11001010 is a natural progression from The Big Goodbye. Both episodes are based on the holodeck functioning in such a way as to make its creations more “real”. There are, however, two major difference between the episodes. First, while The Big Goodbye focuses on making the setting of the holodeck more real (bullets can actually kill), 11001001 focuses on just one character: Minuet. The other difference is that the secondary storyline of 11001001 is much more plausible and engaging. The only criticism is that it seemed a tad bit too easy for the Bynars to steal The Enterprise — but not easy enough to be a major concern.

All of this would seem to point to an episode much improved over The Big Goodbye. Not necessarily. For starters, the setting of 11001001 is a jazz club on Bourbon Street, New Orleans, circa 1950s, as opposed to San Francisco, 1941. Both locales rate high on the “cool” factor. The difference being that the jazz club is a much more personal, intimate setting. And for it to work, you have to buy into Riker’s fantasy. That is, you have to believe that Riker could potentially fall in love with a computer program. The actress who plays Minuet does an excellent job of allowing the audience believe she as “sultry” as Riker sees her. So if you buy into it, the result is a much richer experience than of the cops & robbers of The Big Goodbye. If you don’t buy it, the scene becomes almost entirely cringe-worthy. Personally, the scene works for me.

Riker, as the main focus of the episode once again performs well enough. He has some spectacular moments (such as his wise crack about a blind man teaching an android how to paint) and some shaky moments (his first introduction to Minuet). Picard doesn’t have as much to do, but he handles the crisis about his ship with authority.

Whether you prefer this episode to The Big Goodbye all depends on taste. 11001001 is a much more well-rounded episode, but The Big Goodbye as cops, robbers, and cool-looking hats. And only because 11001001 is more well rounded, I rate it just slightly higher. Otherwise, you have two very similar episodes that are just as fun to watch.

Topics: Holodeck
Filed under: TNG Reviews