Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 8: Lonely Among Us [VHS]

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While passing through a gaseous space anomoly, the Enterprise accidently picks up a being, which is part of the anomoly. The being passes through several different people, to the ship's computer, and fianlly to Captain Picard, in its efforts to be returned home.

Two species want to join the Federation, but both are deadly enemies, and close neighbors, so each planet's delegation is aboard the Enterpise to go to a neutral location called Parliament so they can hash out their differences. The Selay look like humanoid cobras - they rattle like rattlesnakes and hiss, plus they have the large hooded heads like a cobra ready to strike. They hate their enemies, the Anticans, so much, that they ask to be put "upwind" of them so they won't have to smell them. The anticans look like the cross between "Alien" and an Afghan dog - lots of long hair coming from all over their heads, with this large skull-like, egg-shaped head that sticks out in the back. Both these species (dogs and snakes) are pretty laughable, but forgivable considering this was only episode 8.

En route to Parliament, the Enterprise encounters an odd energy cloud and they do a sensor sweep to learn as much as they can and still get to Parliament on time.

Things start going wrong all over the ship - not even a year out of space dock, many systems that are fairly unrelated begin failing or working improperly. While Geordi & Worf are in sensor maintenance, an energy discharge shoots out of a panel and gets inside of Worf and he falls over. When Doctor Crusher arrives and Worf wakes up, he acts like a wounded animal, flailing all over the place, looking to kick some space bootay. Thank goodness they stopped treating him like this and started making him respectable character instead of a parody.

In sickbay, we see the energy leave Worf and go into Dr. Crusher and now she starts acting like one of the Stepford Wives. Worf, now free of this weird energy discharge, has no memory of anything happening to him and doesn't know how he got into sickbay.

In a fog, Dr. Crusher goes back to her quarters and asks her son some questions. He knows she's not herself, but doesn't suspect anything sinister. She goes to the bridge and when Picard asks what is wrong with Mr. Worf, her response is, "Oh, he's ok. It was a temporary brain abboration." Whatever! Picard demands a better explanation and she says she must run some tests first and then uses a panel on the bridge to do so. The discharge leaves her and she finds herself disoriented and not sure why she is on the bridge.

Things change when the discharge is a little too strong and kills Mr. Singh in engineering. No one knows if it was foul play or what happened. While investigating, the energy wave enters Picard and he acts a little too happy and weird. He hasn't done anything overtly sinister, but the crew starts talking about having him relieved of duty. They realize he is under some alien influence, but they don't want to risk their careers by making a decision that is impossible to undo.

The verbal chess going on between Picard and the crew is thrilling - it's just freaky to think about the situation they have on their hands - all the while, they are running late for Parliament and the Anticans and Selay have been at each other's throats - literally. When the Antican's bring a reptile to the chef to prepare it, the chef realizes that it is probably one of the Selay deligates. This is treated as a light-hearted moment - but holy cow! Can you imagine if a Cardassian "ate" a Vulcan? There would be abject horror and outrage. Again - this was early in the new series, so I will forgive them.

Some interesting concepts involving transporter technology and non-corporeal lifeforms.

The Cloud Creature

This is one of the first of what I call the mysterious cloud....or writer's block episodes. This was done better with the original series episode "Obsession." It's Star Trek tradition when ideas run dry.....throw in the mystery cloud! However, as opposed to the ones done on Voyager; this one was exciting to watch.

Picard was possessed by this cloud and it takes control of the Enterprise. Blue lightning bolts are emitted from his body when he holds the bridge members hostage. With all this happening; the cannibal diplomats aboard the ship were trying to eat one another on their way to the planet, Parliament.

I wish the writer of this episode; D. C. Fontana, was asked to stay on staff. As a former member of the original series writers; she had a tremendous amount of experience to offer. I often wonder how different the show would be with her input.

For all intents and purposes this one is worth the price of the video. It doesn't suffer from lack of action/adventure elements. The story shows us how the crew pulls together when our favorite captain is incapacitated.

This episode suffers from attempting to do too much, and what it chooses to do is predictable. The mission of the Enterprise is to transport delegations from two different warring planets to a peace conference. One species is feline in nature, using live animals as food and obviously playing with that food for some time, as a cat does, before killing and eating it. The other species is reptilian, and each would much rather kill the other than make any attempt at peace.
The Enterprise crew is obviously disgusted with their behavior and it would have been possible to create an interesting story using this as a premise. Unfortunately, while the two species hunt each other while on the Enterprise, a truly preposterous notion, a different storyline is the main one.
On their way to the peace conference, the Enterprise alters course to investigate an energy cloud that is traveling at warp speed. As the Enterprise passes near the cloud, an energy being comes aboard, takes possession of several members of the crew and causes many systems to malfunction. The members of the crew all appear to be dunderheads, totally unable to understand what is happening. Finally, the alien takes possession of Captain Picard and embarks on a course of action where the outcome is obvious.
In no way is this one of the better episodes of TNG. It would have been a much more interesting story if the energy being had been left out and the emphasis placed on the crew's attempt to make peace between two deadly enemies, where both have applied for membership in the Federation. Despite all the time spent on the two different species, we learn nothing about what happens at the peace conference.

If there is any lesson to be learned from "Lonely Among Us," it is to steer clear of strange clouds in space that have the ability to travel at faster-than-light speeds. You never know when a discharge from the cloud will attempt to take over your body so caution is strongly advised.

The Enterprise-D beams aboard delegates from the Antican and Selay governments in order to transport them to Parliament for diplomatic negotiations. On their way to their destination, the ship encounters a cloud in space. An energy bolt from the cloud boards the Enterprise and quickly takes over the bodies of various crew members as it jumps from host to host.

The often-used "body possession" story premise produces lackluster results in "Lonely Among Us." The drama that the episode strives for is undermined by our knowledge that nothing serious is going to happen to Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) once he leaves the ship and the strange B-story involving the alien delegates which vacillates between horror and comedy. In fact the entire notion of the ship being attacked by a cloud can't help but come across as goofy. Record "Lonely Among Us" as another bump in the road in Star Trek: The Next Generation's early going.