Defend the Indefensible: The Royale

[Bryan Moore]

I know there are a lot of haters. I am going to take a page from the famous "I Love Music" website and try a "Defend the Indefensible" topic, where I defend an episode/plot point/nit/whatever that is considered by most to be awful. The first installment: The Royale

The plot synopsis, for those of you that don't remember: Riker/Worf/Data are trapped on a planet whose alien lifeforms reproduce a sleazy casino from an old Earth trash novel. The crew must figure out their way out or be trapped forever.

Was this a good episode? No.

Was this as consistent as most other Trek episodes? No.

Was this an all-time low? No.

I'm not going to say "I love this episode!" from the Darmok sense, because it's quite far from it. Its cornball, contrived, and totally hammed up, but for me, it works. I'll admit to being biased and admit that it was a favorite as a kid, as it was one of the first episodes I VIVIDLY remember watching as a kid with my dad when it was newly aired (the skeleton in the bed scared the shit out of me, and i loved seeing Mr. Dewey from Growing Pains as the desk clerk). But all and all, it had its positive aspects, which, in my opinion were:

1) Light-hearted episode that was goofy and cornball, but never took itself too seriously in trying to convey a moral with the ridiculous characters
2) Interesting look at early-Earth travel. We find out that the US by 2031 (I believe) had 52 states, that there were manned extra-solar missions, etc.
3) This had a classic TOS feel to it. If this was with Kirk, Spock, McCoy on the planet, I think it would be seen in a similar light to "Shore Leave" or another "Alien hijinks with a distinctly recognizable aspect" plot. This may not be a justification for why it was a good episode, but it keeps it from bottoming out to the crap that The Child, Shades of Grey, or other stinkers were.
4) The formula, while nothing spectacular, fits with a widely accepted plot ark. Aliens mean to do well/misunderstand, something goes wrong, crew finds its way out without violence.
5) It is NOT: Bogged down in technobable; bogged down in moralizing; bogged down in using the goofy characters to prove a point (i.e. The Way to Eden, And the Children Shall lead.)

Overall, I really feel that this episode, above all others, gets a bad rap on this forum and others. I won't nominate it for a DITLie Award of Excellence, but the as contrived as it was and absurd/silly as it was, it was not due to complete bullshyte like Threshold, Force of Nature, or The Muse. Its painful to watch, but in a sort of enjoyable way. Watching Data interact with cliches is really a great moment (imagine Worf punching out the Texan with the hat out of frustration) and while it wasn't developed, I like the idea of an earthling stumbling upon the planet centuries ago, getting that glimpse we so rarely saw.

That'll do it for me =)

[Mikey]

I'll respond to each point in turn:

1) Light-hearted episode that was goofy and cornball, but never took itself too seriously in trying to convey a moral with the ridiculous characters

Great if it's a primarily humorous ep (a la "Qpid.") This was not, so the lack of weight doesn't help.

2) Interesting look at early-Earth travel. We find out that the US by 2031 (I believe) had 52 states, that there were manned extra-solar missions, etc.

True enough. Not so much that I came away from the ep with htat, but enough that I can agree with you upon reading this.

3) This had a classic TOS feel to it. If this was with Kirk, Spock, McCoy on the planet, I think it would be seen in a similar light to "Shore Leave" or another "Alien hijinks with a distinctly recognizable aspect" plot. This may not be a justification for why it was a good episode, but it keeps it from bottoming out to the crap that The Child, Shades of Grey, or other stinkers were.

It had the appearance but not the soul. In "Shore Leave," for example, the contrived action served to highlight character exploration. This didn't - at least, not past the archetypes of the characters rather than the characters themselves.

4) The formula, while nothing spectacular, fits with a widely accepted plot ark.

That's not really a good thing.

5) It is NOT: Bogged down in technobable; bogged down in moralizing; bogged down in using the goofy characters to prove a point (i.e. The Way to Eden, And the Children Shall lead.)

This is true. So, I give you 2 out of 5. .400 is a great batting average, but doesn't change my opinion of the ep from bad to good.

[Black Jesus]

That's a lot of thought to a shitty episode.

[Lighthawk]

I have to go with this

[Mark]

You know, I really didn't hate this one so much. It was what it was......a way to put Riker, Data, and Worf in a Casino Royale setting. I thought it was kinda cheesy of course, but not unwatchable.

[Bryan Moore]

You know, I really didn't hate this one so much. It was what it was......a way to put Riker, Data, and Worf in a Casino Royale setting. I thought it was kinda cheesy of course, but not unwatchable.

Thank you! I'm not saying its a good episode, but it's beaten down like a slow stepchild. Speaking of which, where's my boy Granite =)

[Sionnach Glic]

I have to go with this

Damnit man, you stole my response!

[Nickswitz]

Haha, I thought the same thing, I love Sfdebris, it's wonderful.

[Tyyr]

I like the premise here, defend utter shit. I can't though, a show about a cliche book full of cliche characters and a cliche plot poorly written to boot that must be played out to end the episode. In other words, it has to be cliche to make it work.