https://14kltzj.podcaster.en/download/TaD178-_TNG325-_Transfigurations_dj5n.Download mp3 Episode (MP3, 64 MB)
4. June 1990:
After the Enterprise picks up a devastating casualty, he turns out to be a fast-healing, amnesiac, terribly empathetic space Jesus. Beverly can’t help but fall for this one. Even our unlucky Geordi walks on the sunny side of life for a few weeks.
Germany: Who is John?, aired on 10. August 1993.
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This post has 27 comments
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15 Sep 2020 Answers
Yawnnnnn…was what? & Good that we agree there…pretty lean fare…but such a bit of calm before the storm , is not bad&&
The Tecno blubber is already important, because otherwise they wouldn’t even fly in the direction to meet the interceptor. I think it’s well done too, because graphically it’s quite elaborate. I always like it very much, when Star Trek works with such graphics and especially maps. There you realize again that you are on a ship.
I find the Gordi story quite funny this time and I almost feel like they just want to do something good for Gordi.
What bothers me is this SF idea of the transformation of a human being into a pure spirit being, i.e. the idea that the next stage of evolution is the detachment from the body. I find this a bit stale taken from early SF and also poorly reasoned. We experience nowadays rather the Cyborgisierung of humans by the optimization of the body, sharpened with the superheroes with special physical abilities. No Marvel hero is a spirit being, is he?
Hi Light Echo!
The "transformation to a pure spirit being" belongs to Star Trek at least since the "Battle for Organia". Behind this is probably the idea of a continuous higher development of life, as it was formerly held by practically all evolutionists. Today, when we see that mankind is gradually destroying its livelihood – and in view of various irresponsible politicians – not everyone believes that anymore.&
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28 Oct 2020 Reply
That it comes with the evolution to a higher development, is the thesis of the "Intelligent Design" people, thus the "through the back door" creationists.
Representatives of the theory of evolution actually already assumed since Darwin that the evolution is undirected.
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2 Feb 2021 Reply
Purposeful or not, the exciting thing to me is that in all likelihood we are not "finished evolving". That is already a thought that stimulates the imagination.
Did you miscount a little bit with your episodes? The episode did not come out on Star Trek day, but one week later.
About the episode: I’m probably too simple, but John’s white suit always made me stare at his crotch. That was at least as clear as with Decker in the first movie.
Something like that must stand out in the production.
I would veto that as an actor, wouldn’t I??
Oh, we may have misunderstood each other there. Recorded Was on Star Trek day, not published.
Good night,
Sebastian
Ah so. Maybe I didn’t listen closely enough, I was just driving! &
Probably the old TV picture did not look so wild – at the latest with HD it becomes then difficult&
"I’m probably too simple, but John’s white suit always made me stare at his crotch"
I felt the same way.
Qs, Trelanes, Organians, Metrons, Dowd, Olympian and other gods as well as John and co.: When entering the next plane of existence, please detach from the material one and do not push it. There are enough seats there for everyone. The same applies to humans who might have come into contact with the galactic barrier below.
I find it exciting that Simon mentions Andreas Katsulas. He starred in the science fiction series "Babylon 5" and in that series there is an episode that has a very similar storyline to "Transfigurations". It’s called "Mind War", is the 6. Sequence of the 1. season and was ca. Aired 4 years after "Transfigurations".
The "Psi Corps", an organization that takes in and trains telepathically gifted people on behalf of the Earth government, conducts experiments on telepath Jason Ironheart. Thus Ironheart develops unexpected forces, which he himself can no longer control. He escapes from the Psi Corps facility to the space station Babylon 5. His ex-colleagues Kelsey and Bester are chasing Ironheart and are supposed to arrest him. Ironheart can’t stay on Babylon 5 either, because his powers are evolving faster and faster and he would inadvertently destroy the station. In the end he escapes his captors, leaves the station in a small spaceship and finally experiences his "ascension" to a higher plane of existence by transforming into an energy being. Bester is played by Walter Koenig by the way.
I wonder if Joseph Michael Straczynski ("JMS" for short), the creator of "Babylon 5", used a TNG episode as inspiration. In any case, I would not be surprised.
The "thumbs down" for "Transfigurations" is OK. I’ve seen it once, guaranteed, but couldn’t remember it and haven’t watched it again now. It’s just the "calm before the storm".
LG
Michael from Outer Space
Once again, the Trek on Tuesday episode is miles better than the episode discussed… Nice to see them all again this way.
I really had to watch the scene with Bill in front of the turbolift. He waits a bit and you just want to think, his Bahncard 100 must have expired yesterday … but then the door opens and the wild ride continues.
There is little more to say about the consequence. You have described that exhaustively.
But, and so you know me, I have a comment on the meta level.
Simon spoke of John’s "race," immediately reprimanded himself and corrected to "John’s people".
I am fully aware that this correction is based on the praiseworthy endeavor to remove the ground from racism in all its manifestations.
From my point of view, however, one must take into account the fact that new terminology does not eliminate undesirable concepts.
In describing the group from which John comes, it is ultimately his genetic background that matters. The correct term to describe genetic origin is race. However the term is occupied according to personal opinion. In contrast, the term "people" describes a political affiliation – and thus something quite different.
I feel it is reasonable and appropriate not to differentiate by "race" within humanity. Man is man.
In contrast, I find it exaggerated, inappropriate and misleading to distinguish between different species according to "peoples. Because the thought process remains the same – it differentiates in this concrete form by genetic inheritance. If at all, one would have to speak of "kind" or even species. People is not true in any case.
I think Torq is absolutely right! To me, too, the terms "race" and "people" are extremely problematic and crudely overloaded by their use and abuse over the last two centuries. In my head, when I talk about Star Trek peeps, I always talk about "species. There’s always something wonderfully alien about it too.
Klingon perfume? Clearly blood and sweat.
Why guests on the Enterprise have to wear tight-fitting clothes? So that they can’t pocket anything, ashtrays, USB sticks, silver spoons or so.
This episode is probably a classic case of "nobody knows what they’re doing, but everybody’s doing it".
That funny gun, does it attack the nervous system?? Then even Data could be affected, which, I think, also works electrically.
Oh, now I have finally been able to hear you (almost) all the way to the end. You had already mentioned Organia, of course. Finally another thought comes to my mind, namely Stargate SG 1. There were also a few guys "ascended" and one then played an evil "god". Should this have been an attempt to make fun of believing people or the faith itself, then the responsible persons have done a good job.
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28 Oct 2020 Responses
"Why guests need to wear tight-fitting clothes on the Enterprise? So they can’t pocket anything, ashtrays, USB sticks, silver spoons, or so."
=> You can see later on Berlinghoff Rasmussen, what happens when you let someone walk through the Enterprise with a wide coat. If they had put him in a white romper suit he would have been better off!
Tell me, you always talk about Beverly and Wesley as a badly played mother-daughter relationship? Is this an insider I do not understand? & Isn’t Wesley rather your son?? I felt the same way as you about this episode.. normally I see an episode for a few seconds and then I know which one it is. Here it takes..
The episode is quite dull and the guest star colorless. But you can watch it, I found the episode before much worse. Give me a thumbs up, with a wiggle down.
This seems to be a recurring slip of the tongue, which is now becoming an insider with TaD listeners. In the last weeks they still corrected it, this time not. Question is whether intentional or accidental&
Evening you two,
Have a good start to the week, the day after tomorrow there will be a ruckus in the cube
Sebastian
There’s not much exciting about the episode, what do you want to talk about it for?. It was the first time in a long time that I typed on my phone while watching it. Whether the natural next stage of development of an organic being would be the energetic without that there is still something from the outside influence, I dare to doubt, but so be it. I personally liked the actor of John, even if I didn’t like the talk about the love affair.T. was too esoteric. Your Jesus comparison somehow didn’t come to me at all. And I don’t see him as a messiah at all, more a kind of pioneer. It’s about something real, which he can prove through his transformation. This is not about faith, but evolution, which has been suppressed so far.
Well, next week will be better, I’m already curious about the 2.5 hours ☺️
Yesterday the episode already watched again I hope for a 5h Cast&
I could actually remember the episode very well. But that’s probably because it’s one of the first TNG episodes I "started" with back then. Objectively speaking, it’s not really a good episode, all in all.
The Geordi plot is quite droll, but it seems a bit contrived. A few months ago he pulls out all the stops of bad taste to get her around and now that Christy finally wants to, he can’t open his mouth? Sorry, but that would have been much more believable if it had just not been Christy now. According to the motto, he was rejected so badly the last time, that he is totally intimidated now. But so… he doesn’t even have to make an effort, the way Christy pines for him. But at least there are two nice scenes with Worf… also worth something.
As far as the A-plot is concerned, I really like the idea of showing how such a god-being-evolution could happen and what kind of accompanying circumstances this brings along in the respective society. I also liked the mask at the beginning of "broken" John.
Also that he is already called "John Doe" before his awakening and the knowledge of his amnesia is in my eyes no mistake. That’s the name given to anyone whose identity is not clear, regardless of whether he knows who he is or not. Therefore completely legitimate.
Totally dumb is again this white romper suit, which they put on him later. It’s a one-piece with a zipper in the back! There the alone comes nevertheless not at all out or in… I mean, how goes the type then from loo. I kind of feel sorry for the actor.
Beverly and John have no chemistry at all and the crowning glory is the glowing full body fetish suit at the end. Then one is also glad when it’s over.
Conclusion: Thumbs across with goodwill.
Oh, in Canada Star Trek was already on two days earlier? I did not know that yet.
Your sleeve cuffs got some while mopping up the brown sludge in the basement?:
For me, "Who is John?"pretty much the dumbest title the German TNG synchro has ever produced.
Christy said in "Booby Trap" that she was not interested in Geordi. This has obviously changed in the meantime, because she is the one who takes the initiative and approaches him. And she also looks after Geordi when he leaves the Ten Foreward.
By the way, the "blue bottle" reminded me of Zak McKracken, where at the end you have to attach these three lights to the machine.
Well, I see it differently than Sebastian, I think that Mark LaMura plays John Doe actually quite well. Gentle and strong at the same time, but also always keeps his composure.
The fact that the love affair doesn’t work, as you say, is probably due to the fact that it is, strictly speaking, only one-sided. Beverly has fallen in love, but John Doe only has friendly feelings.
I didn’t find the techno babble in this episode that overdone at all. This has all been worked into the sequence quite conclusively, hasn’t it?!
And it’s also not like Simon says that the Enterprise would have encountered the Zalkonians anyway. No, they only met because they were heading for the system three weeks away. So finding the star map was elementary for the progress of the plot.
You can tell that Sunad is the bad guy by the fact that he wears black gloves. ^^
By the way, this is for me the best scene of the whole episode: after Sunad has cut off the oxygen to the Enterprise, we see Picard’s face in long shot. At first you don’t see much, because only very slowly Picard’s facial features slip away and the viewer just thinks: ‘Huh?? What is nu?’
Actually, Data could have organized a load of Tri-Ox in the meantime!
My conclusion? I am not quite as harsh in my judgment as you two are. It was not exactly outstanding, but still quite nice. Thumbs across!
As other listeners have pointed out above, I didn’t find the Jesus reference as strong as you did.
As Don says, I also found it surprising that Christy suddenly shows interest in Geordi. Maybe she had interest in him before, but then was put off by his blatant insecurity. Does it stay like this now? Is the problem for Geordi now permanently solved??
I find it totally exciting that for once it is shown how energy beings develop. Here, however, the leap goes much too fast for me. With Apollon I found it somehow more credible. Don’t know why either.
Ah, the episode that every time I watch it, I think I’ve never watched it before. And then you also get in such a way that it is similar to you. &
Think there for example always that the Bill saved the Jean-Luc a souvenir from the ruins, because he simply paid attention concerning the childhood of his boss well, notice however shortly afterwards: Ah, no, not a ship in a bottle.
I would like to join the general thumbs-down, but since my favorite moment somehow fell under the table, I have to mention it here again: Worf’s bombshell advice to Geordi that Christy needs to see the fire in Geordi’s eyes when she looks at him – and Geordi’s "real-now"?" facial expression on it is well worth turning on. Is also right at the beginning, after that you can turn off again.
The purest storytelling desert, probably true. I was glad when it was over. The wide spectrum between ingenious-amazing and deadly boring is quite astonishing. What could have been accomplished by not scaring away all the established quality writers. Well, afterwards one is always smarter. Are the decision makers of that time also?
That with the beer monks had its good reason. To put it flippantly: rather become a moderate alcoholic and live quite long instead of dying of contaminated water at the age of 15. It is just that simple. Monasteries were already centers of knowledge in the early Middle Ages, and it had long been noticed that polluted water can make you sick and, if necessary, cause illness. could be fatal. Beer was brewed once a week. The water was drawn from the "Braubach". Many small waters are still called this today. On the bride’s day it was forbidden to dump feces into the waters. Beer mash is boiled = pasteurization. Alcoholic fermentation, correctly handled, with good air exclusion, leaves no chance for (aerobic) putrefaction germs. The life expectancy was not high anyway. Who drank this low-percentage beer, or with better well-off wine, which had also much less %, was at least before bacterial poisoning quite safe. Also children and young people drank beer. The times up to the late 1940s were always calorie-deficit times in Europe, too, so beer was also nutrition, every calorie counted.
You just have to look at it with a different eye. Beer at 4.8 or wine at 14% didn’t exist back then, and people rarely drank for effect. I think the moderation and enjoyment of beer and wine in Italy should be a model for us today. Being really starl intoxicated there is more for social problem cases. As with meat in the "Fruhschoppen": rare, but with relish… wouldn’t that be a good motto to find moderation and middle ground?