91 – Night Terrors

Grade: B-

Summary

The Enterprise investigates a lost ship on which all crew members are dead – except one Betazed counselor who is in a catatonic state. What could have happened to this crew that would have made them kill each other?

Commentary

Most of this episode is pretty creepy and it has a great horror atmosphere. I love the parts when they’re investigating the other ship, and when Dr Crusher is examining all the dead bodies in the morgue. It’s just a spooky episode. It’s weird that it’s not even Halloween.

But the acting is a bit of a letdown. Much of this episode depends on Marina Sirtis’ acting, and as far as I’m concerned, she’s the worst actress in this series (ever since Denise Crosby left). So the acting is pretty mediocre, in general, though there are some good performances from the others.

But what it lacks in acting, it makes up for in atmosphere and storyline. The mystery of what’s going on isn’t wrapped up too quickly, as is common in this series. But at the same time, parts of the storyline seem to drag a bit, and I was tempted to fast-forward some parts. I didn’t, but seeing Troi in her nightmare more than two times really seemed unnecessary.

In summary, this is probably one you should see, though there isn’t that much that you’d miss if you didn’t see it. I give it a B-. It definitely could have been better.

Of Note

In one part, Guinan breaks out a ‘souvenir’ that doesn’t look realistic at all. It’s kind of a funny scene, though it obviously isn’t meant that way. But the weapon she pulls out really looks funny.