DARMOK


Someone explain to me why they waste their (and our) time with stuff like
"In Theory" and "Redemption" when they can clearly turn out superb stuff like 
this when they try?  (Yeah, yeah, it's television.  I know.  It was a 
rhetorical question. :-)

"Darmok" had all the elements of great science fiction television:

- A fascinating concept in the race that communicates (and thinks) through
  metaphor, if not outright allegory.  While I was scratching my head at
  first wondering, "why doesn't the Universal Translator just translate
  their words?" I soon realized that IT WAS, but that it couldn't translate
  the concepts expressed in the sentences into easily digestible ones.  This
  whole concept was handled amazingly well.
- Some useful subsidary concepts, especially that of the invisible beast.
  I'm glad they put a little work into coming up with something more than a
  generic monster (i.e., guy covered in padding and make-up).  It gave the
  episode character.
- A carefully integrated storyline, with the problems on the ship having a
  very real and necessary impact on the events on the planet, and vice-versa.
- People (?) you care about.  I know *I* was less-than-pleased when the
  alien captain passed away.

I was also glad to see the story shun the "everything-but-everything must be
rosy by the end of the episode" approach that is a frequent criticism of
TNG (present from "Encounter At Farpoint" forwards).  The alien captain's
death lent the episode a power I doubt it could have possessed otherwise.

"Darmok" is one of the rare TNG episodes to present real theme, mainly that 
of mythology and history and the place they have in our lives.  The story
of Gilgamesh was ideal to fill the role the story required, and Patrick 
Stewart delivered it with grace and power.

The choice of phrases that the alien captain used were interesting, especially
that of "when the walls fell".  (An "real world" allusion to the Berlin Wall, 
I would presume.)

I will admit that I guessed that, rather than the episode being a re-hash of
"Arena", Picard and the alien were going to be engaged in a test of survival
together pretty early on.  That changed nothing; there was plenty going on
in this episode to keep me riveted to the screen.

I have no complaints with the goings-on on the Enterprise.  They say that
violence is the last refuge of the incompetent; it's also the last refuge
of the out-clevered and backed-to-the-wall, and it has its place.  Sometimes,
it works.  The battle sequence at the end had ME at the edge of my seat!

(I would be a little nervous of a race that fielded a ship so easily able to
take out Starfleet's Best, though. :-)

This one's a winner; I actually don't think I have anything negative to say
about it.  Okay, yeah, I do:  Troi's "all the places we've been" speech was
pretty lame.  But that's so trivial; who cares?

This one's a keeper, folks.  I loved it.  It made me think, and it kept me
entertained.  What more can I ask for?  Hmm... I wonder when they do reruns 
around here?

Grade: A+

SEASON FIVE AT A GLANCE:
Redemption II: B-
Darmok: A+
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Total Points: 7
Season Average: 3.5 (A-/B+)
(Rise of .833 from previous episode.)