The Dauphin (Star Trek TNG)

The Dauphin (Star Trek TNG)

Wesley Crusher falls in love for the first time...to an ape-like creature. The Film Sack guys did another amusing commentary for the second season episode “The Dauphin”.

When it first aired, I remember watching this episode over at my grandmother's house. While it is still considered a terrible episode, there are some nice moments here and there. I'm not sure why they decided to mix a standard two-unlikely lovers story with a shape-shifter subplot.

And, the shape-shifter bits are embarrassingly dreadful. The entire episode amounts to nothing and seems like a filler. It isn't as bad as the Space Hippies episode, but it isn't the best TNG has to offer either. From the beginning of the third season, the show shifted to better writing.

Wesley turns all emo and emotes in his quarters.

Overall, the episode is bad with some cheap special effects that seem like a throwback to the 60's horror flicks, and I don't think they did that on purpose.  

Notes

~Mädchen Amick: She makes an appearance in the episode as another form of the Old Lady. I realized that her face looked familiar. Amick has a steady career as actress in a lot of TV shows. She's really cute.

~Security works pretty fast in this episode when the old lady morphs into the ape-like monster.  I also liked that when she morphs back into the old lady, Worf threatens to hit her. 

~The Holodeck FX is a little terrible, but they filmed the episode back in 1989.  So, it is understandable.     

~The old lady threatens Worf! 

~The Guinan/Riker scene is very cute, and probably the best scene in the episode. 

~Another great moment is between Guinan and emo Wesley at the end of the episode. 

~Jaime Hubbard (not related to founder of the Space Church, as far as I know) pretty much gave up acting in 1995 with her last role being on Platypus Man. Take that any way you want to. It is a real shame she didn't go on to do more roles, because she isn't that bad in the episode. There is very little about her on the Internet.

~I've mentioned this before, but I don't think some people on the writing staff liked the Worf character early on. He's been beaten up by a 70 year old man, an android, an animal thing and owned by a shape-shifting old woman. They started making Worf a badass in the third season when Michael Piller took over.