YMMV / Star Trek: The Next Generation S1 E25 "The Neutral Zone"

• Awesome Music: Ron Jones really sells the tension underlying the scenes dealing with the impending encounter with the Romulans. It comes to a head with the track that plays when it's clear that a confrontation is imminent...and then the warbird decloaks in front of the Enterprise.
• Broken Base: Depending on who you ask — and probably depending on how much in agreement they are with Gene Roddenberry's ideals — the plot with the three unfrozen 20th century people is either an anvilicious and arrogant dismissal of everything that Roddenberry disliked about contemporary America, or it's the franchise's best summation of the utopian 24th century society and provides an uplifting message about how humanity can cast off the worst aspects of present-day society if it really tries.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The scene where Sonny grabs Crusher's ass is less funny when you've heard the rumor that Gates McFadden left the series after season one due to sexual harassment from head writer Maurice Hurley and she only returned when he was gone.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Sonny mistakes a viewscreen for a TV and asks if he can catch an Atlanta Braves game, though he says they're "probably still finding ways to lose." Three years after this episode aired, the Braves went on a run of 15 winning seasons that included a World Series title in 1995.
  • Clare said her husband "Donald" must have paid to have her frozen, that "if it was new and foolish he would have popped for it" and "it would have been the first thing he bought into that ever worked". Maybe she kept her maiden name....
• Informed Wrongness: The survivors from the 20th century are treated by the main characters as though they are the scum of the Earth. A mother, a musician, and a stockbroker are treated as the absolute worst of humanity.
• Retroactive Recognition: Before taking the part as Sonny Clemons, actor Leon Rippy had appeared in a number of small character roles. His profile would grow with additional character roles through the years as well as series regular spots as Tom Nuttal in Deadwood and Earl in Saving Grace.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: For a while it seems like the subplot with Ralph Offenhouse is leading to a moment where he will help the Enterprise crew to understand the Romulans, since their mentality is closer to him than to the utopian 24th century humans, which in turn would make Picard & co realize that the unfrozen 20th century folks are not completely useless... And we kind of get something resembling this, with Offenhouse making an accurate observation on the Romulans, but he only gets to slip one comment in, and it's implied Picard might have made the same observation anyway, so in the end Picard still remains condescending towards him. The novels eventually picked up this discarded plot. Additionally, Offenhouse became a Federation ambassador to the Ferengi since he understood them far better than Federation era humans.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: The survivors from the 20th century are meant to be losers to be lectured at by the crew of the Enterprise. Audiences instead saw them as The Woobie thanks to how downright apathetic the main characters are towards their situation and how they view themselves as being much better than they are.

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