» Reviews

Season 2

2x01 The Child
2x02 Where Silence Has Lease
2x03 Elementary, Dear Data
2x04 The Outrageous Okona
2x05 Loud as a Whisper
2x06 The Schizoid Man
2x07 Unnatural Selection
2x08 A Matter of Honor
2x09 The Measure of a Man
2x10 The Dauphin
2x11 Contagion
2x12 The Royale
2x13 Time Squared
2x14 The Icarus Factor
2x15 Pen Pals
2x16 Q Who?
2x17 Samaritan Snare
2x18 Up The Long Ladder
2x19 Manhunt
2x20 The Emissary
2x21 Peak Performance
2x22 Shades of Gray

» Details

» Series : The Next Generation
» Episode Title : Unnatural Selection
» Episode Reference : 2x07
» Aired : 30th January, 1989.

» Author : Richard Lyth

» Synopsis

None

» Review

» The Enterprise is en route to Star Station India. It's like a space station, only hotter.

» Picard is worried that Pulaski is too keen on her work. Not something my boss has ever been concerned about...

» They receive a distress call from the USS Lantree. Riker suggests activating its viewscreen by remote control so they can see inside it

» since when do viewscreens act as internal cameras?! Though I guess that would explain how we get to see inside the Enterprise bridge every week...

» The Lantree's bridge is full of corpses. "Still no signs of life, Captain," reports Pulaski, taking over Troi's role of stating the bleeding obvious.

»"Captain Talaka was my age," says Riker. "I'm 85, but I know a good plastic surgeon."

» Everyone on Darwin Station is growing rapidly older. Good job they aren't growing younger, or they'd all turn into monkeys.

» Pulaski beams up a genetically-modified 12-year-old boy, who looks like a grown man. Hang on...a boy who looks older...lots of people growing older...call me crazy, but I think there might be a connection somewhere...

» Pulaski takes a shuttlecraft out so she can be alone with the young man and examine him more closely. Hmmmm....

» "She's been in direct contact with the boy for 18 minutes." Not bad going for a 12-year-old...

» O'Brien attends a senior staff meeting! He'll be getting his own spin-off show next!

» Pulaski has never used the transporter. Hmm, an irascible doctor who doesn't like transporters and has a love-hate relationship with an emotionless humanoid. Yes, she's quite clearly a blatant rip-off of that doctor guy from that Sixties sci-fi show...who was it now? Oh yes. Doctor Smith, from Lost in Space. Obviously.

» The kids at Darwin Station have been genetically-engineered to prefer garishly-coloured clothing.

»"She's been an admirer of yours for some time." Picard feels a cold chill run down his spine.

» Pulaski is covered in old age makeup, giving her white hair and loads of wrinkles. She now looks about two years older than she did before.

» O'Brien spouts a load of incomprehensible technobabble. I'm guessing he didn't use this scene when he auditioned for "The Commitments".

» Riker checks Pulaski's quarters for DNA. He goes straight to her underwear drawer. Typical...

» Pulaski is miraculously restored to her normal age, by some miracle of transporter science that really doesn't bear close inspection...let's just call it 'magic' and leave it alone, shall we?

» Pulaski does a closing voiceover, very reminiscent of the kind Mulder did at the end of most X-Files episodes, and about as relevant (ie not very).

» The Enterprise blows up the Lantree. So much for letting them rest in peace...