Star Trek 156: Evolution

156. Evolution

FORMULA: Elementary, Dear Data + Home Soil + Contagion + The Measure of a Man

WHY WE LIKE IT: Beverley's back! Excellent effects.

WHY WE DON'T: Paul Stubbs is hard to take. A sense of déjà vu.

REVIEW: The Enterprise-D is back for a third season, and immediately, you can see there's a new polish on everything. The new uniforms are a vast improvement over the old ones, the episode doesn't skimp on sets, and the outer space shots are simply beautiful (including the new, and very appropriate, opening sequence). The biggest change, of course, is the return of Gates MacFadden as Dr. Crusher. I think she was immensely gracious to come back after being booted off after the first season, and we're all the better for it. First off, she's looking great, and more importantly, she doesn't seem to have missed a beat. The other actors all found their characters during the second season to become very much what they remain today. Beverly wasn't afforded that chance, leaving when she was still annoyingly over-protective of Wesley and awkward with Picard because of a pointless subplot. But look at her here: She's still protective, but I wouldn't say annoyingly so. She's more balanced, stronger, still hurt when Wesley resents her absence but able to bounce back from that pain, and quite amusing in the final Ten-Forward moment. It's like she was never gone, and is probably the best thing about this episode.

I can't say the same thing about Paul Stubbs, however. We've got all these characters we haven't seen all summer (originally, I mean) and are wanting to catch up on, and there's this guest character that's taking up all the room. To make matters worse, he's pompous and whiney, AND works against the crew. He's supposed to be a Wesley-type 30 years in the future, but that's not entirely explored except in Stubbs' speechifying. I'm also not sure I buy the baseball obsession. All I hear is Michael Piller's voice coming through with a preview of Benjamin Sisko.

As for the nanite plot, it's ok, but we've seen all this before, whether it's in Elementary, Dear Data or The Measure of a Man, we've had much better episodes about mechanical awareness. It's a bit more contrived than usual, and it all ends as suddenly as it started with offscreen solutions told through captain's logs instead of visuals. There are plenty of things that just happen to satisfy the plot too, such as Picard allowing Data to be invaded by nanites or Stubbs not facing charges for murdering sentient beings.

LESSON: Once again, I had to learn to treat my toaster nicely. Will it ever get through my thick skull?

REWATCHABILITY - Medium: Star Trek has yet to perfect the season finale or the season premiere, I'm afraid, but the creators visibly try their best.