Encounter at Farpoint Station

So, this is a doozy. A hefty two part episode clocking in around and hour and a half. A great amount is exposition, however this episode does it well. Farpoint may be full of bad acting and cliche motifs as is most of these first three seasons, but structurally speaking it is one of the better episodes.

First to talk about the opening sequence is so eloquent. We start at the sun, sol, our sun, and move outwards following each planet until we reach the Enterprise. So we know that we are leaving earth and on a trajectory of leaving the known, leaving our solar system. Already these daring space explorers have gone farther than anyone in modernity, and thus it makes since they will go farther to where "no man has gone before". We get the credits and the enterprise going through warp. We, in the eighties, are awed by the sight of such marvelous special effects.

Now to the episode:

Picard is introduced first. A strong silhouette back-lighted. He informs us that Farpoint station is on the border of the unknown. We already receive a few ques that this is not Kirk. He is not fancy like Kirk. He is not dashing and handsome with hair perfect and flaxen. No, Picard is seasoned. A veteran of starfleet. We already know that we will be covering new territory and nothing that was covered in the previous series from the sixties ( we hope HAH!).

The crew gets introduced in two segments.

The first group is Picard, Data, Tasha, and Worf. The Second is Riker, Le Forge, Crusher(s). You could say O'Brien is introduced here but he doesn't become important until later.

Data is introduced as our non-vulcan vulcan.

Yet this duel segment introduction teaches us a few things. One is that the crew is going to be segmented, which it is. We have the serious characters: the security chief, lieutenant commander, and the captain) and then the nonchalant characters, the supporting cast who often offers a bit of humanity to the super science of the others: the doctor, the engineer, and the first in command.

Okay, so really Data/Le forge are actual foils for each other and we will explore that throughout the series.

Oh did i forget Dianna Troi? Well she is forgettable at the beginning. She is the seventh wheel in this case. More importantly, she often bridges the gap between the two separate character types. She is emotional, but in a scientific way. She is the bridge between objectivity and subjectivity. "How are you feeling?" is no longer a question in a realm of opinion but one of science. Therefore Troi is in her own realm here.

So really,the dividing of the crew and their separate introduction is a boon to the whole show and series. It shows us exactly who fits in which category. Surely throughout the series things change, nothings fluid, but these are actually pretty good categories when it helps in understanding the series.

So how about Farpoint Station?

The Q is introduced. This is a strange device, bringing in a deus ex machina right at the beginning. Q ultimately is a function of plot. He can make happen what normally could not happen. Let us leave this for now.

Farpoint isn't really a contest for the crew's morality. There are people obviously in the wrong and a three mnute montage of two jellyfish looking things touching hands. However, like i said, it brings the crew together, it shows us the holodeck and it shows us how the crew will interact. The most lucrative interaction is between Picard and Beverly Crusher. There is so much story for the little discourse they give. So that's exciting.

The exposition in the episode is excellent, but the episode itself is not as mysterious as it pretends to be. But there is so much more to come. Next episode is, the naked now!