I don't know about you, but by the end, I found myself chanting along with Picard the line (to myself of course), "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra."

Agree. You can tell Patrick Stewart really enjoyed getting his teeth into this one.

Good, intelligent sci-fi and a great t-shirt.

OK my arm is twisted, I'll move it to 8/10 for me. It's a great script.

diebitter. at the forums. his head not right.

Good time to repost this from a couple of months ago.

Much <3 for the shirt.

Fantastic episode, the kind of storytelling Roddenberry wanted ST to be all about. With notable exceptions like The Arrival, sci-fi usually glosses over the tricky work of how humans learn to understand the language of aliens that might think in fundamentally different ways than we do. Here, we have beings that speak entirely through memes --perhaps our own species is evolving into something like that.

Imaginative and smart, A+.

Yeah I think it's a top 5 TNG episode for me

1) Inner Light
2) Yesterday's Enterprise
3) Lower Decks
4) Darmok
5) Chain of Command

I think the top 3 you have are the same for me, although I'd probably reverse the order.

Darmok is great for the reasons CT states, but I don't get excited about repeat viewings as I would other episodes.

For that reason, I'd put it in the next tier with episodes like Tapestry, Q-Who and Cause and Effect.

What, no The Royale?

The Royale still my favorite, so help me.

ST TNG S5E03 Ensign Ro

Another harder edged episode, but this time involving politics rather than scifi concepts. A persecuted people seeming to turn to violence to get their point made after decades of the Federation not stepping in, and Picard in the middle of it. It also introduces the character of Ensign Ro, whose race (the Bajorans) are the persecuted minority who have suffered at the hands of the Cardassians.

Ro, played by Michelle Forbes is an atypical Trek crew member, and is quite a refreshing change. It's not her first ST:TNG appearance - she was David Ogden Stiers daughter in 'Half a Life' (season 4, episode 23). She's interesting, and the episode appears to be her introduction of possibly a new main character on to the Enterprise.

A very fine episode, with a political conundrum for Picard, weaving through a conspiracy involving a Federation Admiral and the Cardassians.


8/10

ST TNG S5E04 Silicon Avatar

Ignoring the ridiculous title, this is a very solid episode, with an outstanding performance from Ellen Greer as Dr Marr. I don't recall seeing her in anything else, but she knocks this out of the park, with great acting to go with the great writing. You feel the anger at Data, then the softening, then the emotional bonding and devastation over her loss - and the episode does not cop out at the end.

Its only weakness is the terrible CGI of the Crystalline Entity.

Also, nice bait and switch at the start, it looked like it was going to be an episode where Riker got some sweet lovin from a willing lady colonist, but that didn't come to pass.


8/10

For Star Trek nerds, this is an important episode that sets the stage for future Cardassian/Bajoran stories and the Ro character. It's a sign of how confident the storytelling of ST has become.

Very refreshing to see characters who are abrasive and not entirely professional. DS9 will also feature interesting characters with rough edges that don't always get along. Roddenberry probably would not approve, but I think it enriches the franchise, 8/10 seems spot-on.

It's a little too ham-fisted the way Ro wins Picard's trust, but there's at least one scene where Ro confides with Picard that I thought worked quite well. Some snappy dialogue with Guinan as well. I give it a B+ for interesting characters and political skulduggery.

Yep, Ensign Ro is a very good episode. Major Kira was by far my least favorite DS9 character, so it would have been really interesting what Michelle Forbes would have done in that role as the character Ro.

They offered Forbes that role, she passed

I thought it was funny how Riker made a big stink about Ensign Ro's earring being non-regulation. Meanwhile, Troi going around in one of her usual low-cut outfits.

This episode re-introduces the crystalline entity, which made a brief appearance way back in the Lore episode in season 1. The story plays out like a standard Roddenberry "let's learn to get along with alien life forms" sort of story (very similar to Devil in the Dark?), but the plot takes a dark twist at the end that I totally did not see coming. Quality acting from the guest actor makes it work for me: I give it a solid B, maybe a B+.

Worf's son died.

That's a damn shame.

Well, kind of. John Paul Steuer only appeared as Alexander in one episode. He was then replaced by Brian Bonsall for the remainder of TNG.

So how upset could Worf really be?

And an even different actor played him in 2 episodes of DS9.