Star Trek the Next Generation Episode Review: Home Soil

Synopsis: When visiting a group of terraformers on what was believed to be a deserted planet, the Enterprise crew discovers a crystalline life form after it attacks one of the people drilling on the planet.

What I liked about this episode: I think the best part of this episode is how it broached the subject of how life should be defined. In this particular case, the life form they found was made out of crystal rather than anything organic. But it could think, communicate and even reproduce. It really makes you wonder what kind of undiscovered life forms like this one could be on our own planet.

I also liked how the creature took over the Enterprise's computers, preventing the crew from being able to transport it off the ship and putting everyone's lives in danger. This did make the episode somewhat more interesting than it could have been.

What I didn't like about this episode: Despite what I said above, this was actually kind of a dull episode. The "entity" was nothing more than some lights and, other than the early scene involving the laser drill, there wasn't a whole lot of actual action.

Also, in the end, it was pretty easy to defeat (they just needed to turn off the lights); something that was somewhat of a disappointment given the fact the entity did have so much power.

Final Opinion: The episode has some moments. But, overall, isn't as interesting as it first seems and isn't one I would go out of my way to watch again.