‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Retro Recap – ‘Power Play’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

While every Star Trek fan out there can agree upon the fact that The Original Series was indeed a game changing endeavor. Since it made science fiction mainstream on a level that no other series before it ever accomplished… not everyone likes to talk about the fact that TOS had its flaws. Because despite offering up a vision of a better tomorrow for all of mankind, at times it still held to the zeitgeist of the times, allowing for misogynistic and downright inappropriate stories to hit the airwaves and to make matters worse, some of its adventures through the stars, didn’t exactly stick the landing. Plus, the show was seemingly obsessed with aliens that could make magic happen out of thin air, and it also tried hard to make us believe that encounters with ghosts and supernatural beings were a normal occurrence in the future.

But thankfully, the arrival of Star Trek: The Next Generation helped to remove some of the bad stigma that surrounded those dubious storytelling decisions. For TNG worked hard to provide logic to some of the concepts that its predecessor put forth, for instance making omnipotent beings logical species, a la Q, and it was often grounded in science through and through. But the word ‘some’ applies to this conversation, simply because the show wasn’t flawless in its endeavors to make a perfect Trek series, one that was free of the mistakes of the past. For it too had its missteps with episodes that were a touch insensitive and as it turns out… it also, unfortunately, grew extremely curious about ghosts and entities that we cannot explain as evidenced by the next episode in this dynamic and iconic series.

Because ‘Power Play’ is a story that featured some nasty and angry ghosts, the kind that were eager to escape their harrowing situation in the most unique way possible, by possessing Lieutenant Commander Deanna Troi, Lieutenant Miles O’Brien and Lieutenant Commander Data. All so they could get the Enterprise to swing by the southern pole of their desolate world, allowing for them to take over multiple members of the crew so they could live again and well, that’s basically all we are going to talk about plot wise today… because that is all there is to it. So, rather than try and break down a wafer-thin plot, let’s talk about the fact that this is an unfortunate decision on the writers’ room part because this is uh… this is not a good episode. Because once again, it harkens back to the ugly side of Trek, where someone just thought a ghost story in space would somehow be entertaining and well… it isn’t.

Because going this route is just plain filler storytelling wise. The kind that does nothing to advance the characters or offer anything special to the audience and to make matters worse, a lot of what happens here… makes zero sense. For example, how the heck is a spirit or transformed corporeal being, able to possess an android? That’s just silly and really, this is just a tired and cliché plot when all is said and done, and the overall episode is boring because of that. For we know it is only a matter of time before the crew is saved and that there is no real danger present here and well, that means the only real highlight in this particular tale, is the acting. Because it does let Marina Sirtis and Brent Spiner and Colm Meaney play darker versions of themselves and they do indeed handle that in an entertaining and earnest manner.

But outside of that, this really is quite the forgettable tale, one that is filled with action and adventure, sure, since the entities that possess our heroes are nasty villains/convicts that love to throw down… but all of that is gratuitous at best and would have been better served in another tale. One that wasn’t poorly written and full of unoriginal plot threads that didn’t work decades before when Roddenberry and company tried them out at NBC with Kirk’s crew, and that’s disappointing to say the least. Since the series was on a hot streak storytelling wise, and what’s worse… is that this isn’t the worst ghost story that this series had to offer. But that, is a mess we’ll cover in season seven. So, in the meantime, it’s best we simply do our best to forget this particular mess and move on to far better tales. Such as the next episode, which takes the time to deal with a supremely philosophical matter that we are still grappling with, today. Until next time.

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