Hello my friends, welcome back as I take two episodes of different series with the same plot and see which did it better. I did a few of these awhile back before I had trouble coming up with new episodes. But I decided this one would be fun. When Star Trek-TNG first premiered they decided to homage the original Star Trek by following up, so to speak, on one of their most popular episodes. Was it a bad idea? Well, yeah…but let’s discuss it anyway!
Now let me make on thing clear. Usually when I do these I am trying to decide which episode was better. But of course, that’s a no brainer here. While the “winner” is obvious that doesn’t mean we can’t run through the episodes and note the similarities. And there are some things I thing TNG did better. Also since it’s not a sitcom going to break the episodes down differently than I have done it in the past. Plus TNG has a five act structure not a four like TOS so I will keep the ending separate.
TEASER:
TOS:The Enterprise orbits plant that is going to breakup and they are to retrieve a science team. Spock and Joe Tormolen beam down to a planet in environmental suits to find all the scientists dead. Not only that, but they were frozen in place like they didn’t care. One even frozen to death fully clothed in a shower! When Joe takes his glove off, he gets infected with something. Spock then reports all scientists are dead.
TNG:The Enterprise rendezvousing with a ship that had been monitoring the collapse of a supersize star. But when they hail the ship, the crew is clearly irrational. Then an explosion on the ship as the hull is blown out. On the the other ship it looks as if the crew were oblivious to what was happening as they died. Geordi accidentally comes into contact with a victim while Riker reports that all crewmen are dead.
VERDICT:Both episodes set the mood but what kills me that is that even though they beamed down in environmental suits, meaning someone knew they may need to protected from something, Joe proceeds to take his glove off and touch a surface. On TNG we see more of the victims and how they died and Geordi getting infected makes sense. Tormolen taking his glove off is just plain stupid.
WINNER-TNG
ACT 1:
TOS:After beaming back to the ship, and decontaminating, Lt.Tormolen begins to act all agitated and nervous. While the senior staff go over the findings in the briefing room, Tormolen gets worst. In the break room Joe is all upset that the scientists died and he is still alive. Sulu and Lt.Riley try to get Joe to calm down but he ends up stabbed.
TNG:The crew are brought to sick-bat for a routine checks but its clear that Geordi is not in his right mind. Of course Crusher doesn’t restrain him, so he wanders off. On the Bridge Riker asks Data to look up historical records regarding someone taking a shower with their clothes on. Geordi is visiting Wesley, who is bragging about his new science project before Geordi wanders off acting odd. Tasha finds him in the briefing room, where Geordi says he wants to be able to see normally. Tasha helps him to sick-bay.
VERIDCT:TNG the infection spreading was so preventable, but Crusher in season one was useless. On TOS no one has any clue what Joe’s problem is and the way Sulu and Riley catch it works. Geordi’s scene with Tasha is pretty good but that rec room scene on TOS is REALLY well done!
WINNER-TOS
ACT 2:
TOS:While Joe is in surgery Sulu and Riley find themselves feeling sweaty and anxious too. As Joe dies, Sulu sneaks off the bridge. When the ship is rocked by a tremor Spick asks Riley what happened to Sulu. Riley responds by being very proud of himself, and Spock relieves Riley. Riley goes to sick-bay and infects Nurse Chapel, while McCoy fills Kirk in on the odd death of Joe. Sulu proceeds to terrorize crewmen with a fencing sword, as the ship begins to descend into the collapsing planet. While the ship wont responds, Sulu attacks on the Bridge. After he is stopped, they discover Riley has taken over the Engineering section.
TNG:Geordi is returned to sick-bay, where Tasha begins to show signs of the disease. Nothing Crusher tries helps, she even rules out a disease (she was so useful!). On the Bridge Data finds the record from the original Enterprise, including the cure McCoy found. Deanna returns to her quarters to find Tasha there, acting silly and trying on clothes. Tasha then wanders off and starts making out with crewmen she passes in the hall. Wesley is clearly infected but the brilliant Dr.Crusher fails to notice it. He then goes to Engineering and tricks the chief to leave, so he can take over the area.
VERDICT-At least on TOS the disease gave the crew a chance to act out and have some fun. All it does on TNG is make everyone horny! However on TOS we never get a real scale of how the disease is infecting the ship. Just two officers in the hallway. At least with TNG we can see how widespread this thing really is. But seeing Tasha lusting isn’t the same as Sulu and his fencing sword. Everyone remembers this episode for that, and Riley's aggravating singing, Riley is amusing in Engineering, meaning no real harm while Wesley is just being a twit and in fact this is example #1 when discussing awful Wesley appearances.
WINNER:TOS
ACT 3:
TOS:While Riley aggravates the crew singing badly, Kirk finds that Scotty and the Engineers have been locked out. Scotty knows a way to open the door but it may take time. As the disease spreads Spock goes to get Scotty to work faster then to seek out McCoy. He runs into Chapel who confesses she loves him and infects him with the disease. After snapping at Uhura in aggravation, Kirk goes to get Riley out of Engineering. Spock has become overcome with emotion now that he is infected, as he struggles in the briefing room. Kirk and Scotty get inside Engineering where Scotty discovers that the engines have been turned off. And they don’t have enough time to restart them before they burn up.
TNG:The rush is on to get Wesley out of Engineering. One of the assistant Engineers is infected and Wesley allows him in, where he starts pulling out control chips. Picard sends Data to get Tasha, but Tasha seduces him instead. Riker and the Chief Engineer work on getting past the force field Wesley has created that is keeping them out. While they do, Deanna arrives and is infected. She infects Riker who proceeds to infect Crusher. And the cure from the old ship fails because…they still have fifteen minutes to kill (?).
VERDICT:The scenes between Chapel and Spock are effective and of course Riley is a lot of fun. I do love the scene were Scotty tells Kirk the engines are off, just a well acted moment you feel the dread. On TNG the scene between Data and Tasha is one of the more memorable moments of the episode but the nonsense in Engineering is just to much in TNG. The fact they can’t cut the power on this 24th century ship is pushing it, the whole thing feels like a carbon copy of what TOS did without the charm. I do like how most people get infected but why is it never explained why Riker never succumbed to the disease? And Troi geting affected does nothing except force Riker to infect Crusher.
WINNER-TOS
ACT 4:
TOS:While ship is plummeting McCoy has found the disease. It turns out that the water from the planet possesses a previously undetected complex chain of molecules that affects humanoids like alcohol, depressing the centers of judgment and self-control. Kirk finds Spock emotional in the break room and tries to talk him back to normal. But instead he gets infected, and begins to talk about his love for the ship. Spock gains control over himself and tells Scotty to gets ready for a dangerous full power start
TNG:Riker continues to work the Chief to get the force field down. Picard tries to reason with Wesley but all he does is get Wesley to turn a tractor beam onto the other vessel. Crusher struggles to stay in control and Data then appears on The Bridge infected, somehow. This made sense when the episode was written, I think. Crusher appears to seduce Picard, who gets infected, while The super giant explodes, hurling a fragment at the ship-which can’t move! As the chief engineer breaks Wesley’s force field she finds that the ship is stuck and they don’t have enough time to fix it.
VERDICT-Of course the Kirk/Spock scenes are some of the best scenes in the entire series. Not only is it well acted, but you really feel their friendship as Spock sees Kirk struggling which gives him the power to beat the disease. However at the same time the episode kind of slows down for this. Scotty barges as in as if to say "hey guys, the plot!!". On TNG the tension feels a lot more real as if the ship is in real trouble. Even with the silliness of Crusher appearing on the Bride for no reason and Data being infected. So tough call here, while the TOS stuff is well acted it kinda stops the plot so I’m giving the nod to TNG but barely.
WINNER-TNG
ENDING:
TOS:Kirk returns to the Bridge where McCoy injects him. They then proceed a cold restart of the engines, and it miraculously works. Except that the ship enters a time warp as a result. Giving them three days to live over again.
TNG:Wesley suggests sending Data down because he can fix the control chips faster. Crusher finds a cure, because the episode is almost over. With no time left, Wesley realizes they can use the tractor beam to push off the other ship and give some time. H does it all by himself while the Engineer stands there. Wesley saves the day, power is restored and the crew return to the Bridge. Tasha telling Data that it “never happened”. Fair enough, good advice! Picard proudly praises his crew for weathering the crisis and the ship goes onward. It’s not much but not as nonsensical as the TOS “time warp” ending.
VERDICT-I talked about Chief Engineer Useless before, and how its no shock she never appeared again. As for TOS, In the early days every episode had to have Shatner rip his shirt or just take his shirt off, even if it makes no sense. Like here when McCoy rips his ship to give Kirk a shot even though there was no need. This got toned down later. But the real mystery to me is what happened when they restart the engine’s. They escape the planet, and end up in a time warp. Why? No idea, it goes nowhere and is never brought up again. It seems it was supposed to be a two part episode, the second part being “Tomorrow is Yesterday”. They revised it so it would be a standalone, but why keep the time warp nonsense? It really makes the ending feel like it’s in the wrong episode. On TNG it’s a standard season one ending. True Wesley is annoying but at least the solution makes sense and the ending feels more triumphant, where TOS feels somber and depressing for some reason. Plus we get to see the crew is fine while on TOS it’s just assumed that everyone (except Sulu we do see is fine) are back to normal.
WINNER-TNG
As I said, I may have issues with the TOS ending but the overall winner here is obvious.
Final Conclusion-I’ll never understand what made D.C.Fontana decide remaking a TOS episode so quick was a good idea. Then to remake a cherished episode was even smarter. All it did was make people thing TNG was just going to be a rehash of the original series. I guess in some way, it was when it started. But years later, now that we know the TNG crew, it’s easier to look back and enjoy the characters being so weird. Even if it gets a little too silly being season one. TOS was smart enough to wait until we knew the characters a bit and then give us real character moments, especially Kirk and Spock. TNG hardly did that except for one scene with Geordi which still wasn’t much. And that’s why the TNG episode fails where the TOS one excels.
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