TNG Rewatch: 4x13 "Devil's Due"

[Timo]

The trick would be in the timing. Most magical acts are based on focusing the attention of the audience at an irrelevant action at an irrelevant moment, thereby hiding the relevant action. Beaming in holoprojectors would happen when there's no anticipation of threat yet - say, when our heroes themselves are beaming back for the first time.

The thing about starships is that they are quite vulnerable to attack most of the time. There's some so far unknown reason why shields are kept down except in dire emergencies, say. And intruder alerts only work on fairly conventional types of intruder arriving by fairly conventional means; the success rate against "energy beings" is a flat zero, say.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[T'Girl]

Was there an Ardra originally?

In favor of there being an original Ardra, there was several mentions of the thousand year date for the contract, Picard asked Data to make a study of the document.

I think part of Data's investigation of the actual document would have been a scan of it's age, if the date had been off I believe he would have made that fact public.

 

[Timo]

I thought I'd address that. But had it been off by a century, like, say, the Gospel according to John, would Data even have mentioned that? I'm not postulating this would be fiction created two weeks before our heroes arrived - I'm just wondering about the sequence of events. Did something important happen, and the pact with the devil was then invented to rationalize it? Or did some silly person disgusted with the bad old days make a document about a "pact with the devil" (inventing Ardra out of whole cloth), and when something important later happened, it got associated with that pact?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Makarov]

I would have liked if Q got pissed off she was pretending to be a god and he got involved in the ep. Or maybe have a sequel episode where Q gives Ardra actual powers.

 

[Whoa Nellie]

Marta Dubois, Yet another extraordinarily beautiful actress who they felt compelled to deface with a ridiculous forehead appliance. Madness!!

My husband has loved Marta Dubois since her days on Magnum PI.

Actually....

Loved this!

This is a fun episode – if you don't think too hard about the gaping plot holes.


I do have two thoughts on this episode:


My first thought is Ardra seriously needs to take some seduction lessons from Vash.


Ardra breaks into the captain's quarters wearing a black, transparent negligee. Picard calls an intruder alert attempting to contact the bridge – twice. He jumps from bed and tries to flee his own quarters. Somehow I don't think that was the response she was aiming for.


A few episodes later, Vash breaks into the captain's quarters wearing the 24th century equivalent of the little black dress. Picard greets her with some flirtatious banter and kisses her passionately before bedding her - off screen (we assume). The next morning they have breakfast and Vash is treated to a VIP tour of the Enterprise by members of the senior staff. As my kids say, “Like a boss!”


This leads me to my second thought, shouldn't it be a little harder to break into the captain's quarters on the Federation flagship? Maybe Worf needs to have a conversation with someone in his department.


Warmest Wishes,
Whoa Nellie

 

[Forbin]

My husband has loved Marta Dubois since her days on Magnum PI.

She was steaming hot on Tales of the Gold Monkey.

Not to mention she was usually steaming in a hot tub on the show.

 

[PhoenixClass]

So she was literally steaming hot.

 

[Forbin]

Yes she was!

 

[RAMA]

Its moderately good as a Devil and Daniel and Webster retelling, BUT fantastic as a topical episode...showing a culture that single handidly brought itself out of self-destructive behavior..without superstition! Loved that. Worth watching.

Ummm..... It was sorta superstition that made them change their society and then it was superstition (granted, augmented by actual events) that nearly tore them apart.

Yes it started the process, but Picard's whole point was that they did the work themselves, she had no direct hand in it. It is also suggested as things got better, they lost much of the superstition, only to be revived with the fake Ardra. In the end they needed some prodding to show what they had really done.

RAMA

 

[Trekker4747]

Yes it started the process, but Picard's whole point was that they did the work themselves, she had no direct hand in it. It is also suggested as things got better, they lost much of the superstition, only to be revived with the fake Ardra. In the end they needed some prodding to show what they had really done.

RAMA

Again, same things can be said about out own culture. Still doesn't dispel the beliefs people have in powerful entities that control our day-to-day lives.

 

[RAMA]

Yes it started the process, but Picard's whole point was that they did the work themselves, she had no direct hand in it. It is also suggested as things got better, they lost much of the superstition, only to be revived with the fake Ardra. In the end they needed some prodding to show what they had really done.

RAMA

Again, same things can be said about out own culture. Still doesn't dispel the beliefs people have in powerful entities that control our day-to-day lives.

The majority of the people appeared to do the work with any direct fear of Ardra. In the absence of direct evidence, everyone believe Ardra had returned because of her powers. Shown the true nature of Ardra, I believe the myth was dispelled once and for all.



RAMA

 

[Trekker4747]

Incidentally, next thread will be up later this evening.