Thirty Days of Star Trek: Favorite TNG Episode

Day 7 - Favorite TNG Episode

As often, it depends on the kind of mood I’m in, and what I want. If I just want to be cheered up and/or feel the ensemble love, I’m going for episodes like Deja Q or Data’s Day. The former is hilarious and endlessly quotable (notably for Worf finally getting the better of Q verbally in their „What can I do to convince you people?“ (that he’s lost his powers) „Die“ exchange), the later was the first use of the „day in the life“ trope I’d seen in my young fannish days, everyone is charming, and hey, DS9 backstory! (The O’Briens get married.)

If I want drama, otoh, it’s time for either „Face of the Enemy“ (fantastic Troi story to fling at all Deanna haters, awesome Romulan shenanigans, and a thorny ethical dilemma along with the spy plot (the Romulan commander is an honorable woman, whereas Troi is posing as the worst type of functionary and has to play her role convincingly) or „Measure of a Man“ (court room drama without sneering villains but with really high ethical stakes, way beyond Data, excellent female guest star, and poignant Tasha Yar call back).

And lastly, if I want hurt/comfort and family dynamics, then, of course, the choice is clear: Family. Both for the Picard-tries-not-to-deal-with-the-Borg-experience main plot, in which Patrick Stewart is awesome, and the „Worf’s parents visit“ subplot, which is both funny and touching, since of course the Rozhenkos know what went down on the Klingon homeworld; btw, note that for all of the importance Worf places on his Klingon heritage, neither he nor the episode narrative doubt for one moment he loves his adoptive parents, the Rozhenkos, that they love him, and that they are his parents.


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Thirty Days of Medici: Something that should have happened

Day 13 ~ Re-Write History: Something you wish had happened.

So far, I’m good with the major storylines. What I wish added are mostly characterisation issues – more dimension/fleshing out of underwritten characters, or some missing scenes detailing how character X got from this stand to that stand a bit more detailed than the show does. But that’s where fanfiction comes in handy.

Still, two things in particular come to mind when pondering this question: a friendship between, say, Bianca de‘ Medici and Simonetta Vespucci would have helped fleshing out two of the show’s most underwritten characters and would have given them development outside their respective romances. And secondly, Novella Foscari might have fared better than Desdemona in that she wasn’t strangled by her husband, but still, given that the historic original was an enterprising lady who ended up in Scotland, it would have been nice to give her at least one more scene to wrap up her story and show her own pov on Florentine events. Granted, it couldn’t have been in the s2 finale, which takes place essentially during one day, but given there’s one more season with Lorenzo & Co., there’s still room for such a scene. (Though I somewhat doubt we’ll get it. Novella was a minor character present in two episodes, and the show will have to introduce the Naples cast for subsequent events.)

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