Pen Pals

Who's in the mood for bending the Prime Directive into a pretzel? Apparently, it's Data

Picard gets dressed up in his jodhpurs to go for a ride on the holodeck, and drags Troi along for no discernible reason. But Picard never gets on his Arabian steed as Riker calls him to the bridge so he can see a planet with a thriving ecology that has been destroyed by volcanic activity. Why this is so urgent that Picard has to give up his free time is a mystery, since there's literally nothing Picard can do about it. Anyway, this sets up our B-plot of Wesley being given command of a team of nerds to solve the mystery of why the planets in this system are going all volcanic and eventually blowing up.

Meanwhile, Data responds to a message asking "Is anybody out there?" and gets involved in an interstellar ham radio incident. It seems his 'pen pal' Sarjenka is from a culture that doesn't know about other planets, so Picard orders Data to break off his little chats. But upon hearing her cries for help, Picard has a change of heart and decides to go whizzing down the slippery slope of violating the Prime Directive. Ultimately, Data ends up kidnapping Sarjenka and taking her to the Enterprise bridge, which leaves Picard in a huff. Fortunately, Wesley and Team Nerd worked out how to solve the problem of the exploding planets so it all turns out nice again. Then, to paper over their Prime Directive whoopsie, they erase Sarjenka's memory, because nothing says 'ethical medical conduct' like mind-wiping.

Words

This is an episode that divides fans. Some dislike it, and some rather enjoy it. The whole experience depends on whether you get caught up in Data's A-plot, because Wesley's B-plot is perfectly fine in support but it isn't strong enough to hold the show together on its own. For the most part, I do find Data's story charming, and the way he blunders into the ethical dilemma the plot rests upon feels right for the character.

From the reports of the production staff, it seems that the early drafts of this story were far more personal. The screenplay was written by Melinda Snodgrass from a story by Hannah Louise Shearer, but it seems someone on the crew (reading between the lines, it may have been Roddenberry) felt that it needed more elements that were overtly science fiction. I suspect most of the B-plot was inserted to take care of this request. I was only able to get hold of the revised final draft of the screenplay, so I can't comment on the earlier versions, but it seems that the director of the episode, Winrich Kolbe, was disappointed that the original story was derailed in order to bring in mere technobabble like 'ico-spectrogram'.

The load-bearing concept in the story is the Prime Directive - and for once, it's handled extremely well. As a moral philosopher, I truly appreciate the scene in Picard's quarters where the Enterprise crew have an impassioned debate about the ethics of their situation. It's a solid piece of writing that gives the performers something to get stuck into - not that easy to achieve in an ensemble cast like this!

Worf takes up an absolutist position that feels right for who he is at this point in his personal story arc. Riker is the pragmatist, while LaForge takes up a position fired with the passion of youth, supported by Pulaski who is principled in putting a duty of care against the strictures of the Prime Directive. Troi weighs in as devil's advocate, and Picard is the sober judge who warns them of the slippery slope they could be embarking on - admittedly before committing them to that very slope.

Frankly, the subtleties of debate evidenced in this scene are nowhere to be found in today's public discussions of international policies. I rather fear that social media has reduced every contemporary ethical quandary to a polarised mob who embody LaForge's youthful passion rather too much. Alas, unlike the real LaForge, people today are unwilling or unable to listen to the more principled and reasoned positions reflected by the other crew members in this scene. Today, everyone thinks they must choose a side... declining to act on principle, as the Prime Directive advocates, has become unthinkable.

Acting Roles

Scenes like the one above give everyone something to do this week. You also get to discover that Patrick Stewart can not only fence but also ride a horse. There’s an inescapable feeling that Stewart does not come from a working class background…

There's also a great scene for Colm Meaney’s O'Brien, whom Riker orders to ''take a nap. You didn't see this, you're not involved," in order to protect him from any blowback from Starfleet Command for the regulation-busting that the crew has embarked upon. O'Brien takes it all in his stride: "Right sir, just standing here dozing off." Then when the situation gets complicated, he wryly interjects "I just woke up, sir."

The supporting cast is nothing much to write home about. Nikki Cox is a perfectly fine child performer as Sarjenka, and Wesley's Team Nerd are all fine, but their story is so uninspiring they don't really get to do anything. Cox went on to have something of a career in acting, although it's hard to pick something out of that to draw attention to. I mean, she was in Terminator 2: Judgement Day as 'Girl'. That's not exactly a career highlight so much as it is a lame claim to fame.

Really, the whole story revolves around Brent Spiner delivering a great performance as Data. His innocence leads to him being caught up in a situation where prudence should have prevented involvement in the first place. Spiner is understated yet heartfelt - a balancing act that the role of Data requires because, as the show repeatedly emphasises, he is not human... except in practice he is always a mirror to our humanity.

Models, Make-up, and Mattes

Sarjenka's make-up must have taken forever to get set up - Cox must have immense patience. I love the giant fingers! They really create a sense of alienness far beyond the facial prosthetics.

And wow, so many planetary mattes! Here's a tableau of all the wonderful places we get to visit in this story. It's all a tad gratuitous, but I'm certainly not going to complain about it!

The final planet in this set looked completely different in the original episode, but they changed it for the remastered version. Here’s what it used to look like:

This planetary matte gets reused once more in season 2 and then again in season three. Honestly, although the remastered version does look better, I would have preferred they not rewrite special effects history, but never mind.

The set for Sarjenka's home is okay for a quickly cobbled together alien domicile…

…but what really makes it all work is the shots looking out the door. There are two versions - a before and an after - which helps to cap off the story very nicely.

Somebody had to build a little volcano for this episode! Oh the fun that the SFX team has making TNG. Even if you don't get on with the story, the production crew give you plenty of cool things to look at.