Friday 31 January 2020

TNG – Dark Page


Plot – As a science fiction concept there is so much that could be done with the Cairn, a race that speak with telepathic images rather than verbal communication. It would have been very cool had this species been a regular on Voyager (the next show to be commissioned after TNG went off air). You could have all sorts of fun with a species that can beam images into your mind as part of a conversation and all sorts of comedy could ensue when you are dealing with a species that does not understand the intricacies of verbal communication. A race with direct communication and no concept of privacy is ripe for interesting material.

It’s another season seven family story and this time featuring everybody’s favourite Betazoid, Lwaxana Troi. What looks like it is going to be another disruptive visit where she is trying to set up Deanna with the latest bloke that she thinks might be suitable and instead it takes an unusual detour into dark melodrama revealing some things about her past that she would rather keep buried.

Character – I’m not sure if having Troi meet with her father inside her mother’s head is a sweet character moment or the ultimate manipulation. It’s a chance for Troi, as an adult, to see her father as her mother remembers him but since none of this is real the emotional bond it is trying to force simply doesn’t pay off.

Troi is written intelligently here, tackling the idea of what is happening with her mother in as sensible a fashion as possible. Contacting her friends, reading her journal, getting in touch with Betazed. She probably understands her mother’s life far better as a result of her investigations. At one point she genuinely thinks that she is going to lose her, which makes her long for a woman she has often thought of as insufferable.

Performance – Lwaxana Is practically a gift of a part for Majel Barrett after suffering the indignity of losing the role of Number One from the Original Series (I still have huge regrets about that) and being forced into the role of the subservient and slave to her emotions Nurse Chapel, a thankless part if ever there was one. Lwaxana is the chance to let Barrett off the leash and enjoy some firecracker material; a funny, silly, sexually voracious part that whether you love her or you hate her she sure does pack in a lot of personality. When Mrs Troi is on board it stirs up the ants and you can’t ask much more of a character on TNG. She simply isn’t like everybody else on this show, she’s explosive and different, proud of her heritage and not afraid to not fit in. She says things as they are – I love the moment when she tells Worf not to worry about the Cairn probing into her mind because his brain isn’t sophisticated enough for them to do so. Barrett acquits herself rather well here with an uncommon take on Mrs Troi but there are a couple moments where she oversells the emotion (‘I am warning you – stay away from my daughter!’).

I’m sure Kirsten Dunst is justly proud that she took part in a TNG episode before her career took off in a big way. Actually, I wonder if she even remembers doing it.

Production – The fish eye lens is being abused in season seven, what with Phantasms taking place just last week. The scenes inside Lwaxana’s head show TNG at its cheapest, utilising the standing sets with some distorted lighting. I would have thought that the passages of Mrs Troi’s mind would be so much more exciting. God bless the wolf that wanders the corridors of the Enterprise like a placid dog that just wants to take a nap. Hardly the ferocious beast they were going for.

Worst moment – The method of commination between the Cairn and the Troi’s has to be seen to be believed. It involves people staring at each other in a particularly intense way whilst the camera slowly moves in on their faces. In scenes that are trying to pass off as drama, it is unfortunately very comical.

I wish they hadn’t done that – Star Trek can venture into daytime soap opera territory if it isn’t careful, TNG especially because the characters are so nice that in order to drive some conflict into the show they push the melodrama (Worf is paralysed, Beverly Crusher has been seduced by her grandmothers ghostly lover, Riker lost his mum and was left with his dad, Troi and Riker are sitting on feelings they cannot act on because of their jobs). Dark Page is a particularly limp example of this sub-genre with characters saying things like ‘how can I help you mother!’ and ‘Why couldn’t I save her?’ It’s pure soap, affected and unconvincing. And I make no apology for thinking that Troi, for all Marina Sirtis’ charm, is a character that has stepped straight out of a show like Neighbours or Doctors, stating the bleeding obvious and often given dialogue that makes her seem like a walking textbook rather than a person.

There are so many ways that the death of a child could be dramatically presented off screen (I remember a particularly vivid example from The X-Files in season two) and Dark Page contains the least effective I can ever remember seeing. By setting the scene in Lwaxana’s head (which makes it a memory rather than a flashback), by using the stock sets from the episode and because of Majel Barrett’s whiny performance it guts the scene of any real drama.

A reason to watch this episode again – There are two schools of thought about Dark Page; one that it is a bold step in a new direction with Lwaxana Troi that dares to suggest that the overt sexuality and humour she has displayed over the years is a cover for something very dark that happened in her past and the other is that it is a dreary melodramatic soap opera episode that has something powerful to say but fudges it behind some overdone hysterics and ropey direction. The problem is they are both right. I have a lot of admiration for Dark Page as it is one of the season seven family driven episodes that actually wants to open up a character we know and love and say fresh and interesting things about them. I just wish a little more effort had gone into the execution of the piece, especially the direction which is very obvious in places (events were signposted before they happened and it features some of the least effective ‘dream’ sequences I have ever seen).

**1/2 out of *****

Clue for tomorrow's episode:


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