And we're back with Star Trekking, my regular berth for all things Star Trek. Today we resume our look back at Star Trek: The Next Generation which brings us to season 3.
Which is when the show finally starting living up to the unfulfilled promise of the first two seasons.
One thing that help was the constant turmoil backstage was mostly resolved. A lot of the chaos surrounding Gene Roddenberry's tenure diminished as his time on set was curtailed by advancing age and persistent poor health. Executive Producer Rick Berman was able to exert more influence over the show's production, running a more disciplined operation.
Gates McFadden was back as Dr. Beverly Crusher and I for one was quite the happy fan boy about that.
One change to the show was a cosmetic one but I think it helped the show reflect a more mature aesthetic. The show's Starfleet uniforms moved from collarless costumes to more sensible and serious tunics with a collar and black pants. The new outfits looked less like pretend dress up and something more akin to a legitimate uniform.
I don't know if there were technical changes in lighting or how the show was recorded but TNG in season 3 just looked better, less 60's throw back chintzy and more modern, a show of it's time and not so flat and retro.
The quality of the stories made a significant improvement and picking the one story I wanted to spotlight was a far tricker decision.
The season 3 premiere Evolution is a personal favorite. As on my list of favorites from season 3:
- The Enemy
- The Defector
- The Hunted
- The High Ground
- Déjà Q
- Yesterday's Enterprise
- The Offspring
- Sins Of The Father
- Tin Man
- Hollow Pursuits
- The Most Toys
- Sarek
And not to mention the season finale, The Best of Both Worlds - Part 1.
Ultimately I decided to go with The Ensigns of Command, the 2nd episode of TNG's third season. Written by Melinda M. Snodgrass and directed by TNG mainstay Cliff Bole, the episode provides an effective spotlight for Data and an especially great scene with Capt. Picard near the end.
The episode opens with a string quartet setting up. Hey, look! Miles O'Brien plays the cello. The ensemble also includes a Vulcan.
Data enters with his violin and approaches the table where Dr. Crusher and Capt.Picard are sitting. (Does this count as a date?)
DATA: Captain. Doctor. I am honoured by your presence, but may I suggest you attend the second concert.
CRUSHER: Why, Data?
DATA: Ensign Ortiz will perform the violin part. My rendition will be less enjoyable.
PICARD: Oh?
DATA: Although I am technically proficient, according to my fellow performers, I lack soul.
(That's rich given that one of his fellow performers is a Vulcan.)
CRUSHER: Data, telling us why you're going to fail before you make the attempt is never wise.
DATA: But is not honesty always the preferred choice?
PICARD: Excessive honesty can be disastrous, particularly in a commander.
DATA: Indeed?
PICARD: Knowing your limitations is one thing. Advertising them to a crew can damage your credibility as a leader.
DATA: Because you will lose their confidence?
CRUSHER: And you may begin to believe in those limitations yourself.
Just as the concert begins, Picard is summoned to the bridge and leaves. Data casts a sideways glance at the departing Captain. Data thinks his violin playing sucks but is it THAT bad?
On the bridge, Picard listens to a tersely delivered message from a race known as the Sheliak.
Federation creatures, there are humans on the fifth planet of Tau Cygna. This planet was ceded to the Corporate in section one hundred and thirty-three, paragraph seventy seven of the Treaty of Armens. We will begin settlement of this world in four days. Remove the humans.
Tau Cygna Five? Well, that can't be right! Hey, Riker, explain why that can't be right.
RIKER: Tau Cygna Five is in the de Laure Belt. Heavy concentrations of hyperonic radiation.
PICARD: Humans can't survive in that environment. Exposure to hyperonic radiation is fatal.
Hypertonic
I mean, hyper ironic....
On more time! Hyperonic radiation also scramble sensors, fucks with transporters and some other 3rd thing.
This is some serious plot specific radiation!
Since hyperonic radiation doesn't fuck with androids, Picard sends Data down in a shuttlecraft to see what's what. Data's still wondering how bad was his violin playing?
PICARD: Number One, any speculation on what we might find down there?
RIKER: My guess would be a lone survey ship. Maybe a dozen or so survivors.
Data lands on the planet on what has got the be the teeny tiniest shuttle in Starfleet and finds a bit more than anyone expected.
The residents are descendants of of the original settlers, from the colony ship Artemis. They did some SCIENCE to figure out how to survive hyperonic radiation (but not before a third of them died.) All they had were the clothes on their back, their wits and an inexplicable jar of Nutella.
And Riker's estimate of the number of humans on the planet is a bit off.
Fifteen thousand two hundred fifty three!
OK, make that off by a LOT!
So Data gets busy telling them why he's here. He's surrounded by a group of colonists and their leader, Gosheven.
(It's pronounced "GO-SHUH-VIN", not "GOSH EVEN")
DATA: The Sheliak wish to colonise this planet, and are unwilling to share it with humans. If you are still here when the Sheliak colony ship arrives, they will eradicate you.
HARITATH: They'd kill all of us?
DATA: They have little regard for human life. Thus, the most sensible course is to prepare a contingency plan for the evacuation of your people.
GOSHEVEN: We're not evacuating.
DATA: Perhaps I have not made myself clear.
GOSHEVEN: Yes, you have. Let me be equally clear. There's going to be no evacuation. You've delivered your message, so go back to your ship. I have work to do.
Gosheven walks away from Data with total disregard for his presence. This dude is a self righteous prick who would be right at home on Fox News.
Someone throws an object at Data. He snatches it out of the air with lightning fast reflexes.
Is Data under attack?
Nope! It's a meet cute.
A meet cute with an android? Let's see how this plays out.
ARD'RIAN: Nice catch. Wonderful reflexes. Sorry to test you like that, but I was curious.
Oh great bird of the galaxy, it's a female woman of the opposite sex.
GOSHEVEN: Found a new toy, have we, Ardi?
ARD'RIAN: Toy? This is the most incredible android I've ever seen.
DATA: Have you seen many?
ARD'RIAN: Actually, no. You're the first.
GOSHEVEN: Only you would get this excited over a walking calculator.
ARD'RIAN: Cybernetic intelligence fascinates me. Are your neural pathways duotronic?
DATA: No, positronic.
ARD'RIAN: I didn't know that was possible! What's your memory capacity? How many operations per second? I have a million questions.
DATA: I'm afraid I have no time to answer a million questions. I have a mission to accomplish. I need to know more about your people, and Gosheven seems unwilling to talk to me further.
ARD'RIAN: I'm Ard'rian McKenzie. Perhaps I can help you.
And just like that, Data has a girlfriend.
Even if Data does't realize it yet.
Back on the Enterprise, LaForge and O'Brien are summoned to the ready room.
RIKER: Gentlemen, we're giving you an assignment. One thing we don't want to hear is that it is impossible.
PICARD: I need the transporters to function despite the hyperonic radiation.
LAFORGE: Yeah, but that's im-
<takes a beat>
LAFORGE: Yes, sir.
Starship commanders always want the impossible.
And they want it yesterday.
Back on the planet, Data is frustrated by his efforts to convince the colonists they gonna die. But his "he don't know it yet" girlfriend endeavors to bolster his confidence.
ARD'RIAN: Data? We're having an effect. So many people are asking questions about the Sheliak that Gosheven has called a public meeting.
DATA: Is there any indication that Gosheven has changed his position?
ARD'RIAN: No. But a meeting will give you the chance to present your recommendations.
DATA: So far, my attempts at persuasion have been ineffective.
(Ard'rian kisses him full on the lips)
DATA: Why did you do that?
ARD'RIAN: You appeared to need it.
DATA: Among humans, a kiss usually serves to seal a friendship, or indicate support, attraction, affection. In this context, I must assume that your intention was to express support.
ARD'RIAN: You don't really understand human behaviour, do you?
DATA: That is something of an understatement.
ARD'RIAN: Sometimes I don't either.
Oh, they are such a cute couple.
Data has a girlfriend!
Data has a girlfriend!
Data has a girlfriend!
Meanwhile....
Picard has reached out to Starfleet and for reasons of plot, the earliest they can get some ships out to Tau Cygna Five is three weeks.
And Picard has been running up against the Sheliak who refuse to negotiate to give him more time to remove the colonists.
The Sheliak are a fastidious, pendantic bunch with zero regard for lesser life forms like humans.
We get a scene with Counselor Troi actually doing some real counseling.
TROI: In our dealings with other non-humanoid races there has been some point of reference. Not so with the Sheliak.
PICARD: But we must have something in common. We communicate.
TROI: Barely. They have learned several Federation languages, but theirs continues to elude us.
PICARD: Telepaths?
TROI: Attempted and failed. Actually, the fact that any alien race communicates with another is quite remarkable. We are stranded on a planet. We have no language in common, but I want to teach you mine. (she hold up his cup of tea) S'smarith. What did I just say?
PICARD: Cup? Glass?
TROI: Are you sure? I may have meant liquid, clear, brown, hot. We conceptualise the universe in relatively the same way.
PICARD: Point taken.
TROI: In your talks, you must be extremely accurate. The treaty is five hundred thousand words. The length was to accommodate the Sheliak. They consider our language irrational, and demanded this level of complexity to avoid any future misunderstandings.
In the past two seasons, Troi's presence on the Enterprise seemed extraneous. If she got anything to do, it was to use her empathic Betazoid powers to tell us shit that anyone else could figure out without empathic Betazoid powers. This scene provides a small glimpse of Troi being written intelligently.
Back on the planet, Data and Ard'rian are making some headway with the colonists but JD Vance....sorry, Gosheven voices his objection to their efforts.
GOSHEVEN: Still stirring up trouble?
ARD'RIAN: Since when is talk trouble?
GOSHEVEN: It's over. Don't you get it? You had your say. You lost.
DATA: I appear to be reversing that defeat.
GOSHEVEN: No, you're not. You're just stubborn. Well, let me tell you something.
(Gosheven uses an electric prod on Data. He falls over)
GOSHEVEN: So am I.
ARD'RIAN: Damn you, Gosheven.
HARITATH: You killed him?
GOSHEVEN: I've killed no one. I merely shut down a machine. That's it, everyone. It's time to go home. You'll see that I'm right.
Picard and Troi score a face-to-face meet up with Sheliak on board their ship. It's pretty dark with some speckled neon here and there, like the interior of a Spencer's Gifts.
SHELIAK: Advance and speak.
PICARD: Director, we will comply with your request to remove the colony from Tau Cygna Five, but we need time.
SHELIAK: The given time has elapsed. We carry the membership and we will proceed with their debarkation.
TROI: The temporary presence of these humans should not interfere with your plans.
SHELIAK: Unacceptable. You must remove the creatures.
PICARD: I'm trying, but the needed ship will not be available for three weeks.
SHELIAK: Then you are in violation.
PICARD: I have admitted that. I am only asking for a little flexibility.
SHELIAK: Section five hundred and one, paragraph seven hundred and sixteen, subparagraph five. Unwanted lifeforms inhabiting H class worlds may be removed at the discretion of the Sheliak Corporate.
PICARD: We will remove them, but you must grant us the time we require.
SHELIAK: You need time, Picard of the Enterprise? We will save you time. We will eradicate the human infestation.
PICARD: They are not vermin. They are citizens of the Federation. I will not permit this outrage!
SHELIAK: Intelligent converse is impossible. You do not discuss, you gibber.
PICARD: Between intelligent species of good-
Picard and Troi are zapped back onto the Enterprise bridge in mid sentence.
PICARD: -will....
RIKER: I take it the Sheliak just hung up on us again.
Back at colony, Data is "awake"
ARD'RIAN: I'm not surprised at Gosheven's behaviour. But Kentor and the others, they said they were with us. I guess words don't mean very much.
DATA: Perhaps that is a part of our difficulty. Words are all we have been using. Humans seem to take much stronger notice of actions. I require a phaser.
ARD'RIAN: What's a phaser?
DATA: A type of weapon. Unfortunately it does not function in the presence of hyperonic radiation. I will have to be innovative.
(Data removes a small circuit board from his right forearm)
DATA: Hyperonic radiation randomises phaser beams. But I believe I can improvise a servocircuit which will compensate by continuously recollimating the output.
ARD'RIAN: You're using your own neural subprocessors to build a smarter phaser.
DATA: Essentially correct. Get word to Gosheven. Tell him I am coming to the pumping station. Tell him I am going to destroy the aqueduct.
ARD'RIAN: He'll try to stop you.
DATA: I sincerely hope so.
Ooh boy! Is that bad ass or what? Data using the innards of his own arm to science the shit out of a phaser that'll work despite the plot device radiation.
The scene switches to a court yard where Gosheven is surrounded by 4 security guards. Data phasers the four of them.
DATA: That was the stun setting.
(Data raises his phaser again)
DATA: This is not.
(Data's phaser blasts strikes the base of the aqueduct and energy shoot up the side of the mountain.)
DATA: I can reduce this pumping station to a pile of debris, but I trust my point is clear. I am one android with a single weapon. There are hundreds of Sheliak on the way and their weapons are far more powerful. They may not offer you a target. They can obliterate you from orbit. You will die never having seen the faces of your killers. The choice is yours.
KENTOR: There are other places, other challenges.
GOSHEVEN: I really was willing to stay here and die for this.
DATA: I know that. This is just a thing, and things can be replaced. Lives cannot.
Data gives the phaser a twirl before reholstering it.
Meanwhile, Picard has had it up to his bald head with the damn Sheliak busting them with their damn treaty and he's found something that just might make it work for the Enterprise crew for once.
This scene coming up is the main reason why I chose this episode for this week's spotlight. PICARD: Mister Worf, get me the Sheliak.
WORF: Yes, sir. Coming through, sir.
PICARD: Pursuant to paragraph one thousand two hundred and ninety, I hereby formally request third party arbitration of our dispute.
SHELIAK [on viewscreen]: You have the right.
PICARD: Furthermore, pursuant to subsection D three, I name the Grisellas to arbitrate.
SHELIAK [on viewscreen]: Grisellas?
PICARD: Unfortunately, they are currently in their hibernation cycle, However, they will awaken in six months, at which time we can get this matter settled. Now, do you want to wait or give me my three weeks?
SHELIAK [on viewscreen]: Absurd. We carry the membership. We can brook no delay.
PICARD: Then I declare the treaty in abeyance,
SHELIAK [on viewscreen]: Wait! Negotiation is permiss-
(Picard has him cut off in mid word)
RIKER: You enjoyed that.
PICARD: You're damned right.
WORF: Captain, they are hailing us.
(one, two, three, four, make him wait outside the door. Picard inspects the ship's plaque for dust)
WORF: Sir?
(Five, six, seven, eight, does the beggar good to wait)
PICARD: On screen.
SHELIAK [on viewscreen]: You may have your three weeks, Picard of the Enterprise.
PICARD: Thank you.
This sequence has got to be in at least the top 5 coolest things Capt. Picard ever did.
(The Sheliak ship turns around. La Forge enters)
LAFORGE: Captain, we can do it. We can modify the transporters.
PICARD: Excellent.
LAFORGE: It'll take fifteen years, and a research team of a hundred.
PICARD: Mister La Forge, I believe we will postpone.
LAFORGE: Yes, sir.
Back on the planet, Ard'rian meets up with Data who is getting ready to depart in his shuttle.
ARD'RIAN: Hi. The evacuation plan is going well. When the ship arrives, we'll be ready to leave. You succeeded.
DATA: I could not have succeeded without your support and insight. I am grateful for your assistance.
ARD'RIAN: Good. Then you won't forget me.
DATA: I am incapable of forgetting. I will remember every detail of my visit here with perfect clarity.
ARD'RIAN: But nothing more?
DATA: I do not understand.
ARD'RIAN: I guess what I really want to know is, do you have any feelings for me?
DATA: I have no feelings of any kind.
ARD'RIAN: No, of course you don't.
(Data kisses her)
ARD'RIAN: What was that for?
DATA: You appeared to need it.
ARD'RIAN: So you saw I was unhappy and did what you concluded would make me feel better. Rational to the last.
"You appeared to need it!" These two made such a cute couple.
Back on the Enterprise, Data enter's Picard's ready room where he is listening to Mozart.
PICARD: Come. Welcome home, Mister Data. Well done.
DATA: Thank you, sir.
PICARD: The good doctor was kind enough to provide me with a recording of your concert. Your performance shows feeling.
DATA: As I have recently reminded others, sir, I have no feeling.
PICARD: It's hard to believe. Your playing is quite beautiful.
DATA: Strictly speaking, sir, it is not my playing. It is a precise imitation of the techniques of Jascha Heifetz and Trenka Bronken.
PICARD: Is there nothing of Data in what I'm hearing? You see, you chose the violinists. Heifetz and Bronken have radically different styles, different techniques, yet you combined them successfully.
DATA: I suppose I have learned to be creative, sir, when necessary.
What the hell does "Ensigns of Command" even mean? The phrase is derived from the poem "The Wants of Man" by John Quincy Adams, meaning the outward signs, badges, or symbols of rank and power. The title of the episode is not a reference to the rank of Ensign but rather to having the proper authority and proof needed to get a job done—using force, logic, or legal loopholes to demonstrate command.
The Ensigns of Command may not be among the best TNG episodes but I personally found a lot about that that was commendable. It was certainly a great spotlight for Brent Spiner and Data's exploration of humanity. It is a compelling challenge for Data of not being about to solve problems with rationality but adapting his thinking and appeal to human emotion.
And his interaction with Ard'rian is charming as hell. We get two kissing scenes in the most Data-like way.
"You appeared to need it." Yeah, that'll work.
And of course that kick ass confrontation between Picard and the Sheliak epitomizes what Star Trek is all about, the triumph of wisdom, intelligence and even wit over brute force. With just a hint of those human foibles Roddenberry was determined to erase from the series.
RIKER: You enjoyed that.
PICARD: You're damned right.
You go, Jean-Luc!
Next time on Star Trekking....
We move up to season four of Star Trek: The Next Generation and our spotlight falls on Data once more.
