Episode Report Card Keckler: D+ | 8 USERS: F YOU GRADE IT It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to YesterTrek
By Keckler | Season 4 | Episode 22 | Aired on 05.12.2005
There's a TNG comm beep and a voice ordering, "All senior staff report to the Bridge." "Computer," comes a familiar voice that belongs to a familiar face that was flogged in the previews all week, "freeze program." TNG computer noises blupity-bleep as everyone on the Bridge freezes. The camera pans over to the left to show us Riker in a blue Enterprise jumpsuit. "Save from this time index," Riker commands and stands up. Majel says, "Program saved." Riker calls out, "End program," and the frozen Bridge dissolves into the yellow and black grid of a holodeck. Riker, now dressed in his TNG uniform -- which apparently had to be taken in for this role, so forget what I said in my last recap about editing Riker's bottom -- walks out of the holodeck and into a TNG hallway.
Since it's my last recap, I should endeavor to say something nice about the theme song. Here goes: Well, it was...ahem. So when they...I really liked the -- forget it, last recap or not, the damn song still blows blubbery extinct whale chunks.
Don't worry, I won't hurt you
I only want you to have some fun
I was furrowed when I wrote this
Forgive me if it goes astray
But when I woke up this mornin'
Coulda sworn it was judgment day
T'Pol was all purple,
There were Uh-Ohs runnin' everywhere
Tryin' to run from the cancellation,
You know I didn't even care
'Cuz they say thirty-one zero zero party over,
Oops out of time
So tonight I'm gonna party like it's 2155
I was drinkin' when I wrote this
So sue me if I slur too fast
But Trek is just a journey, and journeys weren't meant to last
Death is all around us, my glass says prepare to fight
So if I gotta cry I'm gonna listen to my bottle tonight
Yeah, they say thirty-one zero zero party over,
Oops out of time
So tonight I'm gonna party like it's 2155
Yeah
Lemme tell ya somethin'
If you didn't come to snark,
Don't bother knockin' on my door
I got a flask in my pocket,
And baby I'm ready to pour
Yeah, everybody's got a spec,
We could all write any day
But before I'll let that happen,
I'll drink my life away
TNG's Enterprise soars as Riker tells us we're dead in the middle of "The Pegasus" episode and he's facing his big decision concerning Admiral Pressman. In Ten Forward, Riker's VO continues with the fact that Troi suggested he call up "an historic holodeck program." Troi and Riker have drinks. Troi tries to get more info about Pressman and Pegasus out of him. Riker clams up and says he's bound by orders to keep silent. "Have you learned anything on the holodeck about breaking orders?" Troi asks. Riker hasn't yet, because he's gone back a few days in order to "get a perspective." Riker sighs that he doesn't see how any of it is going to help. "That's why you run a starship and I'm ship's counselor," Troi tells everyone who isn't familiar with ANY aspect of TNG. Riker swigs his drink and crinkles his pudgy (but cute) face up in a really sort of disturbing grin. I'm sorry, but during "The Pegasus" Riker had no time to skive off to the holodeck or sit calmly and have drinks with Troi. As for smiling? He was a total pent-up wreck the entire time! I mean, it was that kind of episode -- tense, confusing, and good. This whole idea of explaining Enterprise's fate from the perspective of a historical holodeck program is a great concept and I really liked the idea of it, but it wasn't carried out well at all. Not at all -- way too many inconsistencies that would have been very easy to fix or just leave out altogether. This episode makes what Riker went through in "The Pegasus" just seem like a minor issue when, really, it was HUGE! Like him! Bah.