Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series) The Neutral Zone (1988) User Reviews

Single best line in the entire series in this show

[wag-877-420043 · 7/10 · 28 April 2015]

I wouldn't consider this a spoiler: funniest, most incisive, best sci-fi futuristic line I've ever heard in the entire series or most others, for that matter. These three characters from the 20th century who have been cryogenically frozen for 400 years are thawed out and there is one exchange that is priceless:

L.Q. 'Sonny' Clemmons (pointing toward computer screen on wall): Let's see if the Braves are on. How do you turn on this TV?

Riker: TV?

L.Q. 'Sonny' Clemmons: Yeah, the boob tube. I'd like to see how the Braves are doing after all this time. Still prob'ly findin' ways to lose.

Data: I believe he means television, Sir.That particular form of entertainment did not last much beyond the year 2040.

And yet, tonight when I watched this on BBC-America, whatever imbecile edited it for time chose to remove this, the best line I ever heard, by Data!

You're just about the prettiest lil ol' doctor I ever did see

[snoozejonc · 6/10 · 26 May 2021]

Enterprise is ordered to the neutral zone and picks up three cryogenically frozen passengers on route.

This is an amusing episode but a fairly low key effort to finish series one, aside from the re-introduction of some big name franchise villains.

The story is tangled between two plots reminiscent of classic original series episodes. We have the Khan-like situation of the three guest characters and the 'Balance Of Terror' throwback of the Romulan encounter. Generally, the writers put most of the effort into the former and pay minimal lip-service to the latter so you will tune in next season.

The guest characters are moderately entertaining but mostly annoy the Enterprise crew and probably many viewers. I enjoyed some of their interactions with crew members. Clemmons is pretty funny and although Offenhaus is annoying, he does allow Picard to expand on the state of society in the twenty-forth century. Gracie is less interesting but does look at the the situation from the perspective of losing family members.

As for the Romulans, for their brief time they are enjoyable, but there is no actual plot other than them announcing their presence.

The Romulan ship design and visual is very good, whilst the scenes on board the space capsule at the beginning are very well done.

Most performances are solid, but there is nobody particularly outstanding other than Leon Rippy who is fun as Clemmons.

Annoyingly out of character for Riker & Picard.

[wwcanoer-tech · 8/10 · 31 December 2021]

Star Trek is supposed to be about exploring. Having Riker is uninterested in exploring a 370 year old Earth vessel is so unbelievably out of character that it's annoying.

Then Picard being annoyed at rescuing the three people who appeared to be alive is disgusting. Star Trek saves people. It doesn't discard them.

It would have been far better if Riker was gung-ho to investigate but restricted by time. Picard could then be annoyed by "Why now? I don't have time for this!" but he should have NEVER been annoyed at their rescue.

A series will be far better if its characters act coherently from one episode to the next and only step out of character due to some critical event that causes them to either crumble or to perform unexpected heroics but even that should further their character development along a path, not a random zig-zag.

Re-watching TNG from S01E01, I am quite disappointed at the haphazardness of it.

Beware Romulans bearing gifts!

[russem31 · 14 April 2006]

ST:TNG:26 - "The Neutral Zone" (Stardate: 41986.0) - the last episode of the 1st season of The Next Generation proves to be a very good episode. It involves the return of the Romulans who were last seen in Star Trek VI (chronologically) at the peace conference on Khitomer. However, as the Enterprise crew recounts past history, the last contact with the Romulans was 53 years ago at the Tomed Incident where there was heavy casualties. Since then, more urgent matters called them away - and this is hinted at with the destruction of star bases along the Neutral Zone on both Romulan and Federation sides (this episode hints at the Borg which will become a potent force starting in the second season). Other trivia: Worf mentions how the Romulans are without honor (which mirrors what he says in Star Trek: Nemesis - that they fought WITH honor). Also, TV died out as a form of entertainment in 2040, the Enterprise discovers 3 humans cryogenically frozen from Earth in a space capsule. But whereas the Enterprise encounters the past, it is the future that awaits them. As the Romulans say in this episode, "we are back . . ."

The line of the show.

[owenandowen · 10/10 · 26 June 2006]

This was one of my favorite episodes from the series. Every time it was on, I ended up watching it again.

It was bugging me when I was watching an episode of Deadwood and I couldn't place the character Tom Nuttall from the show as L. Q. 'Sonny' Clemonds from TNG until I looked it up.

The line of the show was when he said to Data, "Why don't you come back later on and you and me will find us a couple low mileage "pit woofies" (sic?) and help em build a memory".

I was on the floor. He made the show.

Catch it if you haven't seen it.

What about the rest of the people in 2364?

[ffecee4 · 9/10 · 31 May 2013]

I've always wanted to know more about everyday life in the time period ST:TNG covers (Feb 2, 2364 to Dec. 27, 2370). This episode piques my interest for that reason.

Picard explains in the episode what society is like in 2364. The way he describes it to the 3 people from the 20th century, it's a very eudaimonic era for mankind. Disease and wont for basic necessities is no longer a societal problem and money is not used.

So the average Terran doesn't need to go to a job they hate for 40+ hours a week and sweat the bills every month. They are free to follow their joy. What is their Earth like? We only get to see the lives and trials of Starship officers. What do people do with their lives besides zip around the galaxy?

What would the 24th century be like for a late 20th century housewife to be thrust into? Or for that matter, a boozehound C&W star and a Trump-like business man?

I never really liked any of the other Star Trek spin-offs (excluding TNG and Enterprise) but I think this episode could be a very good premise to build a spin off around. Alas, the closest we'll ever get is DS9.

Futuramatrek

[anarchistica · 6/10 · 20 March 2020]

Three people are woken up 370 years after they died. I don't think any of them acts like a normal human would. "Aliens are real?! We're in space?! That machine can make anything i want?!" Nope, none of that. Instead, one guy just wants his money, another wants booze and the lady is just weeping constantly.

The Romulans are extremely goofy looking with their monk-hair, but their ship looks amazing and they're at least more interesting than Klingons. The big mystery ends up not getting resolved, which is probably the main problem with this episode. It's somewhat entertaining but ultimately falls flat.

Homemaker?

[jerrix-90558 · 8/10 · 26 August 2017]

Data does not know the meaning of "homemaker" when I am sure he has access to the largest computerized dictionary in the universe? Maybe it is time for an upgrade! :-) There were other episodes that I question things happening that do not make sense. I am sure I enjoy the series nonetheless.

A strong indication of the Roddenberry ideal...naive as it sounds.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 11 November 2014]

According to IMDb, because of the writers strike, the end of the episode and some subsequent episodes were re-written. Originally, this final episode of season one was supposed to introduce the Borg. Now, they are just alluded to as some force that is wiping out Federation AND Romulan bases along the Neutral Zone. And, because much of the original episode was excised, they substituted a 'funny plot' involving three late 20th century people who were in suspended animation and were awakened by the Enterprise.

So is the new melange any good? Well, yes. Having Q introduce the Borg later worked well. As for the funny subplot about suspended animation, it's only partially successful. This is because towards the very end, the audience is assaulted with a HUGE dose of Roddenberry and his Star Trek philosophy. The Captain goes off on a harangue about how in the the 25th century, there is no want, no greed, no worries about property and everyone is 100% equal. As a lifelong pessimist, this sort of preaching actually made me laugh a bit--and DID come off as very heavy-handed. It didn't ruin the episode but it sure did take you out of the moment.

We.... are back!

[gritfrombray-1 · 9/10 · 16 August 2007]

When the Enterprise is waiting for Picard to return Data has found humans aboard a space satellite type craft alive and in cryonic tubes. They are taken aboard and revived and are somewhat astonished at how far technology has advanced. Their lack of understanding of the modern day world was interesting and the way they regarded material wealth was a thing of the past. The Enterprise is later investigating the destruction of several Federation outposts along the Romulan Neutral Zone. Eventually the Romulans arrive on the scene and a face off ensues. Realizing that it was not the Romulans as their outposts had also been destroyed along the Neutral Zone both ships depart with the the Romulans leaving a harrowing goodbye message..... "We are back!". The destroyed outposts along the Neutral Zone were eventually presumed to be the work of the Borg, if so why did they not invade the Federation after assimilating people from there? An oversight in the storyline I think....

The past comes alive

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 29 August 2017]

While on a trip to the neutral zone the Enterprise comes across a derelict old ship floating in space. The away team of Worf and Data come across three cryogenically frozen humans in a ship that's falling apart. They beam them to the Enterprise where Dr. Crusher revives them.

All were at the moment of death when they were frozen and all are cured of what ailed them in the 20th century thanks to advantages in medicine. All this while Captain Picard is having the first face to face encounter with the Romulans in a few generations as the Federation and the Romulan Empire stayed behind and respected the neutral zone.

The three people are an interesting cross section of Americana of the period. Peter Mark Richman is a millionaire who thinks he's found a way to take it with him although what he has saved doesn't seem quite as valuable. Gracie Harrison is just your average housewife of the period who doesn't see how she can fit in. Upon awakening her first sight is Worf. What any 20th century mind would make of that after doing a Rip Van Winkle.

My favorite is Leon Rippy who was a second rate country singer but a full time party animal. He develops a unique an interesting relationship with Data. He looks like he will do the best if he tones down the hedonism, he has a nice just take it one day at a time philosophy.

Rippy's scenes with Brent Spiner are the best, this is one good TNG story.

I need to speak with the manager of this starship

[ositalinguista · 6/10 · 4 July 2021]

So this is what happens when you glue two scripts you found together.

Could you have said this with a postcard? I feel gaslighted.

[amusinghandle · 5/10 · 1 January 2024]

I am honestly baffled by the high score (well, for season 1) that is very average episode has received on IMDB. Is it the sweet looking Romulan ship that scratches that itch for the snobby TOS fanatics? I have no rational explanation because this episode is so barren and it's entire climax revolves around the Romulans officially being back in the galaxy. OMG! I cannot wait to see what they do with the Romulan's in Season 2!!

The plot revolving around the cryo frozen humans goes nowhere and simply uses up time so that we can eventually get to the Romulan reveal.

Bad episode! A fitting end to a troubled season of star trek.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- S1: Overall average score of 6.04 makes this .06 points worse than the padded out bore fest that was S3 of TOS and claims the prize of lowest scored season of star trek to this point.

Overall thoughts: This season truly feels like a tv show created and directed by people who are from another time ----- well, the 1960's to be precise. Gene Roddenberry's clinical view of humanity as being fault free creates a crew that feels like artificial disney animatronic creatures the majority of the time.

I suppose the best way to look at this season is as an educational experience: Not trusting your own writers, refusing to listen to advice to elevate the characters and believing your own hype as some mystic visionary genius can lead to barely passable star trek.

Positives:

• Bridge and the D sets looks great.

• Several ambitious episodes that manage to get to 'good' level.

• Beverly crushers hair and an admirable attempt to put some personality in her character.

• You can see the seed of a character with an actual personality within Jean Luc.

• Heart of Glory was my favorite episode of the season. Provided some quality character development for Worf and established his personal conflict.

Star Trek desperately needed new blood in the creative department and thankfully they got some talented 'kids' to save the ship.

"Welcome to the Twenty Fourth Century!"

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 27 September 2023]

With Next Generation's prior episode 'Conspiracy' and now this one, it felt like the series was finally hitting its stride. Only thing is, the situation with the Romulans at the end of this story was left unresolved, seeing as how Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Romulan Commander Tebok (Marc Alaimo) simply reached an accommodation to share information and not become outright allies. But then the episode just ends with no closure on what appeared to be an intensely hostile situation, brought about by the disappearance of Federation and Romulan outposts at the Neutral Zone. So that was a little frustrating.

I enjoyed the side story of the three cryogenically frozen humans revived on the Enterprise after being recovered from a derelict vessel. Actually, I enjoyed the wildly undisciplined banter of L. Q. Sonny Clemmons (Leon Rippy), who took a shine to Commander Data (Brent Spiner) and regaled him with his colorful language. Rather ordinary otherwise, Clare Raymond (Gracie Harrison) reminisced over her past life and the generations of family members she would never have known after being frozen by her husband following her death on Earth. That's one thing the story never really explained, how the trio of characters were brought back to life following their cryogenic state. It was simply mentioned by Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) that she thawed them out.

The third person, Ralph Offenhouse (Peter Mark Richman), fancied himself an elite businessman and had to be put in his place by the Captain. Picard's dialog about how life on Earth had advanced over the centuries to diminish the importance of wealth and possessions all sounded rather fanciful. From the standpoint of present day as I write this, it almost seems like we're going backwards. However, the mention of television coming to an end by 2040 might have been close to the mark considering how streaming services have led to cutting the cable for a lot of folks. Still need a box to watch those shows though.

So with the end of the first season, and a fair number of hit and miss shows, it remains to be seen what's in store for the future. I'm just watching these now more than three decades removed and my feelings are mixed about the series. So far, I think the original Sixties "Star Trek" was better overall, but remain open to seeing if and how the writing improved over time.

Hint at things to come?

[bobpeters-06669 · 7/10 · 9 August 2021]

The manner in which the Federation and Romulon outposts along the Neutral Zone were destroyed seems consistent with the work of the Borg. The Borg had yet to be encountered in the series at this point.

Fun episode

[JCinHB · 6/10 · 7 August 2021]

Fun episode, BUT... I just don't like the rich businessman Offenhouse.

I was never a fan of this actor in many of the things I have seen him in, he is just too much of a jerk.

Romulan's have a cool ship ---- That's all i got.

[thevacinstaller · 6/10 · 6 March 2021]

A bit of an underwhelming season ender but we did get to see Marc Alaimo as a Romulan at least.

This episode has some interesting moments and a clear Roddenberry influence. My favorite laugh out loud moment was when it was mentioned that humans no longer fear death. Really? No human in the galaxy has a fear of dying? A galaxy filled with people who do not fear death would frighten me.

I am not typically one who points out subpar acting but all of the human's from the 20th century were abysmal. I did find some enjoyment in Sonny Clemmons southern rockabilly performance. Ralph Offenhouse was hilarious in his dedication to 20th century capitalism --- to the point where I called him Mr Money Penny and imagined him with a cane holding a bag with a giant cash symbol on it. Heavy handed would be the word for the theme of this plot.

It's good to see Mark Alaimo for the first time. Unfortunately, the plot ends up stumbling and making a face plant and the show ends up telling us, "Don't worry --- We'll do better next season.... We mean it!". The Romulans/Starfleet agree to work together to learn the truth behind the destroyed colony bases but the Romulan's also threaten Picard about Starfleets expansion and while pointing at the viewer through the tv screen he say's "We're back!" and then they just go back home?

The Romulan's ship looks awesome. That's all I got. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1st season overall:

My love for star trek is not unconditional. Critics do the franchise no favors by gushing over bad episodes and bad writing. To TNG's credit, the first season did an acceptable job of establishing many of the characters and defining personal traits that would be expanded upon in later episodes. In my view, 'Code of Honor' and '11011001' are the only genuinely good episodes of this season and any other episodes I enjoyed was based on it's being hilariously campy or Beverly Crushers beautiful, flowing, bouncing, radiant hair.

When you average out my rating for each episodes we end up with a 6.16 out of 10. That seems fair --- maybe too fair?

Let's boldly leave this season behind.

The Return of the Romulans... Sorta

[Samuel-Shovel · 4/10 · 5 July 2019]

In the Season 1 finale "The Neutral Zone" Data and Worf find a trio of cryogenically frozen 20th century humans floating in a damaged vessel in space. They beam these 3 aboard and Dr. Crusher dethaws them and brings them back to life. Picard doesn't have time for this though as the Enterprise is en route to the Neutral Zone. The outposts in an area of the NZ have not reported in recently and Star Fleet assumes the worst. The bridge crew suspects Romulans.

It's interesting how writers create scripts sometimes. Here we have a very interesting premise: a chain of destroyed outpost with an unknown and possibly invisible culprit on the prowl. That's a solid idea for an episode. But for whatever reason, these writers decide to make that the B plot and instead focus on a bunch of bumbling dingalings from the 20th century who have been dropped onto the Enterprise. I find their subplot far far less interesting.

The financial guy is absolutely unbearable. The woman is a bad actress. The country singer is a straight up cartoon and possibly the only one interesting enough to get screentime. I do like Data's fascination with this guy. I bet him and Bones would have gotten along great.

There are worse episodes they could finish off the season with but this feels a but underwhelming after the action packed penultimate episode that was Conspiracy. While that episode didn't feel 100% like your typical TNG episode it would have really worked as a season finale to lead us into next season. The cliffhanger we get here, this uneasy alliance between the Federation and the Romulans is sort of shoehorned in and takes a back seat to this Encino Man plot. I wish they would have reversed the order of the two.

TNG TOP 06 FAVOURITE EPISODES OF SEASON 01

[iamirwar · 6/10 · 27 August 2022]

Having recently watched each of the 25 episodes of Season One again, I decided to rate them in order of my personal preference.

The points awarded to each episode are only used in comparison with other episodes of this season. The Top 6 shows as listed below are the ones I would choose to put forward from season one and add to my list of Top TNG shows of the entire series.

Each of these S01 'Top 6' shows will be reviewed again once I have completed watching the entire series as part of my REVIEW 2022.

Datalore (09/10) The Big Goodbye (09/10) Conspiracy (09/10) The Neutral Zone (09/10) Coming Of Age (08/10) Justice (08/10)

Four other episodes could have been included in this list, but overall missed the cut simply because I didn't feel they were quite as strong as these six.

11001001 (08/10) Heart Of Glory (08/10) The Last Outpost (08/10) The Arsenal Of Freedom (08/10)

Bottom Four Shows Of Season One Haven (04/10) We'll Always Have Paris (04/10) When The Bough Breaks (04/10) Angel One (04/10)

Leftist View of Big Business! Get a Life.

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 2 August 2014]

I agree that this is low octane episode. Three people are beamed back to the Enterprise after being "frozen" based on the premise that if a cure is found, they can be revived. Over three hundred years later they are. The people are a young homemaker, a cutthroat businessman (according to one reviewer a leftist who makes capitalists look bad), and a good natured ne'er do well guitar-playing drunk who enjoys the heck out of his new digs. These people become real nuisances, getting in the way, and not understanding the gravity of things. Meanwhile, a serious confrontation with the Romulans is about to take place. This is serious, but certainly isn't shown that way. The confrontation and the three passenger theme are underdeveloped, but it certainly isn't worth a one rating. Quit letting your prejudices speak for you. These are reviews.

Season 1 ending episode

[CCsito · 7/10 · 7 July 2010]

This episode of the STNG does not have a "cliffhanger" ending maybe because the producers had not made up their mind about continuing the series? It started with the discovery of a satellite that was drifting in space and the crew goes to investigate it. I initially thought that it would something like the "Space Seed" episode of the original series (the one with Khan) and that there would be something malevolent that was found. Instead it is a cryogenic lab vehicle with people frozen from the 21st century. The main plot of this episode involved getting the humans found on the space vehicle accustomed to the present day and the encounter with the Romulans. I thought that they could have developed the plot a little better with the humans from the 21st century. However, it was a thought provoking episode.

Worst Episode of the Entire Series

[Qanqor · 1/10 · 25 May 2014]

To me, this episode has always been the absolute nadir of the series. It's just dreadful. It makes "Sub Rosa" seem like "The City On The Edge Of Forever".

Like many episodes, this one is structured such that there is a main story, and a secondary story. The main story is about the Enterprise's big-deal mission to the Romulan neutral zone to find out what happened to its lost outposts. The secondary story is about a few cryogenically frozen humans who they discover and revive. *Both* of these stories have deep flaws.

There are actually a couple problems with the secondary story. The first is that it swamps and dwarfs the main story. A crisis with the Romulans *ought* to be a big deal, and yet the story focuses mainly on these three 20th century people. And frankly, who cares? While it's sort of interesting seeing how they deal with waking up centuries later, the fact is that we the viewers already have the meta-knowledge that these people aren't important and we're never going to see or hear about them again. There's really no story about them, no plot, just watching them react in their different ways to their new lives. It all really goes nowhere.

The other problem with the secondary story is the overt smug preachiness of it. One of the 20th century humans is this straw-man caricature of a businessman, a typical leftist stereotype that serves as a tool for typical leftist bashing of business and capitalism. Sadly, the series specialized in this sort of thing in this era. The original Ferengi were exactly the same thing.

And yet, for all the problems with the secondary story, the main story is *worse*. Why? Because there *is* no main story! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAPPENS. They journey to the neutral zone, find nothing, the Romulans show up and say "We're back!", and that's it. Done. Absolutely *nothing* happens. There is no story. There is no plot. The whole thing is a ludicrous waste of time.

What damns this episode to eternal Star Trek hell is the fact that it was clearly written to be some kind of big cliff-hanger, except the next season's opener did not pick up and finish the episode. There was no resolution, nothing went anywhere with any of this. Had the next season picked up where this one left off, and had the Romulans actually *do* something, had the big-deal dramatic "We're back!" actually *led* to something, then the episode might not be quite so vile. But it didn't. And so I always remember this as the episode where absolutely nothing happened. And I detest it for that.

Season One

[zkonedog · 4/10 · 5 July 2019]

For "Star Trek: The Next Generation", it was always going to be difficult to follow in the footsteps of the "Original Series" iconic cast. Though all the pieces of a terrific ensemble cast are present in this first season, the show is too concerned about defining its tone than it is about developing stories or telling engaging stories.

Set a significant time in the future from The Original Series, Next Generation constructs a much more diplomatic-themed universe. Whereas Captain Kirk was the swashbuckling, Horatio Hornblower type, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) is "the great diplomat", leaving his Number One William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) to handle the strutting about. While in the long run this approach will pay great dividends, opening up the Trek universe to a new set of stories, it doesn't hit on that right formula all too often in Season One. For example...

-Far, far too much focus on Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton), a child character who the writers really, really wanted to give a push but it just never works. -Security Chief Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby) never works for the show. This is made even more blatant when Klingon Worf (Michael Dorn) pretty much just stands around despite being a bevy of story opportunities (that would transpire later). -Geordi La Forge (Levar Burton) hasn't yet found his way to engineering, where he would shine in later seasons. -The women on the show, especially Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) and Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), don't have much of a role besides being eye candy or love interests, which stick out like a sore thumb on a show supposedly based on enlightened principles. -Data (Brent Spiner) will become perhaps the show's most interesting character in subsequent seasons, but he isn't there yet. The show creators don't quite know how to understand the Android character yet.

Now, all of that isn't to say that this First Season is a complete failure. The new Enterprise is a great ship visually, guest star Q (John De Lancie) is a hoot, and there are a handful of solid stories. It's just that the show is way too focused on "environment" at the expense of what really should drive TV shows...interesting stories and developing characters.

So, despite the fact that all the players are in place, Season One of Next Generation doesn't know how (or seem to care) to use them correctly. A lot of episodes can easily be skipped (downright boring), a good number are "average at best", and only a handful are really entertaining. New viewers will be tempted to jump off the bandwagon early on Next Generation, but I would implore them to stick with it at least until Season Two, where things begin to show a marked improvement.

A Senior Trekker writes.........................

[celineduchain · 5/10 · 27 December 2021]

Writing in 2021, it is great to see that I am not the only person taking a retrospective look at Star Trek, the Next Generation. When this series was first released in 1987, a little less than twenty years after the end of the Original Series, many people thought that, without Captain Kirk and his crew, it couldn't really be Star Trek. However, original creator Gene Roddenberry, was fully invested in the casting, writing and overall look of the new series, so let's see how it shaped up:

The Romulans are back.

Congratulations must be due to whoever realised that the Ferengi weren't going to cut it as the Next Generation's primary adversary and decided to bring back some classic villains. And, of course, congratulations to whoever secured Mark Alaimo to perform the role of Tebok, first in a whole succession of deliciously sinister parts that this actor took on for Star Trek over the years.

Some viewers absolutely hated the B Story of three 20th Century characters, found cryonically frozen and brought back to life aboard the Enterprise. They certainly were rather one-dimensional but the guest actors made a pretty good job of their culture shock and the jokes were actually quite funny.

Having the Enterprise meet up with a decent adversary in the Neutral Zone where both sides could survey the wreckage left by an unknown race so obviously superior to either of them was an excellent way of ending the first season. Whether or not it was meant to foreshadow the Borg of later seasons, it promised plenty of excitement to come.

(Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5)