Series: Star Trek: TNG
Episode: 7.04 Gambit Part 1 (October 11, 1993) and 7.05 Gambit Part 2 (October 18, 1993)
Rating: 4/5
Redshirt Status: 0/7/64
Notable Guest Stars:
Richard Lynch (Arctus Baran) – Lynch was a very productive actor. Although I don’t recognize many titles on his filmography he made several a year so there are a lot of them. It seemed he liked playing Villains in horror movies or low-budget scifi. He was in Halloween 2007, the Rob Zombie remake of the cult classic. He died in 2012.
Robin Curtis (Tallera/T’Paal) – Robin Curtis first appeared in Star Trek as Saavik, replacing Kristy Alley in the role. She also appeared on Babylon 5.
Caitlin Brown (Vekor)- Another Babylon 5 Alum, she is most known for her role in the series as Na’Toth. She appears in both this two parter and as a different character in the DS9 episode The Passenger from season one.
Cameron Thor (Narik) – You might recognize him as Lewis Dodgson, the person trying to get a hold of genetic material from Jurassic Park in the 1993 movie. On a sad note, he was imprisoned from 2016-2019 on a charge of a lewd act on a child.
Sabrina LeBeauf (Ensign Giusti) – Unrelated to Shea, she is best known for being Sondra Huxtable on the Crosby Show. She also voiced a character in a animated series based on Bill Crosby’s book Fatherhood.
James Worthy (Koral) – Formerly a player for the LA Lakers, he now works as a sports commentator. And honestly I just love his non-performance.
Stephen Lee (Bartender) – Stephen Lee was a popular background actor and appeared in over 90 different shows. Sadly he died in 2014.
Bruce Gray (Admiral Chekote) – He appeared in the last episode, but I felt I should mention him again since he will play larger parts going forward.
Review:
Ok, so despite the awkward “The Captain is dead” but really isn’t plot, these are two episodes because I simply like the idea of space pirates in search of archeology. Well, I’d prefer the type of Will & Elizabeth pirate rather then the ones we have here, but still, it’s like Indiana Jones in Space.
Read more: The Rewatch 234: GambitI also find the argument between Deanna and Will about the grieving process very interesting, especially in light of what I know about Picard. We know of course that Picard is alive, but they do not, and their grief is real.
This may be 2 parts, but I agree with the writers it could have been made a one parter. Or they could have developed the mythos behind the device. There seems to be a pacing problem in the episode.
I enjoyed the episode, and that everyone got to play different roles then usual. We get to see Data in command, with Worf as his first officer. Picard gets to act renegade. Riker pretty much acts like Riker, so that’s not new.
It also opens up a whole bunch of possibilities as far as the Vulcans go. The one thing about Sci-fi that I love is the world building and finding out about the cultures in this far off (or alternate) place. Although I had to admit its odd hearing the Vulcans talking about “The gods” when they are normally more of an atheistic society. I have always believed that you can believe in a higher power and believe in science and logic, so it fits my beliefs very well.
Interesting Notes:
- Story by Christopher Hatton (initially) and Naren Shankar. Teleplay by Naren Shankar (1) and Ronald D. Moore (2)
- Directed by Peter Lauritson (1) and Alexander Singer (2)
- The production crew had mixed reactions to the idea of this episode. Gene Roddenberry hadn’t liked the idea of space pirates and had he been alive would have nixed the episode. However, some of the other members were intrigued. Others felt it was a bit campy.
- This episode contains TNG’s longest fight scene.
- Picard took on the name Galan, after his mentor Professor Galen
- The Debrune are supposedly an off shoot of the Romulans, who are in turn an off shoot of Vulcans.
- The second part of the episode holds many references to TOS episodes and films. It also holds several connections to ENT episodes.
Pros:
- Expansion of Vulcan Society
- Federation History
- Picard gets to geek out
- Data gets to be in command and we get to see Worf adjust to being a first officer rather then a security officer.
Cons:
Bit of a timing issue. I think they could have focused more on the artifact and less on Boran (Sorry Mr. Lynch).
Screencap via CygnusX1.net
Sokorra Lewis 