Star Trek: The Next Generation - Lonely Among Us / Notes

 DC Fontana-penned episode during an era of The Next Generation that wasn't exactly remembered fondly. I personally just didn't like it, though there was some fun content that amused me, such as the warring species / delegates looking to join the Federation, the snake-like Selay and dog-like Anticans, who absolutely detest each other, plotting to use violence when the opportunity is available. But the A plot regarding an entity invading the Enterprise out of an energy cloud (though, when invading Picard, this being tells the crew it was snatched from the cloud as if the ship were a claw), moving not only through systems of the ship but crewmembers such as Worf and Crusher was basically a possession story akin to "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". The show just hadn't yet found its own personality separate from The Original Series. Although I find the first two seasons fascinating, I agree with other fans and critics of the show that The Next Generation really found its own identity in the 3rd season. The makeup of the Selay (well the heads) I thought was impressive, though the "canine features" of the Antican heads were a bit stiff. The lighting effects of the 80s are considered by most today as quite inferior and cartoonish, but I have never been as critical of them...I think it is always important to remember that advancements in special effects and visual effects were consistently evolving and improving. I try to always keep in mind when watching my favorite series of the past that at that time special effects were considered state of the art and awe-inspiring. When I was a kid, these effects popped me. I didn't have "Altered Carbon", "Love + Dead & Robots", or "Black Mirror" shows with such incredible special effects. And in years, these shows will be considered inferior.

Colm Meaney's first appearance

The being has control of Picard and they can't help him

Data uses Sherlock logic

As a Junior officer, Worf is told by Picard to "learn, learn, learn."

To solve the mystery all of the crew try to come up with answers

Worf finds Singh dead

The special uniforms when delegates arrive

the head and eye piece particular to this episode.

But in this episode, I found it rather trapped in The Original Series with how Assistant Chief Engineer, Singh (Kavi Raz) serves as the Red Shirt, killed by the traveling energy cloud entity while the likes of Worf, Crusher, and Picard seem quite capable of surviving its presence. The death is impressively staged in Engineering, with a chilling shot up at Singh's dead eyes and thrown-to-the-floor body, with Worf arriving to find him. This was back when the lighting of the ship was often darker, particularly Engineering. The personality change of the third season was not only in the writing, development of characters, and complexity of ongoing stories but the look and feel on and off the Enterprise was different. I guess maybe that is why I find the first two seasons so interesting. I'm glad it came out when it did and was in syndication so that the series was able to go through its growing pains and get better.

The Sherlock Holmes Data was probably what most memorably spawned from this thanks to a conversation he was in between Riker and Picard about the mystery of what was effecting different systems of the Enterprise. Data with the pipe annoys Picard to no end while Riker and Tasha Yar find his use of indubitably, among other references rather funny. That's the thing that seems to get lost sometimes: Picard often found Data rather obnoxious. But Data was adding pop culture to his positronic brain, and Sherlock Holmes, and all the books that featured him, became such an influence that encouraged later holographic fantasies to participate in for entertainment. Yep, even Data needed to find a way to entertain himself even though human emotions weren't available, actual information introduced to him caused change in behavior. He adapted to such information. That pipe, the Sherlock Holmesian dialogue and speak, and the use of intellectual thought process; Data adopted these and even uses them to help Picard and Riker (and the crew) focus their attentions away from the delegates or crew onboard as responsible for the Enterprise's malfunctions. 2/5