Where Silence Has Lease

Enterprise enters a void in space where the crew experience strange events.

This is a difficult episode to review as it's hard to know if the writers are taking it seriously or not. I will take the assumption that it's meant to be serious and consider it an entertaining episode for being so bad it's good.

The story is another God-like being v Enterprise and contains a lot of comically bad scenes of dialogue, visuals and performance.

Everything from the fantastic 'hole' related dialogue near the start to the final scene is hilariously entertaining. The abuse directed from Pulaski to Data feels ridiculously forced, then we have a break with long periods of the bridge crew slowly pondering and speculating about the 'nothing' appearing on the visual screen. I do not recall seeing actors standing still and observing blank space for so long.

That especially bad scene with Riker and Worf on the Yamoto is comical. "Is this the same bridge? Or did we step from one bridge..... to another bridge?" Worf is one of the best characters in the franchise, but this episode presents poor characterisation.

Then we have more bad dialogue and body language back on Enterprise. Picard's response to Dr Pulaski's suggestion they are in some kind of laboratory is as bad as Pulaski's reaction to Nagilum.

The death related discussion towards the end is bizarrely philosophical for something that up until that point is so random. I maybe overthinking it, but the whole episode struck me as some kind of strange meditation on the meaning of existence and the nature of reality.

The visuals are mostly forgettable, particularly the Nagilum effects which resemble a sort of creepy, dark version of the Teletubbie sun. Although considering the amount of bridge time the camera moves effectively enough to prevent it from feeling totally static, which is good work by the director.

Most of the actors are good, however the physical aspects of the performances I do not think are particularly well directed.