User reviews

I've always liked this episode. It's a great showcase for Data. And it's fun to see Picard and Troi struggling to communicate with some genuinely alien aliens.

But I would like to add my two cents about one of the minor controversies around this episode. Much has been made of the fact that Grainger Hines is not credited for his performance as Gosheven, and that all of his dialogue is obviously dubbed. Some people think this evidence of behind the scenes unpleasantness. But there is a simple, practical explanation for this.

The aqueduct in the village square set was a practical prop, with real running water in it. This means that all of the scenes shot on that set would have the sound of running water in the background. Consequently all of the dialogue in those scenes would have to be re-recorded and dubbed after the fact, to give the editors clean audio to work with. This is called ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement) and it is common practice whenever the audio from a scene has excessive background noise.

However, if Hines had some sort of scheduling conflict and couldn't make it in to do his ADR before the episode had to be completed, his lines would have to be overdubbed by another actor. And in order to make Gosheven's dialogue consistent throughout the episode, that actor would have to dub every scene. Even the ones with clean audio.

It's understandable that Hines wouldn't want his name on the episode when someone else spoke all of his lines.

One of the opening shows for the 3rd season of ST:TNG, and a surprisingly strong show. Data must evacuate a group of colonists before they are wiped out by an alien species whom views them as vermin.

Overall, TNG became legendary because of episodes like this. There is little that doesn't work with this episode, and it's surprising strong in a number of areas.

By no means is it "The Inner Light", "Best of Both Worlds", or DS9's "In The Pale Moonlight" or "The Visitor", but it became prototypical of how the series was to progress from then on out in terms of quality. That is what makes this one important.

I've always enjoyed this episode. It has to do with a culture that is doomed because a treaty with a hostile, indifferent race has expired. She Sheliak want their planet back and have ordered the Enterprise to get the humans off in three days. If not, they will simply exterminate them. This is, of course, is an impossibility. The Federation can accomplish this but can't get there for three weeks. So this presents two plot elements. First, has to do with the initial treaty (the Sheliak are absolute rule followers) how to circumvent it. Meanwhile, Data is on the planet, trying to convince the leadership (one man, actually) that there is no choice but evacuation. This man has become a godhead to his people and following the prudent course would diminish his authority. He has, in fairness, brought great prosperity to his people, including an aqueduct which will supply them with unlimited water supplies. As Data tells him, this is a "thing" and it is worthless if there is no one around to benefit from it. It takes a pretty heavy-handed effort to begin to confront his power. Data is seen as a machine and at one point is disabled. We see signs of this man leading a unilateral march to destruction (not greatly different from the Sheliak). I was reminded of Alec Guinness in "The Bridge on the River Kwai" who forgets the big picture because he becomes engrossed in his accomplishments. This episode is profuse with wonderful political implications and moral dilemmas. See this and discuss it with friends.

Long, long ago, the Shelliac and Federation negotiated a treaty delineating who owned what portions of space. However, unknown to both sides, a group of humans settled on a world in the Shelliac system. Now, many years later, the Shelliac are about to colonize this world and want the humans off NOW. And, if they aren't all removed in four days, the remaining ones will be liquidated. But there are two problems. The Enterprise expected only a dozen or so settlers--not many thousand. And, the leader of the settlers is an idiot and refuses to move--even though Commander Data informed him that they will be killed by the Shelliac. At the same time, Picard is finding it difficult to talk with the Shelliac--they are unwilling to change their plans. So what's going to happen...genocide?

This was a better than average episode for three main reasons. First, it did NOT stay on the ship and including missions to both the Shelliac and the colony. Second, Data had a relationship with a colonist that was interesting--and gives insight into him and his quest for humanity. Third, I loved watching Picard dealing with the Shelliac--he was hilarious and at his best. Overall, well worth seeing.

The story is decent. The crew seemed a bit thick headed not to look at the treaty a lot sooner than they did.

It was nice to occasionally see aliens not be easily swayed by a Picard (or Kirk) speech.

But most of the guest actors act so woodenly, I wonder if they got their lines right before shooting each scene. Or possibly they were directed to act this way.

I don't know but it seriously degrades the entire planet side story.

I was unaware until just now that Gosheven's lines were dubbed. Ironic because I thought he was the most convincing of the guests.

Oh man, this is where the show really starts to click. Season 3 doesn't open with bombast or packed with action, but with a simple territorial dispute. The Sheliak don't like that a colony of humans have laid down roots on their planet and order the Enterprise to have them relocated. It's a two-pronged approach, with Data trying to talk sense with the colonists while Picard faces intimidating legalese with the alien race.

In the end, both officers are forced to think outside the box, and that's exactly what makes this so satisfying. Not just that Patrick Stewart and Bent Spiner carry this, but because this episode is very true to both characters. It's a lot of fun seeing Capt. Picard stroll triumphantly onto the bridge after he's finally nailed the treaty loophole; and it's a stark reminder of the show's signature mix of writing, drama and excitement.

8/10

This TNG episode has Captain Picard trying to remove a human colony that has settled in an area that is territory of the Sheliak, a really nasty alien race who seem to get off on killing. They are also a legalistic group who insist on the letter of the law in their treaty with the Federation.

I always liked this episode because it shows best in all the series Patrick Stewart's diplomatic skills negotiating with obstinate and nasty aliens. There would be more shows emphasizing his diplomacy and this is one of the first and one of the best.

Stewart's scenes with the Sheliak are classic.

I found this episode to but quite delightful. The use of the characters were as expected but I would like to see more of Transporter Chief O'Brien in the upcoming episodes.

Enterprise receives a request to remove human colonists from a planet.

This is a solid episode with a number of good character moments, particularly for Data. Recurring themes within Star Trek such as humanity, leadership and communication are nicely addressed.

The story serves the purpose of putting Data into a difficult situation where he has to use human characteristics to achieve an objective. This runs alongside the tough negotiation assignment that Captain Picard is tasked with aboard the Enterprise. Both plot threads progress well alongside each other and conclude strongly. I like how the story is bookended by two scenes relating to Data's mastery of the violin as these convey the episode's main theme well.

There are a few quite memorable scenes such as Picard and Troi discussing communication from the perspective of different types of lifeforms, Picard checking the dirt on the USS Enterprise plaque on wall of the bridge and Data's interactions with one colonist in particular.

I liked the visuals, especially the set design and matte background used for Tau Cygna V.

Performances are a mixed bag for me. Brent Spiner and Patrick Stewart are excellent and supported well by Marina Sirtis. However, the guest actors were notably weaker, such as Eileen Seely and some of the support players. It's difficult to really comment on Grainger Hines performance due to his voice being so noticeably and distractingly dubbed by another actor.

For me it is a 7.5/10 but I round upwards.

New uniforms, new credit sequence and Doctor Crusher returned to us but was Season 3 of The Next Generation really as good as we remember? Some of that enthusiasm may have have been generated by relief that the series had not been cancelled but the 1990's also heralded an era of considerably more stability behind the scenes. Senior Trekker will continue to score every episode with a 5.

This was a fairly good planet-side episode with some lovely Trekkean red skies, a couple of fairly simple but convincing village sets and plenty of creativity in the costume department. With the benefit of re-mastering and high definition we can see the way in which remnants of curtain fabric had been stitched together to produce the colonists' robes and the stationary cupboard was raided to make futuristic metal fastenings but, surely, that sort of thing is the Joy of Treks.

Unfortunately the performances of the guest actors were quite out of place here. Used to regular appearances in a very different types of television, they delivered their lines with such an economy of facial expression that they appear to have been saving all their energy for the next soap. Grainger Hines, as colonist leader Gosheven, didn't even want his name on the credits and Eileen Seeley who played Ard'ran quit acting soon afterwards.

Looking back, it is amazing to see a theatrically trained, award winning actor like Colm Meany propping up the furniture in these early seasons of Start Trek. At least he now had a name, Chief O'Brien, but we never got to see him play the cello again.

... but at the end of the day, he's still a mere toaster.

The theme of the episode is convincing people. Data has to convince the settlers, Picard has to convince the Sheliak. In both cases it is shown that sometimes you can't win with words and have to use overwhelming force to get what you want. A valuable lesson. I was surprised to see the generally overly idealistic Star Trek actually admit to this reality.

The episode itself is unbalanced. The scenes with Data can be grating. We get it, you don't get humans. The scenes on the Enterprise are far better, with Geordi turning innocent containers into mush and Picard trying his best to deal with unreasonable aliens. The way both of these storylines end is pure gold.

The Enterprise is contacted by the mysterious Sheliak who have discovered a human colony on one of their planets. Giving the Federation mere days to evacuate the planet, the Enterprise is faced with an impossible task trying to move such a large number of people. Meanwhile, Data is sent to the planet to prepare the settlers for evacuation - only to find severe opposition from the colony's leader.

For some reason, something about this episode didn't quite click for me. The story is pretty standard fare but the Sheliak are not particularly convincing, the supporting cast aren't great and the romantic subplot featuring Seeley's lovelorn colonist feels unnecessary. I also wasn't a fan of the ending. Nothing special, despite trying to give Data a bit of characterisation.

TNG continues to struggle with the concept of non-human sentient beings.

Data is sentient. He is not creative, but by every accepted definition, he is alive. Yet year after year, TNG tries to force Data to be more Human, instead of accepting him as he is.

Then an entire colony of 15,000 reject Data, just because he's not Human. They're all willing to die, knowing full well that he is a representative sent by Humans, simply because Data himself isn't Human.

And the Shelliac (spoiler alert: more non-humans!) are portrayed as the bad guys, even though they had the right to wipe out the colony the moment the moment they discovered it, without mentioning it to the Federation.

Then there's the romantic aspect. Women keep throwing themselves at Data because he's everything Humans aspire to be: kind, compassionate, rational, reasonable, dedicated, incorruptible. Everything but emotional.

Data is pure good. But that's not enough for selfish, irrational, stubborn, malicious Humans. Data must also feel every emotion, play the violin with soul, and be a fantastic lover.

Those are things Data is not, and cannot be. It's too bad that we cannot accept Data, and tell him every day that he is inadequate, just because he is different.