Star Trek TNG S03E04-06 Who Watches the Watchers, The Bonding, Booby Trap – “The Actual 50th Episode” | First Time Reaction – To Baldly Go Podcast (Ep. 050)

First-Time Watch – Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 03, Episodes 04-06 Welcome to another episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast, in which I – a newbie to the Star Trek universe – am watching through Star Trek from the beginning, in release order, and discussing with some of my long-time Trekkie friends. This week, we get: Explanations for things we don’t understand No man can step in the same river twice Human intuition We covered: Who Watches the Watchers The Bonding Booby Trap “Who Watches the Watchers” gives us a damaged Federation observation post, a pre-warp civilization, and a Prime Directive disaster that accidentally turns Captain Picard into a god figure. We talk through the episode’s critique of religion, whether that critique is fair, and how much of belief comes from trying to explain things we do not yet understand. “The Bonding” is a heavier episode centered on grief, loss, and a child trying to process the death of his mother. We discuss how difficult the episode is to get a clean read on, how life experience can change the way we receive a story, and why this may represent an important turning point for Star Trek: The Next Generation. “Booby Trap” traps the Enterprise in an ancient battlefield and gives Geordi a holographic engineering partner who helps him work through the problem. We get into the cool sci-fi premise, the uneven execution, Picard’s ship-in-a-bottle enthusiasm, Geordi being a bit creepy, and somehow end up talking about Tommy Boy, Chris Farley, John Candy, John Belushi, and Rick Moranis. Next time: Star Trek: The Next Generation S03E07-09 — The Enemy, The Price, and The Vengeance Factor.