Is "The Inner Light" overrated?

[Unicron]

I was watching this ep late last night, cause one station still airs TNG at an ungodly hour (and I only stay up when I can afford to ). And although there are a lot of good ideas in it, it's never been one of my favorites. A lot of things just felt too forced - Picard finding himself in a strange culture where everyone think he's someone else, and having no way back, and the crew's inability to separate him from the probe without killing him, among others.

I think the story would have been improved if Picard actually had some sense of being Kamin, rather than being stuck in his shoes and being forced to adapt to the probe's simulated reality. While we see him develop a strong connection and empathy to the virtual community, and those are among the good parts, we never get a sense of who the real Kamin was. I think Picard's experiences would be more meaningful if he felt he really "belonged" on Kataan.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

^ I think he feels that way after a few "years"...i think the first interval we saw was like, 5 years later, right? (Its been a month or two since i watched it last)...at that point he seems like he feels like he belongs...he is still looking at the stars and all, but he seems quite comfortable there...at least to me.

For me, if he HAD immediately felt like Kamin it wouldn't have seemed natural to me.

BTW, your signature is a HOOT!

 

[Unicron]

Thanks. I agree with Catbert. I think the script should have shown some balance between the two, much like how in AGT Picard still feels natural when he time shifts, while also retaining some knowledge from the period he considers the present. Even after the five years, he still feels very connected to his "former" life on the Enterprise. I agree he shouldn't have immediately felt too familiar with Kataan, but I would have liked to see it come a bit more naturally.

It's the execution mainly I think needs improvement, rather than the basic story.

 

[JiNX-01]

I was watching this ep late last night, cause one station still airs TNG at an ungodly hour (and I only stay up when I can afford to ). And although there are a lot of good ideas in it, it's never been one of my favorites. A lot of things just felt too forced - Picard finding himself in a strange culture where everyone think he's someone else, and having no way back, and the crew's inability to separate him from the probe without killing him, among others.

I think the story would have been improved if Picard actually had some sense of being Kamin, rather than being stuck in his shoes and being forced to adapt to the probe's simulated reality. While we see him develop a strong connection and empathy to the virtual community, and those are among the good parts, we never get a sense of who the real Kamin was. I think Picard's experiences would be more meaningful if he felt he really "belonged" on Kataan.

It's quite possible that the entire episode was a work of fiction, that none of these people ever existed and the only "reality" was the way they lived and died. That was specifically what they wanted "Kamin" to remember.

I actually love this episode for how touching it was to see Picard with a family and the emotional final moments. Tho' I do wish more serious attention had been paid to the effects such an experience should have on Picard.

 

[Wingsley]

I thought the story was overrated. They should've developed it further. Something affecting the main character of the series to this magnitude shoud've been at least a two-parter, so we could get to know the natives better.

 

[Unicron]

^^ That's true, but I think it's more likely they were based on real people. I do think the aspect of Picard having a family, which he'd previously thought was unnecessary, is a bright spot. I kind of wish there was a little more about the state of Kataan's culture, in terms of their technological advancement. It can be inferred that they were relatively low-tech by 24th century Federation standards, and yet the probe was able to create a compelling virtual reality as effectively as the holodeck. It is certainly possible that they might have put their best tech into the probe to ensure its survival.

 

[CaptainStoner]

It may be slightly overrated. But still an A-grade episode, YMMV. I watched it again recently, and I no longer feel its the top of my TNG list.
Still, it is a great, classic sci-fi story.

 

[SeattleMatt]

I would have to disagree that it's overrated purely on the fact of how it made me feel the first time I watched it. I think I was in 8th grade, it left me with a feeling I couldn't shake. The combination of that song, and the thought of my life being a dream, only to wake up and have it be just that, a dream, was something I thought about a lot after that.

 

[Bones2]

It's quite good. But wouldn't make my top 10.

 

[Myasishchev]

I don't think it's overrated at all. Probably the best TNG episode outside of AGT, The Outcast, and Best of Both Worlds. I agree that there should have been more follow-up, but such is Trek. At least his experience was mostly positive (extinction notwithstanding), so he wouldn't harbor big scars about it, unlike O'Brien's quickly forgotten twenty years in mind-prison.

They did show him diddling on his flute (ha) from time to time, which was nice.

 

[TeutonicNights]

I think the episode is awesome. The probe thing is simple and effective, and the first time I watched it, Picard staying himself, but having to accept there's no way out was what sold it to me.

 

[Ward Fowler]

Well, I first saw The Inner Light the week it premiered before it had any sort of reputation. I quite clearly remember thinking I had just seen something special as far as TNG episodes are concerned. Apparently many others felt the same way. So personally I don't feel it's overrated.

 

[gottacook]

I also saw it again last night (after a few years) on WGN, at 1 a.m. EST. I do think it holds up - although the question of how "fictional" the experience was is an interesting one. Was the probe waiting for an exact (i.e., Earth-type humanoid) match for 1000 years until Picard showed up? Or would it have chosen a non-humanoid (male) starship captain and given him a set of memories concerning his (similarly non-humanoid) wife and family? Or perhaps it's the reverse: Were the K'taanites themselves non-humanoid (although able to play flute) but gave Picard memories of a human-type family because Picard is human?

I suppose some thread years ago explored this, and I don't really care - the episode is a great showcase for Stewart, just as an old Night Gallery episode I happened to see again a few hours ago - "The Return of the Sorcerer," the fall 1972 season premiere - doesn't make a lick of sense but is a great role for Vincent Price as twin brothers.

And really, how can anyone complain about the lack of follow-up given the episode "Lessons" less than a year later? Picard lets down his guard (and thereby falls in love) with Wendy Hughes' character in a simple and direct way: by playing tunes from his K'taan "lifetime" for her and with her. He is showing her the heart of an experience that is a huge and meaningful part of him - 40 years of memories, at least - and moreover an experience that made a musician of him, at least with the K'taan flute.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

On a purely visceral level, this episode *still* moves me ... deeply. Personally, there's no way I could ever consider it overrated. But, in the spirit of objectivity, I can see why some might see it that way. If this episode doesn't move you (even a fraction of how it moves me) I can see why some might not see what all the fuss is about. Still, I consider myself to be a rather tough critic. And this is one of those few moments which, for me at least, the story transcends the franchise and genre and becomes something truly special.

 

[Danny99]

It's a good emotional story, but one that loses its punch when you see it again and again.

 

[Unicron]

I would say the good points definitely move me, just not as much as they could have. I am picky. For me, it's kind of like how Picard's time travel works in AGT - he retains knowledge from what he considers the present, but also has the memories from the past and future. When he shifts to the future he becomes Future Picard, rather than Present Picard in Future's body. And that helps the story by giving it more depth than it would otherwise have. That's why I'd prefer a similar thing in "The Inner Light" personally.

I'd have to rewatch "Lessons" again to form a better opinion on that one.

 

[LaBarre]

It's a good emotional story, but one that loses its punch when you see it again and again.

To be fair, almost anything on repeated viewing loses its "punch," if only because one knows exactly when each punch is about to come before it does.

It remains a favourite of mine. The idea was clever, the script was good, the execution - superb.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Definitely over-rated. It is a good episode and is moving. However, the way I've heard a lot people describe it, you would think Shakespeare has nothing on it. Something can move you and not be the greatest thing ever written.

Let's be honest, this isn't "Hamlet".

 

[LaBarre]

Definitely over-rated. It is a good episode and is moving. However, the way I've heard a lot people describe it, you would think Shakespeare has nothing on it. Something can move you and not be the greatest thing ever written.

Let's be honest, this isn't "Hamlet".

How many times have you watched a production of Hamlet?

I've seen maybe 12.

And most were mind-numbingly boring. Yet every once in awhile comes a production that makes the damn thing come alive anew.

It's the difference between live theatre and television. The latter is in the can and you can watch it again and again but it's still the same performance. You might see something new in it that you missed the last 5 times you watched it but essentially it's the same.

To watch Stewart as Claudius in Hamlet to Jacobi and then to watch him again as Claudius to Tenant - now that is sublime.

 

[D Man]

On a purely visceral level, this episode *still* moves me ... deeply. Personally, there's no way I could ever consider it overrated. But, in the spirit of objectivity, I can see why some might see it that way. If this episode doesn't move you (even a fraction of how it moves me) I can see why some might not see what all the fuss is about. Still, I consider myself to be a rather tough critic. And this is one of those few moments which, for me at least, the story transcends the franchise and genre and becomes something truly special.

I completely agree. Patrick Stewart in the final moments of the experience: "Oh...oh it's me!" is riveting to me everytime, and honestly I just got goosebumps typing it out and hearing his voice in my head. It's among the top of the list of best moments from any of my favorite shows. The only real problem is the usual TNG practice of barely mentioning it again (other than in "Lessons.") Here was an experience that should have fundamentally changed Picard, but that didn't really happen. Oh well, that's an issue with everything afterwards. The ep itself shines through.