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UNCUT - Imaginary Friend (TNG S5E22) | Star Trek Journey 229
🕑 Added 2025-02-23 17:25:43 +0000 UTC
Comments
jon bolton
Lol OK, you guys rate it D and E. I'm probably in the minority, but i like this one a lot. I find it a fun episode. I rate it A, admittedly my lowest ranking A of the season, but still A.
temsik28
Somehow worse version of 90's Problem Child. At least that kid had a cool bowtie. D+
Lt Dan I scream
lol so bad I didnt even miss that you dropped this at the same time as another ep. well I guess I get 2 ep today whoot hehe
Schnabley
Look up a picture of “Isabella” she grew up nicely.
Michael Metrick
Yeah, I forgot how boooooring this was. Took 35 minutes to finally get the inevitable reveal.
Darren Seal
Ah this one is dull, it’s not even in the so bad it’s entertaining camp it’s just boring 🤷♂️
Shayds
It almost feels like this was a mandatory PSA episode the studio is obligated to produce. Still deep within the clutches of the "Just Say No" era, here is the "This is Why We Have to Have Rules for Children" episode of Star Trek. It felt like the neither the writers or the actors were very excited to produce this episode. Just a theory...
BN13
The reason why we rate episodes like this as a C is because we've seen the whole series, and we know about the episodes that are far worse than this one. If an episode is just boring and forgettable, it's probably going to get a C compared to some of the ones that are just spectacularly bad.
Ian Westcott
For the first time ever, I opened up your Patreon post and went right the evaluation and skipped the episode itself. Congratulations, you guys are better than Star Trek now, haha.
Jonathan Llyr
😂
Wrestling With Gaming
The space visuals in this one are really nice. It's too bad it wasn't just 45 minutes of those.
Wrestling With Gaming
It's us, the target audience 😩
Wrestling With Gaming
💀 this made me legit lol
Mark Chrisco
Run of the mill. However, there were a few touching moments.
Kristina Weber
Maybe the interesting question here is who is Star Trek for, like what audience the showrunners should be targeting? This is one of a handful of episodes that made an impact on me in the original run, but I was 7 when this episode aired (and watched it with my family). So maybe this is a great episode for young children but not for adults. Is it worth having some episodes for young audiences or aiming it at older audiences exclusively? I think nowadays they have multiple shows, some for more mature audiences and others for a more general audience. I dunno, I would hate to see them only target mature audiences. It's like the (in my mind, poor) decision for the DC movies to have a lot of violence, making them inappropriate for children.
Boggle
Adding this after some introspection while drinking some morning coffee: I think the rating system itself depends on the person. This episode is boring, but inoffensive. It's not racist or sexist like some others, it doesn't break any continuity, and it's not something that will likely make someone stop watching the show altogether. I'm biased in that I like sci-fi. It's not really just a TNG thing. I'm not even one of the more hardcore ST fans out there. I don't know any of the episode names and definitely don't remember the guest star names. My favorite ST series is actually DS9, followed by Lower Decks, then TNG. You'd hate where I'd rank TOS, knowing your love for most of it. And I LIKE TOS, heh. I'm probably always going to rate mediocre sci-fi a little higher than I would a mediocre police drama, as an example. Simply out of personal bias. I like the feel of the future, of spaceships and galactic politics. I understand monster of the week filler episodes, but I simply find them more inoffensively boring than anything else. As a second opinion/thought, this is probably more of a 'D' episode, but honestly there's not really much difference to me personally between a 'C' or a 'D'. Anything less than a 'B' to me is not good. To put it on a different scale, my letter grades are basically: S - 5/5 A - 4/5 B - 3/5 C - 2/5 D - 1/5 E - 0/5 I'd probably give this one a 1.5 on said scale. The high number of kid actors gets +.5 out of sympathy, with the baseline of '1' for an episode that is bad but not personally offensive.
Scarpad’s Domain
This is the first reaction is all of you guys rections that I'm skipping and will come back to someday, this episode blows
Aramis Calcutt
I had forgotten how boring this episode was. Ugh. Definitely worse than the Game, which was entertaining.
Boggle
It's a fair assumption to say most TNG fans grade it all with some rose-colored glasses. To me, a C is basically "Eh, not going to watch this again, but i've spent 45min doing way dumber crap so whatever." That said, your theory that in situations like this 'it's probably best to assume a grade lower' definitely has merit and I am just as guilty as everyone else in that. I suppose it is a passing grade, but it's not a grade I'd have been happy with in school, either. Honestly, I probably gave it a bit of a buff because it was so kid actor heavy. Whatever the case, I definitely appreciate your feedback, as it's always constructive.
AzoriusMage
At least TAS has the decency to be short
AzoriusMage
Why can’t I post the gif from Airplane of the guy about to set himself on fire
AzoriusMage
30 minutes in barely able to keep watching. Current rating E
Deep Red
Yeah I skipped to the review portion. Sorry boys
Philbot
There is supposedly a never seen 9 Forward.. maybe not as popular Guinan’s sister whinan was the hostess.
Philbot
Anyone ever seen in incredible peanut butter solution? Late 80’s film?
Philbot
There are supposedly many lounge areas including 9 forward?? we saw some lounges in season one as meeting places for diplomatic functions..
Philbot
I thought she was wooden and terrible. Played it almost Vulcany which I feel like some day players do? In Star Trek 4 some guy reads his lines like he’s Spock I’m like WTF? Shay Astar makes Clara look like Lawrence Oliver 😆
Philbot
Isabella made Clara look like a great actor!
#MaxwellDidNothingWrong
Unsalvageable. No rewrite coming to the rescue here. So take the L and put the writing time into other episodes like....
Dan Here
Well, you love horror shows, this one was pretty horrific 😂
Ally Roth
I really dislike this episode because I think it's a boring, lazy execution of a good idea. We have kids in the real world whose parents move around a lot because they're in the military. This could've been a good exploration of childhood loneliness from that perspective. And if we, the audience, didn't know Isabella was an imaginary friend or an alien at first, I think it could've been a lot more tense and even scary once the reveal came.
Joe Concepts
It's just weird that the "lesson" of this one seems to be, "Sometimes kids might think adults are mean."
Joe Concepts
This is one that a few times seemed like it could get somewhere better... but then just didn't. Even the kid actors were fine. One other big issue was that the B plot was just, "The ship is going slow." And no one seems too worried.
Philbot
I Know Isabella best as August, Tommy’s girlfriend from 3rd Rock from the Sun.
Devon Cooper
Never one of my Faves either. Eh, some are just better than others🥴
Ken R
Its not like I make this shit up.
Mike Rogers
The thing is, many people recognized that this was a bit of a retread of a Lost In Space episode called My Friend Mr. Nobody. I wonder if it was a coincidence.
Tony B
I thought it was one of the best child actors on the show...
Carl Peterson
I give this one a D. It is somewhat rewatchable for me. Not good but after you have seen all the good ones so many times this one is boring but not unwatchable like some others. Maybe if they did not show the energy blob at the beginning and made it somewhat of a mystery then it would be better. This could have been good as little parts of other episodes. Just seen the girls together but no one else sees her or talks about her. Then some reveal that they think she is imaginary. Maybe if the alien really just wanted to be friends but does bad things because her friend is sad because her dad is in trouble or maybe the alien flips out because the dad is transferred away from the Enterprise and there is some problem with the alien going with her. Those would have been better.
Carl Peterson
I think that is supposed to show she is an alien. Not great acting but I am sure she was told to be wooden.
Josh (Target Audience)
Clothes in the hamper is wild 🤣💀
Ken R
My taste is pretty consistent. This one opened with a hopefully evil child alien threatening to blow up the ship, so there is at least a theoretical stake. I watch one episode and I see as a hook an alien pretending to be an imaginary friend for what will hopefully be sinister purposes. I turn on another episode and the hook is Worf Jr doesn't wasn't to put his clothes in the hamper. Now which one will I be turning off after 5 minutes do you think? This was kind of dull, but that just makes it like 80% of all TNG. The best kid episodes this year, not counting Disaster since it just happened to have a few kids along with everyone else, is the one where the kid wants to be Data, and the thing that elevated that one beyond being an Afterschool Special is his trauma was connected to the ship being in peril and he was needed to save everyone. This is just typical TNG, a C or D.
Timothy Nikiforovs
I think I'm with Josh on describing this episode, and I did originally give it a D, but I'm bumping that down to E. I haven't seen this in years and I remember it being boring, but I forgot just how dreadfully boring it was. It's not one of those episodes that tears down any of the main characters, it's a pretty typical energy blob creature that's been done better in the past, and it's not playing on offensively bad tropes or just being super weird. It's just really, REALLY fucking boring. Even when I think back to Code of Honor, Angel One, or Up the Long Ladder, at least there's something in the episode that's entertaining. There's just nothing here. Alex, regarding comparisons to The Bonding, I would say it largely comes down to the fact that both episodes feature kids who get "adopted" by some energy being which takes the form of someone they know(or imagined in this case) and who take objections to the rules/expectations adults place on children. So on a very surface level there are some similarities, but obviously what they did with that and the overall quality of the episodes are light years apart. But ultimately, I downgraded this to E because I realized that even if something is only more entertaining because of how actively bad it is, or because it squeezes in some fun characters or scenes in spite of that, it's STILL more entertaining. I think these painfully neutral/flat episodes truly are the worst kind. Worst part is it's so forgettable that I may be willing to give it the benefit of the doubt if I'm rewatching TNG again in a few years, only to come to the same conclusion. It's a shame the great eps weren't as easy to forget so you could watch them again for the "first time".
Timothy Nikiforovs
I just don't get what makes you tick sometimes. This one's boring AF
captveg
What a boring ass episode. No wonder I had no memory of it.
Timothy Nikiforovs
Even when I was like 8 years old, I found this one bland as fuck
Alan F
I haven't watched this one since it originally came out. Now I remember why.
Jonathan Llyr
So who is the “Imaginary Friend?” Josh or Alex?
Worf and Riker Ride Again
And I still do
Worf and Riker Ride Again
I hated this episode as a kid
Ken R
There are worse kid episodes than this. I give this one points for at least trying to have an element of peril, or some sort of story. I like this more than garbage about Worf Jr not wanting to put his dirty clothes in a hamper, or precious pen pals needing Data to help save her home.
Worf and Riker Ride Again
Sorry guys but I couldn’t sit through the reaction and skipped to the rating… couldn’t put myself to watch the episode again!
Paul O'Neal
The girl playing Isabella is apparently a graduate of the Paris Hilton school of acting. Flat, bored, monotone, unemotive, and dull. Worst child acting on this show, and perhaps ever. The whole episode is dull, uninspired and boring. Fortunately, I don't think any other episode is this dull. Even the bad ones have their moments. This is E for Ennui.
Josh (Target Audience)
Nah, there have been plenty exceptions to every rule we have, and many episodes saved late in the runtime
Nolan
Well curiosity will drive me to at least see if they fall more on the "this is brilliant" or "every 5 minutes there's a new dumb, bs narrative swerve that makes no sense" side. 😅
Josh (Target Audience)
Even watching that may be generous
Sam Langanke
Please save the hate until we are there. Or quit before.
Nolan
Oh don't worry. If you wanna talk about giving low grades, just wait a few years, where I will be dropping F's, ACTUAL, below E F's, for entire series. (And for me, F equals "Fails at being Star Trek")
Jon1701
I’ll wait for the YouTube edit on this one. 😂
Sainjl
I think the reason why the patrons rate things higher because they have the benefit of having seen all of trek. This is not the worse kid episode in my opinion. The girls acted well for what they were given. I think I liked this one just for that, though the storyline was pretty stale and mid.
Ron Hubbard Jr
This is the worst of the kid-focused episodes of S5 and TNG as a whole.
Sainjl
I showed this episode (and a few others) to the girls I babysat. They liked it ok, though i understand why an adult wouldn’t. It was the first sci-fi show they watched so the little things about what life would be like in a star ship was new to them.
Jovet
"F" fail or "E" erase from canon... pick one! haha
Jovet
@Target Audience Are you sure? I've seen you guys check out pretty early in some episodes. Like the first time the "Wall of Writers" was brought up as a problem.
Chris Nunnally
I thought she did a good job in this. She didn't feel like a child actor at all.
Prof Moff
Sex Scoreboard. Many scores with this episode just not with the crew. The viewers only had two options while watching this snoozer. Bang or sleep. ( I kept falling asleep)
Jason Lallathin
Next
Steven Linden
I do think there's a premise here that could potentially make a good story - alien encounters humans, doesn't understand what childhood is, thinks children are basically slaves. But this obviously isn't it.
Josh (Target Audience)
Nothing “automatically” makes any episode good or bad.
Greg Quinn
Years ago I sorta got my then girlfriend into TNG. We watched this episode with her daughter who was about 11 at the time and she really liked it.
Stevtrek
Yeah, this one's in the bottom three for this season for me, but not the worst of the series... all I will say for now.
Steven Linden
Man, I knew this one was a dud, but I forgot just how boring it is.
Thicketdweller
OK, I actually think I have to give this one as my first actual F of the series, And I only say this because I didn’t watch this episode as a rewatch. I tried to and got bored and didn’t wanna watch it. I have didn’t try to Comment on this episode until now and I just don’t even have an interest in trying to rewatch it with the patron and the Target Audience at this time it just I remember that being among the worst episodes I ever saw and apparently it is my first official F of the series. Erase from Canon.
Paul Hess
"And that's the news from Lake Wobegon. Where all the women are strong and all the men are good-looking and all the children are above average”.
Jovet
@Target Audience Most episodes are average, it's the law of averages.
Jovet
"Walls of Writers" DO NOT automatically make bad episodes. But you would expect more heads are better than one, so one would expect that more writers/editors/contributors would put out a more-refined product. This was a phoned-in episode. But there are still worse ones to come. And I enjoyed "The Game" much more than this.
Jovet
57:15 The Es are still coming.
Forbidden Donut
This episode felt twice as slow as I remembered. Thank goodness for the double episode drop today. I just checked, and going off of memory I had given this one a C. I just changed it to a D.
Josh (Target Audience)
Pretty bad for children’s tv as well, which had quite the golden era in the late 80s and 90s
Joe Concepts
The imaginary friend here was later in a recurring in 3rd Rock from the Sun playing a "wise beyond her years" kind of teenager. Even here she acts like an adult pretty well.
Keith S
You guys wonder if there are other bars or lounges on the ship. According to Stage 9 there are. That being said, don't ever check this resource. Too many spoilers for you.
Michel Provost
Slept right through this one
Jovet
30:10 God I hate this episode. Ugh
James Knight
This is a children's episode of TV, perhaps show it to nephews/ nieces as they're the........Target Audience.
Jovet
14:50 An exozoologist is a scientist who studies extraterrestrial life.
Jovet
Isabella's realized form is cold, ugly and creepy. Ugh.
Stuart Holden
I feel like this episode was made for kids to watch. For an adult, yeah its bland, but i could a see kids liking this episode.
Jovet
4:45 "What is this room?" LOL!
THE LORE!!!
I made it about halfway through and I am just going to go on I Borg. This shit is D for dull, bordering on E. Thankfully, its the last turd this season.
Ee'char
Ten Forward is named because it's on Deck 10 and it's at the front of the ship...
Paul Hess
Yeah their (our!) lower tiers are sometimes broken too!
Josh (Target Audience)
Patrons gave it a C lmao
Paul Hess
Sometimes we have to test you to be sure you can recognize the good from the bad. Those lower tiers need to be exercised to be sure we can believe your higher ratings when they come, and they will.
