While I am really excited for “Star Trek: Discovery” TNG will always hold a special place in my heart.
It is a show I distinctly remember my family gathering around the TV to watch together growing up. I also happen to think “Star Trek: The Next Generation” has one of the best series finales ever. Though with a show as vast as it was, it could never tie up all the loose ends. As a result there are a lot of things I still wonder about the show. Here are the top 4 mysteries I still wonder about. I realize some (if not all) of these may have answers in the tie-in material, but I really only follow the movies and shows so that’s what matters to me. Let’s get started…
4.) What Happened to the Borg and Hugh after “Descent: Part II”
The original series had the Klingons as their iconic bad-guys and early on TNG wanted to establish themselves as their own show so they tried to come up with their own species, the Ferengi. They ended up being a perfect example of something looking good on paper, but ridiculous in real-life. So for the second season they tried again and had plans for a bug type alien species. But the special effects cost caused them to redesign them again into the cyborgs we all know and love. Since then the Borg have become some of the most famous of sci-fi villains. One of their best aspects in TNG is that they didn’t overuse them and the good guys really only had one decisive victory over them. So for the episode “I Borg” when they came across a crashed ship with one Borg still alive it was a shocking episode. Amazingly they realized that the Borg under certain circumstances could be sympathetic as the Borg drone gained a name Hugh and identity for himself. However, that episode had lasting consequences when they later ran into more Borg that were working for Lore (Data’s evil twin). Apparently they were separated from the collective due to their individuality preventing them from functioning in their “society.” In the end of “Descent: Part II” Hugh and the Borg decide to form their own society of free thinking Borg and though the Borg would return many times afterwards in the franchise these specific ones never showed up again.
Here’s the thing about “I Borg,” it marked a change in the story that ended up not happening. What I mean is when that episode was made it was assumed the Borg and their relationship had changed in the franchise. However, because they were such memorable villains they quickly reverted back to that. Now as someone whose favorite “Star Trek” film is “Star Trek: First Contact” I’m not complaining, but I have to wonder what happened. You might say after this the Borg decided to give themselves a Borg Queen explaining her later appearance, but according to “First Contact” she was always there. We just didn’t see her. Based on how evil she is it seems unlikely to me that she’d just let them leave the collective. From another way of looking at it, I can accept that Hugh being separated from the collective could reform his humanity under the right stimuli, but I don’t get how the collective wouldn’t be able to “re-Borgify” him much less how his individuality would spread. So do Hugh and the other Borg create their own world? We see with Picard and later with Seven of Nine that you can take all of the Borg implants out and return to full organic life, did they do that? Did the Borg Queen track them down to re-assimilate them? It seems like there could be an interesting story there.
3.) Where Was The Bluegill Message Going In “Conspiracy”?
While I consider “Star Trek TNG” to be one of the best shows ever, the first 2 seasons were… rocky. Most shows take some time to get going and iron out all of their flaws. Although this show was almost like a completely different one at first. In season 3 they got a new showrunner and the series found itself and started creating classics fairly consistently. Still I would agree that there were great episodes in the first 2 seasons. It’s just that they were rare. I feel like this episode would have been better if it came out post-season 3. Still, credit where it’s due, they really delivered in this early episode, “Conspiracy.” The interesting thing is that it didn’t even start with this episode. Earlier they had an episode about a young Lt. Remmick being brought on board by Admiral Quinn to investigate all of Picard’s decisions since becoming captain. Nobody likes him because he seems to be out to get the Captain. At the end of the episode it is revealed that he was just doing his job and even asks to serve aboard the Enterprise-D when his current tour of duty ends. Then, Admiral Quinn explains to Picard the reason for the witchhunt being that (paraphrasing) “someone or something is trying to destroy our way of life” in a great tease for a future episode. 4 episodes later we get our follow-up.
It turns out Starfleet has been taken over by these alien bug like creatures (called the Bluegills) that attach themselves to the back of a human’s neck to fully control them. They’re able to thwart them by learning that phasers set to the kill setting will knock them out. They then discover Lt. Remmick to be in charge, but that’s only because he’s possessed by the queen Bluegill. Picard and Riker shoot him at full blast at the same time exploding his face and chest. Then, the queen emerges. Again Picard and Riker shoot it together and destroy the creature. However, not before they sent out a homing signal to somewhere in space so far away it’s beyond anywhere Starfleet has explored. Ok so first things first, seeing this as a kid was jaw dropping. I’m still shocked that they got away with the hollowed out corpse at the end on network TV. Second as I said earlier, despite seeming like a jerk in the previous appearance, the idea was that Remmick was a good guy so when did he get taken over by the queen? Or was he already the host for the queen in the other episode, but more on the down-low? How did they infect the top brass in Starfleet? But of course the BIG question where was that signal going to?! I remember when I first started exploring the internet and sites like Memory Alpha. One of the first things I wanted to know was, was there ever a follow-up episode. Sadly no. It’s just a great foreboding ending. Space is beautiful, but it is also vast and filled with who knows how many threats. It is said due to a writer’s strike and budget cuts the Borg were created and basically filled the role the Bluegill would have. So maybe they’re who contacted the Borg in the first place? Probably not since the Borg aren’t the type to team up with anyone. I would love to see the promise of a bluegill invasion to be fulfilled.
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2.) What Are The Aliens In “Schisms?”
Perhaps Aliens isn’t even the right word. Maybe extra-dimensional beings? This episode almost feels more like a “Twilight Zone” episode. It begins with many of the crew members feeling exhausted even though they get a full night’s sleep. These same crew members seem to have curiously similar themes and images in their dreams. And it only seems to be getting worse which each passing day with sign of procedures having been performed on them seemingly over night. Then, it turns out some of them are actually being abducted by… something. So that’s one interesting aspect of the episode, it’s essentially an alien abduction story IN THE FUTURE. Probably the most famous scene is where they use the holodeck to slowly build the environment they’re being taken to while they sleep. They form a plan to let Commander Riker get taken while they’re monitoring them and he tries to rescue one of the other crew members who were also taken. It turns out they are inter-dimensional beings that exist outside of our dimension. Whatever they are, they’re not from our plan of existence and are perfectly fine with kidnapping us into their dimension when we sleep to perform strange experiments seemingly for no discernible reason. Have fun sleeping tonight.
Now with the recent popularity of “Stranger Things” this may sound like pandering, but I honestly have always had an interest in these kinds of stories about other dimensions. Beyond the creepy thought of their actions, there seems to be no reason, or no malice. Whatever they think of us they clearly don’t think anything of taking us like this to do whatever experiments they feel like doing. I mean one of the experiments was apparently cutting off Riker’s arm and then reattaching it. Something that is that cold and unfeeling is truly frightening. Something interesting is that they don’t really defeat them. They escape and manage to close the portal the aliens were using to kidnap people. Meaning if they did it once they could break into our world again. But they didn’t. Like the Bluegill I immediately tried to find out if there were any other episodes following up on this threat but sadly no. It’s sad the production team was disappointed with how this episode came out, especially with the Alien’s design. While it’s true they aren’t the scariest or original designs around, the buildup and threat they posed more than made up for it. Personally I really want to know what was their plan? Did they realize they were experimenting on sentient life? Do they even perceive the universe like we do? I mean come on, the show would later bring back a giant snowflake, why not these guys?
1.) What is the history between Guinan and Q?
One of the most interesting characters created for the show was Q. A being from a species that are all called Q. They all basically have the powers of God and are completely omnipotent. Meaning if the mood struck Q he could snap his fingers and you’d ceased to be. Luckily for all of us he’s interested in humanity. It depends on the appearance as to how that takes shape. Sometimes (and my favorite is when) he’s seemingly just there to annoy the ship, but has actually come to help/teach us something important. Sometimes he’s there as an agent of the Q Collective to try to keep us in line (mostly his early appearances). Then there are his magical imp episodes. Basically it’s like the first option, only there’s no point (through either design or poor writing). He’s just setting these events into motion because he’s bored and can literally do anything he wants and nothing can stop him. The heroes’ only chance is to win the game he wants to play. Now while that may not be the most nuanced version of the character, it is an interesting writing challenge. How can you stop something that has the powers of a God? Like it or not it is the iconic view of Q and even the actor John de Lancie has been playing variations on this kind of character ever since.
Another really interesting character was Guinan as played by Whoopie Goldberg. As she was the A-list star of the cast, they could only afford to have her occasionally on the show. She was the bartender in Ten Forward so when she wasn’t seen in an episode, it was easy to imagine she was just busy doing other stuff. For some episodes it may have been as simple as a quick cameo or to dispense some wisdom. Every now and then she’d actually be a major part of the plot. Despite all of that I actually couldn’t tell much about her, or at least about her past. It was shrouded in mystery. We know she’s an alien and the nickname for her species is “the listeners.” They’re VERY long-lived, most were wiped out by the Borg, and her father has some great influence. Whenever they’d begin to reveal a little more about her, the plot would normally kick into gear and force them to table the matter for later. She also apparently has no alien powers. The only other one of her species we ever met was Soran from “Star Trek: Generations” who never demonstrates any extra powers.
Now why that’s important is that it comes into play in the episode “Q Who” where Q makes his 3rd appearance and we know how dangerous/powerful he is. What gets him not only angry, but ready for attack? The site of Guinan. All we learn is that they’ve “had some dealings.” Besides their reactions to each other, we know they don’t have fond feelings for each other. In a later episode when Q becomes human, Guinan takes the opportunity to stab him in the hand to see if he’s really human. Now that may seem petty to some, but remember we have no idea what happened between them before. Did Q deserve it? Probably, but something really fascinating to me that you can easily miss while watching in “Q Who” is when they’re staring each other down, Q looks ready to blink her out of existence which begs the question why doesn’t he just do it? We see Guinan raise her hands in a way to indicate that she has some sort of defense mechanism against Q. She apparently has some way of defending herself against a God. Now there have been other aliens like the Metrons and Douwds that I think could defend themselves with their powers (though I always got the impression the Q are supposed to be at the top of the power food chain) but Guinan? What can she do? Picard breaks up the fight before we get a chance to find out.
So that’s one mystery I want to know, but more specifically I want to know their past. Now here’s the most interesting exchange between them. Q upon seeing her says, “This creature is not what she appears to be. She’s an imp and where she goes trouble always follows.” Picard dismisses Q almost instantly as he’s known her for a long time (though we never get any details) but remember we the audience know next to nothing about her even at the end of 7 seasons. So what if Q is right? We see her do nothing, but be helpful in the show. Although, there’s always that air of mystery surrounding her. Not so much at this point in the series, but Q eventually comes to care for humanity and wants to see it reach its full potential. What if we had it backwards all this time with who’s the trustworthy one and who isn’t? Like with all the previous entries, it feels like there are tons of story opportunities there. And if “Star Trek Discovery” is to be a prequel series, it would be awesome if they finally gave us some closure on this.