‘THE ROYALE’ (TNG)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
This has got to be one of the dullest and most pointless episodes ever made in ‘Star Trek: TNG’! Riker said himself it doesn’t make any sense and I agree with him. Thank you so much, Commander Riker!
In the episode, the Enterprise visits an uninhabitable alien planet to find debris of an Earth ship. They beam a sample of debris aboard the Enterprise and it happens to be part of a NASA ship. Hmm!
Eventually, the Enterprise detects a small irregular area capable of supporting human life on the alien planet. Riker beams down with Data and Worf in order to find out what’s down on that planet.
It turns out they find a revolving door in a blank environment. They enter through the door and find themselves in a 20th century Earth-style casino hotel called Royale. Things get extraordinary hereon.
It also turns out that Riker, Data and Worf can’t make contact with the Enterprise as they’re cut off due to interference. They have to find a way out, since they cannot exit through the revolving doors.
Now to be fair, this story does have an interesting premise. It’s a story about a fantasy make-believe hotel created by unknown forces and it’s based on a novel called ‘Hotel Royale’ by Todd Matthews.
And before you ask, no! Todd Matthews doesn’t exist. He’s a fictional 21st century author who wrote the book in the ‘Star Trek’ universe. So far, his book has not been published yet in this period.
Riker, Data and Worf have to play out the plot of this story in order to get out of the hotel-simulated environment they’re in. That would have been the makings of a pretty good ‘Star Trek’ TV episode.
The downside however is that this episode feels so boring and nothing exciting happens. There’s no action in the TV episode and most of the supporting characters are around casino tables at the hotel.
The only times it gets interesting is when Riker, Worf and Data uncover more about where they are. They discover an NASA astronaut named Colonel Steven Richey, who is a decayed corpse in his bed.
There’s also no main villain in this episode. There isn’t a reveal about who created his Hotel Royale environment and why. It’s an answer that never gets resolved to a puzzle and it’s supposed not to.
As I’ve gathered, this episode went through a number of rewrites behind-the-scenes. In fact, the original writer of this episode went under a pseudonym, since he was not happy with the final result.
Data gets to play out at the casino table when he, Riker and Worf are trying to win money in order to buy the hotel. This seems to be the answer on how to get out of the hotel. What a surprise that is!!!
And here’s another thing. The gambling aspect of the episode left me completely baffled. I don’t do gambling and don’t understand the rules. So how am I expected to appreciate the gambling aspect?!
The guest cast are as follows. There’s Sam Anderson as the Assistant Manager, Jill Jacobson as Vanessa, Leo Garcia as the Bellboy and Gregory Beecroft as Mickey D who appears at the tale’s end.
There’s also Noble Willingham as Texas, who’s meant to be the main guest star of the episode. I can’t find anything interesting to say about him as he’s a typical American gambler during the story.
I’ll give the episode credit. The set design and costumes for the period of an old Earth casino hotel is very impressive. It’s almost like a 1950s casino hotel, but I could be wrong about the specific period.
Colm Meaney guest stars as Chief O’Brien in this episode. Again, Chief O’Brien does the standard transporter chief role in the episode. When will he get to do some more interesting things in ‘TNG’?!
There are a few humorous moments in the episode that I enjoyed like when Worf answers a phone calling for room service. The way that Worf says “No!” to wanting room service is very funny in this.
‘The Royale’ is a ‘TNG’ episode that didn’t leave an impact on me when I first saw it in 2005. I couldn’t remember what the episode was about. I know why now, as it was so uninspiring all the way.
It’s not a terrible episode in falling into the ranks of atrociousness. It’s watchable and pretty average. I do wish this episode could have been more interesting and exciting with the plot it seemed to have.
‘The Royale’ (TNG) rating – 4/10
| The previous story
For ‘The Next Generation’ was |
The next story
For ‘The Next Generation’ is |
| Return to Star Trek | |
| Return to Sci-Fi |
Bradley's Basement 