season 5, disk 4, "ETHICS" (SPOLERS)

[wescrusherfan84]

i found this ep wonderfull.. it was cool.. they replace a spine... worf was in a liveing heck and did not want to live and wanted to die... it is wild! they fixed him and now he is all better..

i loved how they shot it..
they showed them working on him..
they did do the "M.A.S.H TRICK" as much.. thats when you only film the docters face or block the camera somehow.. they showed some of them cutting him open.. his spine in that glass box.. there was blood... very "REAL"...

 

[Finn]

*psst*

no spoiler tags needed. It has been 19 years since that episode first aired.

 

[LitmusDragon]

I enjoy this one too and think it's one of the highlights of the fifth season.

 

[Amaris]

I liked this episode, particularly for it's undercurrent message about doctors using their patients as stepping stones to fortune and fame, and that while everything worked out for the best, the ends didn't justify the means.

 

[Trek Survivor]

I haven't seen this episode for years, but remember liking it a lot.

 

[Timo]

...If only they hadn't set up the plot by dropping a barrel on Worf from a shelf that supposedly didn't shed its contents when Romulan Warbirds pummeled the ship, or when Q flung her across the galaxy, or when spatial lifeforms suckled on her. A few tremors from hitting a mine, and this heavy item comes tumbling down? It's almost like having fragile glassware unsecured on a shelf and expecting it to survive the rigors of space combat!

http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x12hd/thedeadlyyearshd1186.jpg

Timo Saloniemi

 

[sonak]

I like this episode because it gives Beverly a chance to shine, has a GREAT Riker/Worf moment, and doesn't fall into the cliche trap of making the other doctor an over the top villain.

 

[Mark 2000]

I found most of the episode contrived. Like timo said: The barrel that had no reason to fall. Then there was the fact that Worf was dying to kill himself THIS MINUTE! Don't give me that it's because he's Klingon. Worf was raised by humans. That's not really his culture. After all, Worf was willing you forgo the whole honor in death thing in Birthright. And, of course, there was the ridiculous "Klingons pack double the organs in the same amount of space" bit that saved him in the end. Well, it didn't save Gorkon, did it?

Someone mentioned on TV Club how amazing this would have been if Pulaski had been the guest star instead of some nobody of the week. There would have been a dual personal stake in Worf's health and would have pitted the two unique styles of both doctors against each other. Had they done this I probably would have forgiven the rest.

 

[wescrusherfan84]

well i put the (SPOLLER) tag becouse a week ago i had never seen this one...
there are 1st time views out there...
i was 8 when this ep aired.....

 

[sonak]

having the other doctor be Pulaski would be cool from a heighten the drama perspective, but what we know of her character and values wouldn't have been consistent with what we saw from the other doctor in this episode.

 

[DonIago]

^Indeed, if anything she was far more old-timey than Crusher, not the type to try out untested medicine.

Though if they had the time to develop some sort of backstory where Pulaski had had reason to undergo a paradigm shift...well...maybe...but then I'm worried we're molding the character to fit the plot.

 

[Canadave]

I found most of the episode contrived. Like timo said: The barrel that had no reason to fall. Then there was the fact that Worf was dying to kill himself THIS MINUTE! Don't give me that it's because he's Klingon. Worf was raised by humans. That's not really his culture. After all, Worf was willing you forgo the whole honor in death thing in Birthright. And, of course, there was the ridiculous "Klingons pack double the organs in the same amount of space" bit that saved him in the end. Well, it didn't save Gorkon, did it?

Yeah, I can't help but think that the episode would have been much better if Worf had nearly been killed in a fight after an away team was ambushed or something. Then it would make more sense that Worf wanted to die, since it would have been from wounds suffered in battle and all that jazz. Much more interesting than having randomly unsecured cargo falling on him.

 

[Mark 2000]

Though if they had the time to develop some sort of backstory where Pulaski had had reason to undergo a paradigm shift...well...maybe...but then I'm worried we're molding the character to fit the plot.

If you recall, Pulaski was really into Worf. She did that tea ceremony with him. She might have understood where he was coming from better and made a more emotional attempt to get Crusher to do the surgery because she gets Worf more on that level. I think the whole "ethical" thing was stupid to begin with. The guest star was never likable and so there was no argument that she was wrong. And with the "Worf's extra gal bladder saved him" thing she still didn't turn out to be right. She was just dumb lucky so even though she succeeds we still hate her. It's just not good drama.

 

[Timo]

Also, Pulaski always knew of these miracle cures that would have e.g. given LaForge back his sight or whatever. It would be perfect continuity to have her be more versed in useful techniques on saving Worf than Crusher. (And they could have gotten in a jab on how Pulaski's memory wipe trick always worked, and Crusher's never did...)

Timo Saloniemi

 

[sonak]

yeah, but the guest doctor was experimenting on other folks long before Worf came into the picture. She wasn't doing it for Worf, she was doing it for her own ego and success.

They'd have to re-write the whole first part of the episode and change the point so that it wasn't about a doctor unethically trying to cut corners for her own career, but rather a story about Pulaski trying to help Worf.


That's a different episode, not "ethics."

 

[Mark 2000]

They'd have to re-write the whole first part of the episode and change the point so that it wasn't about a doctor unethically trying to cut corners for her own career, but rather a story about Pulaski trying to help Worf.


That's a different episode, not "ethics."

Which would have made it a better episode.

 

[Timo]

...Also, who knows what Pulaski would have been up to during the intervening years? Perhaps her interest in cutting edge medicine would indeed have kept her competitive - and perhaps this drive was what got her off the E-D in the first place, allowing the less ambitious Crusher to return. The doctor who arrives to save Worf could well be motivated by career issues.

Which should spark some interesting dialogue between the two TNG heroes. Crusher may be the more "humane" of the two doctors in deciding to stay and just settle with keeping the crew healthy, but her choice to do so is the very reason why she's ignorant of the new techniques that could help Worf.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[sonak]

...Also, who knows what Pulaski would have been up to during the intervening years? Perhaps her interest in cutting edge medicine would indeed have kept her competitive - and perhaps this drive was what got her off the E-D in the first place, allowing the less ambitious Crusher to return. The doctor who arrives to save Worf could well be motivated by career issues.

Which should spark some interesting dialogue between the two TNG heroes. Crusher may be the more "humane" of the two doctors in deciding to stay and just settle with keeping the crew healthy, but her choice to do so is the very reason why she's ignorant of the new techniques that could help Worf.

Timo Saloniemi

um, I think you're switching the doctors' personalities here. Pulaski didn't like transporters and was skeptical about Data as a member of the crew because he was a machine. She was pretty old-fashioned. Does that sound like someone to leave the ship to go pursuing "cutting-edge medicine?"

In contrast, Dr. Crusher is seen as receptive to new techniques and innovations throughout the series, and keeps up with new technologies and advancements in a lot of fields.


I just think fitting Pulaski into the role of the doctor in "ethics" is fitting a square peg into a round hole.

 

[Timo]

The thing is, Crusher didn't know her way around modern medicine. She went to seminars all right, but Pulaski was the one writing the interesting papers, the one who knew how to fix LaForge's eyes or wipe an innocent bystander's memory or identify a clone with a tricorder without even looking at the instrument. She didn't "receive" new ideas, she invented them.

As per dialogue, she did things her coworkers considered exceptional. For some reason, Crusher was written as doing her appointed tasks and nothing else, and (perhaps mostly because she had more seasons to do it in) failing more often.

Then again, she also got the chance to diversify, e.g. to play sleuth or support innovation-emancipation fairs or devise weapons of mass destruction. But she was never painted as a cutting edge medical researcher, and when she demonstrated career drive, it was with respect to her military career, not her medical one.

Crusher's youthful eagerness and Pulaski's socially settled and curmudgeony ways definitely should not be confused with the characters' respective attitudes towards medicine.

Timo Saloniemi