Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 168: Thine Own Self [VHS]

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

 

 

For all of you Troi fans out there this episode is a wonderful expression of her abilities as a Starfleet officer. The rank of Commander is definitely reward for Troi's service and performance.

In this episode, a damaged Data unknowingly poisons a medieval village with radioactive metal fragments. While Data fights against time (and android amnesia) to discover a cure for the mysterious "plague," the crew of the Enterprise frantically searches for him. Cora Beth from the Waltons is great as the village doctor. Local population goes all out for "frankenstein" torchlight climax. What more can you ask from TNG?

Although the "Data as Frankenstein's Monster" main plot is typically entertaining Trek, the subplot about Deanna Troi is the more thought-provoking story here. The Counselor, a Lt. Cmdr. in Starfleet Medical, undertakes a series of Holographic tests for promotion to full Commander. With this rank, Troi will take her place as a Bridge Officer in the chain of command of the Enterprise. But is she fit for the role? Repeatedly she fails a defining sequence of the test, in which a damaged engineering process threatens the survival of the ship and her crew. Troi begins to despair of solving the problem as, over and over, her decisions lead to the simulated destruction of the Enterprise. The solution, when it finally comes to her, is almost more than an emotional Betazoid can bear. This subplot is based on a real disaster which occurred aboard a Soviet nuclear submarine in 1961. Faced with a meltdown and hydrogen explosion at sea, Captain Nikolai Zateyev had no other option but to send his engineering crew in pairs into the 900-degree reactor to cobble together a cooling system. All seven men died from massive radiation poisoning, but their valiant sacrifice saved the ship. In Troi's test, only her friend, Chief Engineer Geordi Forge, is capable of making the repair that will doom him but save Enterprise. This B-plot is a terrific study of the burden of Command and the life-and-death decisions an Officer might be forced to make. Marina Sirtis gives a fine performance of the transformation from empathic Counselor to determined Commander. That said, I agree with other viewers who question Data's lack of promotion throughout the seven-season series. Certainly he has demonstrated that he can make the Command decisions that frustrated Troi, and during actual combat operations. In Redemption-2, acting-Captain Data gave orders which risked his crew but achieved the victory in a major battle with the Romulans. Now Data has to call Deanna "Sir". Carry on, but let's hope for a long-deserved promotion of our intrepid android in the upcoming feature-film!

First Data gets stranded without his memory. Then he gets passed over for promotion while he's gone. Now, let me get this straight. TROI gets promoted to COMMANDER! I don't have anything against the character, but I think the writers should have let another character get promoted instead of her. My first choice would have been without a doubt, DATA. Let me repeat that. My first choice would have been without a doubt, DATA. If any character in the show deserves a promotion at this stage it is him. Let's review for a moment. Picard is offered an admiral's rank at least once. Riker is offered a captain's rank three times. Crusher was promoted to a post at Starfleet Medicial, but left to return to the Enterprise. Worf gets promoted once, and again in "Generations". La Forge gets promoted twice. Now Troi gets promoted. That just leaves Data. For crying out loud. After all the character of Data has done for the show, he should at least be promoted to COMMANDER before Troi is. After all, he is the only character to never receive a promotion, and in my opinion has done a lot more in the series than Troi. He started the show as a Lt. Commander and ended it as one. The only times he came "close" to promotion were in a few episode here and there where he was "temporary first officer" or "temporary commanding officer". Give the poor android a break.

One of the storylines of this episode is enjoyable; the other is ridiculous. In one, an amnesiac Data realises he has brought illness to a medieval village and searches for a cure before the villagers turn on the stranger in their midst. In the other, Troi seeks a promotion so she can stand bridgewatch.
The story with Data is well-written, and moving. Even without his memory of who he is and what he is doing on the planet, he reveals himself to be the same curious, gentle, and compassionate individual as always.
The story with Troi is hopeless. She and Crusher are support staff. The idea that they can just waltz in and qualify for command over the heads of all the command and operations officers on board the Enterprise is silly and insulting. Specialisation is just as important as rank, and whatever Troi might have done to justify being granted the rank of Commander is a completely separate issue to commanding the ship. Whatever happened to being happy with what you're good at? And how did she manage to learn so much about stuff she would never have been trained in in such a short time, anyway? It would actually have been a stronger story if Troi has realised that command was not for her; that she, too, had to be true to herself.
Watch this episode for a pleasantly melancholy little story about Data, and ignore the rest.