Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 38: The Royale [VHS]

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

 

 

Okay, it's really silly. An alien race constructed a Vegas casino because they felt bad for a lost 20th century astronaut. The away team gets trapped inside and loses communication with the Enterprise! Can they escape?

Not exactly a nail-biting premise.

But it's great fun. Data shoots craps like a king, Worf growls at the room service staff and generally looks bewildered, and Riker gleefully gets into the swing of things. Chalk this one up under gulity-pleasure viewing, and definitely don't take it seriously.

This is one of the most imaginative episodes of the series. One of the common questions used to judge books and the people who read them is to ask, "If you were stranded on a desert island, what books would you want to take with you?" A modification of this question replaces "books" with "people." In this episode, the question becomes, "If you had to live the rest of your life living out a novel, what book would you choose?"
The Enterprise is informed that there is some debris orbiting a very inhospitable planet. The temperature is less than minus 200 degrees Celsius; the atmosphere is poisonous, and there are tornado velocity winds. A piece of debris is found that appears to have markings, so it is beamed aboard the Enterprise. The markings are that of an Earth vessel launched centuries earlier.
An amazing structure is located on the planet. There is a small section with a breathable atmosphere and what appears to be a building. Riker, Worf and Data beam down to the planet and enter through some old style revolving doors. This is where the fun begins. They find themselves in the Hotel Royale, where the gambling is hot and the characters talk and act in cliches. Data analyzes the people and reports that they are not living, machines or projections. Since they have lost contact with the Enterprise, they decide to leave the hotel, but discover they cannot.
Data detects human DNA on another floor and they find the remains of a human. He was the commander of an early mission to leave the solar system and explore deep space. Somehow, his ship encountered aliens who inadvertently damaged the ship, killing everyone on board but him. Out of guilt, they create the safe zone for him and use their only available data; a really bad novel called "Hotel Royale." To understand how bad it is, the opening passage is, "It was a dark and stormy night."
Contact is reestablished with the Enterprise and after studying the novel, they discover a way out of the hotel. Data goes to the craps table and plays to break the bank. This is where Brent Spiner shows his acting talents. He switches back and forth between being a cliché-ridden high roller and an android. It is very funny. He of course wins; the away team buys the hotel and spreads the remainder of the money around. This is how the novel ends, so they are able to leave the hotel and beam back to the Enterprise.
There is also one other aspect of the episode that warms my mathematical heart. Before the debris is discovered, Captain Picard is examining Fermat's Last Theorem (FLT), which was a famous unsolved problem. He states it correctly and uses it as an example of how some simple puzzles prove difficult to solve. Picard also explains the background of the problem, who Fermat was and how he stated that he had a truly wonderful proof. The closing scene has him back examining the theorem again, still trying to solve it. This of course could not happen, as Andrew Wiles solved FLT in the early 1990's.
After watching this episode, I sat down and thought for some time about what novel I would want to live in if I were forced to do so. It is an interesting choice, as one could go for sexual, intellectual or sensory stimulation. I was hard pressed to think of a novel that would provide all three.

I love Star Trek: The Next Generation, it is one of my all-time favorite TV shows and I l know that there are fans who didn't like this episoode and thought it was too silly and campy but I liked the episode The Royale and found it very entertaining and enjoyable! The scenes in that Casino with Data and the gambler from Texas were funny!

I love this episode. It reminds me of old time Vegas with a little twist to it.

Well, Star Trek has the answer for all of you who where having high blood pressure from this question....Just Kidding. Plot: The Enterprise finds a planet that is full of tornadic force winds with temperatures pushing absolute zero (not you're Sunday afternoon picnic spot). Well, interestingly, they find a structure on that planet, so Riker, Worf, and Data go down and investigate. I love this next part. Riker reports that there appears to a force field that is keeping the winds from pushing to the front door and that there's a revolving door in front of them. Picard mutters, wondering, "Revolving door? Number One, proceed with caution." Well, the trio does, and they find the building to be the "Hotel Royale", a casino/hotel with what appear to be humans. Well, things appear fun at first, but then the situation gets interesting. Riker, Worf, and Data can't leave the building. So, now they have to find out why they can't and see if there's a way to escape.

Overall, a pretty good episode. It's really not a very serious episode (like say in "Contagion" or "Pen Pals") but it is well paced and has plenty of humor.

Gets a 4 (pushing 5) stars.

I love Star Trek: The Next Generation, it is one of my all-time favorite TV shows and I l know that there are fans who didn't lie trhis episoode and thought it was too silly and campy but I liked the episode Royale and found it very entertaining and enjoyable! The scenes in that Casino with Data and the gambler from Texas were funny!

"The Royale" was generally well received when it originally aired during the second season. Within a short while though fans and critics alike accused this show of being too deriative of ST:TOS's "A Piece Of The Action", but I prefer to see it as a tribute to that episode, a fan favorite.

As in the original series' show, here the trapped Enterprise crew members throw themselves into the roles being forced on them and the result is memorably funny. There are ample enjoyable elements that make this episode one of my favorites: The casino set piece is one of TNG's most memorable; the compliant but condescending desk clerk; the cheesy dialogue spoken by the casino characters - particularly the bellhop and Mickey Dee; Noble Willingham is a hoot as 'Tex'; seeing Data at the crap table in the final sequence really puts the show over the top. Also, the mathematical puzzle Picard is trying to solve in the intro and his explanation of it to Number 1 is a perfect bridging device for this episode.

Not to be taken seriously, "The Royale" is both an homage to Trek's earlier incarnation and a bouquet to fans of each of the series.