Rob and Grant review one of the highlights of Season 1 TNG: 11001001. The Starbase, the Holodeck, and the Bynars make this a good episode with some complex sci-fi plot and a dash of old-fashioned auto-destruct built right in.

All work and play make the Bynars dull ‘gentlemen’

Episode synopsis: While a group of technologically advanced aliens board the Enterprise to update the ship’s computer systems, Riker discovers just how real a holodeck character can be. Originally broadcast in the USA on 1st February 1988.

Quote:  “What’s a knockout like you doing in a computer generated gin joint like this?”

Score: 8

Also found on IMDB, Memory Alpha, and Wikipedia

Grant and Rob do their very best to not give too much time to Angel One, a frankly sexist episode that rolls out every cliché from the first season of TNG. But there’s much more to discuss in terms of the production of Star Trek, and the progress the early show is making.

Riker shows off the proposed Season 2 uniforms

Episode synopsis: While Riker leads an away team to a female-dominated planet, a mysterious virus spreads among the Enterprise crew. Originally broadcast in the USA on 25th January 1988.

Quote:  “Thank you. Actually, it feels quite comfortable.”

Score: 2

Also found on IMDB, Memory Alpha, and Wikipedia

Grant and Rob dissect this ‘evil twin’ episode, and the back story to the androids of Dr. Noonien Soong. Data’s character is really fleshed out, and we get to meet the evil Lore – who will return later on. There is talk of positronic brains and the idea that we could make robots ‘too human’.

Data wonders why the crew react so oddly when he wears his backup head.

Episode synopsis: The Enterprise crew finds a disassembled android identical to Data at the site of the Omicron Theta colony—where Data was found—which was destroyed by a life form dubbed “the Crystalline Entity.” The reassembled android, Lore, brings the Crystalline Entity to the Enterprise. Originally broadcast in the USA on 18th January 1988.

Quote:  “Shut up, Wesley!”

Score: 8

Also found on IMDB, Memory Alpha, and Wikipedia

Rob and Grant discuss ‘The Big Goodbye’, Star Trek’s first ever episode in which the holodeck malfunctions and the crew are trapped within. Picard, Data, Beverly and Whalen(?!) are stuck in the world of Dixon Hill, and we finally get to know the holodeck plot device that Star Trek fans have enjoyed/reviled ever since.

‘Fiction expert’ Whalen justifies his role to Data and Picard.

Episode synopsis: A computer malfunction traps Picard, Data, Dr. Crusher, and Whalen in a Dixon Hill holodeck program set in early-20th-century Earth. Originally broadcast in the USA on 11th January 1988. [Source: Memory Alpha]

Quote:  “I can’t communicate with them, I can’t access the program and I can’t open the doors.”

Score: 8

Also found on IMDB, Memory Alpha, and Wikipedia

Grant and Rob take a visit to the completely unarmed paradise that is Haven, only to find a plague ship is on its way. Typical. We discuss the episode ‘Haven’, which weaves the topics of destiny, arranged marriage, and the ethics of sacrificing the one for the many. Also: Riker mopes about and plays with holographic harp ladies. Just another day on the Enterprise!

Beverly wonders if Roddenberry is taking her soft-focus motif too far

Episode synopsis: Lwaxana Troi visits her daughter, Counselor Troi, and prepares her for an arranged marriage. First broadcast in the USA on 30 November 1987. [Source: Memory Alpha]

Quote:  “How could you let this happen? My son surrounded by those horrible lepers!”

Score: 6

Also found on IMDB, Memory Alpha, and Wikipedia