Picardigan Has Moved

Because of feedback I've received about difficulty commenting, and because I did a bit of comparison research, I have moved Put On Your Picardigan to Wordpress. I know it hasn't even been here very long, but it seemed smarter to do it before it gets really big and unwieldy. A major reason for the move is that threaded comments are possible on Wordpress.

All the old posts have been moved there, and this is the last that will appear here.

If you have been kind enough to post a link to Picardigan on your own site, please adjust it to reflect the change. Thank you! I hope you'll enjoy the blog at its new home.



Put On Your Picardigan at Wordpress.com

OH MY GOD

Obviously, I already knew sticking Disney music to Lost was brilliant, because check it, but I'd never really thought about sticking it to Star Trek before, and now all I want in the world is a video where Riker is all
LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS

TO DEFEAT

THE HUNS

Whenever he talks about how he's responsible for Wesley's training, that number is exactly how I'm going to imagine it. And if I have to imagine Wesley is a girl in disguise as a boy, well, that actually just adds to the fun.

Someone did use this idea with Worf, I am happy to report:





I never really realised how much people do tai chi in TNG until now.

Tng Episode 1.13: Datalore

In which the crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe.

Memory Alpha says: Enterprise explores Data's home planet, Omicron Theta. They find his brother, and the dark secret he carries. (Please click the Memory Alpha link for detailed information.)

My Review

Of course I'll have a lot to say about this one, because it's the first really Data-centric episode, and to me TNG is a show about Data. It also introduces one of my favourite characters, and one I feel is sadly underused, Data's villainous older brother Lore. In the early planning stages, the new android was going to be female (a gynoid, really) and a love interest for Data (so, um, presumably not his sister, although I suppose if you want to be really rational about it it's not exactly incest if there's no DNA or shared experience of a familial relationship involved) but Brent Spiner suggested the ol' evil twin routine. 

TNG Episode 1.12: The Big Goodbye

In which Captain Picard and Data look completely fly in chalkstripe suits and fedoras and what else do I care about?

Seriously. Unf. Jaunty. Jean-Luc Picard knows how to angle a hat.

Memory Alpha says: Captain Picard and some of the Enterprise crew get stuck on the holodeck on their way to an important diplomatic mission. (Please click the Memory Alpha link for detailed information.)

My Review

I think I'm going to write this one up as a proper summary with commentary, because I've been slothful lately. I know the bullet point commentary works okay for people who watch the episode themselves and then see what I had to say about it, but there's something to be said for reading an episode. Sometimes it's almost as satisfying as actually watching it, not that I can really explain why. 

Anyway! This is the first episode to feature holodeck LARPing and start exploring the storytelling possibilities of this nifty bit of technology - which, if you want to be realistic about it, is obviously incredibly dangerous to have on your starship, almost as dangerous as Data. Both are extremely powerful and unpredictably glitchy - but the holodeck is fun and Data is lovable, and quite frankly we know where our priorities lie.

DS9 Episode 1.11: The Nagus

In which Ferengi culture gets a little more fleshed out... with hairy ears.

Memory Alpha says: With the sudden death of Grand Nagus Zek, Quark becomes the new leader of the Ferengi Alliance, but he also becomes a target for murder. (Please click the Memory Alpha link for detailed information.)

My Review

Well, I finally have a proper, working internet connection again, so I can blog some more - although it seems inappropriate to cover a Ferengi episode when I have an ear infection. I don't quite feel like this:

but I don't feel too good.

This episode introduces Grand Nagus Zek and starts to show us a bit more about how the Ferengi Alliance works. Well, it shows us that the Ferengi Alliance does work, in its own shifty, shady, shonky little way, and that it's run by people with at least fractionally more nous than those twerps with energy whips who occasionally mildly inconvenience Captain Picard. Feeling about Ferengi-centric episodes seems to be a bit divided among DS9 fans, as some regard them as Odious Comic Relief. I like 'em. I like 'em all. What do you mean, 'Profit and Lace'? There's an episode called 'Profit and Loss,' you must be thinking of that. Move along.

DS9 Episode 1.10: Move Along Home

In which we receive further evidence that there are a lot of jerks in the Gamma Quadrant.

Memory Alpha says: A visiting delegation from the Gamma Quadrant turns four crew members into "pieces" for a bizarre game. (Please click the Memory Alpha link for detailed information.)

My Review

'Move Along Home' vies with 'If Wishes Were Horses' for the coveted title of Dorkiest Episode of Deep Space Nine. Visually and structurally I found it reminded me a lot of a children's TV show from my childhood called, if I remember correctly, T-Bag. A young girl had to solve a series of alphabet-themed challenges, moving around a giant game board, in order to defeat a wicked sorceress called Tallulah Bag, whose motto was 'Ignorance is bliss.' Her unwilling henchman was a grumpy little boy called T-Shirt, who she kidnapped at the start of each new series and enchanted and bullied into serving her; he always ended up turning on her and helping the heroine, and yet she kept on doing it. I always liked T-Shirt. I wish he were in 'Move Along Home.'

Two interesting snippets from the Memory Alpha page: one, STILL NO O'BRIEN THIS WEEK. AARGH I HAVE BROGUE WITHDRAWAL. Two, it seems that it was actually Dax who was supposed to visit the Enterprise in 'Birthright, Part 1' but Terry Farrell was too busy with this episode, so they sent Siddig El Fadil instead. I'm very, very glad about that, just because I'm a big fan of the friendship Julian and Data struck up (well, Julian did most of the striking) and wish it could have been pursued. It really is silly that the Enterprise never comes near DS9 again.

TNG Episode 1.11: Haven

In which Deanna receives a Quark in a box.

 

Memory Alpha says: Tension mounts on the Enterprise as Counselor Troi's arranged marriage nears, and her mother takes a liking for Captain Picard. Meanwhile, a plague ship threatens the planet where they are meeting. (Please click the Memory Alpha link for detailed information.)

My Review

This is an episode I'm almost sure I didn't see on its first airing, and possibly have never seen at all. On the other hand, I could just be forgetting. I have the kind of memory that dredges up things like three Presidents of the United States with alliterative first and last names with relative ease (that won me a trivia quiz and totally impressed people, and I didn't even have to use Ronald Reagan) but won't do phone numbers that I didn't learn in childhood (my first ever phone number was 780527, back when New Zealand phone numbers only needed six digits) and is remarkably unhelpful on questions like 'So: have ya seen "Haven"?'

Anyway, this episode introduces Deanna's mum Lwaxana, which is either awesome or cringe-inducing depending on how you feel about her. Personally, I like her, and not because I don't think she's awful - she is awful, and she knows it, and she doesn't care because she likes herself so damn much. Plus, she's Majel Barrett Roddenberry, so resistance is futile. And I would just like to tell you that this episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for a Series. I guess it didn't win, but let's look really closely at the hairstyles, because I think I might know which one they're talking about (which makes me suspect I have seen at least part of this episode after all).