Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 125: The Inner Light [VHS]

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"The Inner Light" is one of the most amazing hours of television that I've ever seen, and quite possibly the greatest Star Trek (original, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager) episode of all. And the thing is, it's not even really science fiction per se..."just" a great story filled with excellent acting, directing, ideas, and emotion! Not much!! :)

Where do I even begin to praise "The Inner Light?" Well, for one thing, Patrick Stewart is amazing as Kamin, a married man (to a beautiful woman named Eline) living in the community of Ressic on the planet Kataan, which is in the midst of what people think is just a very bad, extended drought. What really is happening is that the planet is dying, and there's nothing the inhabitants can do except to save a piece of their world in the form of a probe whose purpose is to find "someone who could be a teacher, someone who could tell the others about us." A thousand years later the probe finds that "someone" - Picard - who it locks onto in order to allow him to live most of a lifetime in only 20 or 25 minutes!! What this does is allow Picard to experience everything he never could as a Starship captain - a wife, children, rootedness in a community, and much more. This episode is worth watching for that alone, but there's so much more!

Besides Patrick Stewart as Kamin, let me just list a few other great things about this episode (in no particular order): 1) Patrick Stewart's real-life son Daniel does a fine job as Kamin's son Batai (named after Kamin's late best friend); 2) Kamin's passionate -- and classic -- advice (knowing that the planet is dying) to his daughter, Meribor on whether she should marry her boyfriend Danek "sooner rather than later" is powerful: "Seize the day, Meribor. Live now! Make NOW always the most precious time! Now will never come again" (Meribor's response: "I love you father"); 3) the oily 'Administrator,' who condescendingly assures Kamin that his idea for atmospheric condensers will be considered (Kamin, of course, knows that "there will be no condensers"); 4) the beautiful, haunting music, especially of the flute that Kamin plays; 5) the end of the show, when Riker hands Picard the same flute and leaves Picard to hug the flute to his body as he tries to hold on to what he has just experienced, the woman he loved, the children and grandchild he had, etc.; 6) the friendship between Picard and Council Member Batai; 7) the love that grows between Kamin and his wife, Eline, and in particular the scene where Kamin says he wants to build something but needs her permission first, and the look on Eline's face when he says "a nursery," and much more.

What's amazing about "The Inner Light" is that, although not a phaser is fired, and although 95% of the show takes place off the Enterprise, this is still a great Star Trek episode - maybe the best ever (ranking up there with "City on the Edge of Forever" and "Yesterday's Enterprise"). Poignant, thought-provoking, dramatic, mind-boggling - these are just some of the adjectives that come to mind with "The Inner Light." In sum, this is one of the most amazing hours of television ever. Buy it now; watch it now!

Anyone who says television is a barren wasteland has never sat and watched "Star Trek:TNG". "The Inner Light" has to be one of, if not the best, moments in TV history! This episode will make you smile, bring a tear to your eye, and perhaps win you over to the "world" of Star Trek(if you are not already there!). Watch as Picard "lives" an entire lifespan, a brief moment in "real-time", as a mysterious probe imparts the final chapter of a long-dead civilization into his mind, and leaves a parting gift, a simple flute(seen again in later episodes), as a "Thank You" and tender reminder of his "experience". It don't get no better than this!

This has to be the most amazing episode in Star Trek history!!! I never wanted it to end. Very rarely do I encounter a piece of television where it should never end. I shared every moment, sympathized and empathized. I laughed, and also shed a tear. this episode could have lasted all day I would have loved every minute!! To see Picard as a normal person, without all the starfleet pomp and circumstance, clearly was emotional (especially when the viewer realizes his true worth as a captain).

Well done patrick and a big thumbs up to the writers.

Star Trek has been known to boldly go where few television shows have gone before, presenting intelligent scripts and fine acting. But with this episode, "The Inner Light", they truly brought the finest hour to tv. Patrick Stewart and Margot Rose are exceptional as husband and wife in Picard's "probe-reality", and the tenderness that both bring to their circumstances is truly breathtaking. Also of note, a musical piece, played by "picard" on a wooden flute,is as haunting and beautiful as the script itself, and can be found on the "30th anniversary" cd. An extrodinary achievement, with which Patrick Stewart displays his thespian abilities to their fulfillment. A must for all fans of good, intelligent drama,because this is what great television is all about. END

Twelve years ago (it's now May 2004), my husband and I, who were/are big Star Trek-TNG fans, saw this episode when it first aired in spring 1992. We had been trying to decide whether to have children--a scary decision since we knew it would change our lives drastically, and the world isn't always a safe place. Captain Picard's words (in his other life) halfway through the episode, when he was watching his children, hit us like a ton of bricks: "I never used to think I needed children to complete my life; but now, I can't imagine my life without them." (That's probably a pretty close quote considering I haven't watched this episode in years!) The story, the change in Picard, and the music that accompanied it worked together to change us. Four months later, I was pregnant; that baby, Brian Geordi (guess where his middle name "Geordi" came from?) just turned 11 years old last month. He celebrated his birthday with us and his 7-year-old brother, Daniel. Funny--our Brian Geordi seems destined to be a talented engineer just like his namesake; he can do advanced math (high school level) in his head in seconds and has an amazing understanding of physics and astronomy--he can keep up with many of the theories Stephen Hawking explains in his books and can manipulate abstract ideas in "3-D" in his mind. The kid builds with anything he can get his hands on, and he draws (in great detail) what he doesn't have the materials to build. He's enthusiastically trying to come up with a design for the first warp engine; the kid just might get us there someday. His little brother makes just about every moment a delight--finds fun, humor, and joy in almost everything and uses this talent to great advantage with us and his teachers when he's in trouble.

We've been watching our "Star Trek-TNG" first season DVD set with the boys during the past year, so they're now familiar with the story and the characters. They love just about all the Star Trek movies (Kirk's and Picard's crews), and they're starting to be able to pick up on our allusions to characters and quotes--"You will be assimilated"; Worf's "Assimilate THIS!"; getting caught in a temporal loop (believe me, this happens with kids!); Data's comment on the pronunciation of his name: "One is my name; the other is not"; etc. Now, it's time for these two boys to see the Star Trek episode that helped get them here.

Picard was right; I can't imagine my life without my boys; how empty it would have been compared to my "other" life . . . and how lucky I am that I didn't miss it. It's changed me and taught me more than I can imagine, and I discovered that love is so much more than I ever knew (both harder and better). Now, I can say that I have truly LIVED. Sorry for the mushy review--but as you read the comments of the other reviewers, you'll see that this episode touched many, many people. (God sends His messages and wisdom in many forms . . . and it's come to me through Star Trek more than once. I am eternally grateful to both.)

The is the best Star Trek ever made. Jean Luc's awareness is pulled into the virtual reality of a simulated yet very real world. His soul touches and is touched by the people there. He eventually returns to the lonely captain's chair after a full and rich life that is woven into a song on a flute that he learned to play while "living" there. Back on board he plays the song when alone, and he and we are touched again by this place we shared and experieced with Jean-Luc.

Picard's mind is probed and he is sent to another planet where he lives out his life, while the Enterprise crew fight to release him from the probe. It is tender and touching. And the ending brought chills. I have been looking for this episode for years.

The "Inner Light" is one of the most philosophical espisodes in the series. What would someone do if they woke up as a different person on a different world? It takes Picard about 5 years to realize that whatever has happened to him, whether his other life aboard the Enterprise was real or not, this is now his life and he will have to live with it. Not that it is a bad life.

While Picard is actually unconscious on the bridge of the enterprise, it seems that less than a minute passes there for each year Picard "lives" on the planet.

In his new life, he starts a family with his wife, who he grows to love. He uses his scientific knowledge to discover that the planet is dying of a drought brought on by the early stages of the death of its sun.

By the time he nears the end of his life, he realizes that his grand kids will never live to be adults. It is not long before he will learn why he was brought here, and what happens to his family and friends.

One of the best moments for me was when, after the birth of his second child, he states that he had never thought that he needed children to make his life complete, but now he could not imagine his life without them. If he returns to the Enterprise, he will have to learn to do just that.

This episode also deepens Picard's character as it shows his interaction with a family. It shows that though he will probably never truly have a family of his own, he would make a great husband and father.

This is one of the greatest episodes of The Next Generation. This episode shows a side of Star Trek that is not seen much. You get to learn about another race, what they loved, how they died, and most of all how they lived. It trutly brings you where no one has gone before.

I agree with everyone else - this may well be the most wonderful episode of TV drama ever. I have seen it again and again and I always love it. I am a lifelong Star Trek fan and I wanted to share a wonderful recent experience. My daughters and I went to see the National Symphony Orchestra perform "To Boldly Go, (narrated by Leonard Nimoy)" at Wolf Trap in Virginia, and they included the melody from "The Inner Light" in the program.
Legions of Star Trek fans were absolutely thrilled!