Working together to prevent the annihilation of a perfectly balanced, isolated society (with no contingency for outside visitors) may, in fact, destroy it.Working together to prevent the annihilation of a perfectly balanced, isolated society (with no contingency for outside visitors) may, in fact, destroy it.Working together to prevent the annihilation of a perfectly balanced, isolated society (with no contingency for outside visitors) may, in fact, destroy it.
Joyce Agu
- Ensign Gates
- (uncredited)
Larry De Russy
- Moab IV Colonist
- (uncredited)
Gunnel Eriksson
- Moab IV Colonist
- (uncredited)
Daniel Fawcett
- Matthew
- (uncredited)
Star Halm
- Moab IV Colonist
- (uncredited)
Grace Harrell
- Operations Division Officer
- (uncredited)
Andray Johnson
- Moab IV Colonist
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSince Gene Roddenberry had proposed that zippers would no longer exist in the future, they are generally hidden in the clothes worn on and off the Enterprise. However, in this engineered society under the biosphere, perhaps to show their less-than-perfect and less technologically advanced society, zippers are a prominent aspect of their outfits.
- GoofsAs the landing party enters the lab to meet Dr. Hannah Bates for the first time, Will Riker, not watching where he's going, walks very fast with his head down and almost walks into the wall to the left of the doorway. He looks up at the last moment and avoids bumping into the wall, jumping through the doorway just in time. Although his character could be smiling at the occasion of meeting Dr. Bates, it sure looks like he's trying to suppress a laugh at his near miss with the wall.
- Quotes
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: Oh, that's perfect.
Hannah Bates: What?
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: If the answer to all of this is in a VISOR created for a blind man who never would have existed in your society. No offense intended.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Treksperts Briefing Room: The Enemy (2022)
- SoundtracksStar Trek: The Next Generation Main Title
Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage
Featured review
In the end we may have proved just dangerous to that colony as any core fragment might have been
Enterprise visits a human colony populated by genetically engineered people.
This is an episode that explores an interesting concept but does it in a relatively uninteresting way.
On paper the plot sounds great. Enterprise deals with an isolated and supposedly perfect society that looks down upon outsiders as inferior and contaminating. There is a huge, destructive, physical threat looming, and has a resolution that ironically produces a completely different existential threat to that society. The underlying themes of interference and genetic engineering are great subjects to present in a sci-fi story, albeit overdone in Star Trek.
Unfortunately not much of the story is presented cinematically. The scenes mainly consist of characters discussing the episode themes. This can work well when you have the right performers on screen but unfortunately only Patrick Stewart has the charisma level and he is not in it enough.
Marina Sirtis has to carry much of this episode opposite a flat guest performance from John Snyder. What compounds the problem is that we are asked to believe that his character is genetically designed to be a perfect leader, and Troi has romantic feelings for him. None of this works or is even remotely plausible, as his character appears devoid of personality.
Geordie has better scenes with another guest character, but for me they are average at best. LeVar Burton's interactions with Dey Young have a bit more energy, but their dialogue goes too far in how it actually explains the irony of a blind character's contribution to the story.
Things are much better when Stewart is on screen and as Picard gets more involved towards the end the episode improves. It ends with a reflection from him that is not unlike the often South Park parodied "I've learned something today" moment, but Stewart makes all ropey dialogue sound good.
Visually the character interactions are filmed well and all the sci-fi effects are solid.
This is an episode that explores an interesting concept but does it in a relatively uninteresting way.
On paper the plot sounds great. Enterprise deals with an isolated and supposedly perfect society that looks down upon outsiders as inferior and contaminating. There is a huge, destructive, physical threat looming, and has a resolution that ironically produces a completely different existential threat to that society. The underlying themes of interference and genetic engineering are great subjects to present in a sci-fi story, albeit overdone in Star Trek.
Unfortunately not much of the story is presented cinematically. The scenes mainly consist of characters discussing the episode themes. This can work well when you have the right performers on screen but unfortunately only Patrick Stewart has the charisma level and he is not in it enough.
Marina Sirtis has to carry much of this episode opposite a flat guest performance from John Snyder. What compounds the problem is that we are asked to believe that his character is genetically designed to be a perfect leader, and Troi has romantic feelings for him. None of this works or is even remotely plausible, as his character appears devoid of personality.
Geordie has better scenes with another guest character, but for me they are average at best. LeVar Burton's interactions with Dey Young have a bit more energy, but their dialogue goes too far in how it actually explains the irony of a blind character's contribution to the story.
Things are much better when Stewart is on screen and as Picard gets more involved towards the end the episode improves. It ends with a reflection from him that is not unlike the often South Park parodied "I've learned something today" moment, but Stewart makes all ropey dialogue sound good.
Visually the character interactions are filmed well and all the sci-fi effects are solid.
helpful•62
- snoozejonc
- Sep 19, 2021
Details
- Runtime46 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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