OTNGEG Shades of Gray

[FaxModem1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQWEM6DO ... ture=feedu

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQWEM6DO ... ture=feedu[/youtube]

For some reason, I feel like going out and getting pastries.

[DaveJB]

Okay, they had to do a clip show, fine. I can understand the reasons why. What I don't get is why the HELL they decided to make it the season finale. Even if it was the last episode produced, from what I understand TNG episodes were generally fully edited and ready to be aired well over a month before the actual airdate; plenty of time to swap it with another episode."Peak Performance," the episode produced immediately beforehand would have been a far better season finale than "Shades of Gray" was, IMHO.

[andrewgpaul]

Other than Best of Both Worlds and All Good Things, did TNG do "season finales" as such, or were there episodes that just happened to come at the end of a season?

[Stofsk]

After 'Best of Both Worlds part 1' they certainly did end every season with a cliffhanger two-parter.

[Crazedwraith]

Post BoBW They always did cliffhanger endings. BoBW (s3), Redemption(s4), Time's Arrow(s5) and Descent (s6). Season 1. Kinda did. It had 'The Neutral Zone', reintroducing the Romulans and setting the stage for the borg but was also crap.

[andrewgpaul]

OK, it's just my memory, then. Fair enough.

Having said that, wasn't Shades Of Grey produced with the loose change from the season's budget, and just before a writers' strike? That would explain the shiteyness of it.

[Thanas]

Yes, Chuck even says so in the video himself. Right at the start.

[Stofsk]

Post BoBW They always did cliffhanger endings. BoBW (s3), Redemption(s4), Time's Arrow(s5) and Descent (s6). Season 1. Kinda did. It had 'The Neutral Zone', reintroducing the Romulans and setting the stage for the borg but was also crap.

Cliffhangers are a different kettle of fish than what 'Neutral Zone' was supposed to be. A cliffhanger is basically the middle point of a story, whereas something like 'Neutral Zone' is more like setting up the next season (well, in theory anyway - it didn't do much toward that end other than hint at the Borg and reintroduce us to the Romulans). To my mind, it's more reminiscent of the way DS9 handled their end of season episodes.

[Crazedwraith]

Well yes. That's perfectly true but it was especially written to be a season finale (I assume) rather than being 'just another episode' like you got in TOS.

[Stofsk]

That's the thing though, it felt like it was just another episode. The Borg hint wasn't paid off until the middle of season two, and the Romulan thing wasn't followed up any sooner either (the only Romulan episode was 'Contagion' which was also mid-season).

The episode was pretty bad. It was like two stories trying to exist in the same space, and it didn't work.

[Darth Lucifer]

I can't source this, but from what I understand is that the Ferengi were orginally going to be the bad guys hinted at in the NZ, then someone decided they were too silly and came up with the Borg being the culprit. I even think they mention this later in BoBW part 1.

Good review as always, thanks for all you do!

[DaveJB]

I can't source this, but from what I understand is that the Ferengi were orginally going to be the bad guys hinted at in the NZ, then someone decided they were too silly and came up with the Borg being the culprit. I even think they mention this later in BoBW part 1.

That's partially correct; the Ferengi were supposed to be the main recurring villains of the series, but the writers realized that they didn't work very well in that role. As a result, they decided to reintroduce the Romulans to act as occasional villains, and create a new, massive threat. The original intention for "The Neutral Zone" was that it would in fact be the aliens seen in the previous episode, "Conspiracy" who were responsible for destroying the outposts, but they eventually ended up going with the idea of a cyborg race instead.

[Big Orange]

Why don't we ask Commander Riker a question why he was tripping about doughnuts?

Anyway Season 2 of TNG had problems and was capped up off by a bad clipshow (like Stargate SG-1's "Politics"), but it was still a very big improvement over the first season.

[OmegaChief]

Why don't we ask Commander Riker a question why he was tripping about doughnuts?

Anyway Season 2 of TNG had problems and was capped up off by a bad clipshow (like Stargate SG-1's "Politics"), but it was still a very big improvement over the first season.

This kinda speaks volumes at how bad Season 1 of TNG really was.

[Uraniun235]

Okay, they had to do a clip show, fine. I can understand the reasons why. What I don't get is why the HELL they decided to make it the season finale. Even if it was the last episode produced, from what I understand TNG episodes were generally fully edited and ready to be aired well over a month before the actual airdate; plenty of time to swap it with another episode."Peak Performance," the episode produced immediately beforehand would have been a far better season finale than "Shades of Gray" was, IMHO.

I don't know. I think there's also something to be said for not doing the clip show until the very last possible minute.

Besides, at this point in the series, the finale wasn't nearly that big a deal. It would have been even less of a deal for Season 2, because Shades of Gray aired July 17 and the Season 3 opener Evolution aired just two months later on September 25. It's not like, say, neoBSG where they went for a whole calendar year between Season 3 and Season 4.