APPRECIATION | Jill Jacobson And Her Part in An Underappreciated ‘Next Gen’ Episode
Performances of the entire cast — including guest stars — make “The Royale” shine
“Here you go, Vanessa: A little something for you, too. When the train comes in, everybody rides.”
— Commander Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes), “The Royale”
I hope everyone had a festive and Trek-filled holiday season!
When I saw a headline before the holidays that read, “Jill Jacobson, ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ and ‘Falcon Crest’ Actress, Dies at 70,” you know that caught my attention.
I will admit, though, that it took me a beat to remember who Jill Jacobson had played.
So it was understandably bittersweet to learn that she had guest-starred in what I consider one of the truly underrated episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, “The Royale.”
A second-season episode, “The Royale” could have been the telling of a standard science fiction trope — advanced aliens take pity on a trapped human astronaut from the past — but the performances really make this hour of Star Trek shine.
That very much includes the performances by the guest cast, including Jacobson’s nuanced and delightful portrayal of down-on-her-luck Vanessa.
She’s just one of an entire cast of characters from a badly written pulp novel unseen aliens on a mysterious planet have brought to life in a misguided attempt to keep a lost NASA astronaut company after he’s marooned.
The episode would be forgettable but for the performances of Jacobson, veteran character actor Sam Anderson as the hotel manager, Noble Willingham as the rascally Texas, and the rest.
They all bring to life these dimestore characters to life, draw we viewers into the episode and actually care about people who don’t really even exist.
Jacobson, both in her moments of tension and humor, particularly humanize Vanessa and the rest of the characters from the fictional novel, The Royale.
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Actually, this is an episode all about choices in direction and acting.
It’s an aspect that too often can be overlooked in Star Trek canon.
After all, there are no space battles or other fighting for our heroes, and almost no visual special effects to speak of.
What we’re treated to in “The Royale” is really an elaborately done stageplay.
And we’re led to one of Brent Spiner’s most-brilliant — and underappreciated —performances as Data.
In another example of the best choices in direction and acting, Spiner gives a multi-layered, “meta” — and incredibly hilarious — scene playing craps as Data-doing-Brent Spiner.
Watch here, especially at the 1:50 minute mark:
Spiner clearly had a blast and it never gets dull going along for that ride.
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