Sci-Fi Malady

This month we play and review some sci-fi board-games and card games

It has arrived. There was never any doubt as to what the best episode of TNG was going to be. Resistance is futile. Of course it is The Best of Both Worlds. Acting, writing, score, sound, cinematography and directing all come together to produce the most cinematic and overal best episode of TNG.

It is largely considered the first “great” episode of Star Trek The Next Generation and rightly so. Melinda Snodgrass wrote a powerful examination of what constitutes life and how our treatment of life reflects on humanity as a society. There is also commentary on the historical existence of “disposable people” or classes that are relied upon to do the dirty or dangerous work. This episode examines the nature of humanity and sentience at its most basic levels as well as letting us see a righteously indignant Picard fighting for what is right for the first real time in the series, and as any fan knows righteously indignant and angry Picard is the best Picard.

This Episode may rank at number two on my list but it is probably my favorite as it maybe the quintessential TNG episode. That doesn’t however mean “best”. Favorite and most representative can be very different from “best” We get to overall best next week.

We continue Trekkin Into The New Year. This week we are discussing the season 6 episode of Star Trek the Next Generation Tapestry find out why this is scott’s favorite appearance of Q. It is also an episode that resonates more as we age, as it shows that the mistakes you made as youth are necessary for you to develop into the person you will become.

We kick off Trekkin Into The New Year with a Rick Roll! Just kidding, well not really, but seriously we are discussing the season three episode of Star Trek the Next Generation Defector. Scott chose this partially because it is one of his favorites and also because it is an excellent portrayal of Captain Picard’s leadership. Also, the complete owning of Tomalak at the end is amazing - “Shall we die together”!!!

I can’t limit my favorite episodes of TNG to four. No possible way. The result of that effort is this 45 minute supplemental that explains why The Inner Light, though a near perfect and powerful piece of science fiction is not on the list, tosses in two of my guilty pleasures, three honorable mentions for and my choices for the 10th through 5th best Episodes of TNG. They are as follows:

Guilty Pleasures:

Booby Trap

Time Squared

(Not Mentioned - Where Silence Has Lease)

Honorable Mention - The Drumhead, The Offspring, Data’s Day

10. Chain of Command

9. The Wounded

8. Darmok

7. IBorg

6. Q Who

5. Yesterday’s Enterprise

Episodes 4 through 1 to be released in upcoming Symptoms, starting with Symptom 137: The Defector

It is my (Scott’s) favorite theme of the year. Each January we get to discuss my four favorite episodes of a series of Star Trek. This year we discuss my favorite series every - The Next Generation. We will review an episode a week plus one or maybe two supplemental episodes from Scott.

Join us as we go trekkin into 2020.

Engage!

This week is the first ever Sci-Fi Malady Crossover Podcast. We are changed by Trent, Curt, Stormy and Bob from The Lunatic Parade and 1st Table Gaming to talk about the future of science fiction, Star Wars Episode Nine and a whole lot of talk about table top gaming. The Lunatic Parade and Raving Lunatic Media - a perfect pairing.

We met Curt at at Ghoulardi Fest and had a ton of there over 3 days. The idea for this crossover pod was hatched there. We had a ton of fun recording this and it shows in the final product. All signs point to future cross collaborations between The Lunatic Parade, 1st Table Gaming and Raving Lunatic Media. Make sure when you are done to check out The Lunatic Parade and 1st Table Gaming it is a great geek culture podcast

It is here! Finally! We get to see the legendary Star Wars on the big screen one more time. The culmination of 42 years of story telling and the end of the Skywalker Saga. We find out that the best way to wrap up the “Skywalker Saga” is to tell us about how awesome Palpatine’s granddaughter is…?

Yes, the final episode is all about how the Skywalker family failed to kill the Emperor, making Anakin’s sacrifice pointless, Leia lost the New Republic to the First Order and Luke ran and hide while Palpy healed up in hiding and secretly ran the first order, only to be foiled not by Ben Solo, who at least had some Skywalker blood…but by his own granddaughter Rey.

Because why should the concluding trilogy of the Skywalker Saga be about them at all? It should about everyone but them and about how they were huge failures. The prophecy of brining balance to force? Meh, Rey killed the last Sith, who was ALL the Sith. Balance Smalance.

All I can say is thank God this is over. Disney learned something from the failure of 8. Episode returned to feeling like Star Wars…but Rian Johnson left JJ in such a huge hole it was impossible to really dig out and this probably the best effort that could be made. The Mandalorian is good. The future of Star Wars is in good hands. Maybe whatever the next Trilogy is can build off that and return to being and feeling like Star Wars. Thank god this monstrosity that is 7, 8 and 9 is over. For us at Sci-Fi Malady they never happened.

Sometimes there is a ton riding on a series. Sometimes, somehow, someway, the future of the great American Film Franchise that could do no wrong and was box office, comic book and toy gold, might hang on the success or failure of a live action series? Insane right? Yet Star Wars and Disney’s insanely large investment to purchase Lucas Films might actually depend on how The Mandalorian is received.

Good news for Disney - it seems to be going over well. Some fans absolutely love it. Others like myself (Scott) feel it is good and a solid effort at telling new stories in the Star Wars sandbox. Young media critics seem to be meh about it or hate it, probably for the reasons fans love it.

Disney’s new direction with Star Wars seems to be a hit with the people that matter - those who watch and love the franchise. It is everything Episodes 7 and 8, Rogue One and Solo were not. Disney has done with this without compromising its larger beliefs and positions but by focusing on telling a fun story with characters fans are interested in - again unlike the other efforts in the DisneyVerse, which focused on boring characters we were told we would like and that were better than our heroes.

This is nearing a rant, so at that note, here’s the podcast. Maybe I continue writing for another platform on the RavingLunaticMedia network and bring that other podcast out of hiatus. But probably not, because I am lazy.