Borg we know today and the connection was dropped.
So, they'd planned to follow up on that one and budget got in the way.
@@planescaped I've always suspected he (Nageelum, or however you spell it) was behind the cloud vampire from TOS Obsession being it had to be made from a substance only found in lab experiments.
This was easily the scariest TNG episode for me back when I first watched it 😨
Some days Chuck's ridiculous tangents get me through the day. :D
Great video. I love the mix of levity and analytic analysis. One of the best suggestions that the UA-cam algorithm has offered me. I'm now subscribed.
The idea that the unknown evil is a pair of lab workers bitching at eahx other is amazing
This episode was almost tailor-made for me as a kid. A big fan of storylines where the monster under the bed gets a light shone in its face... *The more we learn* about the Alien Abductions (who are as alien to Trek as they are to us), *the more horrifying it is.*
The crew have the tech to scratch at the surface (tracking disappearances, visualizing half-erased PTSD memories, deep-scanning for medical chicanery) but are still clueless as to the what and how, with their best plan being loading Riker up with stimulants and letting him be bait again.
Brannon Braga: "I felt they looked like monks - fish monks, and monks aren't terrifying."
For me what sold this Episode was its idea. The execution of it was secondary. Best part of the execution was the holodeck chair making scene or more over the fear and realization of the horror they've been subjected to.
"Dweeb funk" LOL....
To be fair, nobody has tasked the Enterprise computer with keeping track of people. It would have been a serious, most invasive breach of privacy and human dignity.
Meanwhile.... on Voyager.....
To be fair, Voyager's primary mission for the run of the series is to get everyone back home, safe and sound. Keeping tabs on their whereabouts is a logical extension of that directive. And considering that a Vulcan is their chief of security, it makes sense that they would be tracking if anyone left the ship without warning.
@@TheZetaKai also their brainwaves.
One flaw in your logic. The Enterprise is a military vessel. Now, maybe the ship doesn't record your where abouts, but it's not unreasonable to assume it keeps contact with your combadge to ensure you don't go somewhere you're not supposed to.
I LOVE the dialogue you came up with for the aliens.
Gods I remember the holodeck scene from this show. Real SCP vibe to it, honestly...now that SCP is a thing I mean. Like, it's there, it's horror, but it's the unknown horror sort of thing.
That's so weird I just watched this episode a couple hours ago and thought I really should look up SFDebris take on it
“Ode To Spot” is one of my fav poems. And I mean that 😃🐈
I've heard you can survive Data's poetry reading if you chew your own legs off.
I will say this about Braga in this era:
He was willing to be brave and shake up the status quo. Look at season 6 alone:
The Enterprise visits DS9 in Birthright. Picard and company fly back to the Enterprise in a Runabout in Timescape, an episode that is brave enough to actually show damage on the Enterprise hull, bridge set, and has the extremely rare exploding console.
He was also brazen enough to destroy the Enterprise on multiple occasions, until unfortunately, it stuck for real....for at least 30 years....
TOS version - WHIRRRRRRRRRRRRR, BZZZZZAP:- "Captain, this is where the aliens say YOU PROBED THEM"........
i've seen this episode many times and i still don't know how it ended.
I love that these aliens show back up in STO
I really like the design of these aliens, as they convey a very believable sense of being truly inhuman, and not just guys in makeup. I do agree, though, that they should have been largely unseen, except perhaps their hands. Their lab should have been foggy and dim, perhaps with a walleye lens and a Dutch angle, so as to illustrate how otherworldly their dimension really is. Some filtered sound design could have completed the scene, showing how strange and unknowable this new threat could be. These things were never going to join the Federation, and we needed to get a better sense of the gulf between Us and Them.
Anybody would be afraid to get a haircut from Mott. He's almost like the Neelix of TNG... well maybe!
I am engaging with this content
I am engaging with this engagement with that content.
@@Superphilipp It's engagement all the way down.
I hear engagement is the new hotness and I'm jumping on that train.
Than as we found out these aliens in this episode were working for the icoanions in STO as a serviter race.
Computer, are there any crew members missing from the Enterprise?
Oh yea, LT Whatshisface has been missing for three months.
It probably sends the equivalent of an email to an un-monitored inbox
At least they're not missing any decks. Although considering the size of the _Enterprise_ compared to her crew, that at least would be more understandable.
Datas poetry readings on
the USS Enterprise must be
as equally exciting as the
EMH: Doctors picture shows
on the USS Voyager .
Okay, what is the difference between a Vulcan raised by Vogons and a Vogon raised by Vulcans. Asking for a friend.
"I have a system!" Sounds like me.
Cold silence has
A tendency to
Atrophy any
Sense of compassion
It’s a tv show so I get it but it’s weird to see these off duty events attended by the main cast and a handful of extras when there’s over 1,000 people onboard.
"Sorry? Ya cut the guys arm off!" Killed me
"A Vulcan that was raised by Vogons." Love it!
Just goes to show that even when you're in control of your own flying saucer, you can still be abducted by aliens.
They should have looked more like greys. Tall, slender, pale skin, three really long fingers, no clothing, big black oval eyes. 👽 Those have always creeped me out.
The end-credits list Woman #2 as Kaminer.
Omg the translations 🤣 I'm wheezing. sub earned!
Aliens abductors have work place drama, both funny and terrifying.
I miss Trek with poetry readings.
The tertiary subspace manifold is flat.
But why is paramount plus refferencing Q in the description
I was surprised to see this get an above average score. I agree it was good, but good was average for TNG. Although maybe I see the point that TNG has the first two seasons dragging is overall quality down a bit :| But there are a few other scary TNG episodes, like the one where they all can't REM sleep and they start hallucinating, just as effective. But the holodeck scene and buildup for this episode was phenomenal horror
STOP HOVERING OVER ME!
Damn those Ferengi contractors !
this was one heck of a weird episode.
Weird that the aliens kinda look like Mordin from Mass Effect. Questionable medical ethics in both cases
TIME FOR LUNCH I GUESS!!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂❤ LOL 😂😂😂😂😂
Could not click fast enough.
Glad this review is back after it was removed from his website. One of my favorite episodes, even if it loses steam after the big realization.
@@Contemplativeman101
Why did he remove it from his website?
@@redpillfreedom6692 Not by choice. Another server change and loss of many videos which have to be reuploaded. I feel bad for Chuck with the crap he has to keep doing to keep this stuff up and running.
@SaphoSheep That's what the aliens said!
I despise this episode. Alien abduction is utter bilge, and for Star Trek to give the idea any credence at all degrades the show. That said, the episode was better in execution than in the idea. There are eerie moments. But they lowered their standards in employing the concept.
The most annoying character goes to... Chuck himself.
10:45 People want to watch sci-fi and sci-fi reviews to escape such annoying diatribe. I can throw my computer and devices in the garbage if I wanted to hear that. I'll just visit relatives and my crazy neighbor to get that kind of entertainment.
Shoulder Spider is that you?
It's called comedy. Do you want reviews to be super serious all the time?
@@jlev1028 A false dilemma is a logical fallacy that presents only two options. He's been hilarious but usually without having to be that annoying.