#tng relics

[filmjunky-99]

r e m e m b e r i n g

James Doohan

3 March 1920 – 20 July 2005

⚘️

[pic: doohan as scotty, relics, tng]

[dilfoez]

[startrekvsfaceapp]

[dat4l0re]

[departmentq]

[bumbleboyart]

everyone always says “beam me up scotty” but who beams up mr scott?

evidently this ep got to me more than i thought it did, man lost in time both left behind and leaving behind. agh

[gettheorion]

[eleftherian]

why is this ep making Scotty sad! he’s just a little guy

[stra-tek]

They need to make a whole series about a small group of Starfleet officers or civilian scientists in a tiny science ship investigating the UNCOMPREHENDABLY ENOURMOUS Dyson Sphere from "Relics"

Think Ringworld meets Lost

Yes I know the Sphere from "Relics" was unstable, maybe they find another one. There was one in a TOS novel too but it fell into a black hole.

Who built it?

Where did they go and why?

Who else may have found the Sphere and made a home there?

Endless forests, cities, sewers, hi-tech places, impossible vistas done on their VR screens. Even if it's not a Trek show, the concept is too good to be a B-plot in an episode then never mentioned again!

[ladyofdecember]

I just watched that episode where Scott gets pulled from the transporter onto NCC 1701-D and meets Picard and them. And he's having a really hard time because he's been missing for like 54 years presumed dead. And all of his friends are dead. And yeah. It's super sad. 😢🥺

Anyway, he goes to one of the holosuites in order to visit the old bridge/Enterprise he's familiar with. And I am sitting here debating with myself about which ship is better. 🤔

I mean on one hand, the 1701-D has tremendous leaps in technology and has kickass characters like LaForge and Data! But then there's just something about Those Old Scientists and the original 1701 you know? 😀

[filmjunky-99]

s t a r t r e k t h e n e x t g e n e r a t i o n created by gene roddenberry Captain Montgomery Scott [relics, s6ep4]

'Synthetic Scotch, synthetic commanders.' - scotty [to data]

[dilfoez]

nobody's up right now? okay cool

"Scotty faded out. No one cared that he was gone. No one looked for him. If they had Picard would have told him straight away that his former crewmates had tried in vain to find and never gave up."

"The happy ending however is that he's alive in a new century. Hopefully he can make some real friends."

this reddit post haunts me

[startrekvsfaceapp]

[spocks-husband]

Hey Relic is the saddest fucking episode ever produced of anything ever and we don't talk about that enough

[startrekplotnthemes]

Season 6 Episode 4 Relics 

Discovering a Dyson sphere, a large superstructure that encompasses a sun to absorb its energy and distribute it, the Enterprise also encounters a distress signal from the USS Jenolan, a ship that had been missing for 75 years. Warping aboard the ship La Forge discovers that the transporter has been jury rigged to maintain two signals indefinitely. Reversing the process, La Forge is able to bring back Montgomery Scott but is unable to reconstitute the other signal. Returning to the Enterprise, Scotty marvels at the new technology and after getting cleared by Beverly makes his way to engineering. He quickly discovers however that some of his knowledge is obsolete such as when he grows concerned about some crystals in their casing. An annoyed La Forge asks him to leave engineering and a dejected Scotty complies.

Making his way to ten forward and the bar, he orders a scotch before realizing that all the alcohol has been replaced by synthehol, Days offers him some actual liquor from Guinan’s supply and he makes his way to the holodeck where he recreates the bridge of the original Enterprise. He wallows in self pity before Picard finds him and the two begin to exchange stories of their history with StarFleet. Picard identifies the alcohol he has obtained as Aldebrean whiskey until Scotty decides he's had enough pouting and ends the simulation. Picard asks La Forge to travel with Scotty to the Jenolan in order to recover survey data.

The two slowly repair their relationship aboard the old ship as Scotty is able to show off his expertise and know-how while using the older systems. He corrects La Forge in a couple of areas, including a part where he wrote the book for the engine La Forge is working on, explaining its real capacity he committed for safety reasons. While this occurs the Enterprise approaches a hatch on the Dyson sphere. Thinking it is some sort of communication huh they send out a signal, yet that ends up triggering the hatch to open and the gravitational pull of the ship inside. Coming within range of the star inside they find it is emitting deadly amounts of radiation and that the shields can only hold out for so long. 

Back on the Jenolan Scotty and La Forge work out how to get the ship flight worthy after finding the signal of the Enterprise has disappeared they take the ship to the hatch where Scotty is able to deduce they were dragged in. Coming up with a risky plans Scotty has the hatch open and uses the Jenolan to jam the hatch from closing, giving the Enterprise the opportunity to slip through, beaming the two engineers aboard before blowing up the Jenolan to clear the way. Back aboard and post disaster, Scotty talks with the La Forge telling him to appreciate his time as chief engineer since he can only feel that sort of feeling once before he is led to shuttle bay. The senior staff of the Enterprise see Scotty off, awarding him with a shuttle craft to go where he wants.

This episode is heavily nostalgic with the return of Scotty. Despite the aspects of fan service, the episode managed to hit on aspects of living your best life and addressing older people who feel like they have hit their peak a long time ago. Scotty spends a lot of his time recalling his glory days and when he was at his peak as chief engineer. In telling La Forge to treasure his time aboard the Enterprise it is a message to appreciate ones youth and when you're operating at your prime. He waxes poetics about women and ships that one can only experience their first time once, such as Picard recalling his first time captaining aboard a rickety ship. By the end of the episode Scotty has come to have a vigor as he rediscovers his ability to contribute and be useful while working on the Jenolan. It is communication between the Original Series and the Next Generation. Things have changed but the advances of the Next Generation would not have been possible without the original.

[quasi-normalcy]

So very much this.

Like, there's this scene in Picard, season 3, where they all go onto the reconstructed Bridge of the Enterprise-D.

and, you know, it's supposed to hit you right in the feels, but the problem (one of them) is that Lower Decks and Prodigy had both already done lovingly detailed reconstructions of the TNG bridge less than 2 years earlier.

Contrast this with Scotty returning the original Enterprise bridge in TNG "Relics" back in 1992:

it was the first time that this bridge had appeared since the animated series in the 70s, and it wouldn't turn up again on screen until ENT "Through a Mirror Darkly" nearly 13 years later.

And, on each occasion, it was vastly more impactful than it would have been otherwise.

Pandering to nostalgia is how franchises die.