Star Trek: TNG Season 1 – The Big Goodbye

Link to StarTrek.com episode guide.

One of the things that The Next Generation did really well was that it allowed the characters to develop a lot of personality and interests.  With the holodeck, the writers also have the fun opportunity of sticking the characters in real settings from history, without figuring out the sticky science of time travel and polluting the timeline.  Here we get a prime example of that as we see the first of many holodeck episodes that illustrate the characters background and interests.  In this case, it’s the beginning of a recurrence of holodeck mysteries, this one featuring Dixon Hill, one of the captain’s indulgences and heroes. 

We also get our first glimpse of the potential dark side of the holodeck technology as things get a little too real, as well as a bit of the philosophical implications of the reality for the people who are created.

Science Highlight:

• Holodeck technology – the Captain even gives a little speech about it.

Fun Stuff:

• The Original Series was always good about having random scholars and scientists on board.  These characters were usually disposable and only really served as a font of information about whatever situation they were in.  Here, we have a crewmember who is the literature historian and specialist in the 20th century show up and get shot.  At least they didn’t put him in a red shirt!