I'd have liked it more if they had stayed in orbit to observe, and were seeing the signs of a Libya-style civil war. I would have preferred, however, if the Enterprise hadn't jetted out of orbit right when things got interesting. It might actually reverse-psychologize us into doing something useful for once. Sometimes I wish an enlightened alien race would visit us and then be all snotty abut our stupid problems. Matthew: I liked the solution, personally. We also get another Symbiosis-style wishy-washy invocation of non-interference. This is one sneeze away from a massacre, and Picard is displaying almost Kirk levels of nonchalance at what is going on. He is really, unsettlingly cavalier about leaving the Angosians in that situation. Kevin: My other issue is Picard's solution. They could have just left out the phaser-powered cargo transporter and the transporter beam escape. Although the transporter escape idea was Abrams-level dumb, the chase scenes overall were a lot of fun. But they didn't drag me out too much, because the central conflict was interesting enough to me. Matthew: I agree that these plot devices were somewhat hackneyed. The sequence on the ship just dragged, and it prevented more than a superficial discussion of the ethics of what the Angosians did. The teaser was much more efficient and was actually tense. Aside from that, the sequence goes on too long. The forcefields can apparently be deactivated if ask nicely. We have the security guard facing away from the bad guy so he can cold-cocked. How do you evade that? Does waving your arms work on the quantum level? Second, there's some singularly dumbass security protocols. I get, and even enjoy, the idea he can naturally evade sensors, but the transport is taking him apart atom by atom. First, there's the technological malfunction that makes no sense and exists only to advance the plot. Kevin: I think the moment the episode goes off the rails is when Danar somehow runs away from the transporter. Something to "raise the stakes" as it were. Or if the other prisoners weren't as nice as Danar, and things spiraled out of control. Or maybe if Danar had killed a security officer. It would be nice if they had actually incurred some civilian casualties. I wish that writer Robin Bernheim had made the insurgents more ambiguous, instead of just straight victims. Does it go far enough with the questions? No. I like that it takes the standard "Captain America" comic book trope and asks tough questions about it. Does the happiness of an entire society outweigh that of a handful of super-soldiers? If they were altered without informed consent, does that change the calculus? What sort of freedoms are necessary for the true happiness of a sentient being? So let it be said that maybe this episode tickles a few soft spots for me. Episodes like this are why - you couldn't get a more classic utilitarian question than if you had ripped it from the pages of John Stuart Mill. I offer one page papers on Star Trek episodes for extra credit. Matthew: I teach Ethics to undergraduates. Maybe some discussion of the planet full of nerds getting their asses handed to them and this was a arguably necessary act of desperation. We could have also gotten a little more of the Angosian side. I would have enjoyed Troi trying to help him more and exploring that relationship. The only real flaw with this half of the episode is that its not really developed further. I liked both Troi and Data's conversations with Danar, and it seemed that's where the episode was going. First, there's a pretty neatly executed set up exploring the nature of soldiers in peacetime and society's obligation to those soldiers. I think my problem is that there's really two episodes in here. It's certainly not bad, per se, it just never gels. There's some good stuff here, but somehow, it never really grabs me and I honestly skip this one when I'm rewatching.
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