TNG - "The Pegasus"

Riker's former commanding officer, Admiral Pressman, beams on board the Enterprise to oversee a mission to salvage the remains of his former ship, the Pegasus. During the investigation, Riker must choose whether or not to reveal a cover-up of an illegal operation Pressman conducted on the Pegasus twelve years ago. In the end, he chooses to turn Pressman in and face the consequences.

Military intrigue is something that should logically be in Star Trek much more often, but apparently it conflicted with Gene Roddenberry's belief that Starfleet should be conflict-free and purely altruistic. However, since this episode was produced a couple years after his death, the doors for this kind of story are now wide open.

This is also a great story for Riker, as he's forced to choose between by-the-book loyalty and following his conscience. We also see his character growth reflected in the dialogue, as Pressman notes that Riker has now grown a beard, started smiling more often, and gotten less stiff overall. As far as we've been aware, Riker has always been known to do things in a "non-regulation" manner, and yt's interesting to wonder if the events on the Pegasus are what caused him to start thinking so differently.

There's a ton of new special effects shots of the Enterprise, including some phenomenal ones with the ship traveling inside an asteroid, shining spotlights across the inner walls. Considering the show's beginning, where we were lucky to get even the slightest variation on a stock shot of the ship, this is quite a welcome change.

On every level—the mysterious plot, the character development, the special effects—this episode delivers. It's not a mind-blowing super-epic, but it's very good.

TNG - "Homeward"

Worf's foster brother violates the prime directive when he attempts to save a small village on a pre-warp planet from being killed, against Picard's wishes. In the end, the village is safely transported to a new world, but one of the villagers commits suicide when he learns the truth about space travel.

This episode is abominable. It's not that it's not well-made; it's simply morally wrong.

Picard learns that an entire pre-warp civilization is going to be destroyed, and Nikolai Rozhenko pleads with him to save merely one village. Picard firmly denies the request, coldly replying that the prime directive dictates that they cannot save an entire world without "interfering."

It's said in this episode that the principle of the prime directive is indeed principle for the sake of principle, and that this is a good thing.

When it briefly appears as though the planet has finally killed the villagers, Picard sternly but uncaringly reminds the crew that, essentially, those people's lives are less important than keeping to the prime directive.

This isn't just an outrage for reasons of moral disagreement; it's completely inconsistent with Picard's character. All the way back in Season 1's "Justice," Picard violates the prime directive in order to save Wesley Crusher's life. He even gives a speech about how laws cannot be absolute or they are unjust. He states that in situations involving the sanctity of life itself, exceptions to the rule MUST be made. Later, in "The Drumhead," it is said that Picard has already violated the prime directive nine times. But he won't do it here, to save the last remnants of a race?

It could be argued that Picard's actions here are genocidal. If there was ever an argument for the humanistic scientific elitist corruption of the Federation, this is it. A rule created to preserve life becomes so strict that it nearly annihilates that same life. Picard should be outraged at this, but here he's more upset that his ship is inconvenienced by a dozen passengers for a couple of days.

I motion that this episode be stricken from the record, effective immediately.