S1E01&02 - Encounter at Farpoint - 26/09/1987
It's Picard! Making an entry in his log. Captain's log, stardate 41153.7. He looks young. Patrick Stewart was 47 at time of airing. Hasn't met Riker yet. They're gonna pick him up. Data (Brent Spiner, 38 at time of airing) doesn't know the meaning of snoop. Deanna (Marina Sirtis, 32 at time of airing) is sensing a powerful mind and pulls a face as if she's constipated. The mysterious net of light or whatever it is forces them to stop. It's Q! (John de Lancie, 39 at time of airing) He's wearing some kind of old-fashioned style of clothing. Now he's a cold war soldier. Time for a quibble. O, lieutenant Yar (Denise Crosby, 29 at time of airing), just piss off. Time to see what a galaxy class starship can do! Let's outrun this weird light stuff. It's something beyond what we consider a lifeform. Engine room, gives us more! The balls on Picard! Emergency saucer separation at high warp! If Riker had been on board he would have objected. OMG, the man-dresses! LOL! This is all taking far too long, the Q-ball would have caught up with them before they left. The saucer is coming loose now, they play the TNG intro tune over the ship's speakers to calm the crew's nerves. The ship looks dumb without its saucer. Battle bridge at full stop. I wonder how the saucer is going to stop without warp engines. Picard is surrendering! How uncharacteristically cowardly. Trial time. Peasants on the court benches. A floating judge. Lt. Yar attacks a court security guard armed with a machine gun, how smart. Then she mouths off at the judge and gets frozen. Too bad he didn't blink her out of existence. Instead he unfroze her. Booooo! Thumbs down for Q. Pffft, this court scene is taking too long. Finally time to head to Farpoint. Will without a beard, a babyface. Jonathan Frakes was 35 years old at the time of airing. And there's Wesley. (Wil Wheaton, 15 at time of airing) And now Geordi! (LeVar Burton, 30 at time of airing) Will is beaming to the Enterprise, first beaming on the show. Time to connect the battle bridge to the saucer again. Show the captain you can do a manual docking commander. This is a nice scene, the docking. Data picked up Doctor McCoy, (DeForest Kelley, 67 at time of airing) I mean, Admiral McCoy with a shuttle. Yes, Data is just like a Vulcan. Uh oh, commander Riker is meeting counsellor Troi. Awkward! Lol, the Farpointers might form an alliance with the Ferengi. Alright then, we'll be off, best of luck to you. Ferengi are people-eaters, apparently. Ah, the holodeck! Gotta love it, as fantastical and technologically impossible as it is. But that's what sci-fi is for. Data's there for whistle practice. And he's very strong, pulling Wesley out of the water one-handedly. Wesley says captain Picard is a pain, lol. The episode does a decent job of introducing all the characters and their capabilities to be honest. Ooh, Beverly (Gates McFadden, 38 at time of airing) and the captain meet each other for the first time, on this ship I mean. He lets Wesley on the bridge despite his rule that no children are allowed there. Favoritism! Don't touch anything! But take a seat in the captain's chair. Lol, perimeter alert! Cute little scene. Worf (Michael Dorn, 34 at time of airing) kinda looks like someone piled clay on his head. The Ferengi have arrived, in a ship twelve times the size of the Enterprise. Those darn Ferengi are shooting at the village! O wait, it's not the Ferengi! It's a giant space jellyfish! And they're holding hands now. Feelings of great joy and gratitude. Q is pissed. He'll be back later. Captain's log, stardate 41174.2. Episode done, and I didn't even get around to mentioning Miles O'Brien, played by Colm Meaney, who was 35 at the time of airing. Let's see what's out there. Engage!
