Up The Long Ladder is entertaining, but it just isn’t very good, either.

The scenes involving the Bringloidis provide for the best entertainment of the episode. Seeing a chicken fly out of the Transporter Room is good for a few laughs — as is seeing Danilo Odell drink a Klingon alcoholic beverage. As Picard says: “sometimes … you just have to bow to the absurd.” And so we do, for the sake of the episode, but unfortunately the humorous moments, unlike The Outrageous Okona, serve very little overall purpose.

The other storyline involves a much more advanced culture that is based on clones. It is a very interesting concept, but given that we aren’t introduced to it until at least halfway through the episode, the ideas and conflict just aren’t able to develop properly. The result is that the ethical questions, mystery, and even horror, are rushed — which simply minimizes their impact.

The ultimate resolution to this episode, the “marriage” of the Bringloidis and the Meriposans, also feels a bit rushed.

Up The Long Ladder is a decent season two episode — which means it just doesn’t hold up to what TNG will become.

Filed under: TNG Reviews