Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 22: Skin Of Evil [VHS]

Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 22: Skin Of Evil [VHS]
by LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Gabrielle Beaumont, Robert Becker, Cliff Bole

List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $10.00
You Save: $4.95 (33%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: VHS Video
See more movie releases

Product details

VHS Movie Reviews of Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 22: Skin Of Evil [VHS]

Movie Review: characters go through more development
Summary: 3 Stars

Troi is returning via shuttle from a conference, ready to rendevous with the Enterprise. The Enterprise, the flagship of the Federation fleet, only has one batch of Dilithium crystals, so when they're being aligned, it's tough cookies if you need to go to warp. No back up crystals - very interesting.

Troi's shuttle experiences a systems failure and plummets to the surface on an unihabited planet, Vagra 2. Who names these planets? Vagra is such a good name that you need a Vagra 1 AND a Vagra 2?

Once the crystals are realigned, the Enterprise goes on a rescue mission. They beam to the crash site, only to have a thick oil slick in their path. As they try to walk around it, the oil slick follows them. No readings show up on their instruments, but it's obvious that there is an intelligence there.

An ancient race of titans found a way to extract evil from their society (kinda like popping a pimple) and when all the members of the race had collected all their evil goo together, it made Armus - the oil slick... aka - the "skin of evil."

They abandoned him on the planet - a being that is immortal and cannot die, a being utterly lonely, very powerful (he is able kill with a thought, transport an object from one place to another and he is empathic like Troi), and eager to leave the loneliness of his planet.

Armus claims that his behavior is not merely evil - but that rather he IS evil - the embodiment of evil.

In an act of boredom, he kills Lt. Tasha Yar, regretting later that she did not suffer because her death did not amuse him like he thought it would. Her memorial service is sweet and touching, and elements of this scene show up in future episodes... and Tasha does make a reappearance in a future time-travelling episode.

The goal is to get Troi and her shuttle pilot off the surface, but Armus continues to envelop the shuttle and they are unable to get a lock on the occupants. What's ironic is that Armus can beam (or at least teleport) Picard in and out of the shuttle, but he apparently can't beam Troi or Ben (the injured pilot) out, nor enter it himself. Yes, there are holes-a-plenty in this episode.

Continued dialogue with Armus reveals the nature of his lonliness and desire to leave. His voice is ominous and his flippant attitude toward life is creepy.

Not a great episode by a long shot, but a pivotal one for those who watch a lot of the episodes - this one has important elements for a number of future episodes that refer back to it. Most worthy are character development leaps for Riker and Crusher.

Summary of Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 22: Skin Of Evil [VHS]