Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Next Generation, Episode 32: Loud As A Whisper [VHS]

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

 

 

"Loud as a Whisper" is one of the greatest second season episodes. The Enterprise has to go to the Romatis star system to pick up 'The Greatest Mediator the Federation Has.' When they get there, they meet him and his chorus (Leo Damian as Andonis, Marnie Mosiman as the Woman, and Thomas Oglesby as the Scholar). We learn two things;1.His name is Riva(Played by Howie Seago;Beyond Silence), and 2.He's a deaf-mute that communicates through his chorus, each speaking in a certain area of experteece(or however you spell it, hey! I'm a kid.). Right off the bat, Riva likes Troi(Marina Sirtis). He meets the crew, and becomes a friend to Geordi(LeVar Burton). He asks if Troi would show him to his quarters, and leaves the Woman and Scholar behind, taking Andonis with them. Then we find out that when not needed, the rest of the Chorus is actually alot nicer than you think. Meanwhile, Troi and Riva make dinner plans for after the briefing that Riva brags his little heart out. The the dinner rolls around and it's interrupted by one of the factions that have been fighting on Solaris 4. They have broken the 'cease-fire' and Riva stops them. Riva, the Chorus, Riker(Jonathan Frakes), and Worf(Michael Dorn), transport down to the surface, only to find a horrible fate. One of the guys on one of the factions goes crazy and shoots the Chorus, leaving Riva alone and confused. Captain Picard(Patrick Stewart) tries to talk to him, but can't. He asks Data(Brent Spiner)to learn sign language* so they could get on with the negotiations and get the heck out of there. Troi asks him what his secret is and he said 'The real secret is turning a disadvantage, into an advantage'. She also wants to know why he couldn't do that. He dismisses Data and they transport down to the surface. There Troi explains that he is going to teach both factions sign language to stop the fighting.

*Watch for this mistake; Data is going to show Picard some of what he learned. He meant to say in dialogue and sign:
Data:This is blue. This is the blue ocean. This is the blue ocean at sunset. This is...
What he really said was:
Data:This is 5. This is the 5 oceans. This is the 5 oceans at...

A planet has been torn by a centuries-old war and the Enterprise is assigned the task of transporting a mediator named Riva to the planet in an attempt to stop it. He is deaf and mute, but is able to communicate through a group of three people called the Chorus. They are able to communicate telepathically with Riva, and each is more in tune with one aspect of his emotions than the other aspects. Therefore, they speak at different times, depending on his thoughts and moods.
Upon arriving at the planet, Riva, his Chorus and a small Enterprise team beam down and meet with the leadership of the two factions fighting on the planet. A dissident soldier opens fire, killing all three members of the Chorus. A grief-stricken Riva then refuses to continue the mediation process, even though both factions really want to end the war. To provide a way for the Enterprise crew to communicate with Riva, Data learns sign language and a debate begins between Riva and Captain Picard. After intense appeals to his professional responsibilities, Riva agrees to beam back down to the planet and meet with the two sides. However, he does it alone, with no help from the Enterprise crew. They beam back up to the Enterprise, leaving him to carry on.
On the plus side, this episode shows significant contributions by someone that would be considered disabled. However, I find it difficult to believe that the Enterprise would leave one of the best negotiators in the Federation alone on a planet after such an assassination. While achieving peace on the planet is important, keeping key Federation personnel alive would be more important.
My favorite part of the episode is the romantic dinner between Riva and Troi. It starts with a member of the chorus present, but this unnerves Troi. There is a great deal of sexual tension between them, and it is well acted by both characters. It is quite steamy, even though they are only talking.
This is not one of the very best episodes, nor is it one of the worst. Of all the TNG episodes, this is the one that I would, without a moment's hesitation, rank exactly in the middle.

Howie Seago portrays a deaf negotiator in this episode. It has the feeling that somehow the script was cut off at the end. The whole episode was built upon the fact the first negotiators were killed by the opposing side of aliens. Seago's character had to establish a dialogue with them again. What was frustrating was that you see him beam down to the planet and not see the result of his efforts. This would have been better as a two part episode.