We finally got the chance to watch more TNG:
- Worf passes through different realities in "Parallels". It all starts with a surprise birthday party for Worf--which he hates, of course. Cousin Oliver/Alexander is conveniently away at the time (thank goodness). Worf decides to "formalize" the relationship with Troi (making her Alexander's godmother). Worf starts to have "episodes", and things start changing around him--Worf and Troi are now man and wife! Their scenes together are rather creepy. Wesley is back as tactical officer! They figure out that technobabble quantum thingies have changed Worf--he's shifting form one reality to another. During a batte, the barriers between the realities change--thousands of alternate Enterprises start popping up. Worf stops it by sealing a quantum fissure, but not before kissing this realities' Troi. We get a quick shot of another Enterprise where the Borg won--Riker with a long beard, screaming that he won't go back. Back in the normal reality, Worf decides to move forward with a relationship with Troi.
- Riker has to deal with his old captain in "The Pegasus". There's a cute scene at the start--The Enterprise is running "Captain Picard Day" for the kids, and the actual Picard doesn't like it. Meanwhile, Riker's old captain Pressman (now an admiral, played by Lost's Terry O'Quinn) is looking for their old experimental ship Pegasus--the Romulans found it. He and Riker reminisce, then talk about "the experiment". Pressman takes Riker (but not Picard) into his confidence--he plans to perform "the experiment" again. Picard confronts Riker about a possible conspiracy--lots o' drama. Pressman orders Picard into an asteroid to get to the Pegasus--they find it "phased" within the asteroid. Pressman and Riker beam over, then find a hatch--sorry, wrong show. Riker confronts Pressman--the ship has a working cloaking device that can also phase through matter. He realizes he can't allow it to survive, or the Romulan treaty will be broken. Unfortunately, the Enterprise needs it--the Romulans have sealed them in, so they have to phase out. There's a mutiny against Pressman, and they use the cloak to get out. Pressman is court-martialed.
- Worf's foster brother Nikolai Rozhenko (Paul Sorvino--again with Worf's relatives!) breaks the Prime Directive in "Homeward". He decided to save the inhabitants of a planet, but used Federation tech to do it. Picard, of course, refuses to help him, what with the Prime Directive and all. The planet's atmosphere dissipates naturally, and the crew has to wrestle with the ramifications of the PM decision. However, we learn that Nikolai set up a simulacrum of the planet on a holodeck and beamed up the inhabitants of a village. There's arguments for and against the PM. However, Picard has little choice but to follow Nikolai's plans to move them to another planet. The holodeck starts breaking down (as it usually does), and one of the villagers discovers the ruse--he sees a holodeck door and walks onto the ship. We also learn that Nikolai is going to have a baby with one of the villagers (how many mistakes did he make, anyway?). The holodeck starts to fall apart, LaForge whips up a storm to force them into their real tents before beaming them to their new planet (these are the most gullible life forms in the galaxy), and Nikolai decides to stay with them. The one villager who got onto the Enterprise kills himself rather than destroy his culture. Throughout most of the episode, we see Michael Dorn without the prosthetics (he had to be altered to "fit in" with the villagers). Hope Crusher got the head bumps right when it was all over...
- "Unlucky in Love" Crusher strikes again in "Sub Rosa". She's at her grandmother's funeral, and sees the prerequisite "mysterious" man. We get the battle of the hair extensions between Crusher and Troi. Crusher gets a visit from a stereotypical Scotsman (they're on a colony based on the Scottish highlands), who warns her about an heirloom candle. Her "Nana's" journal talk about an affair with a 30 year old guy (she was 100 at the time). There's a "ghost lover" event while she's sleeping in her quarters. The ghost (Duncan Regehr) drops by Crusher again at Nana's home during a storm (the weather grid is broken). We get his exposition--he's been "with" her family for generations. The ships' controls go crazy--there's fog on the Bridge--and the stereotypical Scot is killed. Crusher resigns from the Fleet to be with the ghost. Picard rides in to "save" her, but gets zapped by the ghost. Data and LaForge exhume Nana's body (a lot easier with a transporter), and get zapped as well. Crusher finally gets wise and destroys the candle, then phasers the "ghost" (actually a technobabbly being) from existence. The whole episode is like Harlequin romance/fan fiction.
Star Trek: The Next Generation is available on Netflix--more to come!