Star Trek TNG Episode Guide

Complete!

2011-06-20T04:30:00.000-07:00

Have got rather behind with writing up all the episodes, but I've now completed watching the entire series. Certainly there were some low spots along with the high, but it was a pretty amazing journey! Funny how there were a lot of episodes I really didn't remember, but others were indelibly etched on my memory.

Season Five, Episode Twenty Four - The Next Phase

2011-05-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

You can just never trust the Romulans - off goes a rescue team to help them stop their ship from blowing up, and no sooner than that's done those pesky Romulan critters are planning on destroying the Enterprise thanks to their shiny new weapon (that's heavily disguised as something else, of course). Unfortunately the only crew members who know about this dastardly plot are Georgi and Ensign Ro, who due to a transporter mishap are phased out and so while they can see and hear everything around them, no-one can see or hear them. Since they're presumed dead, Data is planning a funeral service for Geordi (which turns out to be quite interesting!), while Riker has a few words he plans to say at Ro's funeral service (much to her chagrin - and curiosity). Meanwhile they have to make the afore-mentioned dastardly plan known before it's too late - but unknown to them, there is a Romulan who's also phased out. (Incidentally, their being out of phase results in them being able to walk through people and objects, but for some reason they never start to drop through the floor...)

Anyway, the main plot works well enough, and the sub-plot of Ro starting to question whether she was right to dismiss the Bajoran beliefs about life after death is handled well. The planning and actual event of the funerals adds a lot of humour to the episode. Altogether, The Next Phase is a thoroughly entertaining episode.

Ro shoots Riker through the head when he decides to do an impromptu jazz set at her funeral (pictured), but it's all in good fun.

Season Five, Episode Twenty Three - I, Borg

2011-05-07T12:04:00.000-07:00

After a few nondescript episodes and a couple of stinkers, TNG returns to form with a bang here - I, Borg is an excellent episode in many ways. The Enterprise picks up a lone Borg survivor of a crash, seemingly cut off from the Borg's collective consciousness. Knowing that the Borg will come back to reclaim this survivor but with time before that happens, a plan is hatched to introduce a virus into "Third of Five"'s systems which will go on to infect the whole Borg collective. Picard, driven by his horrific experience with the Borg, fully approves of this idea, as indeed does everyone apart from Beverley - our caring doctor can't view her patient, Borg though he is, as a "thing" to turn into a living weapon.

As Geordi works to find a way to implement his plan, however, he begins to find that Third of Five - later dubbed Hugh - exhibits more and more human characteristics as time goes by. Eventually, Hugh ends up thinking of Geordi as a friend - and Geordi begins to have serious misgivings about his task. Picard will have none of it (the one thing that struck me as wrong about this episode was that he never felt that the crew rescuing him when he had been Borgified [The Best of Both Worlds] was a reason to view Hugh as a person rather than simply The Enemy), but eventually Wise Old Guinan persuades him to talk to Hugh himself before making his final decision. When he does, posing as Locutus of Borg and trying to make Hugh agree to a plan to assimilate the Enterprise crew, Hugh refuses as he knows that Geordi doesn't actually want to be assimilated.

An intriguing episode, well-written, well-acted and generally thoughtful and eventually emotional without being over-sentimental, I think this is likely to feature in my Best Three of Series Five when I come to write it. (Even the one criticism I mentioned is largely dealt with in the film First Contact.) Jonathan Del Arco is exceptional as Third of Five / Hugh. (It did make me wonder about the Borg identification system though - why is Hugh "Third of Five" when Jerry Ryan's character in Voyager was "Seven of Nine" not "Seventh of Nine"? Don't the Borg do things in a rather standard way - isn't that the point of how they work?)

Season Five, Episode Twenty Two - Imaginary Friend

2011-05-07T06:22:00.000-07:00

I dunno... you get these little points of light decide to enter the Enterprise, one time they take over the computer, another time they take over Data, this time it decides to make Clara Sutter (Noley Thornton)'s imaginary friend Isabella into a real person. Sort of. Isabella (Shay Astar) turns out to be a nasty piece of work though, so while Clara is at first delighted to be able to really see and talk to her friend, she ends up being terrified of her. Of course she has real trouble convincing her dad (Ensign Daniel Sutter [Jeff Allin]) and Counsellor Troi that Isabella is now a real imaginary person.

A pretty dull episode really, the whole thing is rather boring / annoying and the outcome quit dull. One scene, in which Daniel Sutter talks to Geordi about his own childhood as a much-travelled son of two Starfleet officers, was quite touching, although that's maybe my new dad hormones speaking. The ship's being trapped and the problems caused by that take second fiddle to the imaginary friend plot that it seems rather irrelevant.

Season Five, Episode Twenty One - The Perfect Mate

2011-05-04T14:50:00.000-07:00

What do you do when you have a couple of Ferengi (you have to know they'll be trouble) aboard at a time when you have cargo that is in an area restricted even to your own trusted crew? Why, you give the Ferengi free reign of the ship of course, making sure to include that there is no security whatsoever at the cargo bay with the precious cargo inside - not even a simple computer check to only open the door if it's one of the trusted personnel who's allowed to be there. That rather stupid start aside, this is a rather interesting episode, as the cargo in question turns out to be Kamala (Famke Janssen), an empath whose sole purpose is to please her mate - in this case, she's intended to be a gift in part of a peace treaty arrangement. Unfortunately due to the Ferengi she hatches early from her stasis pod, and ends up taking rather a liking to Jean-Luc - who is, obviously, not her intended. Needless to say, this causes some friction and more than a bit of heartache - especially when it becomes clear that her intended isn't even particularly interested in her.

The stupid set-up aside, The Perfect Mate is quite a good episode, a bit heavy-handed on the ethics perhaps, but fairly thought-provoking all the same.

Season Five, Episode Twenty - Cost of Living

2011-04-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

Annoying.

There's nothing like the site of Luxwana Troi interacting with Deanna to make you feel that your own family - even your in-laws(!) - aren't so bad after all. I mean, she really is the most awful mother in the history of the universe. She comes aboard the Enterprise this time having decided to marry someone she's never met (Minister Campio, played by the irrepressible Tony Jay). Naturally they turn out to be completely unsuitable for one another.

Annoying.

Add to one of the most annoying Star Trek TNG characters, Luxwana Troi, another of the most annoying Star Trek TNH characters - Alexander - and create a truly annoying planet on the holodeck for them to both play in, and guess what you have? Yep, an annoying episode. Admittedly it has a couple of funny moments and a truly bizarre scene with Luxwana and young Alexander in a mud bath enjoying the entertainment, which is a virtually naked woman performing a rather sensual dance (which doesn't seem much in harmony with the rest of the characters in the holodeck planet), and finally those two along with Deanna and Worf sitting in a mud bath - the final line is Worf saying "So we just sit here?!".

ANNOYING.

Oh year, and along the way the Enterprise saves a planet and in doing so picks up a parasite that turns all the nitrium on the ship into sludge (which naturally doesn't help things to work as they should). This is the only part of the episode which isn't - what was that word again? - annoying. Ah well. Luxwana gets out of her marriage by turning up nude, as per Betazoid custom. What fun for one and all!

Season Five, Episode Nineteen - The First Duty

2011-04-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

Captain Picard is invited to be the commencement speaker at the academy's graduation ceremony, and delighted to have this honour and to see young bratling Wesley Crusher again, who's graduating - or is he? The Boy Wonder was due to feature in a spectacular flypast in the rings of Saturn as part of an elite group of pilots, but an accident results in the death of one of the team. Team leader Nicolas Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill, who Trekkies would later see as Tom Paris on Star Trek: Voyager) always looks out for his team members, but it quickly becomes clear that something's up, and that the story told by the team - including the Crushed One - doesn't seem to match up with available data. However since the available data is too scanty to reconstruct events accurately, the team seem about to get away with it - whatever it is they're hiding.

Picard of course manages to unravel the whole thing, and convinces Wesley to do the right thing. Hints at events in Picard's own sometimes turbulent past are hinted at although never revealed in detail. A fairly bland episode really, but not that bad either. The "First Duty" of a Federation Cadet, in case you wondered, is to the truth. So now you know. As far as Star Trek episodes about peer-pressure go, it's okay.

Season Five, Episode Eighteen - Cause and Effect

2011-04-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

This episode starts with the Enterprise getting blown up. Don't worry, the condition of blowed-upness isn't permanent - in fact the Enterprise gets blown up repeatedly. The Enterprise and her crew are caught in a perpetually repeating pocket of time, though tiny echoes come through as Deja Vu to some crew members. Eventually the crew remember and work out enough to realise what's happening, and Data manages to send himself a message into the next "loop" - but will the message come through, and what will he make of the message when it does come?

I don't know about anyone else but I tend to find this sort of episode rather annoying, what with the same events repeating themselves ad nauseum etc. It also seems a bit unlikely, given the fact that the echoes of what's happened before very gradually increasing with each loop (evident after a few days on the Enterprise), that another ship has been trapped in the same loop for about 80 years with absolutely no clue as to what's going on. I know the Enterprise crew are smart and all that, but still... I didn't even recognise Kelsey Grammer as Captain Bateson! (He's captain of the hapless vessel that's been trapped for decades.)

I just read a short review of this episode on IMDB that absolutely raved about it, so I guess you'll either love it or find it slightly annoying - I'm afraid the latter category is where my own opinion falls. (Quite well done I admit, but it's still irritating - plus as mentioned the ending didn't seem very logical.)

Season Five, Episode Seventeen

2011-04-25T14:11:00.000-07:00

The Enterprise helps out a group of Genains, an androgynous race, in tracking down and recovering a shuttle that's vanished. Finally, an alien race whose members can't possibly fall in love with any of the Enterprise crew! Er... wrong, actually. Despite being androgynous, the Genains can feel drawn to being a particular gender, although this is forbidden by their society. When Soren (Melinda Culea) spends some time working with Will Riker, of course she (it? - but actually she) starts to develop feelings for him, and confesses her leanings towards being a female despite her race's taboo on such things. Honestly, Riker is a menace to society - put anything vaguely female within a hundred yards of him and they'll be all over each other within minutes.

Anyway, this doesn't go unnoticed by Soren's fellow Genains, so obviously this causes trouble. Quite an interesting and emotional episode up to the point Riker decides to go and rescue Soren - Captain Picard virtually gives him carte blanche to go and violate the Prime Directive, then the ending didn't feel quite right, although I admit it raises some interesting questions of its own. Oh, and in the meantime they manage to rescue the trapped Genains from their space-ship and in doing so encounter the first known occurrence of "Null Space".

Season Five, Episode Sixteen - Ethics

2011-04-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

Worf suffers an accident which results in spinal damage that is beyond Dr Crusher's ability to mend, and is rendered a cripple - much mobility can be regained via painstaking physiotherapy with aids to stimulate muscle movement, but this isn't acceptable for a warrior like Worf. Therefore he asks Riker to help him end his life - something our Will is naturally very unhappy about, but he also doesn't want to let Worf down. Meanwhile Worf doesn't want Alexander to see him in his crippled condition. Troi tries to change his attitude, while Riker agonises over what to do.

Meanwhile Beverley has her own private battle with Dr Toby Russel (Caroline Kava), a pioneer in neurosurgical techniques. There's a bit of hero worship at first but Beverley soon begins to question Dr Russel's methods and ethics. Russel is working on a revolutionary genetic regeneration technique that may help Worf, but Crusher is adamant that it's unproven and shouldn't be used - however, for Worf, it represents his only chance of getting back the life he wants.

Some interesting ethical questions raised in this one, but the fact that Crusher observes Russel treating a patient in a way that results in his death (not Worf, obviously) without doing much more than speaking to her sternly (don't they have such a thing at the GMC in the 23rd century?!?) kind of lessens the impact of what happens. Still, a rather interesting episode, albeit not one of the best.

Season Five, Episode Fifteen - Power Play

2011-04-24T11:27:00.000-07:00

A 200 year-old crashed Federation ship is found on a planet, but the electrical storms make transportation impossible so Riker and a few other hardy souls pop down to the planet's surface in a shuttle, and promptly crash-land. They eventually make it back to the Enterprise but bring unwelcome guests back with them - the other landing party members - Data, Troi and O'Brien - seem to have become inconveniently possessed by creatures claiming to be disembodied souls of the crew from the ship that crashed two centuries ago. Picard is having none of it, but the creatures are pretty tricky to beat, what with their now having all the knowledge and abilities of the Enterprise crew members whose bodies they've hijacked.

Now we know straight away that they can't really be the old crew because they act all un-Federationy, taking hostages, threatening people and suchlike. It's no surprise when they turn out to be disembodied criminals (seriously, why would that ever surprise you?!). There's an interesting dynamic between possessed Miles, unpossessed Keiko and their baby, but the ending didn't seem very convincing. The various attempts to trap the creatures are quite interesting and a bit of tension is built up now and then, but this is hardly vintage Star Trek TNG.

Season Five, Episode Fourteen - Conundrum

2011-04-24T11:16:00.000-07:00

It's never easy being one of the Enterprise crew. One moment you're wondering what that alien ship ahead of you is, next thing you know the whole crew have had their memories wiped out completely. This does lead to a couple of funny scenes with Worf obviously feeling that he should be in command, then eventually finding out that he's not. Of course we suspect there's something wrong with Chief Executive Officer MacDuff (Erich Anderson) - not just because a name like MacDuff for a Federation officer just sounds downright suspicious, but also because we've never seen him before.

The ending is a bit of a wash-out, but overall this is a highly entertaining episode, with lots of tension and a fair bit of humour. It features Liz Vassey in a swimsuit looking highly bemused most of the time, which seems oddly pointless until she utters the lines (post memory loss): "I'm a patient in a swimming costume. How much sense does that make?!" So that's all right then.

Season Five, Episode Thirteen - The Masterpiece Society

2011-04-24T10:12:00.000-07:00

Star Trek TNG takes on some scientific and social issues in this one, when they unexpectedly find a human colony on a planet that's in grave danger. The Enterprise warns the colony, but find it oddly reluctant to receive outside help - their society has been built on everyone being genetically engineered and perfectly adapted for their role in society. The leader, Aaron Conor (John Snyder) seems more willing to let people from outside the colony mingle with their people, but Martin Benbeck (Ron Canada) is opposed to any kind of interaction with the Enterprise crew. However, despite their apparent sophistication and general smug air of superiority, it seems that the colonists can't save their planet from impending doom, so one of their scientists (Hannah Bates, played by Dey Young) goes aboard the Enterprise to work with Geordi.

Along with Captain Picard's ethical dilemma of how much help to give and how much he can or should interfere, along with Deanna Troi's inappropriate relationship with Aaron Conor, we have the subplot about Geordi and Hannah. This last piece of the puzzle is by far the best, with each trying and completely failing to understand the ideological position of the other, culminating with the solution to their problem stemming from Geordi's blindness - a condition which does not exist in the "Masterpiece Society". Fairly thought-provoking stuff, nicely handled; the rest of the episode is okay but nothing special.

Season Five, Episode Twelve - Violations

2011-04-24T07:28:00.000-07:00

Keiko and Tarmin

Ah, hosting a group of strange alien historians who probe the mind - what could possibly go wrong?! Plenty, when three Ullians come aboard - famed mental historian Tarmin (David Sage), wife Inad (Eve Brenner) and untalented son Jev (Ben Lemon). Deanna, with her own over-bearing parent, takes pity on him and a romance seems about to bloom. She and Beverley are left in a coma due to someone meddling with their minds... At first Tarmin's skills at helping people, including newlyweds Miles and Keiko, to relive happy memories is a welcome opportunity for many crew members... but then Troi begins to have bad memories, and ones she can't quite believe really happened. All fingers point to Tarmin, but of course we already know by this stage that Jev is not quite as untalented as his parents believe...

Poor old Troi...

Geordi and Data race against the clock as they try to find an explanation for all of this - and find out who's really at the bottom of it all. The solution is too obvious, with the viewer knowing all along who did it, but the process of tracking down the relevant clues and finally implicating Jev, is handled effectively and it's a pretty entertaining episode.

Season Five, Episode Eleven - Hero Worship

2011-04-11T15:52:00.000-07:00

Oh dear, two child-based episodes in a row. No, being a father hasn't reduced my general antipathy towards children featuring in Star Trek TNG episodes! In this one a young boy is saved from a doomed vessel, with Data's amazing strength being the telling factor. So far, so good. Back on board the Enterprise however, he starts to (guess from the title) hero worship Data. This results eventually in him thinking that he's an android, and telling everyone that he is functioning within acceptable parameters. I guess this is supposed to be cute of funny, but it's mainly just annoying.

The child, Timothy (Joshua Harris) feels that androids are superior to humans. Will he discover the joys of being human? Hardly riveting stuff I'm afraid, and nowhere near enough humour to compensate.

Season Five, Episode Ten - New Ground

2011-04-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

A soliton wave. Shiny!

Geordi is all excited by a new transportation method - using "soliton waves" - and when the Enterprise watches the first experiements with this new technology in the presence of its originator Doctor Ja'Dar (Richard McGonagle), all seems well and good. That is until something goes wrong and the resultant waves look like they're going to destroy an entire planet. Ah well, these things happen - of course the Enterprise has to find a way to stop it happening. Again. How many planets owe their continued existence to the Federation's flagship, I wonder?!?

Alexander, face it. You're annoying.

In the meantime, Worf's human stepmother comes aboard, bringing annoying Klingon bratling Alexander with her. Worf must become a good father. Alexander must learn to become a good son and attentive student. Much heartache follows. Aaurgh! Enough already. Still, Worf's attempts to reason with his son are quite comical.

Season Five, Episode Nine - A Matter of Time

2011-04-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

It's never easy being a member of the Enterprise crew. First of all you have to go and save an entire planet from impending doom, with an asteroid about to bring a permanent end to the colonists' living space; then a historian from the future turns up, wanting to question the entire crew about pretty much everything. Picard agrees, somewhat reluctantly, but it's obvious that there's something fishy about him... (could it be that he's not really from the future at all? Surely not!).

Er, anyway. Not a terrible episode but rather obvious. The action on the planet's surface is quite tense, while the shipboard sequences tend to be rather whimsical; the overall effect is a bit unbalanced, but it's still moderately entertaining stuff.

Season Five, Episode Eight - Unification II

2011-04-11T13:46:00.000-07:00

With Spock and Picard on Romulus, their Romulan disguises apparently good enough to fool the locals - just about - and meeting with the sympathetic Romulan counsellor and being taken to Spock, everything seems to be going well. Spock himself explains that he is no traitor, but just trying to finally bring peace between Romulus and Vulcan - a task most consider impossible. With a new senator of rising popularity on their side things might finally work - except of course this new senator is actually scheming with Sela (Yasha Yar's daughter from another timeline - yeah I know, it's complicated!). An entertaining showdown between Spock, Picard, Data and Sela ensues, and the build-up is pretty good too. The subplot with Riker and Troi, and their pursuit of answers far away Romulus, is fairly entertaining too.

Good stuff, and another fine double-header for Star Trek TNG.

Season Five, Episode Seven - Unification I

2011-04-11T13:31:00.000-07:00

Starting with mysterious ship debris and culminating on Romulus in a search for Spock (really!), this is a good episode packed with intrigue and a fair dollop of humour. Picard meets Sarek again, and the uneasy relationship between Sarek and his son is brought out - not least because certain people at Starfleet view Spock as a traitor! It all turns out to be about Vulcan's possible reunification with Romulus... surely the twain can never meet? But maybe it can.

A Romulan Senator may be able to help Picard and co, but first they must remind Gorwon that he owes them a favour, then visit the make-up department for Picard and Data to impersonate Romulans. Meanwhile Riker and Troi have their own mystery to investigate... The scene in which Picard finds out about Sarek's death made a surprisingly strong impression on me, not sure if it had the same impact on anyone else?

This episode culminates with Spock being found - but that's only the start of events to be continued in Unification II...

(Klingon humour - Captain K'Vada comments on Picard and Data's Romulan disguise: "Don't you two look sweet! Be careful, Android; some Romulan beauty might take a liking to you - lick that paint right off your ears.")

Season Five, Episode Six - The Game

2011-04-03T07:13:00.000-07:00

Naughty Will Riker! This episode starts with him fraternising with an alien woman again, but on this occasion playtime ends with a new game. It's a device that fits on the forehead and beams straight into the brain - and winning each level seems to produce a slightly orgasmic reaction; a reaction that increases every time you complete a new level, though the thrill quickly diminishes if you don't keep playing and getting onto higher levels. Naturally this leads to almost the entire crew getting hooked on it when Will returns to the Enterprise and starts giving out copies of the game. Once under its spell, people start acting differently and making strange decisions - even Picard, which obviously is a somewhat worrying event - especially as it seems there's a long-term alien conspiracy afoot. Still, such is life on the Enterprise.

Meanwhile, everyone's favourite boffin, The Crushed One, returns like a prodigal son only to find his mother more interested in the new game than in him. Eschewing his geeky personality he doesn't play the game, and eventually he and sexy young cadet Robin Lefler (played by Ashley Judd) join forces to get to the root of the problem. But with everyone turning against them, they need all their ingenuity to keep one step ahead as the whole crew under the game's spell. Young love ensues, and then has to unensue since they're heading in opposite directions in the galaxy. Ah, parting is such sweet sorrow, and all that.

Not all that bad an episode, rather predictable but the young lovers are fairly entertaining.

Season Five, Episode Five - Disaster

2011-04-02T13:47:00.000-07:00

Nooooooooooooooo!!!

Children on board the Enterprise, three science award winners who raise the bridge's cuteness scale by a factor of ten to unbearable levels. But disaster soon strikes and they are trapped in a turbolift with Captain Picard, who has to lead them all to safety somehow. Meanwhile a collision with a quantum singularity has trapped not only Picard and the kiddies, but also several other crew members and time is running out. The episode switches effectively between different disaster scenarios - Picard and children, Geordi and Beverley trapped in a cargo bay, Will / Data are racing to save the ship but find their path blocked, and Worf has to become a midwife to the pregnant Keiko.

All good fun, lots of tension and the multiple point of view storyline works well. Even the kids aren't too nauseating! :-D Data loses his head, but it's all for a good cause.

A Request

2011-02-02T04:15:00.000-08:00

Just in case there is actually anyone out there linking to this blog, could you please point links to http://www.startrektngepisodeguide.com/ rather than the old Blogspot address.
Many thanks!

CaptainD

Season Five, Episode Four - Silicon Avatar

2011-01-01T07:13:00.000-08:00

Carmen Davila

The Enterprise crew should know better than to have relaxing away days on earth-like planets; it's a sure-fire recipe for disaster. Sure enough, just as Will Riker is finalising a dinner date with attractive terraformer Carmen Davila (Susan Diol) when that troublesome and extremely destructive Crystalline Entity shows up (we first met this creature in DataLore [Season 1, Episode 12] - though my summary of that episode shockingly didn't include any mention of the Crystalline Entity - oops). Riker, Data nad a few others hide in a cave and manage to survive - though two colonists, including Carmen Davila, don't.

Crystalline Entity

The Federation's leading expert on the Crystalline Entity - Dr. Kila Marr (Ellen Geer)- is sent to investigate what's going on. She's studied the entity for many years, but with her own son among those who died when it attacked Omicron Data she has a personal agenda, along with a distrust of Data due to Lore's previous collaboration with the creature. Picard is keen to try communicating with the creature and Marr reluctantly helps... but in the end, her desire for revenge is too strong. The ending is both emotional, effective, and pleasingly lacking over-sentimentality. An effective episode, if not particularly exciting.

Season Five, Episiode Three - Ensign Ro

2011-01-01T06:38:00.000-08:00

A terrorist attack on the Cardassian-Federation border; a Bajoran sent on the mission when it's the Bajoran's who are suspected of being terrorists; a new crew member in the form of the eponymous Ensigh Ro Laren (Michelle Forbes) - the aforementioned Bajoran; a StarFleet Admiral (Admiral Kennelly, played by Cliff Potts) who's clearly up to no good, tough decisions for Captain Picard, and of course the knowledge that the Cardassians really can't be trusted...

It all adds up to a good episode, particularly with the uncertainty about Ensign Ro's background - she'd been court martialed over some past even which saw people under her command die, and she's only out because it's this mission or prison - however despite animosity from the crew and her own lack of enthusiasm for working on the Enterprise, whether she's actually guilty or not is never really explored. I thought we were going to have one of those "she was accused but of course she didn't really do it" moments, but that never came, and the mystery is added to by the fact that she refused to defend herself - did she have an ulterior motive? At any rate the mystery surrounding her character makes her much more interesting. When Picard ends up convincing her to join the crew, you can actually see why - instead of screaming "noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!" (as so often happens in this sort of situation).

Season Five, Episode Two - Darmok

2010-12-31T09:12:00.000-08:00

The Enterprise try to communicate with a race who call themselves "The Children of Tamar". The Tamarians have a strange style of communication - they speak only in metaphors. This is an interesting idea but, because there's very little else going on (a battle on the planet with a strange creature and a bit of antagonism in space, but that's it), the result is fairly boring. Captain Picard and Tamarian Captain Dathon (Paul Winfield) are transported down to the planet's surface, not to battle, but to learn how to communicate. Upstairs Riker gets all angsty about what the Tamarians are playing at. There are some good moments, but overall it's a bit plodding and dull, because so much of the dialogue is repetitive and so many scenes are mainly of people looking frustrated. Which makes it, in the end, a rather frustrating episode itself.