The Inner Light

[Makarov]

It's a great episode, and even stronger with the follow up in Lessons.

I had a thought about how they could have added something to the episode. What if they revealed a federation ship or some other advanced species was in orbit the whole time and decided not to help them due to the prime directive. This would give them more motivation for wanting to force an entire lifetime on a federation captain. And it could also plant the seeds of a plot where Picard challenges the prime directive and rewrites it.

 

[Ghrakh]

Hey... I'm a complex guy!

Not really, you always came across as a generic troll.

 

[at Quark's]

It's a great episode, and even stronger with the follow up in Lessons.

I had a thought about how they could have added something to the episode. What if they revealed a federation ship or some other advanced species was in orbit the whole time and decided not to help them due to the prime directive. This would give them more motivation for wanting to force an entire lifetime on a federation captain. And it could also plant the seeds of a plot where Picard challenges the prime directive and rewrites it.

What if that federation ship turned out to be manned by an older version of Picard, thrown back in time, who refused to help them because of his cherished Prime Directive? After all that was his exact attitude even after going through all this about 1.5 years later in Homeward … (before his hand was forced).

 

[WarpFactorZ]

I love this episode, and the fact that it actually was referred to later with the flute, and the clear impact that it continued to have on Picard.

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On that note, I found this episode a bit stretchy in credibility. Picard would likely have needed a longer recovery//readjustment after having lived someone else's life, presumably in real time (because it took him a while to "forget" the Enterprise and his existence as Picard).

But hey, maybe the Locutus thing toughened him up.

 

[Dukhat]

Not really, you always came across as a generic troll.

That's funny, because I've never felt that way about BillJ. I guess people will see what they want to see, whether it's actually true or not...

 

[gakelly]

The composition of the song really helped the episode. It is memorable and evokes emotion in me. I rank it up there with The Visitor from DS9 and The City on the Edge of Forever from TOS as the best of each series.

 

[Spirit of 73]

I just finished rewatching the series tonight for the first time since it aired. I ranked my top TNG episodes, and Inner Light came in at #22. It's a strong episode, but I think it is very much overrated.

The concept is great. Stewart really sells it, and the melody on the flute, especially at the end, is fantastic. But...

The guest actors were merely average. TNG's guest actors ran the gamut from Ensigns of Command to The Pegasus, and Inner Light is right in the mediocre range. It's hard to get attached to characters when the actors portraying them are so ordinary, and getting attached to those characters is the most important part of an episode like this.

I also thought it was hard to get into a society when every scene was a few minutes followed by a jump forward in time. This was compounded by the fact that they interspersed scenes from the bridge of the Enterprise, making it even harder to get emotionally attached to Kataan.

In Lower Decks they introduced some new characters, along with a couple we had seen before but not much of them, and they made it work perfectly. If they could have managed that with Inner Light, it would have been a far better episode. As it was, I give it 8.5/10.

 

[Marsden]

When I first watched, the mystery of what was happening and Patrick Stuart's incredible acting kept me from being bored, but when it was over, something just didn't sit well with me. It just seems like this probe forced itself into his mind, he certainly didn't give any kind of consent to this, it's just defies logic too much. It's basically a note in a bottle turned up to 11, so Picard experienced the society and can play a flute now, sort of. Why bother? Very meh. It's just there.

And I can't believe I'm posting in an 8 year old thread.

 

[CaptainStoner]

That's pretty much just how it was for me, the first time.
Beautiful, classic episode. Classic sci-fi, a peer to any of the great sci-fi stories /authors.
IMO this is where Trek really shines - when it gets over itself enough, and is telling classic sci-fi stories.

The Inner Light is not the best episode to introduce someone to TNG with, but that's about the only negative I have to say about it.