Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 152: Descent, Part I [VHS]

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

 

 

I'll admit this was not one of my favorite episodes. The action was fairly intense, and certainly was more explicit than anything shown in the sparse (but magnificent) Best of Both Worlds. Overall a decent episode, but it lacked the dramatic depth of its predecessor, I Borg and it just wasn't as fun as BOBW. Also keep in mind that this one isn't really about the Borg collective as we know them. It's actually about a splinter of the Borg that are taken under the wing of Data's evil brother Lore. Nothing of what made the Borg so fantastic in previous episodes is present in this one; these borg are much more conventional villains, and most importantly, they're emotional. Though they make lofty claims about destroying the Federation, unlike their big brothers in the collective, they don't appear to have the power to make do on those grandiose schemes, and consequently they come off as rather incompetent. Certainly a good overall effort, but STTNG has done much better.

The Enterprise responds to a distress call from an outpost and arrives to find only dead bodies and a group of Borg. During the fight, Data strangles one of the Borg to death in a fit of anger. When the Enterprise chases after the Borg ship, it disappears. La Forge tries to figure out how the Borg managed to escape while Data spends time on the holodeck trying to recreate his emotional experience. When the Borg attack a second colony the Enterprise pursues the Borg ship and follows it into an energy vortex at which point A couple of Borg beam onto the Enterprise bridge. Worf kills one and they capture the other while the Borg ship escapes. When Data visits the Borg in the bridge they have an interesting discussion about the android's emotional experience. The Borg fiddles with a device on this arm and suddenly Data is willing to do anything to feel emotions again. The Borg promises Data that their leader can give Data what he needs, whereupon the android helps the Borg escape in a shuttlecraft. The Enterprise follows them to a planet where Picard, La Forge and Troi discover a large building. Inside they Data, a whole bunch of Borg, and...Lore! It turns out Lore is the leader of these Borg and that Data has joined his brother. Together, the sons of Soong promise to destroy the Federation. (To be continued)

Once again we get the Borg for a season finale as Data's desire to be more human takes a bizarre turn. Data suddenly declares he would be willing to kill La Forge, his best friend, just to experience the anger and pleasure he felt when he killed the Borg. The appearance of Lore at the end is certainly a nice twist, since it means there is a logical explanation for Data's radical personality change. What is not clear is why the Borg, or to be more specific this particular group of Borg, following Lore? For answers, see Part 2 of "Descent."

This episode has a lot going for it: Lore, Hugh, a guest appearance by Stephen Hawking, and lots of Borgs! It's good for any Data/Lore, or Borg fans. I liked the scene at the beginning with Data playing poker with Einstein, Hawking and Newton. It had nothing to do with the main story line of course, but it was pretty funny. The Borg episodes are nearly always good and Descent is no exception, although it isn't quite up to the standard of 'Best of Both Worlds'.

It was nice to see Hugh again, and Lore of course is always a success. The main story has him controlling brother Data with an emotion chip. When the rest of the Enterprise crew go to find him, they find themselves in the middle of a group of Borg under Lore's command.

The episode is exciting and pretty dramatic, although you will have to buy the second part of Descent as this ends on a real cliff hanger.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. When a story is as reliant on plot holes and the stupidity of the characters as this one is, you know you're in trouble.
This story should have been epic. Instead, it was perfunctory and rushed. There was no real sense of the crisis the reappearance of the Borg caused; everything was focused narrowly on the Enterprise, with no recognition that anything else counted. The direction was very flat, and the writing so bad as to be laughable in places. The special effects, make-up, and art design needed to be a lot better, too.
Worst of all, there was no emotional depth to this episode. Moments that should have been shocking, or moving, or chilling, just weren't. Nor was there any sense of how very much all this should have mattered to Data.
"Descent Part I" needed a comprehensive re-write, a better director, and about twenty more minutes to really highlight what mattered. It was throughly flat, when it needed to be the exact opposite.

One of my favourite STNG, this spisode (1 of 2) starts off with that classic Holodeck poker game between Data, Einstein, Newton and Stephen Haking playing himself. Unfortunately, though Hawking wins the hand, he doesn't have time to collect as a Red Alert stops the game.

Descent is a great yarn pitting the crew against a pack of renegade Borg led by Data's "brother" Lore. Lore gives data an emotion chip and puts him under his control, using him against Picard et al.

Overall, a fun and exciting episode, we meet up with Hugh and Lore again, and of course you can never go wrong with a Borg story...... but the highlight for me was the Stephen Hawking skit...... "wrong again, Albert!"

This episode had alot of excitment and the Enterprise travels over warp 180!Yes,180!I love this episode because it has advanced borg men.This is the most coolest episode I have seen with the borg.As you know,people that are not importent without hearing their last names die.I liked the storyline to it.I enjoyed part 2 aswell.

In this one Lore aquires a following that includes Hugh the Borg. Remember him? Hugh was the Borg Picard attempted to revive to it's human origins. The Borg have the capapbility to think on their own. That's what made them so dangerous.

It begins with Data, Riker and Worf with an away team beam to a station that was finished by the Borg. The big problem here was Data enjoyed destroying the Borg that eventually attacked the team.

What Data doesn't know is he was being controlled by Lore the whole time. That is why he was "feeling" hatred toward them.

This one is a keeper. It stands up to what I call the repeated viewing test. You can watch this one along with part two a few times and still find it entertaining.

We get to see Data question his way of life aboard the Enterprise.

The only fault I find is the music. If Paramount ever releases these with a new DVD set; the music should be more dramatic. The producer Rick Berman doesn't believe in overpowering music. I disagree. The music in this one would have set the sinister tone and threat the Borg presented. And it just wasn't there because the music was so dull.

In this one Lore aquires a following that includes Hugh the Borg. Remember him? Hugh was the Borg Picard attempted to revive to it's human origins. The Borg have the capapbility to think on their own. That's what made them so dangerous.

It begins with Data, Riker and Worf with an away team beam to a station that was finished by the Borg. The big problem here was Data enjoyed destroying the Borg that eventually attacked the team.

What Data doesn't know is he was being controlled by Lore the whole time. That is why he was "feeling" hatred toward them.

This one is a keeper. It stands up to what I call the repeated viewing test. You can watch this one along with part two a few times and still find it entertaining.

We get to see Data question his way of life aboard the Enterprise.

The only fault I find is the music. If Paramount ever releases these with a new DVD set; the music should be more dramatic. The producer Rick Berman doesn't believe in overpowering music. I disagree. The music in this one would have set the sinister tone and threat the Borg presented. And it just wasn't there because the music was so dull.

Borgs, Borgs and more Borgs. This episode is not good as "Both world" but Huge the Borg is pretty funny

Este episodio, el último de la sexta temporada es bastante bueno y los Borgs estan mejores diseñados, creo que la inclusión de Lore es fundamental para el episodio. y su m..u..e.r.t.e al final no me gustó mucho, quiizas vuelva en alguna película en el futuro

I watched this video, and thought: there couldn't be a better episode. But that's just me. I mean, I've only watched 1/8 of Star Trek The Next Generation. So don't blame me if I'm wrong, but I just plainly like this show, and you'll probably like this cool pool of entertainment.