30th Anniversary TNG Episode Discussion Marathon

[Nate the Great]

PICARD: Setting, San Francisco California, United States Of America. The year, 1945 A.D. The office of Dixon Hill, Private Investigator.
COMPUTER: Programme complete. You may enter when ready.

Ah, the early days of the holodeck when the scenario had to be constructed from the ground up each time. How I don't miss them...

MADELINE: Hi, Dix.
PICARD: Madeline. Good to see you again.
MADELINE: You're too much, Dix. You make it sound like you ain't seen me in a year.

Really, Picard hasn't been here since "The Big Goodbye"? I get that it's a joke for the viewers, but it doesn't make sense in-universe.

MADELINE: Are you kidding? The last time we had a new case, Hitler and Stalin were bosom buddies.

Given limited research, Madeline is referring to 1941, with it being 1945 now. I call four years to be stretching hyperbole a bit. I'd have used "the last time we had a new case, we weren't at war yet."

(Picard takes off his coat and hat, turns on the radio and looks around. The song is 'Let's Get Away From It All, sung by a group that sounds like the Beverly Sisters. He sits down, puts his feet up on the desk and relaxes)

The Beverly Sisters were sort of the British version of the Andrews Sisters, from the 1950s. Anachronistic. "Let's Get Away From It All" was written in 1941, but it didn't become a standard until the late '50s. Anachronistic.

LWAXANA: Unavailable? Ship's business? You mean ship's business takes precedence over me?
TROI: I'm afraid so, Mother.
LWAXANA: Oh, well, he was too old for me anyway.

Lwaxana's age was never established, but for the sake of argument let's say she was the same age as Majel Barrett at the time of this episode: 57. Picard is sixty at this point. Even if we push Lwaxana a bit younger, I don't really consider this age gap insurmountable, especially for the era of extended lifespans in the 24th century.

WORF: I am not a man.
LWAXANA: Which is in your favour, men so often being irrational and egotistical. But unfortunately, I've grown accustomed to human companionship. Pity. You'd have made a fine choice.

The use of "man" as an exclusive reference to humanity seems a bit odd here. Lwaxana preferring human companionship seems odd, given that she had a Betazoid husband before Ian ("Dark Page", which is after this, granted).

LWAXANA: Well, who's next, Mister Homn?
(Homn thinks, then puts his hand across his eyes)
LWAXANA: Ah yes.

Geordi? Really? The guy is terrible with women, he's way too young for her, being only a year older than Deanna, and doesn't have the skills to help lead the Fifth House. And is he likely to leave the ship, or did Lwaxana really get ambassadorial status only to give it up to be an officer's wife? Or does this "Phase" allow for living separately with occasional booty calls?

PICARD: Ah, now let me see. That would be Scotch, neat.

"I was drinking Scotch a hundred years before you were born and I can tell you that whatever this is, it is definitely not Scotch."

TROI: Mother, what are you doing here? You can't just stroll on to the Bridge whenever you feel like it.
LWAXANA: I didn't just stroll on, dear. I took the turbo tube, or whatever you call it.

This is a real question-why did the turbolift even let her on the Bridge? One would imagine that you'd either need a commbadge or your specific lifesigns programmed into the list of allowed users. Then again, I suppose Lwaxana's ambassadorial status allows her full access to secure areas. It's still rude of Lwaxana, of course.

REX: I'm as jumpy as Haircut Lapinski trying to land on a fraction.

You'd think there would be someone the studio could call about '40s-era colloquialisms. This one just sounds dumb, the New Math won't hit the scene for almost twenty years!

RIKER: Well, troubles. We've got some, Captain. It seems that a certain woman, both wealthy and beautiful, now thinks that that she's going to marry me.

It's the "wealthy" part that confuses me. Betazoid strikes me as a culture that may care about nobility and titles, but is still post-scarcity and moneyless. The Sacred Chalice of Rixx is just a moldy clay pot, after all, symbolic rather than commercial value.

LWAXANA: Hello, computer? Is Commander Riker still on the Bridge?
COMPUTER: Negative. Riker is currently in holodeck three.

You'd think she could've asked about the captain earlier, but it's amazing how many plotholes can be dismissed with the excuse of "the Phase is muddling her thinking."

LWAXANA: He's strong. I get no thoughts from him at all. Nothing. I've never known a man so able to keep his true feelings completely hidden.

The idea of a race immune to Betazoid telepathy is unknown to her? Chalk another plothole up to Phase-muddled thinking...

LWAXANA: Don't bother to deny it. Your minds are so unsophisticated I can read your thoughts in my sleep. Their robes are lined with ultritium, highly explosive, virtually undetectable by your transporter.

I don't like the idea of a substance that isn't covered by ordinary scans, but only shows up when you specifically tell the computer to look for it. I'd prefer it if each delegate had one part of a two-part explosive, each part totally benign unless you're in the presence of something available on the planet that could combine them.

Memory Alpha

* First appearance of Robert O'Reilley, as Scarface. We won't see him as a human again until "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang."

Nitpicker's Guide

* It's odd that Picard wears a dress uniform a lot this episode, but Troi doesn't.
* Phil questions why Troi didn't detect any malicious intent on the part of the Antedians. Easy answer, she wasn't around them when they weren't in stasis until the end, and by then she was distracted by her mother.
* Phil also questions how Picard got so much more adept at smoking between "The Big Goodbye" and if the damage reverses itself. I can't dispute the first part, this seems like only his second time in the world of Dixon Hill. The second part is easy-the holodeck can duplicate every aspect of a cigarette except the damaging part.
* Phil claims that the Dixon Hill part takes place in 1941 when radios took time to warm up (although it would make the Hitler/Stalin reference more accurate). In "The Big Goodbye" 1941 is specified, but in this episode Picard clearly says 1945. While it's not weird to think that the literary adventures of Hill take place over four years, one wonders why they changed the year for this.