# ST:TNG Finale problem **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 26, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468 "2004-03-26T00:59:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/21 "2004-03-26T22:15:46Z")
Picard: “And what sort of…creature…will I become?” Data: “A lemur or perhaps a…pygmy marmoset.” BWAHAHAHAHAH! You can’t make up stuff this funny. Oh, wait… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5ac83/32.png) [@The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mad_Hermit)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/22 "2004-03-26T23:28:35Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > You mean such gems as “The Way to Eden”, “Spock’s Brain”, “The Omega Glory”, “Catspaw”, and “The Savage Curtain”, among others? Were those scripts by science fiction writers, or Hollywood hacks? How about Sturgeon, Ellison, Fontana? How about Gene himself, on a good day? Third season TOS was a throwaway. Unfortunately, it created as many bad science fiction icons and cliches as the first two seasons created good ones. Back to the OP: Another problem that occured to me is the warm and fuzzy attitude of the final scenes. The best episodes, IMHO, left you hanging at the end, glad that they barely made it through whatever crisis. It seems that the whole subtext of TNG is that “we’re a happy Enterprise family!” ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/23 "2004-03-26T23:51:37Z")
What bugged me the most was the last line. “Five card stud, nothing wild…and the sky’s the limit!” Say what? The new guy to the established card game is going to announce that he’s removing the limits?? Not in our game, buddy. ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/24 "2004-03-27T00:02:17Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I still want to know why Geordi and Ro could walk thru walls, but didn’t fall thru the floor and end up stuck inside the ship’s artificial gravity generator. Beacuse you can only be out of phase with one plane/axis at a time ie the vertical plane (which allows you to walk through walls) or the horizontal plane (where you fall through floors) That’s what I always say and no one argues with me But that’s probably because I’m bigger than them ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/25 "2004-03-27T00:09:46Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > I still want to know why Geordi and Ro could walk thru walls, but didn’t fall thru the floor and end up stuck inside the ship’s artificial gravity generator. That’s because you can only be out of phase with one plane/axis at a time ie the vertical plane (allowing you to walk through walls) or the horizontal (allowing you to fall through the floor) That’s what I always say, and no one argues (but that’s probably just because I’m bigger than them) ---
**Author:** ![emekthian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecae2f/32.png) [@emekthian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emekthian)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/26 "2004-03-27T00:25:44Z")
> [@](#): > > What bugged me the most was the last line. “Five card stud, nothing wild…and the sky’s the limit!” > > Say what? The new guy to the established card game is going to announce that he’s removing the limits?? Not in our game, buddy. Maybe he got away with it because he’s the captian? ---
**Author:** ![Santos\_L\_Halper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/santos_l_halper/32/1_2.png) [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/27 "2004-03-27T00:29:49Z")
What really bugged me about _All Good Things…_: Q says humanity passed the test because Picard was able to expand his mind and think on a new level to recognize the paradox that he caused the anomoly himself. Like it would take a genius to figure it out! Q led Picard around by the hand and pointed out all the clues. He pretty much explained it all to him in one syllable words what was going on. Heck, a half-way intelligent seven year old coulda worked out that mystery… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/28 "2004-03-27T02:19:08Z")
Imagine _being_ seven and spotting it, then thinking it can’t be that easy if the captain has yet to get it…_sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/29 "2004-03-27T02:22:09Z")
> [@Santos L Halper](#): > > What really bugged me about _All Good Things…_: > > Q says humanity passed the test because Picard was able to expand his mind and think on a new level to recognize the paradox that he caused the anomoly himself. Like it would take a genius to figure it out! > > Q led Picard around by the hand and pointed out all the clues. He pretty much explained it all to him in one syllable words what was going on. Heck, a half-way intelligent seven year old coulda worked out that mystery… 🙂 My understanding was that Q was only ordered to create the anomaly and let them destroy themselves. He only sent Picard backwards and forwards through time and gave him clues b/c he was trying to help the human race survive, as he had a fondness for them. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/30 "2004-03-27T02:27:29Z")
That’s a good rationalization, **Dooku**. No one wants their toys to be destroyed. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/31 "2004-03-27T02:44:13Z")
To be fair, IIRC there was dialog in the episode that alluded to same. Riker saying “Why is he helping us?” and Picard responding “He always has had a certain fascination for humans” Or maybe I read it somewhere. At any rate, I didn’t come up with that one on my own. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/32 "2004-03-27T05:01:29Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Since the anomaly was there too, it didn’t matter. He could have gather up all the goo and **had Deanna Troi douche with it** Supposing the anomaly wasn’t there, but the latter activity happened… Wonder what sort of life forms would have evolved then? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/33 "2004-03-27T06:43:46Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Most likely. Kirk used his phaser in a similar fashion in one of the TOS episodes. Hell if I can remember the title but it’s the one where the king of some tribal planet is killed and McCoy and Kirk save the queen who is pregnant and eventually gives birth, naming the kid Leonard James Akaar. > > It’s also the episode where McCoy says “I’m a doctor, not an elevator!” “_Friday’s Child_”, but I don’t remember an overloading phaser in that episode. There was one in "_The Conscience of the King"_, however. Kodos tried to kill Kirk with it. ---
**Author:** ![nemo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@nemo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nemo1)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/34 "2004-03-27T18:42:44Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > “_Friday’s Child_”, but I don’t remember an overloading phaser in that episode. There was one in "_The Conscience of the King"_, however. Kodos tried to kill Kirk with it. Right. The episode Aesiron is thinking of is “Friday’s Child.” Kirk & Spock generate a rockslide using resonant harmonic frequencies from their communicators. They do not overload any phaser that I recall. And yes, there is a phaser set to overload in “The Conscience of the King.” I know that that device was used more than once, though the only other time I can think of at the moment is near the end of “The Menagerie,” when Number One decides that “It’s wrong to create an entire race of Humans to live as slaves.” ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/35 "2004-03-27T19:39:30Z")
Aha. Communicator. Thanks. I knew there was some piece of tech used in a fashion that it normally wasn’t but thought it was a phaser instead. Guess that’s what I get for not watching the episode and trying to remember specifics of the James Blish adaptation. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/36 "2004-03-28T02:08:39Z")
> [@Monstre](#): > > Supposing the anomaly wasn’t there, but the latter activity happened… > > Wonder what sort of life forms would have evolved then? :eek: Yeast based. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/37 "2004-03-28T03:51:29Z")
> [@Santos l. Halper](#): > > Q says humanity passed the test because Picard was able to expand his mind and think on a new level to recognize the paradox that he caused the anomoly himself. My understanding was that Picard showed thinking on new levels when he was willing to self destruct the Enterprise three times to seal the hole. > [@Dooku](#): > > My understanding was that Q was only ordered to create the anomaly and let them destroy themselves. He only sent Picard backwards and forwards through time and gave him clues b/c he was trying to help the human race survive, as he had a fondness for them. Q said that Picard created the anomoly himself: when the Picards of past, present and future investigate the anomoly they send beams into it, and it is the meeting of the beams that create it. I always understood that Q was telling the truth it really was Picard that created it, Q had nothing to do with it. Q, however, having grown fond of humanity, offers Picard some help by telling him what’s going on, and bouncing him around in time to see for himself. ---
**Author:** ![Gartog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/22d042/32.png) [@Gartog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gartog)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/38 "2004-03-28T19:30:03Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Thanks for the episode titles and yes, I agree. It’s sort of like in First Contact. Why the fuck didn’t the Borg just go back to the Paleozoic and fuck up Earth from orbit? Or if they wanted humans in their collective, then go to the Renaissance Era or something. At the time I remember reading an interview with Berman in which he said they did consider the Renaissance Ear, but the final choice was decided upon because it was when Humans were the most technologically advanced and also most defenceless (for their level of technology). Why the Borg wanted Human Tech from this era is anyone’s guess. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2004, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468/39 "2004-03-28T23:32:11Z")
> [@](#): > > My understanding was that Q was only ordered to create the anomaly and let them destroy themselves. He only sent Picard backwards and forwards through time and gave him clues b/c he was trying to help the human race survive, as he had a fondness for them. My interpretation is actually that the Q themselves were also ultimately vulnerable to the Anomoly, so they needed our help to close it before it destroyed them, too. But, of course, Q is too proud to ask for help directly, hence all of the indirect hints and hand-leading. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/st-tng-finale-problem/236468.md?page=1)