11 February

ST:TNG Treadmill Review #51: First Contact. No, not that First Contact

First Contact
Season 4 Episode 15
Original airdate: February 16, 1991

Netflix Synopsis

A surgically altered Riker has been on an acculturation mission for months under an alias. But a serious injury threatens to blow his cover.

My Brief Review

First Contact was the name of the best of the TNG movies, but before that, it was this episode. This one is great to watch after having recently watched the entirety of Enterprise, the prequel series that focuses extensively on Vulcans’ arrival for first contact with Earth.

This is a very compelling episode, both for the inspiringly enlightened approach the Federation takes to first contact, as well as its insightful commentary on humans’ own reluctance to embrace the inevitability of change.

Alien Rando

Most of this episode takes place on the alien planet, so let’s forget all about crew randos this time around. There is a hilarious cameo by Bebe Neuwirth as a lovestruck Malcorian who has always dreamed of “making love to an alien.” She gets her chance with Riker… at least that’s implied. Of course, Riker.

Memorable Moment

When Picard and Troi first beam down and introduce themselves to Mirasta Yale, it turns our human anxiety about the moment of arrival of space aliens on its head.

Distance Rating: 7K

IMDb score: 8.2/10

The beat (and harmony, and occasionally melody) goes on…

Unnatural Disasters cover (revised)We’re approaching the halfway point in this year’s RPM Challenge, to record an album during the month of February, and things are progressing pretty well for me. The challenge is to record at least 10 songs or 35 minutes of material in 29 days. So far I’m up to 35:30 on 8 of my 9 intended tracks. That time will probably get reduced a bit as I master the tracks and remove some of the dead space at the ends of them, but I should still be well above 35 minutes, probably around 40.

As I’ve mentioned previously, my album is entitled Unnatural Disasters, and you can read more about it (and even hear the full in-progress tracks in streaming audio) on my album page. You can also find out more about my project on the RPM site.