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According to Chris Snellgrove
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As a huge Star Trek fan, I’ve always loved “Evolution,” the season three premiere episode A new generation. The third season was basically when TNG finally hit its stride, complete with new uniforms and a new character-driven approach to storytelling that changed the series for the better. Other than that, “Evolution” has everything that makes the golden age of Trek so special, which is why I was shocked to learn that the creators behind this killer episode mostly thought it was mediocre.
“evolution” storyline
If you’re a Star Trek fan who needs a quick introduction to “Evolution,” here it is: this is the episode where the Enterprise accompanies an eccentric scientist who hopes to observe and record data from a cosmic phenomenon that only happens once every 196 years . Meanwhile, Beverly Crusher is back on board and trying to bond with her son Wesley, but he’s too focused on his studies. So focused, in fact, that he accidentally releases some nanites and they infect the ship’s core. As the critters evolve, they threaten this time-sensitive experiment, and rightly so LPG fashion, diplomacy with this new life form will ultimately save the day.
Speaking for myself, I thought it was a large Star Trek episode. It’s not the best of the series or anything, but “Evolution” is probably the strongest premiere of the season, which looks even stronger compared to “Shades of Grey,” the clip show that ended season 2. That’s why I was so surprised that the creators of the episode she felt mediocre, starting with showrunner and TNG savior-in-chief Michael Piller.
Average start to the season
In fact, despite the showrunner of Star Trek writing “Evolution,” Piller still figured, “that was a B-episode.” When he stated that it “worked well”, he kept lamenting that he “didn’t like it”. While Piller emphasized that he was still “proud of the episode”, he summed up his thoughts by saying that the episode “didn’t quite come off”.
The episode was brought to life by veteran Star Trek director Winrich Kolbe, who shares Piller’s assessment of the episode’s mediocrity. He first praised the plot about a scientist who “suddenly finds that there are implications he hadn’t thought about”, saying he “liked” that “there’s a certain immaturity or conceit or whatever”. However, he felt that “everyone thought of it as a kid’s show, even the writers”, which led to a “very serious problem” (these nanites could easily destroy the Enterprise and threaten the Federation) that was “not properly addressed” on screen. .
Kolbe is one of Star Trek’s most reliable directors, and Piller more or less saved it A new generation from the death spiral of the first two series, but I can’t shake their “Evolution” criticism. It gave us perfect The original series setup with a weird scientist and an even weirder space phenomenon, but it added quite a bit A new generation twist by having Picard save the day using diplomacy and not violence. We even saw the birth of a new life form, and if “finding new life” isn’t enough Trek, I honestly don’t know what is.
Star Trek: The Next Generation had better episodes than “Evolution” but probably no better season opener. It’s a stand-alone story that’s eminently rewatchable, even if the writer and director treat it as something of a B-episode. And given how remarkably uneven the NuTrek era of the franchise was, this “B” episode now looks like nothing less. brilliant.
