Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 44: Up The Long Ladder [VHS]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A Federation diplomat once said the secret of his success was turning disadvantages into advantages, a philosophy that serves Picard well in this particular episode, which deals with two colonies established, by the Mariposa in the 22nd century. On the one hand we have the Bringloidi, colonists who need to be evacuated because their sun has started shooting off solar flares. The Bringloidi, who must have all come from Ireland since we are talking accents the like of which have not been heard on a starship Enterprise since Scotty was in his prime, insist on bringing their animals, along with their kit and caboodle. It makes for a lovely time in the cargo bay, don't you know now. On the other hand the Enterprise discovers there is a sister colony to the first, founded when the Marioposa crash-landed. Only five colonists survived, all scientists, who turned to cloning to populate the planet. However, there are now DNA problems and further cloning will soon be impossible. Now Picard has TWO problems to solve . . . or DOES he?

This is something of a fun episode. With all their animals the Bringloidi have turned the cargo bay into a pretty interesting place and they have no qualms about taking advantage of their hosts. It is rather refreshing to see folk who are so unrepentedly people of the land in the age of warp drive, even though these odd folks have both primitive tools and advanced computers. However, the emphasis is more on the group as a band of gypsies who have just happened to park on the Enterprise. But unlike holodeck creations, these people just do not want to go away. "Up the Long Ladder" makes up for the fact that for the most part Picard forgets he has all those annoying civilians and children running around on his ship. The main thing is I just love those Irish accents in the 24th century.

There were certain cartoons which appeared in some english newspapers in the 19th century depicting irish people as filthy lazy apelike drunks, these were considered provocative even in their day. The makers of this episode have re-invented this stereotype, indeed they have endeavored to embellish this stereotype by suggesting that Irish people are going the way of de-evolution. Ie that in four hundred years when everyone else is so civilised and sophisticated, Irish people will be living among their animals and will be either Darby O Gill parodies (like the attractive sex-mad irish lady looking for a husband) or filthy uncouth unattractive stupid drunks like the male. How the hell they ever got away with such racist garbage i will never know, imagine if a stereotype concerning Jews or homosexuals was used instead of Irish people... There would have been hell to pay. There are really only two possibilities, the first is that the makers are extremely anti-irish racist bigots. The second is that their ignorance and stupidity is of monumental proportions (in imagining Irish people were EVER like THAT). Unfortunately i am a huge Star Trek fan, and this episode as terrible it is both in it's offensive nature and the extremely low quality of the storyline does not succeed in making me cold to the series, but i have to wonder what was going through Colm Meaney's mind as that episode was being screened. Now as to which it is hate or stupidity i have to conclude it must be hate, they had an example of irishness to dispell their ignorance in Meaney.

This episode has some very funny moments that rescue it from the occasional simplicity of the plot where obvious flaws and solutions seem difficult to find. The Federation suddenly receives a distress call that Riker immediately identifies as an old style signal, but which baffled Federation officials for months. This is the first absurdity, as the Federation would understand that colonies isolated from contact would retain old style forms of communication. Furthermore, contact with previously unknown civilizations could be through old forms of communication, after all the only experience that the new civilization could have with the Federation could be through old style radio or television programs that left the vicinity of Earth centuries before. Therefore, the Federation would retain detailed records of all form of communication that were used in the past.
That aside, some of the scenes when the Federation first encounters the colony are hilarious. There are approximately 200 colonists and the entire group, including their ducks, chickens and pigs are all beamed aboard the Enterprise. Even Picard is depicted as walking over to the side and laughing over the situation. The colonists are pictured as stereotypical Irish, with the women working hard and being forceful and the men engaged largely in finding and consuming strong drink. My favorite scenes are when the female leader of the colonists faces down the Enterprise crew, including Worf.
When the Enterprise encounters another segment of the original colonists, they find a pristine society descended through cloning from only 5 original survivors. The cloning process is failing due to copying errors, so that group is looking for new DNA stock in order to survive. The solution is to recombine the two groups, which is accepted after some initial reservations.
Despite some of the logical absurdities, I enjoyed this episode, but when it ended I could not help wondering, did Commander Riker add his DNA to the gene pool of the colonists? It is hinted at strongly and that would have added a new and interesting twist to the story.