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UNCUT - Final Mission (TNG S4E9) | Star Trek Journey 190

🕑 Added 2024-09-19 19:22:48 +0000 UTC

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TeenyStudio Flicks

Favorite James Earl Jones character: The snake warrior guy in the original 'Conan The Barbarian' (w/ Arnold Schwarzenegger).

Ricky

I know, and Wes looked like a real boy too!

Dave Brown

:) The water fountain effects where unbelievable too! It looked like real water. I don't know how the managed that...

paultardspambot .

I also enjoyed this one. I think you have to dig the dynamics between wesley and Picard and how their relationship has come full circle to where picard's life is in wesley's hands. The reason Wheaton left is actually sad. He had been abused on the set of an earlier movie, and he was old enough that he was coming to terms with it and had to unpack that and deal with his lingering trauma which meant taking leave of the show. The show didn't reveal this and it only came to light much later. But the show runners weren't exactly horrified by the prospect. Wesely from his inception was supposed to be a "Gary sue" character who would draw in the theoretical younger nerdy audience who would relate to him as a hero. That was notoriously not well received especially in the first season, and the writers didn't really know what to do with him as he was a relic from a time in the show the show had long moved past. So officially, they said he "wasn't working as the role model for young people he was supposed to be." Thats kind of harsh considering the real reason, but perhaps there was some truth to both these things- Wheaton could not quite "grow" into a more mature role because he personally was stuck with his underlying trauma. Plot wise, it made sense that he would be in the academy by this point. There really just wasn't much of a role for him anymore on the show after they dropped the "boy genius who makes the adults seem foolish" treatment he got in the first season. Of all the main cast, he was by far the weakest. Even secondary cast members like Guinan and O'Brien were better characters at this point.

James Baloun

The Enterprise has to withstand all kinds of radiation. I seriously doubt it would be affected by waste radiation in the other ship. They were wondering if the anomaly indicated intelligent life, as they enter the cave and walk down steps designed for 2m tall bipeds.

James Baloun

Have not seen this episode for many years. I find myself distracted by the technical errors. An asteroid belt is two dimensional. There are a million other orbits to approach the sun other than the plane of the belt. Also why did a random failure happen crash-landing distance from a Class M body? Space is much, much, much bigger than that at impulse drive speeds. Oh well.

Jovet

@Timothy Nikiforovs She has three tongues, though.

DG

I'd love to debate this further but, you know, spoilers...

John5193

I liked this episode very much. For me, definitely more than a "C". When I saw it when it was first broadcast, I was even more impressed. Patrick Stewart was very good in this episode, and it also featured some of Wesley's best scenes. I give it a B.

Timothy Nikiforovs

I'd probably give this one a B minus. Even if Wil wasn't giving a masterclass in acting, Patrick Stewart picked up the slack, and the scenes between them were still great given the history between the characters. Wesley is the closest thing to a son Picard has, and certainly Wesley has come to see him as a father figure. The rest of the story on the planet was fine, but the whole thing was built around creating the emotional farewell between those characters. As for the B plot, it was also fine, but clearly written to keep the rest of the crew occupied. 2 things really should have been done with that story. First, while I suppose there was a concern they'd have to take extra time before joining the search, they really should have evacuated everyone to the saucer section and towed the ship with the stardrive section and minimal crew. There was no reason to risk fatal radiation poisoning to 1000 people in that operation. Second if the asteroid belt is anything like ours, the asteroids would be on average a million km apart and it would be trivial to set the ships course and speed to avoid them. But I get it, sci fi/Star Wars style asteroid belt = obstacle course. Still, they could have got the ship going and let inertia carry it like Alex said, and set it on a course heading "above" or "below" the plane of the system. Asteroid belts tend to be torus shaped, so from the right angle they'd have a straight shot at the sun. They could get it going at a relatively slow pace, go join the search, find Picard and Wesley, and come back later once it's passed "above" the asteroids, and redirect it into the sun. A short couple minutes towing and limited radiation exposure. So yeah I understand the C rating, but I think the Picard/Wesley stuff elevates it a bit.

Timothy Nikiforovs

Woman who called the Enterprise for help sure didn't get laid. Not with that face🤣

Spencer Loften

Are we talking about Wesley leaving? If so I don't know if that really count as a spoiler. I feel like the episode makes it pretty clear that he isn't coming back as a regular anytime soon. The academy is something that takes years and we are almost halfway through the fourth season. You don't typically go through the trouble of giving someone on the main cast an entire farewell episode just to bring them back the next season.

Jovet

It's a side-effect of popularity gain. As more and more new people join in, the community rigor of not revealing spoilers gets more and more diluted. It isn't harped on like it used to be.

Jovet

And the comparison to Tasha's sendoff was a bit unfair: Wesley didn't die.

Jovet

It's not boring to me. But the tension the episode tries to evoke is pretty thin and translucent. It's easy to guess that it's a canned episode with no lasting effects on the status or cast of the show. e.g. there's nothing to actually fear.

Jovet

Still not the record temperature on Earth. https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/south-texas-el-paso/weather/2022/10/06/satan-s-storm--the-day-kopperl-tx-residents-thought-the-world-was-ending

Chris S.

Yeah, I think TA needs to reiterate to keep it locked tight and don’t spoil anything. Some people can’t resist, and not to be “that guy”, buts not cool.

#MaxwellDidNothingWrong

At least it was a dry heat

#MaxwellDidNothingWrong

Yeah, Wil's home life was nuts. The only consolation is how he got so much love and stability from the TNG cast.

Nolan

And apparently written very fast to accomodate both Crosby and Goldberg's schedule.

AzoriusMage

Normal run of the mill Star Trek episode that is more dissapointing in TNG than TOS

s0rd3z

100% and legit dangerous 😂

Josh (Target Audience)

This is a rare *old man yells at cloud* moment for me, but I can almost 100% guarantee the chicken wire cages were better than everything they sell today

s0rd3z

Love that intro. I had an old AWA ring (it was cheaper than the big plastic WWF ring) and my friend had the same one. His dad made a couple cages out of chicken wire. Put em together and had wargames matches. Man..the 80's kinda sucked but was also kinda awesome.

Column Meanie

YE was a combination of 2 plots that from 2 spec writer camps that was merged into 1 story by the staff writers. It’s a miracle if came out so well!

DG

You missed Wesley's innovative use of a tricorder.

Collin Freeman

Thanks. I knew there was some rule like that from the WGA. Yesterday's Enterprise also had numerous writers.

DG

I don't feel the need to grade this programne (or indeed any other) on a curve. Actually, I'm not really a fan of grading TV shows (or films, music, books, etc) at all, but that's another topic. Therefore, if pressed, I usually assign S, A or B to most episodes of TNG, because it is one of my favourite shows. If I were to be giving out lower grades on a regular basis, I probably wouldn't be watching the show consistently anyway. I feel the same about judging students on a curve in academia. Having said all that, I find TA's grading discussions a lot of fun to watch regardless.

Jeffrey P

The WGA limits shows to four credited writers. If there are four writers on screen you can all but guarantee that even more people were involved.

Prof Moff

No update to the sex scoreboard. At least I do not think so. I fell asleep twice during the episode which could mean I had sex but let's be honest, that didn't happen.

DG

Spoilers are increasingly creeping into these comments. One saving grace is that the guys are a few episodes ahead.

marty63026

I thought you guys would like it more just because it’s Wesley’s last episode. 😂

Avaria

Yup. The hike to the mountains was actually outside. They were trekking across the El Mirage Dry Lake Bed, in San Bernadino, according to Memory Alpha. It's part of the Mojave Desert.

Scarpad’s Domain

amen brother not one of the seasons standouts

Scarpad’s Domain

i thought this was a fine send off for Wes and he did and ok job never uderstood the level of hatefor the character

Jonathan

The main reason for the stupid water plot: to keep them in a single set. For an episode that isn’t great they weren’t going to spend a fortune so you need a story reason to keep them In one cave set. If the water problem wasn’t there Wesley would have had to go for water. And you want to kill off the extra character before the monologues because then it just seems weird having that guy sitting there wall there having this heartfelt conversation.

Badger

I thought it was nice they took the time to give Wesley a send-off. Not all characters get that..-Thanks for the Sandlot reminder!

tyranusfan

Wil Wheaton had been offered multiple movie roles throughout the first 3 seasons. (He was more or less at his peak of popularity in those years after Stand by Me). He’d been forced to decline all the roles because Trek’s producers were unwilling to give him time to go do these things even when they weren’t giving him much to do on the show. Wil was unhappy (between that and some bad things happening in his personal life), and asked to leave, so the mid-season departure was his choice.

Paul

The bulk of the episode was C- for me, but I bump it up to B- just for the scenes with Wesley and Picard towards the end.

Joe Concepts

One problem here is I feel like they forgot to continue the Picard/Wesley relationship until this episode.

Lt Dan I scream

Bye Wesley (the og bye Felisha )

Cirk Bejnar

They retain their value better if kept in their original packaging, as my Moogie used to say.

Forbidden Donut

Yeah, I have to say after rewatching it just now, this episode is more boring than I remember. Not horribly so, just.... meh. I think I voted this as a 'B' tier when the poll went up, but between this rewatch and your discussion, I tend to agree it's a 'C'. I do appreciate what they're going for with Wesley and Picard, but it just doesn't hit as hard as I'd like it to.

Matt Newmark

There's a proper place for DDs - sadly ST:TNG isn't it.

Tony B

They could've used some ugly bags of mostly water

Ricky

I'm concerned that Alex and Josh don't know what the outside looks like. That special effect of the sun.... lol, it was the Sun

Matt Newmark

"IT'S SALTWATER!!!!" 🤣🤣🤣💀☠

Greg Quinn

Watching now I kinda feel like it's a B but I think I may have listed it as a C on the takes.

Jovet

1:04:21 Re-writer's Room ran long.

Deep Red

I have so little to say about this episode except... I'm really curious to see what your opinion will be of the next episode lol

Jovet

35:55 ...all the babes...

Chris S.

I agree on this episode being a C. Its ok. But there was no tension/emotion, and no twist, and the plot was boring. Usually, what a good episode will have would be at least 2 out of those 3. For example, “Reunion” had all three elements. But this episode kind of dragged along, with really nothing exciting happening at all.

wildhunt1973

This episode might have been better if the shuttle guy WAS a guy trying to keep Picard and Wesley from reaching the miners or whoever wanted their help.

Tony B

He is smart!

Joe Concepts

You guys are just brutal on Wesley and Wheaton. Come on, he's no Dr. Stubbs.

Jovet

22:36 The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Jovet

16:22 Wesley was right, though. The "captain" is a POS.

Phil Ken Sebben

Yesterday’s tease about 11 got me false hyped. I forgot we still have these two turds to trudge through

Jovet

55°C ≈ 130°F. Toasty. 🔥

Anthony Goodwin

Corey Allen directed the pilot.

Jovet

To this day I still cringe at "noises" in space. Especially in Star Trek. 🙄

JGoss

Two jump cuts while my take was being read. Be honest guys, did I confuse you guys for a while there? 🤣

Column Meanie

Totally get the reaction to Wesley’s monologue. The emotions felt forced and unnatural. This is likely because Wil Wheaton was DONE. He turned 18 and was ready to try bigger and better things. He felt incredibly disenfranchised by the producers who would never give him a larger part than to say “yes sir”. They refused to let him skip an episode so he could make a film, and in the episode he had 1 line. That was the final straw for WW. He has since gone on record stating that while had regrets about leaving, he wouldn’t change a thing because ultimately his decision led to a realization that he was really no longer interested in acting, a profession forced upon him by his neglectful and abusive parents. All that said, I do wonder what could have happened had he stayed on. I think the character was finally to that age where they could fold him into more adult themes and stories, and then WW checks out. It’s too bad because I think with the right scripts and direction, he can be a great actor. And then there were 7…

David Marcoot

definitely a c. probably one of the better wesley episodes

David Marcoot

i love dark intro bits

Sam Langanke

Didn't remember this one very much. Now I know why. As many Trekkies who were around Wesley's age at first watch I didn't like him and was glad that he was sent off to the Academy at last. It really didn't matter how and why. Nothing against Wil Wheaton but the character as Gene's weird Mary Sue of himself was a mistake from the beginning and wasn't missed in later seasons and the TNG movies.

Column Meanie

Sooooo…they went on location. (Awkward pause)

Jason Mitchell

It definitely lets Wesley have a moment to shine 👍

Josef Nitervol

LOL!!!!

Josef Nitervol

its a C

KatWithAttitude

There won't be too many more of those shots of Gates in her form fitting uniform this season considering IRL she's pregnant through most of it. At least not too many after S4-E11.

Collin Freeman

The episode from season 2 where Wesley and Picard take off in a shuttlecraft together was Samaritan Snare with the Pakleds. We are smart.

Darren Seal

It’s a serviceable episode - I like the scenes between Picard and Wesley but aside from that it’s nothing special only really noteworthy as the one where Wil Wheaton leaves

Collin Freeman

Corey Allen directed 2 episodes in season 1: Encounter at Farpoint and Home Soil.

The Ninth Doctor

Yep, it's a C. Things happened, both the A and B plots were by the numbers. Aggressively average. Plus, the desert was on location in California, not a set 🥵

Josh (Target Audience)

It’s actually a matte painting

JD Nevesytrof

Josh, at the Grand Canyon: This set is amazing.

THE LORE!!!

"You know Wesley's a mouth breather" 🤣🤣

Firekrys FWO

Woohoo can't wait to see this when I get home. As a teenager I really liked this episode, and I thought Wil Wheaton did a good job. From a character standpoint, I thought this was a nice way to come 'full circle' from the first moment Wesley walked onto the bridge.

EnigmaticPenguin

That Picard figure has a fun, non-spoiler backstory. The first movie was going to have new uniforms, so the costume designs were sent to toy manufacturers well ahead of time. The first week of principal photography, they changed their minds and *poof!* Later waves were revised, but a lot of the figures out there have this non-existant uniform. I used to play Yesterday's Enterprise with them as a kid.