Now I'm trying to imagine the Crusher PIcard scene on the Bridge on Voyager. EMH - "You remember the Bridge crew Captain? There's.... The annoying one... That one who plays something... I _want_ to say the clarinet? The scowly one. The dull one... though that might be the one who play the clarinet if I'm honest" Janeway - "What were their names, Doctor?" EMH - "Ummmm... I mean, I know that must have HAD names. of course they must have. But it just never seemed worth the time to remember them" Janeway - "You're not really helping your case here, Doctor"
A much better ending would have been Wesley somehow leaving clues in the equation bubble and Beverley figuring it out. Maybe her and Wesley through their understanding of each other as family working in tandem each on their own sides to create a stable portal for escape.
This is also how you can keep her the focus the entire way through. She figures it out at the midpoint, maybe when there are still people around to help her with the technical details or maybe Wesley just likes to talk about his work enough that she might remember a key piece of technobabble. The universe is collapsing around her and even we don't know if she's right up until she manages to break through with the first unstable portal, at which point we switch to the viewpoint real Engineering working frantically to stabilize it
If you do want to include the Traveller in the mess as well, you could even tie it in to his first appeareance when Picard sees and interacts with his dead mom(?) through spacetime.
Perhaps it would work better if, after Wesley disappears, she gets a couple of "visitations" by Wesley -- can't touch him, he's intangible -- and he's more worried about her safety than anything going on with his situation. He'd make a cryptic comment about "inversion," but disappears before explaining. She could also get a brief visitation from the Traveler, who is too fascinated by the problem she's experiencing to actually explain the real situation. Putting those two facts together, she could figure out that something's going on in Engineering and go there as they ship's collapsing. The trick to solving the problem might be that the ship "in the bottle" is also reinforcing the subspace bubble from the inside, so she has to tell the computer to invert the bubble. That would let Wesley and the Traveler pop the bubble and get her out, and which point she'd see the two of them flickering in the real Engineering room. One quick explanation later and it's all good. That would let Crusher's intelligence factor more into her rescue, and it would give the Traveler's actor a bit more to do. I'm sure part of the reason he had a larger role in this episode was because it would be ridiculous to bring Eric Menyuk back and cover him in makeup for just a cameo.
One of my favorite things about this episode is that, in 2016, I saw Gates McFadden at WizardWorld Chicago. She did a panel, told some great stories about Labyrinth, but then a little girl (who definitely was young enough to not quite be able to tell the difference between Gates and Dr. Crusher) asked her about this episode, and how she felt while this was happening to her. And Gates, like an absolute queen, didn't skip a beat and answered entirely in character and with a huge amount of detail. This girl lit up like a Christmas tree and got a follow up question ("Can I have a hug?" The answer was Yes.) You could tell how important this episode was to Gates, and how happy she was to have been asked about it. I got a whole new appreciation for her and this episode after that. She's one of the great ones.
I had to let that whopper go to stay engaged in the story. 'Cause that wouldn't work with any computer we have today. Computers are not champions at ouside-the-box (or spherical technobabble bubble) thinking. But Gates as Beverly is still riveting in this episode. This might be her best episode of all.
@@surferbeto It's the "theorize" part that the computer can't do though. "Ignore the error and continue running" is something that computers are made to do all the time.
"The universe is a spheroid region 705 meters in diameter" is one of my favorite out-of-context quotes. Edit: apparently it's 705 meters, not 704. Could've sworn I knew how it went. Now I know how Beverly felt!
That specific scene instilled a special existential dread that cropped up in more than a few nightmares in my teenage years. I'd often had a recurring dream of laying on my back in a field looking up at the infinity of space. And shortly after "Remember Me" that dream began to include the fear that maybe space was shrinking in on me. *shivers*
My favourite bit is when Beverly now alone on the ship as the only crew member asks the computer how she alone could have carried out the stated mission of Enterprise and the computer can't respond and she says something to the effect "Ha, got you that time!" I'm not sure there is any way to stick the landing in this sort of episode. The intrigue of the plot is precisely in the unresolved mystery of the events, I feel like any resolution robs them of some of their power in a way that is not the case if you like solve a murder because what's at stake here is a sort of undirected anxiety (am I going crazy?) not a more focused dread (who killed that nice old guy?).
I don't think you're wrong, but I'd also argue that the way they did choose to resolve it all was... poorly executed. Nothing would've felt good, but plenty of things might've felt better than what they went with.
Eureka did a pretty good job when they covered this premise in Season 2, primarily because they didn't show what was happening outside the bottle until Jack figures out how he got into it. Then, the jumps between the scenes inside/outside the bottle cover Jack's efforts to get out and the team's efforts to get him out, with the switches taking place whenever a time skip is appropriate ("someone has to drive to the other side of town to advance the plot, so let's check on the other side of the bottle").
My armchair re-write would have leaned heavily into the bond between Crusher and Wesley. I could be wrong (it's been years since I saw the episode) but I don't remember her being especially broken up about him disappearing compared to other members of the crew. I would have much preferred if he was the last one to disappear, and she decided to go through the vortex not because she was convinced it would save her but because it had a small chance of reuniting her with her son.
This one of my favorite episodes of the entire series. The mystery, the ever growing horror as more and more people disappear, the atmosphere... it all really works for me.
The problem of breaking the immersion in the main character’s POV is also a problem with the Inner Light. We really shouldn’t have had any scenes on the Enterprise between Picard waking up as Camin and his realisation that “it’s me! I’m the one it found!” Maybe they could have found a way to suggest to the audience what was happening without bringing us out completely.
I totally agree - but also imagine it could feel pretty stilted if the whole episode the audience *knows* it can’t be entirely real since Picard needs to show up in the next week’s episode. On some more recent shows I’ve definitely seen that work great though, more when it feels totally possible that the show you’re watching could fundamentally change or a central character might die regardless of popularity. Though I’m sure there’s some writers out there who would have a great idea how to do it anyway.
The existential horror of the whole universe collapsing in on a single person is really freaky. When Beverly is fleeing down the hallway a few steps ahead of that yawning gray void closing in on all sides - man! That is military grade nightmare stuff right there. The gray void of nothingness is even scarier than the vortex because when the vortex comes the first few times we're like, "Holy sh!t! That was pretty random. Wot the fugg was that?!?!" But when the gray wall of nothing is closing in on us we know exactly what it is (non-existence!) and what will happen to us if it catches us: We'll be deader than dead! Not only will we cease to be but we will have never even been. And it's gonna hurt when it sweeps over us and our limbs vanish before our torsos and heads do! We can't hide from it. Nothing can shield us from it. Ignoring it won't make it go away. It's no mere Force Of Nature - this thing eats Forces of Nature for breakfast. It has eaten the entire universe and now it's coming for us, straight down the hallway at a speed just a little slower than we can run! Gates McFadden is so good in this episode! She is so scared, and yet so cool under pressure. She is so dedicated to her friends and colleagues (I will remember all of you...). Love that woman!
@@95rosscthe Batman TAS episode where Bruce Wayne isn’t, in fact, Batman plays it straight - and does so well I think. Of course we all know he was, so the tension for the audience (will he find out what’s going on?) is different than it is for the character (what’s going on? Did I imagine being Batman?) but it still works regardless.
The techno-babble bubble led to a lot of techno-bubble babble. What Wesley needed to solve the issue was a techno-babble bubble bauble. "I'm big! It is the Universe that small! I'm ready for my close-up now, Mr Roddenberry!"
Shit this was one of the best from the classic era. I remember watching this as a kid and being so expertly creeped out and seriously wondering how the hell they were going to fix this by the end. Of course eventually everything works out perfectly and everyone shares a laugh but I tell ya, they did a HELL of a job getting there. I suppose somebody could always say "oh well what's the big deal it's "just" TV??" Well yaaa true but I mean it's _awesome_ TV! ...big diffo lol... I love when any show, I don't care which, does simple stripped down character pieces; they really give their actors a time to shine.
My brain edits out the Wesley bits of this episode after Beverly goes into the pocket universe and I think it's much stronger for it. Once Beverly figures out what's going on, she goes to Engineering (while being chased by Nothing) and gets herself out.
I'm slowly getting to the point where I'm more likely to have watched an episode you make a video on than not. Progress!! (9 films and 368 episodes into the franchise!)
To their credit, when it comes to robbing Beverly of her agency in the episode, they did at least have her solve her own problem. As much as they messed it up by refocusing on Wesley, she couldn't have been rescued if she hadn't figured out what was going on on her own. She had to figure out where she was, how she got there, what the vortex is, and decide to go though it. I would have preferred it be more about Beverly and less about special warp boy, but it's something.
My favorite line from this episode as Beverly is talking to the computer (since there isn't anyone else) and asks: "Here's a question you shouldn't be able to answer; what's the nature of the universe?" And then Majel Barrett's most matter-of-fact computer voice comes in and specifies the exact dimensions, etc. Love it.
Replicant O'Brien in "Whispers" starts to think the entire universe has turned against him. Was that karmic payback for another duplicate O'Brien not remembering the title character of "The Old Man" episode of Seinfeld?
"Times Arrow" is TNG does Doctor Who. This episode is TNG does The Twilight Zone. (Though I just remembered Matt Smith era Doctor Who had the crack in the wall that made people disappear in a way that reminded me of this too.)
@@ShinGallon when I first saw Doctor Who (the first new season with the 9th Doctor), the episode with Charles Dickens immediately reminded me of that TNG episode. Then I decided I liked Doctor Who and got really into it.
Loved the dip into Serling. I'd love to hear your take on some of the classic Twilight Zones. Hell, I think I'd listen to you read a takeout menu; you have a perfect cranky sense of humor.
For some reason, I feel compelled to point out how completely normal I find it that I've been watching videos of variable length consisting solely of shots of some unknown person's room with collectibles and a computer screen in them and similar environments. The titles always seem to indicate they are either pop culture analysis or political commentary of some sort, but no one's ever there, and no words are said. This is all fine and top quality content, and I definitely don't feel as if this behavior on my part is nonsensical. Anyway, time to go on with my----
i absolutely LOVED this episode as a kid. really sparked my imagination. but as i grew up and re-watched the episode.... yeah, the critiques are all 100% spot on.
What an excellent review, Steve. I've always liked "Remember Me", but I find your critique to be quite insightful. My favorite part of this video was when you analyzed the challenge to the writers, including the risk of being accused of a deus ex machina. Great piece.
This is my Favorite episode of all Star Trek shows! 🙌🏾 I remember watching it when it firat came out & being caught up in the mystery. Beverly's exchange with the computer made me laugh & stuck with me.
The Wesley/Traveller story seemed so cool to me as a teenager watching _TNG._ I always wondered how it would have ended if a writer who cared about that thread had put some effort into fleshing it out. At the very least, it could have saved us from that slap-in-the-face Wil Wheaton cameo tacked on to the end of season 2 of _Picard._
There is an element of my favorite episode of Prodigy, Time Amok, that I think would have worked really well here. Rok is trapped alone on the ship with time moving extremely slowly. She spends literal years learning the science needed to tech the tech and fix the problem. Beverly could have been trapped alone, and needed to learn whatever it took to replicate Wesley’s experiment and tech her own way back into the real world, reappearing at the same moment she was zapped away.
This episode has my personal best delivered comedy lines from Patrick Stewart. Crusher "It's all perfectly logical to you, isn't it? The two of us roaming about the galaxy in the flagship of the Federation. No crew at all." Picard "We've never needed a crew before." I seem to be the only one that finds it hilarious, but Stewart's delivery and facial expressions are just perfect.
"Computer, define the nature of the universe." - One of favorite lines in all of Star Trek. I love Crusher, and love that we got an episode focused on her.
Why not? The universe is created by the mind, so Dr. Crusher when she vortexes out whilst playing an addictive game like the one from the episode with Ashley Judd, could have universes popping into existence by these weird creatures, and being destroyed just as easily!
That was easily one of my favorite jokes you've made prior to launching into a review. And this episode is full of fantastic moments, one of my favorites of the show, even if it does stumble near the end.
The intro was hilarious. Saw what you were doing right away but playing it so straight was still a delight. Also, the pedant that I am I must point out she’s kind of a hostage in this one! Just an unorthodox one. Lastly, this is why I love reviews and critically engaging with media. I’ve always liked this episode, so when you said it wasn’t great I thought maybe we’d differ in our opinions. This was the very first episode I coincidentally caught on TV, and it was the part where the Traveller speaks to Beverly. That really stuck with me, not least because it made me think every single episode was in its own universe/continuity for a while. Not helped by misremembering the computer’s line about there being prior Enterprises, to in fact be saying there were hundreds of other Enterprises just like them out there right now. So I’ve never thought about what it’d be without the Traveller. But yk, I totally agree it would’ve been better to keep the conceit going for longer and have Beverly rescue herself. We would’ve still kept the iconic line!
I think Voyager could do this based on character information. weird alien cook, grumpy holo doctor, borg lady, "spiritual" tattoo guy, clarinet playing ensign, holodeck addict, and angry half Klingon engineer. I think the problem might be who is Beverly and who is Picard. Especially in the 4th season. If it was later, it could be Seven and Janeway. But if Janeway is the Picard character I can't figure out who would be Beverly? Kes? A show I don't think could do this is Discovery. Maybe by the end of the fourth season. I like Discovery, but I feel much of the crew, especially bridge crew are underdeveloped.
If this episode played out on Voyager, I would have liked to see Harry Kim be in the role of Beverly. He would then get support from Janeway, when the two of them are left alone, to try to solve this mess (she is, after all, a scientist), but then just before she manages to find a way out of the bubble, she gets blinked out of existence. Harry then has to finish what she started and succeeds, which leaves him with a bit more confidence in his own abilities.
Glad you are looking at these bottle episodes. Sometimes they are a bit hokey and flat, sometimes brilliant but often with great little character moments and acting.
I love this episode. It was a relief to me when the other characters reemerge at the end of Act 3, and it’s Wesley’s last significant action before Final Mission. I also haven’t seen that episode of Twilight Zone, so that might factor into my opinion as well. 😁
I think the needed change is to wait until Dr. Crusher has figured out that she's in the warp bubble and only then shift out to their attempts to get her out. That being said, I remember being a kid when this episode aired and absolutely loving it.
This is one of my favorite episodes of the series, a fun mystery and Dr. Crusher is one of my favorite character so it’s a great showcase of her and her awesomeness
I value your opinion and more often than not I agree with you but I have to take a different course with this one. The reveal of the Traveller to help rescue Dr Crusher came after the point where its reasonable to assume that most viewers will have figured out the mystery. And the Traveller is just the action climax to counterpoint the emotional climax of Picards disappearance and Beverly finally putting it all together. It's like a high energy desert at the end of a good (if subdued) meal. A little jarring but all the better once the memories all gel in your head. Then again, I'm just a guy with an opinion, so don't take this as calling you wrong or anything. I love your channel! Thanks for bringing such humor and thoughtful media and political analysis into my world. My life is better because you exist.
But, even then, the Traveler is unnecessary. He doesn't help Wes do anything for his Mom that he hadn't already tried. He just helps him open the portal again, the same thing they had been doing. Like maybe if he had helped Wes project his voice into his mom's mind, and then that led Beverly to stop panicking and realize what's happening. That would make sense. But, as is, he seems to show up to say "keep trying!" and to have that little flicker to foreshadow what happens to Wes later.
This is one of my favourite TNG episodes. I feel like one of the ways horror works really well is when it starts out subtly, and slowly grows and amps up the uncanny valley effect of 'something is seriously wrong'. This episode does that brilliantly.
Bang on. One of the better Gates-acting-chops episodes. If they held on to the reveal until the vortex she jumps into, it would have been waaaaaay bet-
It would be interesting to see an edit of this where you only have Crusher's perspective until the end. Obviously, it would be shorter, but it would probably hold together tonally better.
Perhaps when Beverly experience one of the vortices, one of the crew also sees it. This allows the crew on the techno-bubble enterprise to be on her side, and they can be used to give Beverly the info she needs to work it out for herself. Bit it also gives a way to up the tension, because when that crew member is erased, then nobody knows of them, and they "never" saw the vortex, and thus Beverly is once again isolated as none of the crew can validate the existance of the vortex. Thebidea is to give a little hope, and then cut the legs out from under that hope. But it gives Beverly the knowledge, and thus agency to help herself.
One aspect of this episode that always draws my attention is that as Wesley is doing his "Space Mozart" thing, he fades in and out of reality and then collapses at the same time that Doctor Crusher escapes the bubble. Nobody tries to help (or even look at) him until he has already recovered. So much for remembering and cherishing loved ones. It is almost as bad is the time where Janeway kicks Neelix out of sickbay five minutes after he wakes up from a coma.
One way you could solve for time and also add in even more dramatic punch to the disappearances is to have one crew member who doesn't remember but believes Beverly totally and utterly anyway, and who gets a certain amount of focus as they also try to solve what's happening. Wesley feels like an easy fit, but you could do it with literally anyone -- the point is less exactly what they'd contribute to the mystery and more about giving us another character to spend time and get invested in within the episode itself... who will inevitably also vanish. Not last, but close enough to last to encourage you to start thinking they might be last. Now Beverly isn't just dealing with this escalating problem, she's dealing with it having just lost her one unwavering pillar of support.
Steve, who is this Ned person of whom you speak? Don’t you know that you and I are the only people on RUclips? It’s always just been you and me, Steve-always!!! Steve? Where are you, Steve? Steve?!!?! STEEEEEEVVVVEEEE!!!!!!!
One of my all-time favourites despite its problems. I never minded the transition to a different perspective and while I don't really like the way the problem is solved in the end, the rest of the episode hits such highs for me it easily makes up for it. Gates McFadden is incredible
The remark I agree with more than any other is that Beverly needed more episodes focused around her, especially to compensate for her missing a season.
I much preferred it when Ned Carrington was collaborating with these reviews. He was Good Cop to Steve's "I hate the nerds" Cop and we miss him dearly. That song he did about Wolf359 was dynamite in the Borg Reviews
A funny thing about this episode I found out about later, particularly about Data's rationalization for the crew being of small size, is that someone did the work of figuring out what the capacity for a Galaxy-class was based on released blue print schematics. I don't recall the exact figure, but they could've had around 1000 crew members with *plenty* of capacity left over. Not even half full.
I dont really have a problem suspending my disbelief for mystical techno-magic when I'm already doing it for the technobabble and narrow cast alien races, after all I'm a big Doctor Who fan, where the universe gets saved regularly through the power of love or friendship, but i feel like the problem with the Traveler Storyline is that it never really went anywhere. Maybe the writers realized themselves how cheesy it was and cut it short, but since you mentioned it in the video, overall I always liked it for the reason that they did something to develop a character a bit and also because it hinted at a possible in-show future where the borders between technology and the mind are starting to blur. After all it is supposed to be science fiction and many of the technological wonders in it are already becoming science reality.
8:00 I love that line in a vacuum (it is quite possibly her best in the series), but can't help but think about all of the people who call themselves fans of Star Trek who hear that line and begin thinking some of the most misogynistic things ever thought.
My favorite part of the episode is when Beverly asks the computer to locate the old man and when it replies he isn't on board she calls Security saying there's a missing person. Worf shows up and she explains that she can't find the old man and then the first thing Worf does is to ask the computer to locate the old man just as Beverly had already done. Then he proceeds to give her an odd 'eye rolling' type look when the computer responds that he isn't on board. 🤣🤣 Does he think Beverly doesn't know how to work the computer and hasn't already done that? It's hilarious.
Here's an interesting factoid: The Star Trek original series theme tune had lyrics written by Gene Roddenberry, and the last line of the song is "remember me." The original series ran for 79 episodes. "Remember Me" is the 79th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
I always had mixed feelings about this episode but wasn't really sure what bothered me about it. You laid it all out and I don't think I could agree more. Such great potential in the the first 2/3 that gets silly at the end. Great review!
I loved this episode when I first saw it, and still do. The line if there’s nothing wrong with me there must be something wrong with the universe is one of my favourites.
It's interesting, in my memory of this episode from several years ago now, I completely forgot about the traveler and Wesley the magical boy part. The parts of Beverly desperately trying to figire out why everyone was disappearing was what I remembered. So I agree that it was a good episode, that could have been great with less of that stuff my mind had found worthy of remembering. 😂
My thoughts on the third act that could have been: Doctor crusher realizes at the end of the second act that she is trapped in the warp bubble. Amidst self-recrimination about her failure to pay more attention to her son, and her crappy grades in war physics has to recreate the experiment in the engine room of the alternate enterprise . We revisit the rest of the crew as a series of her flashbacks while she tries to remember what Wesley was saying and what other people were saying in the engine room when he was trying to get her to engage with his life goals. She consults the logs of the project and cobbles together her best guess. Her best guess mostly fails. Then she remembers something very important that Wesley had said and finds it to be an insight, a passphrase almost, and she manages to create her side of the necessary exit to the real world. This is extemporadius off the top of my head, but I remember wishing for something like this at the time. In the end she makes the promise every parent makes and every parent inevitably breaks. The promise that in the future she will pay more attention and allocate more time to her children and not let life get in the way of her relationship. It becomes a poignant lament. And perhaps from the other side Wesley manages to find her because of something he paid attention to her saying. Is something that was important to her. Say a personal. Good luck charm or something she's working on in the lab that she happens to still have taken with her into the war bubble that he can anchor on too. Potential ticking clock versus the need to be calm and to accurately remember the parts of her life she had been ignoring would have been a great dichotomy. He would also partially rehabilitate Wesley. An awkward kids attempt to connect with the adults in his life about something he finds important is a note that could have resounded well with the audience. And I'm fairly sure Gates McFadden had the acting jobs to pull it off
Definitely my favourite Doctor Crusher episode. And while I agree with your critique, one of my favourite STNG episodes too. Picard to Crusher: "We've never needed a crew before".
A minimal change that would have improved the episode would have been to just stay with Dr. Crusher until she figures out she's in the technobabble bubble and realizes the scary portals are her escape--and she rushes to Engineering as her bubble collapses. _Then_ cut to the "real" universe to track Wesley's efforts to rescue her. Keeps Crusher's agency and the episode padding still keeps the suspense of "will they kill Dr. Crusher off?"
You managed to nail the main problem I had with Remember Me, but could never put into words; the 2/3rds in switch of the Point of View. Would have been so much stronger if we'd stayed with Beverly all episode.
I've always appreciated how seriously the rest of the crew did actually take Crusher's insistence of what was happening. Hate it when half the episode is everyone insisting the person is insane. Especially in Star Trek where these things happen every few missions.
"Remember Me" is definitely my favorite Beverly-centric episode (of which there are few, though I consider "Attached" to be Beverly-centric since it is primary Beverly and Picard centric). Gates McFadden gives a terrific performance throughout and the plot is good enough to work for me.
I don't know that I'd label this one of my favorite episodes, but it's definitely one of the ones that left the deepest impression of me. I'd have preferred it if Bev had figured it out a little earlier, and only transitioned to the action outside once she knew what was going on.
For Dr. Crusher episodes, I think it doesn't get any better than "Suspicions". It gives me the same "there's something wrong with the universe" vibes without the character needing to spell it out.
Now I'm trying to imagine the Crusher PIcard scene on the Bridge on Voyager.
EMH - "You remember the Bridge crew Captain? There's.... The annoying one... That one who plays something... I _want_ to say the clarinet? The scowly one. The dull one... though that might be the one who play the clarinet if I'm honest"
Janeway - "What were their names, Doctor?"
EMH - "Ummmm... I mean, I know that must have HAD names. of course they must have. But it just never seemed worth the time to remember them"
Janeway - "You're not really helping your case here, Doctor"
I hear this in both Picardo and Mulgrew's voices, and I love it.
Oh no, is the scowly one Tuvok or Chakotay? 😂
@@sutematsu Is the boring one Chakotay or Tuvok?
Janeway will always remember Harry, no matter the universe. He's her favourite murder victim.
Dull has got to be Harry Kim. Dude so quiet he never even got the chance for a field promotion.
Gates McFadden, Wil Wheaton and Denise Crosby each had to leave the show to get the good writing they deserved.
Guys! ... It's Tay! (We can never stop saying this 😅)
gobsmacked.
You comment on a lot creators I watch, too, great taste, Tay. 😂
So true my internent famous friend
You and I seem to keep running into the same comments sections. 😅
A much better ending would have been Wesley somehow leaving clues in the equation bubble and Beverley figuring it out. Maybe her and Wesley through their understanding of each other as family working in tandem each on their own sides to create a stable portal for escape.
That IS a better ending !!!
This is a good idea - build their characterizations instead of just reversing the negative space wedgie polarization field.
This is also how you can keep her the focus the entire way through. She figures it out at the midpoint, maybe when there are still people around to help her with the technical details or maybe Wesley just likes to talk about his work enough that she might remember a key piece of technobabble. The universe is collapsing around her and even we don't know if she's right up until she manages to break through with the first unstable portal, at which point we switch to the viewpoint real Engineering working frantically to stabilize it
If you do want to include the Traveller in the mess as well, you could even tie it in to his first appeareance when Picard sees and interacts with his dead mom(?) through spacetime.
Perhaps it would work better if, after Wesley disappears, she gets a couple of "visitations" by Wesley -- can't touch him, he's intangible -- and he's more worried about her safety than anything going on with his situation. He'd make a cryptic comment about "inversion," but disappears before explaining. She could also get a brief visitation from the Traveler, who is too fascinated by the problem she's experiencing to actually explain the real situation. Putting those two facts together, she could figure out that something's going on in Engineering and go there as they ship's collapsing. The trick to solving the problem might be that the ship "in the bottle" is also reinforcing the subspace bubble from the inside, so she has to tell the computer to invert the bubble. That would let Wesley and the Traveler pop the bubble and get her out, and which point she'd see the two of them flickering in the real Engineering room. One quick explanation later and it's all good. That would let Crusher's intelligence factor more into her rescue, and it would give the Traveler's actor a bit more to do. I'm sure part of the reason he had a larger role in this episode was because it would be ridiculous to bring Eric Menyuk back and cover him in makeup for just a cameo.
One of my favorite things about this episode is that, in 2016, I saw Gates McFadden at WizardWorld Chicago. She did a panel, told some great stories about Labyrinth, but then a little girl (who definitely was young enough to not quite be able to tell the difference between Gates and Dr. Crusher) asked her about this episode, and how she felt while this was happening to her. And Gates, like an absolute queen, didn't skip a beat and answered entirely in character and with a huge amount of detail. This girl lit up like a Christmas tree and got a follow up question ("Can I have a hug?" The answer was Yes.)
You could tell how important this episode was to Gates, and how happy she was to have been asked about it. I got a whole new appreciation for her and this episode after that. She's one of the great ones.
That’s wonderful
@@kaitlyn__L Yes, it is wonderful.
This episode had my favorite instruction ever given to a computer: "Disregard incongruity and theorize"
I had to let that whopper go to stay engaged in the story. 'Cause that wouldn't work with any computer we have today. Computers are not champions at ouside-the-box (or spherical technobabble bubble) thinking. But Gates as Beverly is still riveting in this episode. This might be her best episode of all.
Wasn’t that in the Ugly Bags of Mostly Water one? I guess she could’ve easily said it here too.
@@surferbeto
It's the "theorize" part that the computer can't do though. "Ignore the error and continue running" is something that computers are made to do all the time.
"The universe is a spheroid region 705 meters in diameter" is one of my favorite out-of-context quotes.
Edit: apparently it's 705 meters, not 704. Could've sworn I knew how it went. Now I know how Beverly felt!
That specific scene instilled a special existential dread that cropped up in more than a few nightmares in my teenage years.
I'd often had a recurring dream of laying on my back in a field looking up at the infinity of space. And shortly after "Remember Me" that dream began to include the fear that maybe space was shrinking in on me. *shivers*
Likewise "A flaw in the ship's design". Not so much the front of my gorram ship falling off as "there is no front of your ship in Ba Sing Se".
The line leading up to it is pretty good too “Here’s a question you shouldn’t be able to answer: computer, what is the nature of the universe?”
@@jdlessl”I am a leaf on the wind”
The front fell off, and it's outside of the environment.
RUclips has only ever had this one channel. We've never had a need for any others.
I'm sorry, we have no record of any "Jessie Gender" on RUclips.
Four channels: good. Two channels: bad.
Viewers? Even if there was such a thing, what would be the point?
We are the only people viewing RUclips
My favourite bit is when Beverly now alone on the ship as the only crew member asks the computer how she alone could have carried out the stated mission of Enterprise and the computer can't respond and she says something to the effect "Ha, got you that time!"
I'm not sure there is any way to stick the landing in this sort of episode. The intrigue of the plot is precisely in the unresolved mystery of the events, I feel like any resolution robs them of some of their power in a way that is not the case if you like solve a murder because what's at stake here is a sort of undirected anxiety (am I going crazy?) not a more focused dread (who killed that nice old guy?).
I get a chuckle from the computer blaming the explosive decompression on a design flaw because that makes total sense in context.
I don't think you're wrong, but I'd also argue that the way they did choose to resolve it all was... poorly executed. Nothing would've felt good, but plenty of things might've felt better than what they went with.
Eureka did a pretty good job when they covered this premise in Season 2, primarily because they didn't show what was happening outside the bottle until Jack figures out how he got into it.
Then, the jumps between the scenes inside/outside the bottle cover Jack's efforts to get out and the team's efforts to get him out, with the switches taking place whenever a time skip is appropriate ("someone has to drive to the other side of town to advance the plot, so let's check on the other side of the bottle").
My armchair re-write would have leaned heavily into the bond between Crusher and Wesley. I could be wrong (it's been years since I saw the episode) but I don't remember her being especially broken up about him disappearing compared to other members of the crew. I would have much preferred if he was the last one to disappear, and she decided to go through the vortex not because she was convinced it would save her but because it had a small chance of reuniting her with her son.
This one of my favorite episodes of the entire series. The mystery, the ever growing horror as more and more people disappear, the atmosphere... it all really works for me.
I have a fond spot for this episode and frame of mind.
Sigh. They say the universe is getting smaller...
The problem of breaking the immersion in the main character’s POV is also a problem with the Inner Light. We really shouldn’t have had any scenes on the Enterprise between Picard waking up as Camin and his realisation that “it’s me! I’m the one it found!” Maybe they could have found a way to suggest to the audience what was happening without bringing us out completely.
I totally agree - but also imagine it could feel pretty stilted if the whole episode the audience *knows* it can’t be entirely real since Picard needs to show up in the next week’s episode. On some more recent shows I’ve definitely seen that work great though, more when it feels totally possible that the show you’re watching could fundamentally change or a central character might die regardless of popularity. Though I’m sure there’s some writers out there who would have a great idea how to do it anyway.
100% this! Those cut backs to the Enterprise are the only thing that drags 'Inner Light' down at all. It's too bad.
The existential horror of the whole universe collapsing in on a single person is really freaky. When Beverly is fleeing down the hallway a few steps ahead of that yawning gray void closing in on all sides - man! That is military grade nightmare stuff right there.
The gray void of nothingness is even scarier than the vortex because when the vortex comes the first few times we're like, "Holy sh!t! That was pretty random. Wot the fugg was that?!?!" But when the gray wall of nothing is closing in on us we know exactly what it is (non-existence!) and what will happen to us if it catches us:
We'll be deader than dead! Not only will we cease to be but we will have never even been. And it's gonna hurt when it sweeps over us and our limbs vanish before our torsos and heads do!
We can't hide from it. Nothing can shield us from it. Ignoring it won't make it go away. It's no mere Force Of Nature - this thing eats Forces of Nature for breakfast. It has eaten the entire universe and now it's coming for us, straight down the hallway at a speed just a little slower than we can run!
Gates McFadden is so good in this episode! She is so scared, and yet so cool under pressure. She is so dedicated to her friends and colleagues (I will remember all of you...). Love that woman!
Well, Frame of Mind didn't have any cut backs, it's still terrible.
@@95rosscthe Batman TAS episode where Bruce Wayne isn’t, in fact, Batman plays it straight - and does so well I think.
Of course we all know he was, so the tension for the audience (will he find out what’s going on?) is different than it is for the character (what’s going on? Did I imagine being Batman?) but it still works regardless.
The techno-babble bubble led to a lot of techno-bubble babble. What Wesley needed to solve the issue was a techno-babble bubble bauble.
"I'm big! It is the Universe that small! I'm ready for my close-up now, Mr Roddenberry!"
"What Wesley needed to solve the issue was a techno-babble bubble bauble."
Instead, he nearly got a techno-babble bubble bobble.
no i'm in the mood for a round of techno-babble bubble bobble
There's always the option of settling things musically, with a techno-babble techno-battle.
Hold on now, Mr Fox, sir!
If Dr. Seuss had written Trek...
Shit this was one of the best from the classic era. I remember watching this as a kid and being so expertly creeped out and seriously wondering how the hell they were going to fix this by the end. Of course eventually everything works out perfectly and everyone shares a laugh but I tell ya, they did a HELL of a job getting there. I suppose somebody could always say "oh well what's the big deal it's "just" TV??" Well yaaa true but I mean it's _awesome_ TV! ...big diffo lol... I love when any show, I don't care which, does simple stripped down character pieces; they really give their actors a time to shine.
My brain edits out the Wesley bits of this episode after Beverly goes into the pocket universe and I think it's much stronger for it. Once Beverly figures out what's going on, she goes to Engineering (while being chased by Nothing) and gets herself out.
I'm slowly getting to the point where I'm more likely to have watched an episode you make a video on than not. Progress!!
(9 films and 368 episodes into the franchise!)
"Technobubble". Dude, it was right there.
To their credit, when it comes to robbing Beverly of her agency in the episode, they did at least have her solve her own problem. As much as they messed it up by refocusing on Wesley, she couldn't have been rescued if she hadn't figured out what was going on on her own. She had to figure out where she was, how she got there, what the vortex is, and decide to go though it. I would have preferred it be more about Beverly and less about special warp boy, but it's something.
My favorite line from this episode as Beverly is talking to the computer (since there isn't anyone else) and asks: "Here's a question you shouldn't be able to answer; what's the nature of the universe?" And then Majel Barrett's most matter-of-fact computer voice comes in and specifies the exact dimensions, etc. Love it.
Yknow, I never thought about how similar this episode was to an episode of The Twilight Zone.
But yeah. It definitely fits.
Replicant O'Brien in "Whispers" starts to think the entire universe has turned against him. Was that karmic payback for another duplicate O'Brien not remembering the title character of "The Old Man" episode of Seinfeld?
"Times Arrow" is TNG does Doctor Who. This episode is TNG does The Twilight Zone.
(Though I just remembered Matt Smith era Doctor Who had the crack in the wall that made people disappear in a way that reminded me of this too.)
Holy shit I never realized exactly how much like a Doctor Who story "Time's Arrow" is. No wonder it's one of my favorite TNG episodes!
All ideas eventually flavor one another.
@@ShinGallon when I first saw Doctor Who (the first new season with the 9th Doctor), the episode with Charles Dickens immediately reminded me of that TNG episode.
Then I decided I liked Doctor Who and got really into it.
That explains the dead space to stage right so well. Poor Ned, pour one out for a former real one!
Loved the dip into Serling. I'd love to hear your take on some of the classic Twilight Zones. Hell, I think I'd listen to you read a takeout menu; you have a perfect cranky sense of humor.
For some reason, I feel compelled to point out how completely normal I find it that I've been watching videos of variable length consisting solely of shots of some unknown person's room with collectibles and a computer screen in them and similar environments. The titles always seem to indicate they are either pop culture analysis or political commentary of some sort, but no one's ever there, and no words are said. This is all fine and top quality content, and I definitely don't feel as if this behavior on my part is nonsensical. Anyway, time to go on with my----
Rolling on the floor right now
Great opening bit. 👏
This one, and "Conundrum" are amongst my favorite TNG episodes.
i absolutely LOVED this episode as a kid. really sparked my imagination. but as i grew up and re-watched the episode.... yeah, the critiques are all 100% spot on.
What an excellent review, Steve. I've always liked "Remember Me", but I find your critique to be quite insightful. My favorite part of this video was when you analyzed the challenge to the writers, including the risk of being accused of a deus ex machina. Great piece.
This is my Favorite episode of all Star Trek shows! 🙌🏾 I remember watching it when it firat came out & being caught up in the mystery. Beverly's exchange with the computer made me laugh & stuck with me.
The Wesley/Traveller story seemed so cool to me as a teenager watching _TNG._ I always wondered how it would have ended if a writer who cared about that thread had put some effort into fleshing it out. At the very least, it could have saved us from that slap-in-the-face Wil Wheaton cameo tacked on to the end of season 2 of _Picard._
This episode is the best kind of horror film. Also this episode does show how superfluous most of the crew is. The ship really does fly itself.
Well, it doesn't really need to fly anywhere when the universe is the same size as the ship
In Picard S3 it’s clear we only need the senior staff to make the ship go
"Techno-bubble" was right there.
There is an element of my favorite episode of Prodigy, Time Amok, that I think would have worked really well here. Rok is trapped alone on the ship with time moving extremely slowly. She spends literal years learning the science needed to tech the tech and fix the problem. Beverly could have been trapped alone, and needed to learn whatever it took to replicate Wesley’s experiment and tech her own way back into the real world, reappearing at the same moment she was zapped away.
This episode has my personal best delivered comedy lines from Patrick Stewart.
Crusher "It's all perfectly logical to you, isn't it? The two of us roaming about the galaxy in the flagship of the Federation. No crew at all."
Picard "We've never needed a crew before."
I seem to be the only one that finds it hilarious, but Stewart's delivery and facial expressions are just perfect.
So Steve, this Retro Review was all basically about Babbling about a Technobubble…Fascinating
"Computer, define the nature of the universe." - One of favorite lines in all of Star Trek.
I love Crusher, and love that we got an episode focused on her.
You thought the problem was X, but aha, it was Y all along! That gimmick gets me every time with this one. Love it.
Do you think you can play Bubble Bobble in the technobabble bubble?
Why not? The universe is created by the mind, so Dr. Crusher when she vortexes out whilst playing an addictive game like the one from the episode with Ashley Judd, could have universes popping into existence by these weird creatures, and being destroyed just as easily!
That was easily one of my favorite jokes you've made prior to launching into a review. And this episode is full of fantastic moments, one of my favorites of the show, even if it does stumble near the end.
I love your snarky interpretations of the plot synopsis 😁❤️
I think that all the bad aspects of this episode are 100% worth it just for the “If there’s nothing wrong with me….” line.
The intro was hilarious. Saw what you were doing right away but playing it so straight was still a delight.
Also, the pedant that I am I must point out she’s kind of a hostage in this one! Just an unorthodox one.
Lastly, this is why I love reviews and critically engaging with media. I’ve always liked this episode, so when you said it wasn’t great I thought maybe we’d differ in our opinions. This was the very first episode I coincidentally caught on TV, and it was the part where the Traveller speaks to Beverly.
That really stuck with me, not least because it made me think every single episode was in its own universe/continuity for a while. Not helped by misremembering the computer’s line about there being prior Enterprises, to in fact be saying there were hundreds of other Enterprises just like them out there right now. So I’ve never thought about what it’d be without the Traveller.
But yk, I totally agree it would’ve been better to keep the conceit going for longer and have Beverly rescue herself. We would’ve still kept the iconic line!
That’s a brilliant Rod Serling impression. I got chills 😅
I loved this episode. It also reminds me of the DS9 "distant voices" with doctor Bashir
"I'll be back in a few years to finish detailing Wesley's character arc" is one of the best jokes ever, Steve. Chef's kiss!
I recall, traveling in Nova Scotia, Canada in 1993, and finding this episode on tv at the hotel. 🖖
Where is this mythical "Nova Scotia" of which you speak?? I've checked the atlas of Canada and there's no mention of a "Nova Scotia"!! 😉
I think Voyager could do this based on character information. weird alien cook, grumpy holo doctor, borg lady, "spiritual" tattoo guy, clarinet playing ensign, holodeck addict, and angry half Klingon engineer. I think the problem might be who is Beverly and who is Picard. Especially in the 4th season. If it was later, it could be Seven and Janeway. But if Janeway is the Picard character I can't figure out who would be Beverly? Kes?
A show I don't think could do this is Discovery. Maybe by the end of the fourth season. I like Discovery, but I feel much of the crew, especially bridge crew are underdeveloped.
If this episode played out on Voyager, I would have liked to see Harry Kim be in the role of Beverly. He would then get support from Janeway, when the two of them are left alone, to try to solve this mess (she is, after all, a scientist), but then just before she manages to find a way out of the bubble, she gets blinked out of existence. Harry then has to finish what she started and succeeds, which leaves him with a bit more confidence in his own abilities.
You know! Rhys! He uhhhhhhhhhhh likes surfing! I think!
Glad you are looking at these bottle episodes. Sometimes they are a bit hokey and flat, sometimes brilliant but often with great little character moments and acting.
I love this episode. It was a relief to me when the other characters reemerge at the end of Act 3, and it’s Wesley’s last significant action before Final Mission. I also haven’t seen that episode of Twilight Zone, so that might factor into my opinion as well. 😁
I think the needed change is to wait until Dr. Crusher has figured out that she's in the warp bubble and only then shift out to their attempts to get her out.
That being said, I remember being a kid when this episode aired and absolutely loving it.
I do love Remember Me. I love mystery episodes.
This is one of my favorite episodes of the series, a fun mystery and Dr. Crusher is one of my favorite character so it’s a great showcase of her and her awesomeness
I value your opinion and more often than not I agree with you but I have to take a different course with this one. The reveal of the Traveller to help rescue Dr Crusher came after the point where its reasonable to assume that most viewers will have figured out the mystery. And the Traveller is just the action climax to counterpoint the emotional climax of Picards disappearance and Beverly finally putting it all together. It's like a high energy desert at the end of a good (if subdued) meal. A little jarring but all the better once the memories all gel in your head.
Then again, I'm just a guy with an opinion, so don't take this as calling you wrong or anything. I love your channel! Thanks for bringing such humor and thoughtful media and political analysis into my world. My life is better because you exist.
But, even then, the Traveler is unnecessary. He doesn't help Wes do anything for his Mom that he hadn't already tried. He just helps him open the portal again, the same thing they had been doing.
Like maybe if he had helped Wes project his voice into his mom's mind, and then that led Beverly to stop panicking and realize what's happening. That would make sense. But, as is, he seems to show up to say "keep trying!" and to have that little flicker to foreshadow what happens to Wes later.
This episode gave me my first existential crisis. Was terrified for weeks, unsure how to tell what was real...
This is one of my favourite TNG episodes. I feel like one of the ways horror works really well is when it starts out subtly, and slowly grows and amps up the uncanny valley effect of 'something is seriously wrong'. This episode does that brilliantly.
Bang on. One of the better Gates-acting-chops episodes. If they held on to the reveal until the vortex she jumps into, it would have been waaaaaay bet-
It would be interesting to see an edit of this where you only have Crusher's perspective until the end. Obviously, it would be shorter, but it would probably hold together tonally better.
Perhaps when Beverly experience one of the vortices, one of the crew also sees it.
This allows the crew on the techno-bubble enterprise to be on her side, and they can be used to give Beverly the info she needs to work it out for herself.
Bit it also gives a way to up the tension, because when that crew member is erased, then nobody knows of them, and they "never" saw the vortex, and thus Beverly is once again isolated as none of the crew can validate the existance of the vortex.
Thebidea is to give a little hope, and then cut the legs out from under that hope. But it gives Beverly the knowledge, and thus agency to help herself.
This has always been one of my favorite episodes of TNG. I just rewatched it recently and I was so pleased to see it's as good as I remember
As your one and only viewer on this strange website, which only has this video, I loved this review!
"Technobabble Bubble" 😂
Don’t forget about the Babble about the Technobubble
I wonder if it's a coincidence that the strongest Crusher-led episodes - This one and" Cause and Effect" are both very Twilight Zone-y episodes.
Is cause and effect a Crusher episode? I always thought of that as an ensemble episode
One aspect of this episode that always draws my attention is that as Wesley is doing his "Space Mozart" thing, he fades in and out of reality and then collapses at the same time that Doctor Crusher escapes the bubble. Nobody tries to help (or even look at) him until he has already recovered. So much for remembering and cherishing loved ones. It is almost as bad is the time where Janeway kicks Neelix out of sickbay five minutes after he wakes up from a coma.
It is unashamedly my favourite episode of TNG. But the points you make are valid! ❤
Loved the Ned Carrington and Rod Serling bits!
One way you could solve for time and also add in even more dramatic punch to the disappearances is to have one crew member who doesn't remember but believes Beverly totally and utterly anyway, and who gets a certain amount of focus as they also try to solve what's happening. Wesley feels like an easy fit, but you could do it with literally anyone -- the point is less exactly what they'd contribute to the mystery and more about giving us another character to spend time and get invested in within the episode itself... who will inevitably also vanish. Not last, but close enough to last to encourage you to start thinking they might be last. Now Beverly isn't just dealing with this escalating problem, she's dealing with it having just lost her one unwavering pillar of support.
Steve, who is this Ned person of whom you speak? Don’t you know that you and I are the only people on RUclips? It’s always just been you and me, Steve-always!!! Steve? Where are you, Steve? Steve?!!?! STEEEEEEVVVVEEEE!!!!!!!
Okay Steve, that Rod Serling impression was actually really good.
One of my all-time favourites despite its problems. I never minded the transition to a different perspective and while I don't really like the way the problem is solved in the end, the rest of the episode hits such highs for me it easily makes up for it. Gates McFadden is incredible
So excited for 'Masks'
The remark I agree with more than any other is that Beverly needed more episodes focused around her, especially to compensate for her missing a season.
I much preferred it when Ned Carrington was collaborating with these reviews. He was Good Cop to Steve's "I hate the nerds" Cop and we miss him dearly. That song he did about Wolf359 was dynamite in the Borg Reviews
A funny thing about this episode I found out about later, particularly about Data's rationalization for the crew being of small size, is that someone did the work of figuring out what the capacity for a Galaxy-class was based on released blue print schematics. I don't recall the exact figure, but they could've had around 1000 crew members with *plenty* of capacity left over. Not even half full.
I dont really have a problem suspending my disbelief for mystical techno-magic when I'm already doing it for the technobabble and narrow cast alien races, after all I'm a big Doctor Who fan, where the universe gets saved regularly through the power of love or friendship, but i feel like the problem with the Traveler Storyline is that it never really went anywhere. Maybe the writers realized themselves how cheesy it was and cut it short, but since you mentioned it in the video, overall I always liked it for the reason that they did something to develop a character a bit and also because it hinted at a possible in-show future where the borders between technology and the mind are starting to blur. After all it is supposed to be science fiction and many of the technological wonders in it are already becoming science reality.
13:05 Super minor, but "deus ex machina" is pronounced "ma kun nuh", rather than "ma shin nuh". Love your content Steve, thank you!
Steve - The “Ned” gag was great!
8:00 I love that line in a vacuum (it is quite possibly her best in the series), but can't help but think about all of the people who call themselves fans of Star Trek who hear that line and begin thinking some of the most misogynistic things ever thought.
My favorite part of the episode is when Beverly asks the computer to locate the old man and when it replies he isn't on board she calls Security saying there's a missing person. Worf shows up and she explains that she can't find the old man and then the first thing Worf does is to ask the computer to locate the old man just as Beverly had already done. Then he proceeds to give her an odd 'eye rolling' type look when the computer responds that he isn't on board. 🤣🤣
Does he think Beverly doesn't know how to work the computer and hasn't already done that? It's hilarious.
Here's an interesting factoid:
The Star Trek original series theme tune had lyrics written by Gene Roddenberry, and the last line of the song is "remember me."
The original series ran for 79 episodes.
"Remember Me" is the 79th episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
I always had mixed feelings about this episode but wasn't really sure what bothered me about it. You laid it all out and I don't think I could agree more. Such great potential in the the first 2/3 that gets silly at the end. Great review!
This is one of my favorite episodes.
Excellent opening! 😃
I loved this episode when I first saw it, and still do.
The line if there’s nothing wrong with me there must be something wrong with the universe is one of my favourites.
It's interesting, in my memory of this episode from several years ago now, I completely forgot about the traveler and Wesley the magical boy part. The parts of Beverly desperately trying to figire out why everyone was disappearing was what I remembered. So I agree that it was a good episode, that could have been great with less of that stuff my mind had found worthy of remembering. 😂
The bookending of this video is great! If you didnt watch right to the end you missed out.
Quite so... but it's kinda weird that no one was narrating it.
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Good comment. I always watch till the very end (I watch credits in movies, too), but I appreciate both the heads up and the lack of spoilers. :)
My thoughts on the third act that could have been:
Doctor crusher realizes at the end of the second act that she is trapped in the warp bubble. Amidst self-recrimination about her failure to pay more attention to her son, and her crappy grades in war physics has to recreate the experiment in the engine room of the alternate enterprise .
We revisit the rest of the crew as a series of her flashbacks while she tries to remember what Wesley was saying and what other people were saying in the engine room when he was trying to get her to engage with his life goals. She consults the logs of the project and cobbles together her best guess.
Her best guess mostly fails.
Then she remembers something very important that Wesley had said and finds it to be an insight, a passphrase almost, and she manages to create her side of the necessary exit to the real world.
This is extemporadius off the top of my head, but I remember wishing for something like this at the time.
In the end she makes the promise every parent makes and every parent inevitably breaks. The promise that in the future she will pay more attention and allocate more time to her children and not let life get in the way of her relationship. It becomes a poignant lament.
And perhaps from the other side Wesley manages to find her because of something he paid attention to her saying. Is something that was important to her. Say a personal. Good luck charm or something she's working on in the lab that she happens to still have taken with her into the war bubble that he can anchor on too.
Potential ticking clock versus the need to be calm and to accurately remember the parts of her life she had been ignoring would have been a great dichotomy.
He would also partially rehabilitate Wesley. An awkward kids attempt to connect with the adults in his life about something he finds important is a note that could have resounded well with the audience.
And I'm fairly sure Gates McFadden had the acting jobs to pull it off
'spoilers beyond this point' literally already summed up the entire plot twist in the opening gag :D
Definitely my favourite Doctor Crusher episode. And while I agree with your critique, one of my favourite STNG episodes too.
Picard to Crusher: "We've never needed a crew before".
Just started, that first bit deserves the like button. Love me a good twilight zone reference
This was a great premise for Beverly in particular as it built on her backstory of being widowed.
Nice Serling.
That wink-out at the end got a good chortle outta me! 😊
A minimal change that would have improved the episode would have been to just stay with Dr. Crusher until she figures out she's in the technobabble bubble and realizes the scary portals are her escape--and she rushes to Engineering as her bubble collapses. _Then_ cut to the "real" universe to track Wesley's efforts to rescue her. Keeps Crusher's agency and the episode padding still keeps the suspense of "will they kill Dr. Crusher off?"
You managed to nail the main problem I had with Remember Me, but could never put into words; the 2/3rds in switch of the Point of View. Would have been so much stronger if we'd stayed with Beverly all episode.
I've always appreciated how seriously the rest of the crew did actually take Crusher's insistence of what was happening. Hate it when half the episode is everyone insisting the person is insane. Especially in Star Trek where these things happen every few missions.
"Remember Me" is definitely my favorite Beverly-centric episode (of which there are few, though I consider "Attached" to be Beverly-centric since it is primary Beverly and Picard centric). Gates McFadden gives a terrific performance throughout and the plot is good enough to work for me.
I don't know that I'd label this one of my favorite episodes, but it's definitely one of the ones that left the deepest impression of me.
I'd have preferred it if Bev had figured it out a little earlier, and only transitioned to the action outside once she knew what was going on.
For Dr. Crusher episodes, I think it doesn't get any better than "Suspicions". It gives me the same "there's something wrong with the universe" vibes without the character needing to spell it out.
Just today I was reading issue 3 of the recent IDW Star Trek comic and Beverly mentions the events of this episode while talking to Sisco.
Don't worry, Steve! I remember Ned Carrington.
Back in the day, he and I went to the theater together and saw Sinbad in Shazaam.