Venusian

as you can tell i've been watching TNG on TNN.

so did these creatures ever come back in a later episode? it ends with Data saying that Remig (sp?) had sent out a beacon. it strongly implied this would be revisited later, is it?

UWSarge

Nope. Never revisited (at least in ST:TNG). Kept waiting up through the final season to see if they'd go back, but they just left that beacon going out to be a hanging plot thread.

Josh-da-man

I've read that it wasn't so much a hanging plot thread, as it was a homage to '50s sci-fi films.

I don't think they ever intended to do a sequel to the episode.

Would've been cool, though.

das Monkey

They would have returned to it, but the special effects for those creatures were just too expensive. I mean, did you see the level of detail? And that incredibly realistic exploding head?

das

Yes, that's sarcasm.

mikehunt

those special effects are great, like the alien head inside the guy after they shot him: it's a video clip superimposed over the guy's body

Venusian

the thing that always got me was the gill it breathed through.

first off, if people didnt notice that, they shouldnt be in starfleet.

secondly, riker's didnt move, even i noticed the difference between his and a real oen

adamblast

I think we've just got to be thankful that Star Trek has any exploding heads at all...

Besides, according to the DVD extras, they used real meat -- which makes me happy...

(F. Murray Abraham may have had a good exploding head in ST9, but they trimmed back the footage.)

TheBang

On the X-Files at the end of Season 8, when they introduced the Super Soldiers with the little spine thing on the back of the neck, did it make anyone else think of this episode of TNG?

I mean, possessed alien conspirators? Hello? Can you say rip-off? That's when I knew X-Files had really hit rock-bottom.

BizRodian

I heard Roddenberry, who still had mucho sway during season one times thought the little bug things didn't fit his ideals or some thing and so he never wanted to see them again.

A shame, one of the better early season TNGs.

Number_One

"These effects aren't very special."

-ButtHead

BizRodian

I liked when that old guy beat up Worf, and Worf was all like "What the ****?"

elektra

I like the way people keep thinking that Star Trek would do something along the lines of real story telling and plot/character development past more than one episode. I've been watching Trek since I was 6 and that's one of the biggest disappointments of that show.

BizRodian

You should very well know Deep Space Nine is full of plot development passed one show.

It's even got a few characters who develop, like Bashir and Kira.

That's because DS9's crew was made of the best of TNG's crew. While VOY got the worse

elektra

Biz - you don't have to sell me that Voyager was suck beyond the telling of it. I'm with you there. I loved DS9. One of my friends who worked on TNG went to work on DS9 and was one of the better writers Trek ever had.

Okay, you got me. Kira was well developed and they even did a bit more with Bashir (although overall this character didn't do too much for me). However, I know for a fact that there was more people wanted to do with storylines that would have made that show better, but were pretty much told no, you can't do that, by the morons in suits who are fairly useless.

BizRodian

Personally, I think he's the best. Well, Behr and the rest of the DS9 gang are great too... all together they formed the best.

The only thing I didn't like about DS9 was how LOST it got in the forth season with the Klingons. Lucky the writters were great and made it fit in later on... but those episodes where the Klingons were the mindless enemy (Nor The Battle To The Strong...) really seemed lost. Of course, that's a suit problem.

They pulled it off great at the end though.

elektra

Nor the Battle Too Strong was season 5.

BizRodian

Yes yes, but it was the cause of season 4's totally getting lost

The Klingons became enemy enemey enemy. That sucked. A few times is seemed like "Hmmm, need an enemy in this episode, has to be the Klingons."

When to me, the Klingons were an enemy, but they only were because of the Founder munipulation and so in Nor The Battle... when they were only there because they needed a threat... I'd just really have prefered to have Dominion soilders. It's just a personal preferance.

Luckily, it's never a huge deal, because the writters kept the dominion stuff going throughout and then invented a totally great reason for having the Klingons and Federation skirmish.

At the same time, say, Rules of Engagement, couldn't ever be done with Dominion soilders.

JesseCuster

Getting back to the gill creatures, I always got the sense they were supplanted by the Borg, plan and simple. It was pretty clear in the last "Conspiracy" episode that the door was being left wide open for further development of the idea.

POWERBOMB

I always thougth they evovled into Wesley Crusher. Would like to have seen his head explode...

BizRodian

Poor Wes... so annoying, but he had potential. A shame he was ruined in the early seasons.

I liked him quite a bit in the later seasons though, and hell, there were a few early season episodes I did like.... well.. maybe just that one with the psyche test.

sherm42

I thought Wesley was great in the later episode "The Game"

mikehunt

not as great as Ensign Lefler

Jnuke

I keep wishing they would follow up on the "Conspiracy" storyline in one of the movies. Just imagine what they could do with those creatures with a huge budget.

sherm42

Nah, then it would just be some kind of Alien ripoff. Plus, it would have little appeal outside of Trek fans.

BizRodian

Yeah, and we all know how little Paramount cares about the fans they already have... just the ones they want to get.