A great episode showing good will and patience can overcome almost any communication barrier. A quintessential ‘Picard’ episode, and, as you note, a very pure Star Trek/Roddenberry episode.
It’s nice to see Troi solve the mystery. I like to see her do her job well and also grow as a character and have agency (e.g. in Disaster). Not that it happens very often. Shaka when the walls fell.
Aye, the writers start being willing to give Troi a chance from this season until the end of the run, which is nice. And yes - a great episode. At times, it's my favourite... but like all Trek fans, I have so many favourites I could pick a new one every day. 🙂
Still love this, still watch it every couple of years.
I confess that I still get hung up the question that has definitely been discussed _ad nauseam_: how ever do you get to be an advanced spacefaring civilisation when you can only communicate like this? Perhaps their written language is completely different (how weird would that be?).
I did not realise that Dathon is the same actor as Terrell.
PS: I also didn't recognise the actor underneath the latex! Usually, I recognise the voice, but in this case it was a reveal for me when I was researching this one! 🙂
It's a classic! As for 'how to become a spacefaring race when you only talk in metaphor' - lots of options! You were the slave race of another culture that you later overthrew, your mathematics are precise even though your language is oblique, you have an entire subculture that works on different communicative premises (actually it really is sublimely odd in TNG that every planet has whittled its options down to one global language...).
Honestly, I don't find it harder to believe that the Children of Tama developed interstellar technology than that we will. 😂
One global language: it's very much a scifi trope that planets have only one climate.
Looking at you, Star Wars: although Trek does this too, it's not quite to the same extent.
I had wondered about the "we stole the technology" version -- which is really just "slave race overthrew their masters" version via a different route.
>your mathematics are precise even though your language is oblique
Well, that's the case for us, so it could certainly happen. However, it does help quite a bit to be able to meaningfully communicate _about_ the maths.
Going back to the earlier subject of planets-with-one-climate, I was recently reminded that Star Trek's sin in this area is races-with-one-characteristic (all Klingons are X, all Vulcans are Y, all Ferengi are Z).
Aye, it's screenwriting shorthand extended to species. It is often suggested to keep most minor characters to only one or two traits, so they come across clearly. Trek species follow the same guidelines. 😉
A great episode showing good will and patience can overcome almost any communication barrier. A quintessential ‘Picard’ episode, and, as you note, a very pure Star Trek/Roddenberry episode.
It’s nice to see Troi solve the mystery. I like to see her do her job well and also grow as a character and have agency (e.g. in Disaster). Not that it happens very often. Shaka when the walls fell.
Aye, the writers start being willing to give Troi a chance from this season until the end of the run, which is nice. And yes - a great episode. At times, it's my favourite... but like all Trek fans, I have so many favourites I could pick a new one every day. 🙂
Finally, it's Darmokin' Time.
Still love this, still watch it every couple of years.
I confess that I still get hung up the question that has definitely been discussed _ad nauseam_: how ever do you get to be an advanced spacefaring civilisation when you can only communicate like this? Perhaps their written language is completely different (how weird would that be?).
I did not realise that Dathon is the same actor as Terrell.
-- inw
PS: I also didn't recognise the actor underneath the latex! Usually, I recognise the voice, but in this case it was a reveal for me when I was researching this one! 🙂
It's a classic! As for 'how to become a spacefaring race when you only talk in metaphor' - lots of options! You were the slave race of another culture that you later overthrew, your mathematics are precise even though your language is oblique, you have an entire subculture that works on different communicative premises (actually it really is sublimely odd in TNG that every planet has whittled its options down to one global language...).
Honestly, I don't find it harder to believe that the Children of Tama developed interstellar technology than that we will. 😂
One global language: it's very much a scifi trope that planets have only one climate.
Looking at you, Star Wars: although Trek does this too, it's not quite to the same extent.
I had wondered about the "we stole the technology" version -- which is really just "slave race overthrew their masters" version via a different route.
>your mathematics are precise even though your language is oblique
Well, that's the case for us, so it could certainly happen. However, it does help quite a bit to be able to meaningfully communicate _about_ the maths.
-- inw
Great comment, thanks for this. But I must ask: are you suggesting our species can meaningfully communicate about mathematics...? Such optimism! 😂
I think we've done pretty well so far.
Going back to the earlier subject of planets-with-one-climate, I was recently reminded that Star Trek's sin in this area is races-with-one-characteristic (all Klingons are X, all Vulcans are Y, all Ferengi are Z).
Aye, it's screenwriting shorthand extended to species. It is often suggested to keep most minor characters to only one or two traits, so they come across clearly. Trek species follow the same guidelines. 😉