Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 138: Ship in a Bottle [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of my favorite episodes, and I think this sequel to "Elementary, Dear Data" was even better than the original. The solution at the end was thought-provoking and creative. After seeing this episode, one must wonder what how we really know that anything is real. Perhaps we are just a hologram????

After encountering some anomolies in their Sherlock Holmes adventure, Geordi & Data ask Lt. Barclay to look at the Holodeck for problems. It's amazing that they were running the Holmes program, and yet Data didn't even seem to remember about Dr. Moriarty. In a previous episode, Dr. Polaski challenged Data, saying that he couldn't solve a genuine mystery, but only ones he had already read. Geordi inadvertently told the computer to create a character capable of defeating Data instead of defeating just Holmes. Moriarty became self aware (something that holographic characters aren't supposed to do) and essentially became alive.

This was prior to Barclay's service on Enterprise, so he is shocked to find this character in protected memory that knows he's a hologram and asks for Picard by name. Daniel Davis (known also as the British Butler on "The Nanny" series) is superb as the diabolical genius - criminal and debonair, mischieveous, yet polite - Sherlock Holmes' literary nemesis, Dr. Moriarty. He wants to have freedom from the confines of the Holodeck and is rightfully angered that he has been forgotten and claims he has experienced the passage of time while in limbo in the computer's memory.

No longer trusting of Picard's promises, Moriarty takes control of the ship, endangering her crew as she falls into the gravity well of a newly formed star. Moriarty has Picard running around like "a rat in a maze" and forms an ingenious ruse to get his demands met.

With full control of the ship in the hands of Moriarty, Picard must find a way to appease his apparently scientifically impossible requests.

Since the mission of the Enterprise is to seek out new life, it's amazing how quickly they want to shut down the new life they accidentally created, but they do need to wrap the episode up in a neat little bow by the time 42 minutes is up (1 hour show minus commercials). It was a treat to see Davis again. A native mid-westerner, his mastery of the English accent is truly impressive. I wouldn't mind seeing B4 (Data's "clone" that we meet in the movie "Star Trek: Nemesis") interacting with Moriarty in a future Star Trek film... this Moriarty character is truly intriguing. Despicable, yet lovable at the same time.

Edge of your seat viewing, charming and entertaining.

with Daniel Davis playing Dr. Moriarty, Lt. Data's "Shirlock Holmes'" arch enemy. One of the best story lines written by the staff of TNG. Episode 138 is a sequel to Episode 29, "Elementary, Dear Data" from the 1st season. The ending to this episode will have you wishing there were another season of TNG to make yet another sequel.

While Data and Geordi are role-playing in the Holodeck as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, the Holodeck malfunctions. Geordi and Data quit the program and ask Barclay to inspect the program when Holmes' arch-enemy appears right in front of Barclay, requesting to speak to Captain Picard about leaving the Holodeck. Moriarty successfully leaves the Holodeck later on, but is this for real? This story is a sort of sequel to the 2nd season episode "Elementary, Dear Data," but I like the 2nd season episode better because it has humor and just a little more suspense, I think, than "Ship in a Bottle."

An interesting MELDING of the late 1800's and the future world of Inter Galactic Travel. Very nicely handled concerning both worlds, but to Sherlock Holmes fans more importantly, concerning the dress and settings which of course were all too brief for those who like Victorian settings.
This episode of Star Trek The Next Generation is the completion (or maybe not?) or at least the next installment of the Sherlock Holmes episode begun in episode #29. As such, it was a welcome addition to the first half as any Sherlock Holmes fan will tell you, that is if they liked the first part, which my wife and I did. I am NOT a Trekkie we just enjoy MOST of the Sherlock Holmes related films that we have seen. For those who like the actors in The Next Generation series or those who like Sherlock Holmes films, both will enjoy this continuation. The setting, the story, the actors, the quality were all enjoyable.