If he lived every moment of that life, then yes. But if he saw that life as it was presented to the viewer, in segments meant to convey the message the builders of the probe wanted conveyed, then perhaps not so much.
What's with the Inner Light bashing?
- Thread starter Tiberius
- Start date
The episode was tainted by the idiotic decision to let the viewer know something Picard does not - that its all fake and he's actually on the Enterprise bridge - way to take us out of the story. It would have had far more effect if we too had been questioning "is it real?" the whole time. I didn't need to hear Beverly randomly spouting medibabble on the Bridge thanks
I agree with the "great but overrated" opinion, however episodes like this (and BOBW to an extent) show the limitations of a standalone episode.
This would've effected Picard deeply to the point of him at the very least taking some time off to mourn his lost "family", maybe to the point of forgetting some vital part of his duties as Captain because he'd spent so long living another life....
But no, next week he's all smiles, saying make it so and forgetting any of this ever happened, except he now can miraculously play the flute.
OK, the writers tried to throw in a few references here and there but there should've been a longer followup, imo, which is something the limitations of the format don't allow and in a way hurts the episode itself if he is able to get over and brush off such an experience in a matter of hours...
This would've effected Picard deeply to the point of him at the very least taking some time off to mourn his lost "family", maybe to the point of forgetting some vital part of his duties as Captain because he'd spent so long living another life....
But no, next week he's all smiles, saying make it so and forgetting any of this ever happened, except he now can miraculously play the flute.
OK, the writers tried to throw in a few references here and there but there should've been a longer followup, imo, which is something the limitations of the format don't allow and in a way hurts the episode itself if he is able to get over and brush off such an experience in a matter of hours...
I haven't seen it bashed that much. The naysayers are saying that it's overrated, but I wouldn't call it bashing. I like the episode a lot (Gained a lot more respect for it over the years) but it isn't my favorite episode of the series, nor in my top 5. Top 10? Maybe.
I agree, this would probably have been an improvement over the perspective. While I don't consider "Inner Light" to be a bad ep or concept, by any means, having Picard essentially gaining his experiences by living someone else's recorded life doesn't quite make the same impact. YMMV.
Yeah, I know of that one. It's a dead man trying to escape his death in a fantasy in his head where he actually escapes. "Life flashing before your eyes before you die", so to speak. It was a lengthy daydream/fantasy, not quite the same thing. It's as close to the Inner Light as it is to the daydreams of most Calvin and Hobbs comic strips, I think.
LOL this is a first for me. I like The Inner Light much better than Memorial which seemed heavy handed. Also not a fan of Janeway's ruling at the end of it. The Inner Light brought some (IMO) much needed sympathies for Picard as a real person and not just a career captain. It personalized him for me and the first time I saw it I thought it very special and sad.
I think it's one TNG's best, but not THE best -- I think it comes across as a bit hamfisted and overly sentimental. I was quite digging the episode until the time came for the villagers to directly address Picard. That was just so jarring that it instantly took me out of the episode, and that its abruptness really interrupted the pace of the story itself. Yes, it's a 45 minute show, but having 40 minutes of goodness and 5 minutes of "We give up, let's just tell you now" is pretty uneven.
With that said, I'm making sure the flute song will be played at my funeral.
With that said, I'm making sure the flute song will be played at my funeral.
Because it's popular and highly-spoken of. Then when someone sees it for the first time, they'll be like "y'all built it up too much", or they'll compare it directly to expectations built from someone gushing and go "IT SUXX UGH".
All of this has happened before in SF/F fandom, and it will happen again.
All of this has happened before in SF/F fandom, and it will happen again.
This doesn't bother me, and it actually seems very realistic given the nature and purpose of the program itself.
The endangered race wanted someone to experience their civilization and society first-hand. But once the participant had done so, there was no need to prolong the charade.
Before the program ended, they wanted each of the 'characters' to deliver a personalized message to the active participant, one that displayed their race in the warmest and most endearing light.
That fit together very tightly, imo.
I feel like it should have been Picard who solved that mystery, instead of having the answer delivered to him in a handbasket. It's a Picard episode, the cleverest of the crew, and his archaeology skills could've been put to good use (what's an archaeologist who doesn't live in the past?). And above all else, having Picard solve the mystery gives him more agency, rather than just being a casual observer.
I've always thought that having the story interrupted by the bridge scenes were themselves pretty annoying. Picard's got a lifelong mystery on his hands, after all. Going with some of BillJ's comments about Riker, I'd rather that the episode only showed the crew at the beginning and end of the episode -- that way, more time could be devoted to smoothing out Kamin's life and the final revelation. Additionally, while the story sucks you in more and more about the life and times of Kamin and Co, the viewer wouldn't be cruelly pulled back to the status quo just yet. But by this point, TNG was pretty safe with its A & B plot structure that maybe the writers wrote it out of habit.
Good points.
It still doesn't detract from my personal viewing of the episode, but I see your points.
I always found it a bit weird that a species only recently capable of launching space probes would have sufficient technology make a navigational computer capable of tracking another (unknown) space vessel, to store memories and transmit them into an alien's head upon contact. It's the sort of technology you expect a really advanced species to have. Minor quibble, though.
As for Picard "returning to normal", I took it as the memories fading away rather quickly once he returns to consciousness. He didn't experience memories in realtime, remember. It might have seemed real but once he woke up, it's not inconceivable that his "normal" memories would instantly flood back. That said, he did take a long hard look at the turbolift doors before getting in, as if to say "Oh, I remember these things! Swish!".
There's a similar DS9 episode, where O'Brien is sentenced to virtual imprisonment for 40 years. I can't recall if the mental side effects of that extended beyond the one episode, though.
With regards to keeping the mystery going, the bridge scenes served a practical purpose in hiding the gaps between every "time jump". You'll notice that the timeframe never jumps without the scene changing to the Enterprise bridge, and that every scene change results in a time jump. I thought it was quite neat. You do still get the "mystery" of whether it's all real, but only for the first ten minutes. I'm fine with that. The point of the story wasn't for Picard to solve the mystery; he gives that up quite early on.
As for Picard "returning to normal", I took it as the memories fading away rather quickly once he returns to consciousness. He didn't experience memories in realtime, remember. It might have seemed real but once he woke up, it's not inconceivable that his "normal" memories would instantly flood back. That said, he did take a long hard look at the turbolift doors before getting in, as if to say "Oh, I remember these things! Swish!".
There's a similar DS9 episode, where O'Brien is sentenced to virtual imprisonment for 40 years. I can't recall if the mental side effects of that extended beyond the one episode, though.
With regards to keeping the mystery going, the bridge scenes served a practical purpose in hiding the gaps between every "time jump". You'll notice that the timeframe never jumps without the scene changing to the Enterprise bridge, and that every scene change results in a time jump. I thought it was quite neat. You do still get the "mystery" of whether it's all real, but only for the first ten minutes. I'm fine with that. The point of the story wasn't for Picard to solve the mystery; he gives that up quite early on.
RDM believes those memories not only stuck with Picard, but also fundamentally changed him, which makes sense as it's an entire lifetime of memories. But IIRC, this episode is only referenced twice, directly ("Lessons") and once indirectly (perhaps unintentionally? His philosophy about the nature of time in Generations).
I feel like we would've gotten the same sense of the time jump if the crew only showed up at the end, still standing around Picard and saying it's been 25 minutes -- after all an episode is 45 minutes, clearly longer than the actual events of this episode, and the crew tells him it's 25 minutes anyway. Additionally, the bridge crew suffers the same storytelling fate as the Captain, in that the solution was out of their hands -- absolutely nothing they did worked to revive Picard. It feels like false dramatic tension because of wasted time that could have gone into the primary plot. If the crew had figured out how to save the captain, then I suppose those scenes could be justified, but in hindsight they're a bit of a distraction since they lead nowhere, both figuratively and narratively.
It's a wonderful episode. It put a huge lump in my throat when everyone "Kamin" knew came back at the end and implication that Picard had to live with the loss of that entire lifespan was incredible. No amount of negative feedback will ever dampen my love of this episode.
Who in the audience would believe that the last few seasons were the dream and Picard really was Kamin? This was series TV mid-run, not a crappy final episode like St. Elsewhere where the autistic kid dreamed the last 5 years. It's like wondering if "Picard is gonna die of the Omegan Plague this week." Of course he's not. It's a good narrative device that covers the time jumps and shows us that the crew was doing stuff to help him in the meantime. Knowing it isn't "real" doesn't take away from the effectiveness because it's real to Picard.
Who in the audience would believe that the last few seasons were the dream and Picard really was Kamin? This was series TV mid-run, not a crappy final episode like St. Elsewhere where the autistic kid dreamed the last 5 years. It's like wondering if "Picard is gonna die of the Omegan Plague this week." Of course he's not. It's a good narrative device that covers the time jumps and shows us that the crew was doing stuff to help him in the meantime. Knowing it isn't "real" doesn't take away from the effectiveness because it's real to Picard.
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As another poster said, one big problem is that they let us know it is an illusion from the beginning. We all know there's no danger, the probe is telling a story, and Picard will come out fine in the end.
It's like when they introduce a new character, and he or she keeps giving an evil smirk, ah, so you know that person is the villain.
Now, begin the episode with Picard living this reality without any explanation, dump the techno-babble scenes, confuse the hell out of everybody (for a moment), and you got their attention.
We're going to know it's a story anyway, but it would have grabbed our attention at least.
I think TNG could have spiced up the pace of the episode, but because of it being the early 90's TNG had to follow a certain format.
DS9's Beyond the Stars which aired years later could give Inner Light a run for its money.
It's like when they introduce a new character, and he or she keeps giving an evil smirk, ah, so you know that person is the villain.
Now, begin the episode with Picard living this reality without any explanation, dump the techno-babble scenes, confuse the hell out of everybody (for a moment), and you got their attention.
We're going to know it's a story anyway, but it would have grabbed our attention at least.
I think TNG could have spiced up the pace of the episode, but because of it being the early 90's TNG had to follow a certain format.
DS9's Beyond the Stars which aired years later could give Inner Light a run for its money.
Not everyone likes these types of episodes. You see it whenever someone tries to inject romance or humor into a storyline. Happens all the time with Trek and Doctor Who and other franchises. You get some viewers who feel Trek should begin and end with firing phasers and warp factor one, while others feel such storylines have no place in "real" science fiction (never mind that The Inner Light is exactly the type of story Roddenberry envisioned when he created the thing). (For Who and other franchises, substitute whatever personal quirk applies to the show, 9 times out of 10 being something created through fanon, not canon.)
I personally do feel The Inner Light is overrated. I don't feel it's the best Trek (TNG or overall franchise) ever. And as you see above there are those who have critical issues with it (but then every Trek episode ever made can be torn apart, with no exceptions). But I have nothing against it. It might not have been my personal first pick for that Blu-ray sampler but it's as good an episode as any for that exercise, really. Certainly I wouldn't criticize those who feel it's the best episode ever, since I'm used to regularly seeing my favorite episodes - and series - being trashed.
Alex
The man who made the first radio had people on horses riding by outside. First nuclear bomb used in war, was dropped from an airplane with propellers.
The mind rape machine might have been old technology to these people.
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