"Revenge is a dish best served cold!" or by a crazy Ferengi. I always enjoy episodes that delve into Star Trek's past and create new roots to draw on, and "The Battle" is one such episode. In this episode, we are introduced to Picard's first ship, the U.S.S Stargazer.

I was sort of surprised at how large the Stargazer was. When you saw it next to the Enterprise, it was only a little bit shorter. I would think an older ship like the Stargazer would be smaller than that. Also, I found it interesting that the bridge of a nine year old ship is so different from the Enterprise-D's. The SG's bridge looked like that of the Enterprise-A. The ship design is decent, even though it isn't a personal favorite of mine.

I think this is one of the first episodes that showcased Patrick Stewart very well. Stewart's acting as Picard was always amazing, but when Picard had an emotional, powerful, or heart warming scene, Stewart added something special to the role that was not always present in a normal scene. This was also the first "Picard" episode that showcased a past trouble or issue that causes Picard to confront his inner demons. These usually make for some of the better episodes in all of Trek.

I must admit I thought "The Picard Maneuver" was pretty cool. Warp speed for a second, get right up in their face, and blow them away! Priceless!

Now, until I watched DS9 I hated the Ferengi. The pointy little fangs, the big lobes, the quirky and jerky movements, etc. In the first few episodes of TNG, I think they really made the Ferengi out to be annoying little capitalistic trolls. But once the perfected their culture, changed their ways a tad, and cast Armin Shimmerman as Quark, these crazy little guys grew on you.

Although this was a good episode, it was a tad drab. The story was pretty much, Picard had a headache, Damon Bok groped his little pink orb and gave Picard a worse headache. I must admit. This had to be one of the most creative revenge plots I've come across. One thing I noticed is that this episode's space scenes were very VERY light. Well, that doesn't matter too much just an observation. I'd give this episode a 4 star rating.

RATING:

out of 5

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