Second episode about an large, ship-like alien. I gave Encounter At Farpoint a good rating, but it wasn't complex. This episode makes a more detailed story of a "living spaceship."
It starts out with another hush hush kind of mission to investigate a star that's about to go supernova near Romulan space. An advisor is sent aboard. He's a Betazoid who has been used in many first contact missions, but his reputation was also tainted with a tragedy in which he was involved with but exonerated of guilt. I was always interested when they'd take the time to explore Betazoids because even though you had Troi and Lwaxana, there wasn't much else done with them developmentally. I guess it's because they're just like humans except that they're telepathic. They squeeze a lot of interesting stuff into Tam Elbrun, the advisor. He was Troi's patient at one time. Betazoids aren't born reading minds... it's something that develops at puberty. But Tam was born with his telepathic abilities at full steam and was never able to learn to close or filter his mind and it's lead him to a life of seclusion since he was unable to cope with the telepathic traffic that he'd been saddled with from birth. This makes him emotionally unstable and really annoying since he just rattles off what everyone is thinking before they say it. However, the audience can only feel sorry for him because the actor plays it with such sad overtones. Of course, meeting Data is a breath of fresh air for him and they end up spending a lot of time together.
He briefs them about a probe that has revealed a vessel near the dying star that appears to be alive that has been christened "Tin Man"by Starfleet and that the mission is to make contact. He's erratic and forgets to tell them at first that the Romulans have taken an interest to and that they'll be in a kind of race to get to Tin Man first.
They all question how they can trust him because of this distracted nature and their suspicion of the
disaster he was involved in in which another ship was destroyed. This Ghorusda incident is never detailed; it's simply a launch point for exploring Tam's personal issues. Troi also figures out that Tam has been in contact with Tin Man even
from the far distance they're at which would seem to make him
untrustworthy, but not really since he's just so hypersensitive to
feelings and emotions. The episode is full of this character's personal struggles and of being trapped in his own mind as it were. I've always like it. Tam is a character I identify with. Much of the episode is devoted to his depression and neurosis as well as discussions with Data about what the point of existence is and how to be happy. Some may find all of this slow and dull and I understand that, but I've always had a layman interest in psychology and, of course, my faith so for me it's interesting filler material between the primary story and action sequences. So my rating will be high while others would be lower simply because of a difference of opinion regarding the filler material. The primary story itself is very good and exciting. Much more significant that the pilot episode.
A Romulan ship essentially sacrifices its own ability to ever get back home so that it can damage the Enterprise enough to slow it down and allow the Romulans to contact Tin Man first. As is typical of Romulans they can't make a successful contact with it and secure it as their own, so they decide they want to destroy it prevent anyone else form having access to it. The creature defends itself and damages the Enterprise as well by accident, but the Enterprise still moves to defend it against another Romulan attack.
They send Tam over with Data to see how they can help and try to talk the being into at least moving away from the volatile star. Tam is overwhelmed with the emotion of this being but also feels a connection to it. It is a being called Gomtuu that lived symbiotically with a crew that was killed by an explosion in space and now it's alone and intending to commit suicide via the supernova. Tam can identify with the pain of feeling alone and isolated.
In the pilot episode the living ships could manipulate matter to make things appear out of nowhere like apples and cloth. This was poor science fiction in all honesty, but in this episode the "magic" is more focused and limited to the ship. Gomtuu can shape shift within itself to create things convenient for its passengers like doors and chairs. I love to see the concepts fixed and refined.
Anyway, Tam bonds with the ship to save it. With a person living inside of it for Gomtuu to take care of, it has something to live for again. And with only one consciousness inside of Tam's tortured mind, he is at peace and finds the point of his existence. It's a happy ending. Gomtuu gently pushes both the Enterprise and the Romulan ship away and moves on with Tam before the star explodes. Where they go, nobody knows.
I admit, it's not for every one. My rating is four stars because I liked it personally. This is one of those episodes that may get a two star rating from someone else for being boring. It really is just a matter of taste in this case.
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