Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season 3, Episode 19
Original Air Date: April 2, 1990
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| via Memory Alpha |
Happy New Year!
The Captain is stressed out and his senior officers urge him to take a vacation. At Riker's urging, Picard heads to the resort planet Risa where, the First Officer strongly suggests, our hero is likely to get laid. Turns out, Jean-Luc isn't very good at relaxing poolside with a book and spurns all attention, female or otherwise. However, adventure catches up with him in the form of Vash, a beautiful architect in search of a legendary artifact. To complicate matters, she's being tailed by the Ferengi Savok (Max Grodénchik, the future Rom on DS9) and two Vorgons from the 27th century have taken an interest in the proceedings as well.
It's not the greatest episode but there are fun elements. The dialogue is occasionally humorous. Vash is intriguing: morally ambiguous in a way Next Gen female characters rarely are. In the end, it turns out to be quite a rewarding holiday for the Captain and not at all what he expected. Some need a whimsical adventure more than sex and sun (though he did manage a little of both), something his friends might have considered of a man with a love for hard-boiled detective novels.
Acting Notes
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| via Memory Alpha |
Jennifer Hetrick (Vash) was born May 12, 1958 in Westerville, Ohio. This was the first of three appearances for her as Vash. Beyond Star Trek, she is best known for a recurring role on L.A. Law as Arnie's ex-wife and an earlier series of Oil of Olay commercials. Recent big screen appearances include The Poor Kid's Guide to Success, He's Such a Girl and 500 Days of Summer.
I have vague memories of this reminding me of Fantasy Island.
ReplyDeleteHa! Nice Ricardo Montalban connection, too.
DeleteI remember that episode and enjoyed it, probably because I've always been fascinated by archaeology. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteI love the allusions to Picard's archaeology interest throughout the series. It's humanizing to see him as a man of passions beyond his job.
DeleteVash was a great character. Somehow her best appearance ends up having nothing at all to do with Picard, but they made a great combination. Just not as great as Vash and Q. Which I guess in hindsight helped explain how Q and Janeway was not only possible but what they would end up doing with them.
ReplyDeleteMeh. Good character. Not sure I'd say great. And you know how I feel about Q.
DeleteI did enjoy Vash's appearance on DS9.
Given the "Temporal Wars" mentioned in both Enterprise and now Discovery, it would be cool if they could in someway mention these events in the latter series.
ReplyDeleteThe Temporal Wars are definitely worthy of a spinoff series of their own someday.
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