The thing that bugs me in 'The Enemy'

[JesterFace]

I think this episode is out of my list... of good episodes.

Everytime I start thinking, both the Enterprise and Romulans have shuttles, why not send a shuttle to take the injured Romulan for treatment to the Warbird? Or, maybe the Romulans could send a shuttle to pick up the Romulan, even if he was captured on a Federation planet without permission.

I don't remember the exact quote, but Tomalak did say something like this to Picard: "You would place territory over a man's life?" Makes you think, would it be so bad to have a Romulan ship visit the Federation planet to save the injured Romulan?

 

[Vger23]

Really? Rogue One got best Sci-fi movie?

Well, that right there destroys all credibility for these awards...not that they had much to begin with.

 

[Jayson1]

I think this episode is out of my list... of good episodes.

Everytime I start thinking, both the Enterprise and Romulans have shuttles, why not send a shuttle to take the injured Romulan for treatment to the Warbird? Or, maybe the Romulans could send a shuttle to pick up the Romulan, even if he was captured on a Federation planet without permission.

I don't remember the exact quote, but Tomalak did say something like this to Picard: "You would place territory over a man's life?" Makes you think, would it be so bad to have a Romulan ship visit the Federation planet to save the injured Romulan?

I love this episode. Worf might have never been better with him being conflicted over to give the romulan blood and they took the bold choice to not do it and the guy dies.

The military brinkmanship is fun and it's nice to see Picard in fully military mode, which you don't see that often but my favorite part is having Geordi and the other Romulan have to work together to save their lives.

My only flaw was having Wesley invent the beacon which plays into that idea of him always saving the day and your concerns to me make kind of sense but for me they feel more like nitpicks and not something that can ruin a episode.

Jason

 

[Gary7]

My only flaw was having Wesley invent the beacon which plays into that idea of him always saving the day and your concerns to me make kind of sense but for me they feel more like nitpicks and not something that can ruin a episode.

One word: Data.
This is a solution I'd expect Data to discover. It doesn't take a lot of imagination. It's quite logical, actually. I get Wesley being the boy genius, Mr. Nanites and all... but yeah, his "saving the day" should've been 2 incidents tops across the whole series. Data has demonstrated insight in previous episodes where this kind of solution would've been very plausible and understandable. He should have been given credit where credit is due. Data is the real "miracle worker", for he has extreme mental processing power, capable of analyzing multiple solutions to multiple problems simultaneously. Not only that, he doesn't need to sleep!

 

[Jayson1]

One word: Data.
This is a solution I'd expect Data to discover. It doesn't take a lot of imagination. It's quite logical, actually. I get Wesley being the boy genius, Mr. Nanites and all... but yeah, his "saving the day" should've been 2 incidents tops across the whole series. Data has demonstrated insight in previous episodes where this kind of solution would've been very plausible and understandable. He should have been given credit where credit is due. Data is the real "miracle worker", for he has extreme mental processing power, capable of analyzing multiple solutions to multiple problems simultaneously. Not only that, he doesn't need to sleep!

I agree and I have always felt Data should have came up with that beacon as well. Making things worst is when Geordi see's it, he says something like "a neutron beacon, thank you Mister Crusher!" Why would anyone instantly think only Wesley Crusher would come up with that idea?

Jason

 

[JesterFace]

Really? Rogue One got best Sci-fi movie?

Well, that right there destroys all credibility for these awards...not that they had much to begin with.

Um... come again? Wrong thread perhaps?

 

[Vger23]

Um... come again? Wrong thread perhaps?

Weird I wonder how that happened.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Allowing Romulus to draw them into making diplomatic concessions that would enable Romulus to hide a shipyard in striking distance of Federation space would have diplomatic and military repercussions greater than one man's life.

 

[Timo]

Everytime I start thinking, both the Enterprise and Romulans have shuttles, why not send a shuttle to take the injured Romulan for treatment to the Warbird? Or, maybe the Romulans could send a shuttle to pick up the Romulan, even if he was captured on a Federation planet without permission.

I don't get the specific complaint. Why would shuttles be more helpful than starships here? Because they are unthreatening? The original offense was the invasion by a small scoutship with two crew, an unthreatening piece of hardware as such.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JesterFace]

I don't get the specific complaint. Why would shuttles be more helpful than starships here? Because they are unthreatening? The original offense was the invasion by a small scoutship with two crew, an unthreatening piece of hardware as such.

Timo Saloniemi

The whole thing was about saving a life, something that can't be brought back if that Romulan dies.

Sure, he was in Federation space without permission, but still, isn't his life worth saving if there's a possibility for it? He only had that one life...

Shuttle would be "less invasive" if the Federation doesn't want a Warbird into their territory.

Like Tomalak said: "You would place territory over a man's life?

 

[Jayson1]

The whole thing was about saving a life, something that can't be brought back if that Romulan dies.

Sure, he was in Federation space without permission, but still, isn't his life worth saving if there's a possibility for it? He only had that one life...

Shuttle would be "less invasive" if the Federation doesn't want a Warbird into their territory.

Like Tomalak said: "You would place territory over a man's life?

Problem is when possible war is at stake then in many cases a single individual is not seen as being more important.
Let's also not forget that this scout ship was in Federation space and the idea of "navigation failure" is not trusted by Picard. If Romulans are already flying into Federation space then it makes sense to be untrusting of their motives. Basically you can't trust the Romulans and you have to figure they might be lying or having some other hidden agenda at work.

Jason

 

[Timo]

I doubt shuttles would be less invasive in practice, for the reasons quoted: a scoutship was already bad enough. OTOH, shuttles move at a snail's pace compared to starships, so the Romulan would be dead (or tortured by Starfleet into revealing all the State Secrets) before Tomalak's chosen means of transportcould arrive.

Saving the Romulan's life was always an option, but only insofar as the bastard didn't choose to die first. And in the episode, he did - apparently catching even Dr Crusher by surprise, as otherwise she would have informed Picard of the impending death before the Captain had to humble himself in front of Worf.

But giving the Romulan to Romulans would not be an important step in saving the Romulan's life. It would be only at the arrival of Romulan (or other) blood of suitable type that any difference could be made to the survival of the fellah, and the impression was made that the scene of the episode was out in the sticks. If the only way to deliver the blood in time was a Romulan superfast battleship, then yes, the price to be paid for his survival would be too high.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JesterFace]

shuttles move at a snail's pace compared to starships

I'd imagine a Romulan scout ship might've been fast enough...

But giving the Romulan to Romulans would not be an important step in saving the Romulan's life. It would be only at the arrival of Romulan (or other) blood of suitable type that any difference could be made to the survival of the fellah.

Romulan Warbird, ship of that size must have a crew as big as the Ent-D, around 1000, maybe more? From so many Romulans, a donor might be easy to find, after all, even Worf was a compatible donor.
If a donor was not around, maybe Romulan medicine could have helped?

 

[Mojochi]

Option 1, Ultimately, there's a strong chance that proper medical care of a critical patient can not be given on board an Enterprise shuttle. Had they sent the Romulan they were holding off one of their shuttles, he'd probably have died in it. After all, they ended up losing the guy in the Galaxy class sickbay. Only 1 thing WAS going to save the guy, & Worf wasn't giving it up. Plus, any crew you send off in the shuttle to deliver the guy, could be at risk from attack, especially if the guy dies en route

Option 2, Letting ANY Romulan vessel into Federation space for any reason is a violation of their treaty. It's got nothing to do with the varied level of threat which types of vessels pose. While Tomalak hides behind the claim that Picard is measuring territories at the expense of a life, THAT life was deliberately in violation of the treaty, & the conditions of his being in Federation space are HIGHLY suspicious. Tomalak got caught in a LIE about how many people had been on the ship. So clearly, it was not in anyone's best interest to trust his claims. If he's lying about how many of them were there, It's equally likely he's lying about why they were there.

In adversarial relations, you can hope for the best, but you'd better well plan for the worst. If you break into my house, & get fatally wounded doing so, there's no way I'm letting your accomplices in to collect you, even if you'll likely die before life saving measures can be properly administered. There's being compassionate, & then there's just plain stupid

 

[Triskelion]

Yup.

The Romulans didn't seem to care about one man's life when they ordered him into a treaty-violating incursion into enemy territory...? But now it's somehow supposed to be Picard's failing? Hand in the cookie jar, son, and you're brother didn't make you do it.

It was a lie designed to manipulate. Good on Picard not to be hoodwinked by Romulan aggression masquerading behind a humanitarian cover story. The simple fact is that Romulus would use that planet to gain serious life-threatening footing for war and oppression.

How many Federation lives was Tomalak willing to burn to death? Untold millions, that's how many. Not blithely watch from the sidelines - push the button that burned them to death. This is because even in peacetime, the Romulan system objectifies the lives of its citizens - let alone value anyone else's right to live. It is an Empire - bent on conquest and oppression of its own subjects.

Which demonstrates the inherent flaw in totalitarian ideology, which is the lack of checks and balances that can justify any action whatsoever. Which is of course its appeal - taking full control over socieities, giving them no options, and giving yourself all the choices. If you can get the masses to buy it, you are one smooth, cadillac-driving televangelist preaching the virtues of poverty and sacrifice - not for the state, but for your own aggrandizement and comfort. Well, comfort laying your head on a loaded gun when you sleep. That objectification of life works both ways.

I'm sure though, that at home, Tomalak's Victim Narrative would play. No one would dare bring up a question of why Romulus had violated the Neutral Zone, so they would just pretend to trust the government outwardly, while inwardly, of course - trust no one and no thing ever. And their moral condemnation is supposed to carry any weight?

 

[Kaelef]

Just watched this episode. It was almost great, except for two things (which I see have been mentioned in other threads). #1. Worf puts his personal feelings above the possible deaths of his friends, crew mates, and countless others in the event of a full-out war. #2. Picard allows Worf to do this, thereby doing the same in deference to Worf's personal feelings. Ridiculous, childish, unprofessional, amoral behavior on both their parts.

As for shuttles: Whether or not they would've been less threatening is a moot point. As far as the Romulans knew, Picard had the sole survivor on board his ship. End of story.

 

[Paradise City]

The original scout ship crashed, can you land a ship down there at all? You'd be able to pop a probe down or even try again if the probe crashed but perhaps busting humans on a shuttle through a toxic atmosphere would've repercussions?

I liked the episode. Some rich bronkmanship scenes with Picard.

A scout wasn't entertained because it isn't fast enough and time is of the essence. Of course lost pilots from a rival power are reduced to political footballs and the Romulans wanted a diplomatic victory. The Romulans are notorious for their duplicity, so the NZ is regarded as sacrosanct by the Feds.