Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

Darmok (1991)

Jonathan Frakes: Commander William Thomas 'Will' Riker

Quotes 

• Lt. Commander Data : Their ability to abstract is highly unusual. They seem to communicate through narrative imagery, a reference to the individuals and places which appear in their mytho-historical accounts.

  Counselor Deanna Troi : It's as if I were to say to you... "Juliet on her balcony."

  Doctor Beverly Crusher : An image of romance.

  Counselor Deanna Troi : Exactly. Imagery is everything to the Tamarians. It embodies their emotional states, their very thought processes. It's how they communicate, and it's how they think.

  Commander William T. Riker : If we know how they think, shouldn't we be able to get something across to them?

  Lt. Commander Data : No, sir. The situation is analogous to understanding the grammar of a language, but none of the vocabulary.

  Doctor Beverly Crusher : If I didn't know who Juliet was or what she was doing on that balcony, the image alone wouldn't have any meaning.

  Counselor Deanna Troi : That's correct. For instance, we know that Darmok was a great hero, a hunter, and that Tanagra was an island. But that's it. Without the details, there's no understanding.

• Commander William T. Riker : New friends, Captain?

  Captain Jean-Luc Picard : I can't say, Number One. But at least they're not new enemies.