Part 1 of this article talked about the political heavyweights with which Star Trek: The Next Generation started its fifth season. But between Klingon intrigues and Bajoran refugee dramas, there was one of the year's numerous science fiction highlights: the Darmok episode.
This story had one of the longest development processes of the Next Generation ever; Joe Menosky's story draft was on the pile for two whole years: “You could do it, but no one's really up for it.” Menosky's story was a typical Star Trek tale of communication difficulties that ultimately lead to intergalactic understanding.
At the center of this premise was a new species, the Children of Tama, who communicated exclusively in metaphors – or rather, in references from their own geography and history full of proper names.
In order to forge tender ties with the Federation, the chief Tamarian quickly kidnaps Captain Picard into the wilderness of an alien planet, where the two of them are supposed to build campfires, fight a local energy creature and learn a little about each other's vocabulary and attitudes to life.
That sounds somewhat unwieldy and so we needed a veritable cinema hit with a tribal-specific reference to communication. When Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves was winning at the box office and at the Oscars, Menosky's old draft was finally taken up.
Paul Winfield was hired as the Tamarian captain – not an unknown face in Star Trek home, as he had already played Captain Terrell in the movie Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. His acting performance in Darmok is just as excellent as that of Patrick Stewart, who is at his best here in episode 2.
The night scene in which Picard tells his companion the legend of Gilgamesh, the literal meaning of which the Tamarian cannot understand, but whose essence still reaches him and thus creates a first, true dialogue between two peoples, is both atmospheric and touching.
There are only two cosmetic flaws that bother me a little. The metaphors and all geographical-historical references are actually difficult to translate into understandable language when you see them written in front of you. But the facial expressions, body language and intonation of the Tamarians are not only extremely human, but even theatrically exaggerated.
So it's actually very clear to the audience the entire time what the Tamarians are trying to get at, which is why the Enterprise crew's lack of understanding seems unintentionally funny – a bit as if they had a damn long line. Furthermore, it is never explained why communication requires fighting an invisible energy being.
Source: Paramount Captain Picard and the head of the Tamarians practice international understanding. Picard never questions whether this is really an “evil alien” or just one defending its territory or perhaps even its brood, just like the Horta in the original series.
The unpleasant taste remains that our noble captain allows himself to be invited on a big game hunt against a noble creature without any criticism. Which would be a pretty powerful piece in a story that's actually about affection and mindfulness.
Still a modern science fiction classic that also boasts two brand new innovations. The stylish Type 6 shuttle is shown for the first time in the series – a successful change after the crew on shuttle missions in the last few seasons either climbed into small sugar cubes or set off in elegantly curved ferries that looked more like science fiction from the 70s. Years that looked like the 80s or 90s.
Patrick Stewart also appears here for the first time in his brand new, stylish uniform consisting of a wine-red suede jacket with black leather shoulders. Between Bajor and Romulus there is a rather unexpected continuation of the episode Datalore from season 1 with Silicon Avatar (The Right to Life).
In the meantime, the series had stylistically moved so far away from its beginnings that my SciFi clique and I were quite amazed that the gigantic, crystalline life form that four years ago joined forces with Data's evil twin brother Lore was here for yet another one was to be seen.
The same part of the season includes the rather crazy episode The Game, in which nasty aliens want to bring the Enterprise crew under their control by giving them an addictive virtual reality glasses game with rudimentary CGI and gameplay – Frisbees have to be “thought” in funnels – which will probably make the hair of gaming-savvy readers of this website stand on end.
After all, every round of the game you win is rewarded with a hearty orgasm. The fact that young Wesley, who actually left the ship in season 4 and only returns for a guest appearance, saves the day again is a throwback to the series' earliest days.
However, the episode creates an over-the-top horror film atmosphere à la “an entire village has fallen into the occult and wants to get the young hero's leather,” which makes The Game great, crazy fun despite all the cheesiness. What makes people more affected is that just a few days after this episode aired, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry died on October 24, 1991.
After an exciting first third of the season full of politics and large-scale science fiction ambitions, now that I've reached the middle of the fifth year, I'm falling into a strangely boring rut. A time-traveling historian comes on board in a story of the same name, whereupon our heroines and heroes all act terribly stupid.
This episode was actually intended as a vehicle for superstar Robin Williams, whose comedic improvisational talent would have made for an episode worth watching.
But Williams was unable to perform and so Max Headroom actor Matt Frewer was hired, who opted for a performance full of exaggerated mannerisms – actually quite in the style of Robin Williams, only without his exceptional talent – which I can only charitably describe as fooling around and what gets on my last nerve after a very short time.