Per Chris Snellgrove
| Published
As a huge Star Trek fan, I’ve always loved “Evolution,” the season three premiere The next generation. Season 3 saw TNG finally hit its stride, complete with new uniforms and a new, character-centric approach to storytelling that transformed the franchise for the better. Additionally, “Evolution” has everything that makes Trek’s golden age so special, which is why I was shocked to discover that the creators behind this killer episode mostly thought it was mediocre.
Plot “Evolution”
If you’re a Star Trek fan who needs a quick “Evolution” home page, here you go: This is the episode in which the Enterprise follows an eccentric scientist who hopes to observe and record data from a cosmic phenomenon that only happens once every 196 years. Meanwhile, Beverly Crusher returns and tries to bond with her son Wesley, but he’s too focused on his studies. So focused, in fact, that he accidentally let some nanites out and they infected the ship’s core. As the creatures evolve, they threaten this time-sensitive experiment, and that’s okay LPG fashion, diplomacy with this new form of life saves the day.
Speaking for myself, I thought this was a super Star Trek episode. It’s not the best of the franchise or anything, but “Evolution” is arguably the strongest season premiere, one that looks even stronger compared to “Shades of Grey,” the clip-fest of crap that ended season two. That’s why I was so surprised that the creators behind the episode deemed it mediocre, starting with showrunner and general TNG savior Michael Piller.
Mediocre start to the season
Despite the showrunner of Star Trek actually writing “Evolution,” Piller concluded, though, “was a B-episode.” Declaring that it “turned out well,” he still lamented that “I didn’t like it.” While stressing that he was still “proud of the episode,” Piller summed up his thoughts by saying that the episode “didn’t quite work.”
Veteran Star Trek director Winrich Kolbe was in charge of bringing this episode to life, and he shares Piller’s assessment of the episode’s mediocrity. He first praised the plot about a scientist who “suddenly discovers that there are ramifications that he hadn’t thought of” and said he “likes” that “there’s a certain amount of immaturity or cockiness or whatever”. However, he felt that “everyone thought of it as a children’s show, even the writers,” which led to a “very serious problem” (these nanites could have easily destroyed the Enterprise and threatened 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 The next generation from the death spiral of the first two seasons, but I just can’t get past their criticisms of “Evolution.” It gave us perfection The original series configuration with an unusual scientist and an even more unusual space phenomenon, but she added the real one The next generation twist by having Picard save the day using diplomacy rather than violence. We even saw the birth of a new life form, and if “searching for new life” isn’t Trek enough, I honestly don’t know what is.
Star Trek: The Next Generation had better episodes than “Evolution”, but arguably did not have a better season opener. It’s a stand-alone story that’s rewatchable, even if its writer and director consider it something of a B-episode. And given how uneven the NuTrek era of the franchise has been, this “B” episode now seems nothing short of brilliant.