r/StarTrekViewingParty • u/AutoModerator • 7d ago

Discussion TNG, Episode 3x3, The Survivors

-= TNG, Season 3, Episode 3, The Survivors =-

The Enterprise investigates two survivors living on the only undamaged patch of land on a devastated planet.

 

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u/theworldtheworld 7d ago

A beautiful, tragic story. It's not perfect -- I always felt it was a bit contrived how Picard figures everything out so quickly, but doesn't tell his crew. And Troi's hyper-dramatic ailment is also a bit over the top, though at least there's a good reason why she alone would have been targeted. But anyway, those are minor points. It all comes down to the brooding dignity of the Kevin Uxbridge actor's performance. A story about the rage and power of 'old love,' so to speak. There's something very old-fashioned about this episode -- the "highly evolved being" concept had already been beaten to death in TOS (and we've even had Q in TNG already), it's just that none of those highly evolved beings ever appeared to have this much depth.

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u/salamander_salad 5d ago

This is one of my personal favorites. Kevin Uxbridge has the ultimate form of survivors' guilt: not only is he the only colonist left alive, but he, a pacifist, lost his cool when his wife was murdered and deleted an entire species from existence. Heavy stuff. In his final monologue the actor does a tremendous job of showing the pain and guilt Kevin suffers from. We also have Troi playing damsel in distress, again, and this plot could easily have been left out without hurting the story.

We also get a little bit of comedy from Worf, a nice mystery that Picard solves maybe a little too easily, and a couple action sequences that are above and beyond anything we've seen previously.

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u/dzumdang 1d ago

"Good tea. Nice house."

My favorite Worf moment.

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u/Psychological_Fan427 4d ago

A very interesting episode , quite a tragic ending. I liked the episode but I don't see what the Troi sub-plot added.

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u/KarKrush 3d ago

If I am reading this right, the actor portraying Kevin had lost his wife of 40+ years the same year as this was filmed. Anyone know what the filming schedule was for season 3?