”Help me to save this episode” thread.

[Qonundrum]

"The Inner Light" - despite its problems, overlook that and the character drama is compelling. It's strong enough to recommend to anyone who might be skeptical of all 5 jillion voices that claim this is the best episode ever... And as a person who prefers societal forest-level interaction over tree-level soap opera sap, that's saying a lot about how good this episode is when all is said and done...

Now what tries to ruin it is still surprisingly remarkable - there are two biggies, but the one talked about less is how this probe is just beep-blooping in space and waits for just one person - per actual exposition in the script - then shuts itself down and dispenses a flute. With no music book or even a candy sampler to go along with it. All of this is ostensibly to get this one person, being mindraped with potentially lethal effects per Crusher's own concerns by the way, to tell everyone across the universe this wild story about being mindviolated by a probe by a narcissistic species that wants to be lived as a memory by some stranger who, when said stranger snuffs it, renders their beige little species forgotten forevermore... again... just be glad the Borg or Romulans or Klingon Commander Klaa who's skeet shooting at derelict objects out of abject boredom again - or any contingent of Pakleds nearby didn't stumble on this...

 

[Turtletrekker]

Yesterday's Enterprise. Has anyone else noticed that Tasha does not appear at all in the final act? I always found that to be a glaring omission. Even if there was just a brief snippet of her at her station as the Enterprise-C crossed the event horizon back through time, that would have been enough for me.

 

[Ragitsu]

Maybe he can’t cook omelettes properly and messed them up, therefore he went with his back up plan of scrambled eggs.

In all likelihood, it was a time/convenience issue once the rubber met the road (er, the script was applied to actual filming): it is far easier to whip up some scrambled eggs than it is to prepare an omelette (ESPECIALLY when reshoots are a factor). Of course, we could say that Riker is so charismatic that if he tells you his obviously scrambled eggs are omelettes, you'll believe him...no questions asked.

 

[Orphalesion]

Of course, we could say that Riker is so charismatic that if he tells you his obviously scrambled eggs are omelettes, you'll believe him...no questions asked.

Noooo

 

[Oddish]

The Inner Light" - despite its problems, overlook that and the character drama is compelling. It's strong enough to recommend to anyone who might be skeptical of all 5 jillion voices that claim this is the best episode ever...

You watched the same YouTube video I did.

What I think would have been a riot would be if the probe had locked on Spot. Since Data's on the bridge, no one notices that his cat takes a 25-minute nap, then goes back to washing himself like nothing happened.

 

[Timofnine]

"The Inner Light" - despite its problems, overlook that and the character drama is compelling. It's strong enough to recommend to anyone who might be skeptical of all 5 jillion voices that claim this is the best episode ever... And as a person who prefers societal forest-level interaction over tree-level soap opera sap, that's saying a lot about how good this episode is when all is said and done...

Now what tries to ruin it is still surprisingly remarkable - there are two biggies, but the one talked about less is how this probe is just beep-blooping in space and waits for just one person - per actual exposition in the script - then shuts itself down and dispenses a flute. With no music book or even a candy sampler to go along with it. All of this is ostensibly to get this one person, being mindraped with potentially lethal effects per Crusher's own concerns by the way, to tell everyone across the universe this wild story about being mindviolated by a probe by a narcissistic species that wants to be lived as a memory by some stranger who, when said stranger snuffs it, renders their beige little species forgotten forevermore... again... just be glad the Borg or Romulans or Klingon Commander Klaa who's skeet shooting at derelict objects out of abject boredom again - or any contingent of Pakleds nearby didn't stumble on this...

Maybe the probe wasn’t just hunting for one particular person, perhaps it was hunting for a person who had never had a family so that it could not only share some of the history and culture of their race, but also encourage the person to reflect afterwards, to settle down and maybe have a family of their own? Picard could have taught his child(ren) how to play the flute and passed his knowledge of the now long lost race down through future generations of Picard’s? As he probably didn’t do this , I’m sure that he wrote an extensive Captain’s Log on the topic of this species and if he was really touched by their plight he might have even written a book.

It is a shame that we will never get to see a heart warming scene in the future where a much loved son or daughter of Picard is playing the ‘Picard theme tune’ song on their father’s flute, reflecting on his or her father’s legacy and everything that the great man had taught them and done for the galaxy.

*EDIT*
He could have had a daughter too, I shouldn’t gender type cast so edited the original post.

 

[dupersuper]

"The arsenal of freedom" probably just the tiniest thing to fix. Probably remembering wrong but after Picard and Crusher get the weapons switched off, the one after the landing party vanishes but not the one after the ship.

It's been a while since I last watched it, but wasn't the ship killer already engaged with the Enterprise in a fight that took it into the upper atmosphere? By the time the cancel signal got to it it may not have been able to receive it.

 

[puzzledtea]

It's been a while since I last watched it, but wasn't the ship killer already engaged with the Enterprise in a fight that took it into the upper atmosphere? By the time the cancel signal got to it it may not have been able to receive it.

I think it was yes, when Picard called the Enterprise they were either near or in the atmosphere by then I think. I never thought of it being interference, I like that as a workaround. Let's Geordi get the last laugh against it then. I've really got to watch this one again at some point it's been ages lol

 

[Qonundrum]

Maybe the probe wasn’t just hunting for one particular person, perhaps it was hunting for a person who had never had a family so that it could not only share some of the history and culture of their race, but also encourage the person to reflect afterwards, to settle down and maybe have a family of their own? Picard could have taught his child(ren) how to play the flute and passed his knowledge of the now long lost race down through future generations of Picard’s? As he probably didn’t do this , I’m sure that he wrote an extensive Captain’s Log on the topic of this species and if he was really touched by their plight he might have even written a book.

It is a shame that we will never get to see a heart warming scene in the future where a much loved son or daughter of Picard is playing the ‘Picard theme tune’ song on their father’s flute, reflecting on his or her father’s legacy and everything that the great man had taught them and done for the galaxy.

*EDIT*
He could have had a daughter too, I shouldn’t gender type cast so edited the original post.

Hopefully the book would have hit mainstream success, or at least added to a museum or other repository of knowledge of ancient cultures. Maybe next to the Menthars and Promellians, they were around a thousand years earlier, too...

I'd argue that the script suggests otherwise - too exposition forcing the issue:

(everyone is in broad rimmed sunhats and loose clothing)
PICARD: Did everyone know about this except me? I'll be all right sitting here. You go off with the others. Hold onto my grandson, and watch the damned thing go up for all the good it'll do. What is it they're launching?
MERIBOR: You know about it, Father. You've already seen it.
PICARD: Seen it? What are you talking about? I haven't seen any missile.
BATAI: Yes, you have, old friend. Don't you remember?
PICARD: Batai?
BATAI: You saw it just before you came here. We hoped our probe would encounter someone in the future. Someone who could be a teacher. Someone who could tell the others about us.
PICARD: Oh, it's me, isn't it? I'm the someone. I'm the one it finds. That's what this launching is. A probe that finds me in the future.
ELINE: Yes, my love.
PICARD: Eline.
ELINE: The rest of us have been gone for a thousand years. If you remember what we were, and how we lived, then we'll have found life again.
PICARD: Eline.
ELINE: Now we live in you. Tell them of us, my darling.

I'll concede I may have read into the scene a bit much, there is enough wiggle room that perhaps - just perhaps - the thing would find any number of beings passing by, violate them all, and implant race memories into them in hopes they'll go around the cosmos telling how narcissistic they are. (Note how Picard has a neat "it's all about meeee and how great I am!" moment in that scene, too! )

RIKER: Mister Worf, put a tractor beam on that probe. I want it in shuttlebay two for examination.
WORF: Yes, Commander
....
RIKER: We were able to open the probe and examine it. Apparently, whatever had locked onto you must have been self terminating. It's not functioning any longer. We found this inside.
(Riker hands him a box and leaves. Inside it is a penny whistle with a tassel. Picard clutches it to his chest for a moment, then plays his Skye Boat song variation on it)

Well, that ensures beyond any reasonable doubt that the probe won't keep going across space at sublight speed to continue to dispense race memories and flutes...

But the crew found only one flute? Early in the episode, the crew cite the probe is not sophisticated, despite the abilities it's otherwise capable of doing, so the chances of it having a replicator to make new flutes on cue seems unlikely.

 

[Qonundrum]

"The arsenal of freedom" probably just the tiniest thing to fix. Probably remembering wrong but after Picard and Crusher get the weapons switched off, the one after the landing party vanishes but not the one after the ship.

I can't say exactly how but if the episode as aired could be changed around so the enterprise destroyed the drone first before they agree to "buy" them - then perhaps another one is sent after them in the same way as on the planet? Basically the sale would save both the ship and away team from a last minute weapon that would probably have beaten them

Think this counts as tiny , I think it's a great S1 episode despite this.

The order of destructions piqued my interest, but that's a cool idea to let the Big-D destroy one during the interim, followed by a second appearing later. They have enough crew able to monitor both situations.

I'm more surprised they didn't have a larger, different looking prop for the orbital drone attacking the ship. Maybe that's the reason for the orbital device's subplot was kept to one - they needed more time to construct... a device meant for a spaceship would be more likely to destroy the ship as quickly as possible, but for ground units the smaller units are tactical and figure out strategies before attacking (per Yar).

 

[Oddish]

It's handy that the probe found someone who has contacts and knowledge in matters of archeology and anthropology.

They actually should have bad an episode or two where Riker was captaining the Enterprise because Picard was on Earth, filling Starfleet in on this alien culture only he knew about.

 

[Timofnine]

It's handy that the probe found someone who has contacts and knowledge in matters of archeology and anthropology.

They actually should have bad an episode or two where Riker was captaining the Enterprise because Picard was on Earth, filling Starfleet in on this alien culture only he knew about.

The only problem with this is that if Picard had missed an episode or two, Time’s Arrow would not have occurred and therefore Picard would have never gone back in time and met Guinan. Riker might have dealt with the situations in the proceeding episodes in a totally different way, perhaps even being a bit too trigger happy having not been on his enhanced diplomacy course? At least Barclay would have been running the show in Realm of Fear so Riker would not have had to do much whilst Picard was away for this episode.