To Baldly Go

Star Trek TNG S02E04-06 – The Outrageous Okona, Loud as a Whisper, The Schizoid Man – “If I Only Had a Heart” | First Time Reaction – To Baldly Go Podcast (Ep. 042)

First-Time Watch – Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episodes 4–6.
Welcome to the To Baldly Go Podcast, where I experience Star Trek for the first time by watching the entire franchise in release order with some long-time Trekkie friends.
This week we discuss:
Picard joking about surrendering… or is he?
When a disability becomes an advantage
Where does our humanity really lie?
Data trying to learn stand-up comedy
Geordi’s choice and Troi’s abilities
Nepotism in Starfleet?
Transporter capabilities
Consciousness and identity
The disturbing origin story of the Tin Woodsman
Episodes covered:
The Outrageous Okona
Loud as a Whisper
The Schizoid Man
Some episodes swing for the fences and miss. Others ask deeper questions about communication, identity, and what it means to be human. This week gives us a mix of both.
What we learned this week:
Worf is already more effective than Tasha ever was
Prompting people is a lot like prompting AI
The Tin Woodsman story from the original Wizard of Oz is deeply unsettling
TNG still feels like it’s discovering its identity, but it’s getting closer.
As always: Never give up. Never surrender.

Star Trek TNG S02E01-03 The Child, Where Silence Has Lease, Elementary Dear Data – “Not Very Effective” | First Time Reaction – To Baldly Go Podcast (Ep. 041)

Star Trek TNG S2E01-03 – The Child, Where Silence Has Lease, Elementary, Dear Data“Not Very Effective” | First-Time Reaction – To Baldly Go Podcast (Ep. 041)
Season 2 begins… and Riker grows the beard.
This week, I continue my first-ever watch of Star Trek in release order, joined by my long-time Trekkie friends. We’re covering:
The Child – Space curiosity, questionable execution, and character shifts
Where Silence Has Lease – A void, a godlike entity, and questions about reality
Elementary, Dear Data – Sherlock Holmes, self-aware holodecks, and AI vs. humanity
We discuss:
Whether The Child is truly that bad
Primitive humanity in the face of cosmic beings
Another version of Q?
AI debates in the 1980s… that sound exactly like today
Data, originality, and what it really means to understand
Plus: Star Trek vs. Star Wars trivia, Abbie officially loving the crew, and why “effective” became the word of the day.
A generally strong start to Season 2 — The Child notwithstanding.

Star Trek TNG S01E24-26 We'll Always Have Paris, Conspiracy, The Neutral Zone - "The Biggest Trekkie" | First Time Reaction - To Baldly Go Podcast (Ep. 040)

Star Trek TNG S1E24–26 – “The Biggest Trekkie” | First-Time Reaction | To Baldly Go Podcast (Ep. 040)
We’ve reached the end of Season 1 of Star Trek: The Next Generation — and apparently… I’m now the biggest Trekkie on the podcast.
In Episode 040 of The To Baldly Go Podcast, we break down:
“We’ll Always Have Paris”
“Conspiracy”
“The Neutral Zone”
This week’s highlights include:
Exceptional mediocrity
Practical effects worthy of a Michael Scott production
Alien parasites and exploding heads
A Romulan setup that could have been great
Cryogenically frozen 20th-century humans
Writers’ strike fallout all over the place
“We’ll Always Have Paris”
So mediocre… we barely had notes.We discuss Picard’s backstory, time paradox implications, and why this episode somehow left all of us shrugging.
“Conspiracy”
Federation intrigue. Paranoia. Callbacks.And special effects that feel like they wandered in from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan — with just a touch of Threat Level Midnight.Is there still an existential threat lurking in the shadows?
“The Neutral Zone”
The Romulans return… sort of.What could have been a massive episode instead feels crammed with side stories that dilute the tension. Missed opportunity? Writers’ strike casualty? Both?
TNG Season 1 Wrap-Up
We close out the season with:
Season 1 trivia & quiz
Robin Williams discussion (including why you should not watch Whose Line Is It Anyway? post-appendectomy)
Full Season 1 retrospective
And the shocking revelation that I may now be the most committed Star Trek fan on our little away team
Having now completed:
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek: The Animated Series
Four original films
And Season 1 of TNG
…it feels less like the end of something and more like the beginning.
Unlike TOS Season 1, which felt like it peaked, TNG feels like it’s just getting started.
Season 2 begins next week.
Never give up. Never surrender.

Star Trek TNG S01E21-23 Arsenal of Freedom, Symbiosis, Skin of Evil - "Tarth Vader" | First Time Reaction - To Baldly Go Podcast (Ep. 039)

This week on the To Baldly Go Podcast:
Smart devices try to kill us.
Star Trek does an after-school special about drugs.
And a main character dies… suddenly.
We’re discussing:
TNG S1E21 – Arsenal of Freedom
TNG S1E22 – Symbiosis
TNG S1E23 – Skin of Evil
Topics include:
Thanking Alexa
Nate hating Geordi
The Prime Directive vs. addiction
Evil space pharmaceutical reps
Stoicism and sudden loss
Armus vs. Jigsaw
The 24-treatment for shocking deaths
These and more as first-time reactions meet veteran Trek opinions

038 - The Lost Episode

This week:
Home Soil, Coming of Age, Heart of Glory
Devil in the Dark, redux?
Ugly bags of mostly water
What is life?
Is Data alive? Is Data human?
Is Data just ChatGPT in a synthetic skin suit?
I step away while Abbie and Nate continue the conversation, looking ahead to things I haven’t seen
The love of being wrong
Observations of ADR and television production
Picard’s maturity
Distinct storylines that don’t come together
Series continuity
Worf the Stoic
A Gentleman in Moscow
I relate to the bad guy – sort of
Sometimes life isn’t fair
Only competing against yourself
Starfleet entrance exams. What is the test?
Worf isn’t yet who Abbie remembers
The challenge of Tasha Yar
Geordi-vision
Nate is the biggest nerd on the podcast
Death in the Federation
Is TNG better than TOS at this point?
Picard, the hot head

037 - 11001001, Too Short a Season, When the Bough Breaks

This week:
11001001, Too Short a Season, When the Bough Breaks
Nate concedes a point
Season 1 has been underwhelming, but we have the best episode yet
More commentary on the medium of network or syndicated TV
The holodeck
Abbie’s anesthesia dream
Deliberate scientific inaccuracies in Star Trek
An unrelated story in the Star Trek universe
21st century ozone hole
An appropriate use for Wesley
What is a society?
Stories that would work for other series
Nate really hates Code of Honor
Looking ahead

036 - The Battle, Hide and Q, Haven

This week:
Ferengi less cartoonish
Still difficult to take them seriously as adversaries
Lore and worldbuilding
Nate sees Picard giving up early
A/B storylines and storytelling in Star Trek
Improvements in the medium over the 1960s
Suspension of disbelief and faster than light travel
Solar system versus other star systems
Nostalgia
Music in Next Gen
Returning characters
Q is kind of weird
Using Q to explore human nature
Assuming Q isn’t gone
More solar system discussion
We’re nerds
Personal anecdotes about mutual friends
Reusing footage from other episodes and movies
Season 1 released immediately in syndication
“Bill” Riker?
Security lapses
Character actors
Thoughts on Lwaxana
More worldbuilding and lore
Filming order
Things we miss from The Original Series
Conflict in Star Trek

035 - Dammit, Wesley!

This week:
A tribute to Scott Adams
Where No One Has Gone Before, Lonely Among Us, Justice
Abbie realizes how annoying Wesley is
Similar to The Original Series, but different enough
Thoughts and prayers to get home
What is the time range of this iteration of the Enterprise?
Curiosity
Stoic philosophy
Self-proclaimed experts and hubris
Confidence without arrogance
A body-swap episode?  No way!
Sherlock Data
Sometimes efforts and attempts just don’t work
Security fails again
Detectives’ Credo and Bayesian analysis
Unbelievable!!!!! The Movie rabbit hole (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIaySADwGp4)
A better job telling an ok story
Prime Directive
Captain’s Calculus
Did Picard consider just surrendering the ship?
Life is an exercise in exceptions
Wesley is smart but naïve
The death penalty
Broken Window Theory

034 - Never Give Up...Sometimes Surrender

In this episode:
The Naked Now, Code of Honor, The Last Outpost
I feel like we’ve seen this before
An homage?
Gregg’s 9s and 10s and his one problem with the series
Gregg doesn’t like Wesley
Stories are more refined
Too early to have a “different characters” episode?
Visionary vs executor
Aaron’s Data moment
Feeling like Original Series episodes
Issues with Tasha Yar
Even bad Star Trek is still great Star Trek
Prime Directive discussion
Minimal character development and bad storytelling
Terrible ship security
The Ferengi
TNG villains
Picard surrendered the Enterprise
TNG vs TOS beginnings
Expectations moving forward
Swearing in Star Trek
Excited for more

033 - Encounter at Farpoint

In this episode:
The premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation – Encounter at Farpoint
Joined by my old friend, Gregg
Gregg’s background with Star Trek
Felt like a pilot episode, but overall good
Original Series comparisons
Star Trek feel with a much bigger scope
A hopeful future with a bleak near-term view
Gregg rates a 9 and says it can only go up from here
Nate’s old technical manuals
Next Generation trailer
Target demographics
Who is the main character?
Differences between the two series
Androids and AI
My questions or things I hope to see
What we are all looking forward to
Interesting characters
Wesley discussion
Nate was the captain of the quiz bowl team in high school