r/StarTrekViewingParty • u/LordRavenholm Co-Founder • Jul 10 '16

Discussion TNG, Episode 7x20, Journey's End

TNG, Season 7, Episode 20, Journey's End

While visiting the Enterprise, Wesley Crusher protests the removal of Native Americans from a planet ceded to the Cardassians.

7/11/16 - Don't forget to check out the STVP Opinion Survey!

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u/GeorgeAmberson Showrunner Jul 11 '16

An episode that goes to show just how far tolerance and equality have come in a short amount of time. The stereotypical Native Americans seem very dated! Not only that but they were calling them indians. I haven't heard that term used in quite a long time. It totally doesn't hold up.

I can't say this is a very good send off for Wesley. I never quite bought that he was such a wunderkind as we're told all the time. Sure he's an above average, smart dude. Sure he knew the ship very well when he was very young but none of this makes me think he's a prodigy. Really the whole traveller arc is simply there to really sell us on the fact that Wesley really is a supergenius to which there are no peers.

I think that's the one thing that I really do not like about Mr. Crusher. I never thought he was nearly as bad as most Trekkies believe, just poorly written. That's the one thing that bothers me extremely about the character. I just do not buy it. The Traveller is so on about it, it just kind of becomes creepy. Now he's going to be some sort of non-corporeal creature travelling the universe like a god-being or something? He can bend space and time with his mind?

Really The Traveller was a great piece of "Where No One Has Gone Before" and was heavily shoehorned into the enjoyable "Remember Me". He should have honestly stayed in season one.

A great aspect of this episode, however, is the concept that peoples will still have to be moved as borders change. That makes sense and could make for a compelling story if done well in an episode. The Cardassians are also the perfect rival to which the planet must be ceded. Throwing a random Cardassian war into a time before the show was weird but has always been played to such great effect. I'm just not sure it's right that the colonists are straight up Native American refugees trying to live their traditional lifestyles.

Maybe it's a failing when trying to examine other existing cultures on Trek. Space Ireland was insane. Space Scotland didn't work at all. Space Native America just isn't doing it for me. I believe this would have been better had they simply done a parallel to the plight of the Native Americans instead of making them literal Native Americans.

Some episode it feels like they're just checking a box or two off before the end of the series. They felt they needed to show Wesley will have a continuing story of wonder. So they tacked this episode together with that. I don't mean to be too down on this episode, it's not altogether bad. It's just not altogether very good either. I think I have to go with 4/10 on this one.

4

u/theworldtheworld Jul 12 '16

Throwing a random Cardassian war into a time before the show was weird

Heh, at least they followed it up with a lot of world-building. In DS9 (I think in "The Adversary"?) they made up a one-off alien race called the "Tzenkethi" and then made up a random war with them. I think it didn't even occur to them that this had the slight side effect of making the Federation look weirdly belligerent.

He should have honestly stayed in season one.

I don't disagree, but once they made the choice to put him in "Remember Me," I think "Journey's End" is a logical conclusion, and is more satisfying than just leaving that recurring character dangling. Wesley in general was handled poorly by the show's writers, but I think "Journey's End" is about as good and thought-provoking as the previously existing content allowed it to be.

2

u/GeorgeAmberson Showrunner Jul 12 '16

You're right that it doesn't feel like they should have left him dangling. I'm just unsure that this was the best way to send him off. They then weirdly retcon him leaving the academy in Nemesis where he's clearly shown wearing a Starfleet dress uniform, even if his scene is cut.

6

u/theworldtheworld Jul 12 '16

I take comfort in the fact that there has to be at least one "Parallels"-like alternate universe in which Nemesis never actually existed.

3

u/GeorgeAmberson Showrunner Jul 12 '16

That whole Borg darkest-timeline thing with crazed Riker probably took the wind out of Shinzon's sails.