No, I didn’t skip ahead to the series finale in season 7. But this will be my last entry in the ST:TNG Treadmill Reviews series, wherein I will cover the last two episodes I watched, but didn’t get around to reviewing earlier.

Why am I ending this? Three reasons:

1. The weather is getting nicer and I’m prepared to run outside again. In fact, this afternoon I ran outside for the first time since Thanksgiving-ish.

2. I had been losing steam on the treadmill. Even though I was still watching full episodes, I was finding it harder and harder to stay motivated to get past 3 or 4K — or sometimes 2K. On top of that, my timing was often bad, where as soon as I was done on the treadmill, it would be time for a shower and dinner, and not so much sitting around at my desk in sweat-soaked running shorts opining breathlessly on my blog.

3. Our treadmill died yesterday.

The treadmill probably can be fixed, but with the other two factors having already piled up, that was definitely “strike three” for me to wrap up this blog series. Plus, 60 is a nice round number. The Babylonians thought so. As good a place as any to call it quits on a project I had concocted primarily to get myself through the winter without turning fully sedentary again, now that winter is (mostly) behind us.

Anyway… I’ve got two more episodes to review, so let’s get to it!

#59

In Theory
Season 4 Episode 25
Original airdate: June 1, 1991

Netflix Synopsis

When a female crewmember is infatuated with Data, he decides to give a romantic relationship a try.

My Brief Review, What Passes for a Memorable Moment, and the Whole Episode Is About a Crew Rando, So Let’s Get It All Over With Under One Heading

Ugh.

No, actually, it’s not that bad. But I do feel a bit sorry for Lt. Jenna D’Sora. That is, I would have felt sorry for her if the very idea of getting into a romantic relationship with an android weren’t so obviously stupid. One thing I’ve always wondered: what does it feel like to touch Data? How skin-like is his “skin”? And how hard is whatever is under it? What’s his body temperature? Etc. Not to mention what it would be like to kiss him. Which she does. Repeatedly.

There are some highlights. Data programmatically instigating a “lover’s quarrel” — yelling “You’re not my mother!” Data ludicrously turning on his “seductive” chip or whatever. But for the most part this relationship story is not compelling.

Meanwhile, something completely unrelated and, once again, far more interesting (to me) than the personal drama we spend most of the episode dwelling on, is unfolding. The Enterprise is attempting to maneuver through a dangerous nebula. A “dark matter” nebula. I love how TNG went all-in on incorporating up-to-date cosmology and theoretical physics into storylines, even if sometimes it didn’t make any sense. I’m not sure if such a thing as a “dark matter” nebula exists, but if it does, I’d be surprised if a human spacecraft could interact with it at all without being destroyed. (But I may be conflating dark matter with antimatter. Oh did I mention that they somehow have developed a means of containing antimatter, which is how they power the ship?)

Would musicians in the 24th century really be using paper sheet music? A lot of us don’t even do that anymore now!

I forgot to mention, the episode starts with a woodwind quintet (!) performing in Ten Forward, featuring Keiko on clarinet, Data on oboe, and Jenna on flute. Plus two super-randos on bassoon and horn. (The bassoonist is a non-humanoid alien who would appear to be more at home in Mos Eisley.)

Anyway… a surprisingly weak episode this close to the end of the season, but it did air in June. May sweeps were already over, so they had to stick in one more throwaway episode before the exciting season finale cliffhanger!

Distance Rating: 2K

IMDb score: 7.2/10

#60

Redemption
Season 4 Episode 26
Original airdate: June 15, 1991

Netflix Synopsis

Both Capt. Picard and Lt. Worf must decide where their priorities lie as the Klingon Empire descends into civil war.

My Brief Review

Gowron is in it. Enough said.

Memorable Moment

Worf gets his honor back, which involves holding a nasty looking Klingon dagger by the blade, slicing into his hand, while Gowron says the magic words that clear his family name.

Crew Rando

Not a member of the Enterprise crew, but who’s that Romulan lurking in the shadows, conspiring with Duras’s duplicitous sisters? Gasp! It’s Tasha Yar! But… but… how??!

ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER!!!

I remembered that it was her, and so I recognized her voice, and was not at all surprised when she appeared at the final moment of the episode. Eventually I will get around to watching season 5 so I can be reminded of what happens next!

Distance Rating: 4K

IMDb score: 8.5/10