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I don't own this book, nor can I requote it accurately - for those who do have this book, perhaps you could help - in any case, I read the following background information about the episode "The Neutral Zone" of TNG's first season:

"The Romulans and Federation were both to be affected by the actions of the Borg, which would force both powers to ally themselves together against a mutual threat."

THINK about the possibilities in story development.

"It didn't go through due to a strike in some writer's union thing."

Stupid fucking unions... Oh well. I don't know if anyone else thinks this is important worthy of discussion, I just thought I'd put it out there for people to view in case they (like me) weren't aware of this information. A possible Romulan-Federation alliance. Against the BORG.

You know, that explains a few things about the early seasons. I remember reading the TNG Nitpicker's guide where it basically said that the events of 'Neutral Zone' all but screamed Borg once 'Q-Who' aired, but the crew in-show seemed almost oblivious to it.

Thag wrote:You know, that explains a few things about the early seasons. I remember reading the TNG Nitpicker's guide where it basically said that the events of 'Neutral Zone' all but screamed Borg once 'Q-Who' aired, but the crew in-show seemed almost oblivious to it.

Yes. ST is infamous for it's lack of continuity. Unfortunately that's been established countless times...

But I'm more intrigued at the story potential that was ignored due to outside interference.

Imagine a Federation/Romulan alliance. Season 1 Picard and Tebok would fight the Borg together. We would get a better appreciation for the Romulans - traditional advseraries - as they and their starfleet equivalents work together - Trek ideology if ever it could claim it so - to fight a greater threat. The Klingons would be pissed at such an alliance, and that would explain the civil war that develops (with clan politics being a side issue as opposed to the central cause). And the Romulans and Federation would become closer - episodes like "Unification" would no longer need to be constrained by the dread 'Re-set button of DOOM!' The Romulan captain at the end of the episode "The Chase" who said "It seems captain, we are not too dissimiliar to each other than we once thought. Perhaps... one day..." would bear fruition, while useless allies like the Klingons would be marginalised as they sink deeper into a theocratic and self-defeating culture.

Fuck, fanfic potential if nothing else.

That certainly sounds better than TNG's many disjointed and irrelevant "here come the Romulans" episodes.

Cao Cao wrote:That certainly sounds better than TNG's many disjointed and irrelevant "here come the Romulans" episodes.

A better description for the waste of the Romulans, I have not heard.

They were never in any TOS movies. You saw some dead ones in Generations. Then the Romulan STAR EMPIRE was made to look like a fifth-rate African shithole in Nemesis.

I think it was an unspoken agreement amongst the "Warp Powers" of the AQ that, then a Borg Cube shows up, EVERY starship in the immediate vicinity with weaponry would immediately attack with everything she's got.

Vympel wrote: A better description for the waste of the Romulans, I have not heard.

They were never in any TOS movies. .

The Romulan ambassador was one of the conspirators in ST VI.

On the issue of "Q Who?"

DATA
It is identical to what happened
to the outposts along the Neutral
Zone.


So there is no lack of continuity just a missed opportunity it would seem.

Is the Neutral Zone the episode with those things that live in peoples throats?

No, that was "Conspiracy." "The Neutral Zone" was with the people cryogenically frozen from the 20th Century.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:No, that was "Conspiracy." "The Neutral Zone" was with the people cryogenically frozen from the 20th Century.

Interestingly, there were plans to follow up on "Conspiracy", but the low evel of response to the episode prevented it (though the parasites resurfaced in the latter stages of the first season of post-DS9 books, offering a better glimpse as to why they tried to take over the Federation -- and it wasn't for power, I'll tell you that much)

Also, one alternate plan for 'Q Who' was to have the entire Star Empire wiped out by a Borg Cube - yet the surviving Romulan ships took it out at the costs of their lives. How they were able to do so would be a mystery that the ENT-D would race to solve with the threat of the Feds sharing the Romulans' fate very likely. As with the scenario at the start of the thread, the writer's strikes prevented this.

I rather hated "Conspiracy," if not simply for the fact that any sort of horror or drama was totally nullified by the fact that it was just another damn Season 1 episode. It like all the others, was frankly a bore...

Thag wrote:You know, that explains a few things about the early seasons. I remember reading the TNG Nitpicker's guide where it basically said that the events of 'Neutral Zone' all but screamed Borg once 'Q-Who' aired, but the crew in-show seemed almost oblivious to it.

that's my biggest annoyance about TNG. they left all these plot holes that could've been used later in the series and never did anything with them. then it's like the characters completely forgot about them after they'd happened. like in 'conspiracy' there was that thing with the aliens invading stafleet, and the radio beacon at the very end. . . .and it went absolutely nowhere.

Darth_Zod wrote: that's my biggest annoyance about TNG. they left all these plot holes that could've been used later in the series and never did anything with them. then it's like the characters completely forgot about them after they'd happened. like in 'conspiracy' there was that thing with the aliens invading stafleet, and the radio beacon at the very end. . . .and it went absolutely nowhere.

TNG was pretty weak on in series continuity even Voyager beat it out; at least in the first two/three season which had arcs and recurring characters however in the later Voyager seasons they got rather lax to say the least.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:I rather hated "Conspiracy," if not simply for the fact that any sort of horror or drama was totally nullified by the fact that it was just another damn Season 1 episode. It like all the others, was frankly a bore...

No more so than quite a few Season 5/6/7 episodes.

Uraniun235 wrote:

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:I rather hated "Conspiracy," if not simply for the fact that any sort of horror or drama was totally nullified by the fact that it was just another damn Season 1 episode. It like all the others, was frankly a bore...

No more so than quite a few Season 5/6/7 episodes.

"Conspiracy" being described as a bore (:roll:), when U-235 correctly points out stellar episodes such as "Cause and Effect" (AKA "Yay! Let's hit the reset button repeatedly in the same fucking episode"), or season 6's "Rascals" (AKA "I'm Jean-luc - Riker here is my dad."), or season 7's... well, most of season 7. How about that episode where the Orient Express is really the Enterprise's computer, who's now become self-aware, so then leaves the ship.

"Conspiracy" kicks the shit out of the later seasons. It has - for starters - a conspiracy. THINK about that for a moment. How many times are we told "Earth's a utopia"? The FIRST time we visit it in TNG it's in danger from an alien infiltration Starfleet had no preparation against. Picard is willing to get involved in a clandestine affair against SFC on the word of a friend and two strangers. THINK about THAT for a moment. Walker Keel tells Picard something's wrong with Starfleet, and Picard doesn't question him (well, he does - but only because he's sceptical. He comes around after the USS Horatio's mysterious explosion that occurred coincidentally right after their secret meeting...).

This episode only sucked in the amount of wasted opportunities we could have had (a trait that I pointed out in this fucking thread). What was Picard's relationship with Keel? Why did they trust each other so much? How come Picard was willing to question his superiors based on the word of a friend? This is his career we're talking about. And just who were the parasite creatures? What was their ultimate goal? Why wasn't a followup never explored?

And I love your reasoning why it's a bore Spanky: it's just another season 1 episode. Bizarre to say the least.

I didn't like it. It had that same awkward Season One soapy film/static cling that all the other Season One episodes had.

To me it WAS just another Season One TNG episode because it still had too much of the overall Season One effect.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:I didn't like it.

Fair enough. I simply found your reasoning - that it was just another season 1 episode - bizarre. There were a few season 1 episodes that were good IMO, while later seasons that are often credited with being 'better' aren't as good after repeat viewing.

The first season of TNG just doesn't jive with me very much, because it feels really "off" compared to the other seasons.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:The first season of TNG just doesn't jive with me very much, because it feels really "off" compared to the other seasons.

Season 1 to me gets summed up by that shot in the opening episode of the male starfleet wearing the skirt.

It just screamed to me of Roddenbery trying to jam down our throat how much more "enlightened" they are then we the viwer are.

Darth_Zod wrote: like in 'conspiracy' there was that thing with the aliens invading stafleet, and the radio beacon at the very end. . . .and it went absolutely nowhere.

That's the plot thread that annoys me the most. I waited so long for that to come to fruition, then it never did.

Is there a ST novel that deals with the conspiracy aliens? This seems like it would be right up Peter David's alley...

DS9's Mission Gamma Book 4 and Unity bring them back quite nicely.

Are those good books?

Better than average. They get a little too perfect at times, but I think that's the biggest problem. The 'Mission Gamma' books start off a little slow, but several levels of shit hit the fan later on, and lay the groundwork for the conclusion in 'Unity'.