Finally! Two seasons and one episode later, they finally get it right! This is one of my all time favorite episodes, personally. Love it, love it, love it!
It's a Data episode and a great one. He's learning some real lessons in human interaction in this episode instead of just trying to master humor or creativity. The teaser scene at the beginning sets up a lesson of how to approach people in different situations. How much truth is too much truth, etc. And it's a theme that would run throughout the episode.
The story is solid. (And the sets are of much higher quality too!) An alien race that has a treaty with the Federation is coming to claim a planet and discovers that there are humans living on it. The Enterprise is sent to find the people and evacuate them. They find out the survivors must have come from a small ship that crashed there a hundred years ago but that the planet is full of hyperonic radiation, so they don't think there will be too many people to deal with; no big deal. What they find is a colony who adapted to the radiation and flourished into a thriving settlement of 15,000 people. Since Data is the only one who can withstand being on the surface in that type of environment, he is sent to tell the people of the circumstances and arrange the evacuation.
It turns out to be much more difficult than anticipated. The people are attached to their homes, naturally. And the leader is a proud man who doesn't understand the gravity of the situation. The Sheliak's intention is to colonize the planet and they won't abide living with any other race of beings, so if the human colonists aren't gone in four days, they will kill them in order to have the world to themselves. And this is what makes this episode stand apart from the last two seasons - nobody on the Enterprise contests that it's their right to do so since it's legally their planet. There's not a lot of appealing to the aliens "better nature" because there is none that is comprehensible. There's no shaming them and calling them murderers and cowards. They're such a completely different sort of being and all of these things were taken into consideration when making a treaty with them. No, this time the contention is only that the Enterprise needs more time to get the people off their planet and no time is wasted on threatening them except as the last resort to defend the colony while evacuation is taking place if need be. This is a much more grown up plot than anything they'd put forth yet. Suddenly, the universe isn't black and white and the Federation utopia that Roddenberry envisioned can't fix everything just by virtue of lofty ideals of a collectivist, non-violent peace.
And the aliens are believably different for a change. Not like that snake-like race from the first season or those fish-like people from the second. They don't look like people in rubber masks and Halloween costumes. They're some kind of mineral based creature and the lighting is set up so that you can't get a good look at any kind of definite facial features while they're talking, which is fine because it doesn't look like as much of a costume like that. They seem genuinely menacing and the audience can take them seriously as they repeatedly "hang up" on the captain when he's trying to explain to them that four days is not enough time to evacuate that number of people due to the radiation issues.
The Sheliak refuse to speak to them except to quote the terms of the treaty. Picard and the crew spend a lot of time reading through the treaty, which goes considerably slower without Data, and trying to find a way of communicating with these stubborn aliens. There's a really nice scene with Picard and Troi where she is explaining the difficulties of simply trying to relate a concept to an alien being. It's a better Troi moment than many up to this point because she's not just using her empathic abilities to get vibes off of everyone and start overly personal conversations. She's displaying her abilities as a communications specialist and is subtly developing her character without calling obvious attention to any particular area that requires a lesson to be learned. Like I indicated earlier, it just lends a more adult feel to the whole episode. Data, meanwhile is left alone with very little people skills to deal with an outraged bunch of people who don't want to be kicked out of their city.
After a simple explanation to Gosheven fails, he later resorts to public speaking in a impromptu debate with the leader amidst a crowd. He utilizes rhetoric (though truthful rhetoric) to persuade them and help them to draw their own conclusions about how much danger they're in and impress upon them the urgent need to leave. After this fails and Gosheven behaves aggressively towards him, he then decides to demonstrate how weapons technology has advanced over the last hundred years by stunning people and destroying the aquaduct that is at the heart of their civilization. Data's progression throughout the episode of learning and adapting is more effective in developing his character than any amount of time the characters had ever spent up to this point sitting around and talking and philosophizing about how things are and should be. That technique was what would eat up large portions of the show leaving a little bit of action for the end which I was always complaining about. In this episode the conflict, suspense, and action are virtually uninterrupted, filling the show and making a better flow and a much more engaging episode over all. The adult nature and realism are present in this part of the story too. When words and diplomacy fail, action - sometimes forceful action - is necessary and there is no apology made for a change. Destroying the aquaduct not only forces on them a need to leave, but it also brings them to the sobering reality that they wouldn't really have a chance if they chose to stay and fight.
If there was a weak spot at all it was in the character of Ard'rian McKenzie. She was extremely important, don't get me wrong. She was an engineer in favor of leaving and helped Data with his people skills and fixing his phaser so that it would function on the planet. He couldn't have done it without her, but I think they overstepped a little with her curious attraction to Data. It didn't seem necessary and didn't fit in with the rest of the episode very well.
However, any weirdness I felt with McKenzie is forgotten in one of the very best Picard scenes ever. I think this may even be my favorite Picard moment. And it's another indication of the show's growth and forward movement. Instead of being happily pushed around and conceding that humans are inferior, he becomes agitated and pushes back beating the Sheliak at their own game. It's refreshing, it's intelligent, it's funny, it's way beyond cool and and makes a person want to stand up and cheer. I know I've posted it before, but I could watch it over and over again.
It may seem like it's not enough to make five stars, but for me it is. It's really a great over all episode and the Picard moment was icing on the cake. It was at this point I could really start enjoying Star Trek TNG. FIVE stars!
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