It's been since it originally aired since I've seen Darmok entire episode, and I've caught a piece of the episode in the past year or so in rerun. From what I remember of it, it was just multiple repeatings of Darmok and Gilad on the ocean, etc repeated over and over again.
I've noticed it seems to be a very popular episode amongst fans. Can anyone remind why it's so good in the (seemingly) majority opinion?
Besides being intriguingly conceived, intelligently written, and splendidly performed by Stewart and Winfield, I consider "Darmok" to represent the purest distillation of the essence of
Star Trek (at its intellectual and idealistic best) of any episode of any series. Dathon is willing to risk his
life for the mere chance to achieve communication and understanding with Picard. There's no other apparent purpose or motive to his actions -- just that earnest and urgent desire to bridge the gap of minds and cultures, to
talk and
learn.
Furthermore, the episode manages to take this essentially intellectual theme and make it personal and moving by personifying it through Picard and Dathon. As understanding dawns (to Dathon's obvious joy), as comradeship grows, and as Picard ultimately mourns the loss of this noble man, "communication" goes from an abstract concept to an emotional character journey.
It may not be the
best episode of
Star Trek, but it's up there -- and if someone asked me to pick the one episode that best expresses what
Trek is
about, it would be this one.
