The Inner Light

[Yeoman Randi]

Is there anyone that doesnt love this episode? I rewatched it last night and my gawd, it has everything~ a great sci-fi story, a beautifully moving script, fine acting, hell, even the lighting was wonderful. There are so many fine moments in this episode. I just love how Picard gets to have a family, if only for what is actually only 20 minutes. The scene at the end, when Riker brings him the Resiken Flute, how Picard holds it close to his chest...brilliant! And then, how he plays that flute as if he had been playing it his entire life....

I think i've probably watched this ten times over the years and it still makes me cry. I love it!!!

 

[JustKate]

I love it to - I don't really have anything to add aside from that. It's a wonderful episode.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

Something i wondered while watching it: did Patrick Stewart's son audition for the role of Shinzon? Clearly he had more than a little resemblance to Picard than Tom Hardy did. I don't know how much acting Mr Stewart Jr has had ...i wonder if he could have pulled the role off?

 

[Mistral]

Something i wondered while watching it: did Patrick Stewart's son audition for the role of Shinzon? Clearly he had more than a little resemblance to Picard than Tom Hardy did. I don't know how much acting Mr Stewart Jr has had ...i wonder if he could have pulled the role off?

Could he have pulled it off? Probably. Did he have too much self-respect to audition? Probably.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

^ You got a point there!

i havent seen him in anything other than The Inner Light, and i didnt look him up to see if he has continued acting...it crossed my mind while watching TIL b/c he does have such a strong resemblance to his father. I know alot of people were put off by the fact that Tom Hardy didn't really look like Stewart.

 

[Anwar]

I'm not sure if he is an actual actor or if this was just a special thing they did on Patrick Stewart's request for the episode.

On-topic, Inner Light is beautiful.

 

[Danoz]

I'm not sure if he is an actual actor or if this was just a special thing they did on Patrick Stewart's request for the episode.

On-topic, Inner Light is beautiful.

Agreed it's one of my favorite all-time trek episodes.

 

[Alrik]

It's toward to the top of my Favorites list.

 

[CaptainStoner]

Something i wondered while watching it: did Patrick Stewart's son audition for the role of Shinzon? Clearly he had more than a little resemblance to Picard than Tom Hardy did. I don't know how much acting Mr Stewart Jr has had ...i wonder if he could have pulled the role off?

Ahh, but wasn't that same son in Insurrection? He was the son of Picard's love interest, what was her name...which was a more appropriate role for the nepotism factor than a lead villain IMO - though whoknows, maybe he would have knocked it out of the park. He carried his role well in TIL.
I recently watched this one with a TNG newb. I love it also, though the episode is more of a song than a mystery. You know where its going. It was huge the first time, when the old man realizes its him, the moments after on the ship - still, definitely an A-list episode.
In comparison, to say, City on the Edge of Forever, it is a simpler story. But what a classic. A lifetime in 20 minutes. And to have Stewart able to emote the shock of it is really the moment, that for me, resonates over the years - to go through all those things, his wife's death, etc. To even forget who he was.
Watching the episode, it also dawned on me how different it is from modern TV. The slower pacing, the less frenetic storytelling. It reads like a favorite old book, rather than an assault of images and cuts as we get today.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

You mean Donna Murphy's Anij character? I don't recall her having a son. And i don't remember him being in it. Then again, i can barely remember to put my socks on before my shoes......i'll have to go look that up.

I agree with you 100% with your Inner Light review. What did your newbie friend think of the episode?

 

[CaptainStoner]

You mean Donna Murphy's Anij character? I don't recall her having a son. And i don't remember him being in it. Then again, i can barely remember to put my socks on before my shoes......i'll have to go look that up.

I agree with you 100% with your Inner Light review. What did your newbie friend think of the episode?

Can't remember if the character was her son, but he's there when Picard is in her house, when she first explains to him about the metaphasic radiation. I'm pretty sure that was him from TIL.
As for my TNG newb - she's a sharp critic - wasn't blown away, but enjoyed it. She also liked the scenes that had the crew doing their thing - ahh, she has no idea what she's in for now.

 

[Alrik]

I think I remember the character you are talking about, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Daniel. And if it was, he doesn't get any 'cred' for it at IMDB, even though his is listed as doing TIL.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0829294/

 

[RichMerk]

I think the guy we're trying to think of in Insurrection is actually Mark Deakins. IMDB doesn't place Daniel Stuart in Insurrection. Mark does kinda look like Daniel though.

And two more huge thumbs up for Inner Light. It's one of the dozen or so TNG episodes I ever bothered to put on tape.

 

[Alrik]

Something i wondered while watching it: did Patrick Stewart's son audition for the role of Shinzon? Clearly he had more than a little resemblance to Picard than Tom Hardy did. I don't know how much acting Mr Stewart Jr has had ...i wonder if he could have pulled the role off?

While I have to agree with Mistral regarding Daniel's motives on not doing it. There is also another pretty clear answer as to why it probably wasn't even offered. After doing an image search on him, and finding a couple of pics with him standing next to Patrick, Daniel is a good head taller and a little bit broader. The elder Stewart looks like a shrimp next to his son.

 

[Alrik]

I think the guy we're trying to think of in Insurrection is actually Mark Deakins. IMDB doesn't place Daniel Stuart in Insurrection. Mark does kinda look like Daniel though.

And two more huge thumbs up for Inner Light. It's one of the dozen or so TNG episodes I ever bothered to put on tape.

I just checked Deakins out. I think you are probably right.

*ding, ding, ding* Ladies and gents, I believe we have a winner.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

LOL, "the elder Stewart looks like a shrimp"....never EVER thought of Patrick Stewart in those terms!

I did check Daniel Stewart's credits on IMBD or IMDB or whatever it is (i can never remember), and he has a very short list of credits. It was just something that had crossed my mind while watching Inner Light.

Poor Tom Hardy. When you look at his credits he has done some pretty heavy stuff...and the only thing i've seen him in is Nemesis.

 

[byron lomax]

Superb episode, for all the reasons you give in your original post. Some of the small details really make the story stand out - many scenes in the Kataan village highlight the determined hopefulness of the people in the face of the drought, which becomes all the more poignant as the story progresses and their ultimate fate becomes clear. Picard's interaction with his family and friends is really charming at times too - you get a real sense of his life with these people despite the time constraints. This was easily one of Stewart's greatest performances in anything he's been in (let alone Star Trek).

I still wish this episode got more acknowledgement later in the series - it's intensely annoying how some writers overlooked the story entirely, giving the impression that Picard forgot the experience altogether.

 

[ThereR4Lites]

I still wish this episode got more acknowledgement later in the series - it's intensely annoying how some writers overlooked the story entirely, giving the impression that Picard forgot the experience altogether.

Agreed... there was only one other episode that I can recall where he even talks about the experience. I think that this episode could have seriously added to the character. That kind of experience would be life altering.

Then again he was assimilated and practically just sauntered back onto the bridge afterwords, only side effect is a whisper here and there. Wish they could have done more with both of these scenarios.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

^^ i agree with both of you. There were some experiences that characters had that SHOULD have been addressed again by the individuals that lived through them. My guess is that there is only so much you can fit into 44 minutes (or whatever the exact time is)....and so they just couldn't for practical reasons.

I think the episode you are thinking of ThereR4Lites was "Lessons", where Picard shares a little bit of his experience from The Inner Light with Nella. And that dialogue was beautifully done.

 

[byron lomax]

Agreed, although I actually felt Picard's assimilation by the Borg got addressed more than other big experiences in his life - it got a direct follow-up episode, it's mentioned many times by other characters afterwards in the series, and we occasionally get indications that the experience still haunts him long after it happened.

I think there was generally less importance given to character continuity in television back then - towards the end of the 90s, shows got into a habit of remembering their characters' pasts and bringing up significant events later on. TNG was from a time just before that began to happen.