“Lonely Among Us”

re: Lonely Among Us

Wow, what a shambles of an episode. I could go on forever. Nothing makes sense; nobody belongs anywhere or should be doing anything they're doing. Just a bunch of stuff thrown together.

Worf saying he doesn't remember having a memory block symbolizes the episode for me.

A big plot hole is why the alien blathers on about its cries for help not being understood by the crew, when it does everything secretly and makes no real effort to just freakin' tell the crew "Hey, I'm an energy being. Get me home." - when it obviously could. Why even bother merging with Picard, if you're only eager to go home? Ugh, too many questions like this.

I guess what angers me the most is something that got better with time but that TNG never really figured out: no one in Star Fleet or the Federation knows how to make responsible, professional decisions about anything. In later episodes, I think maybe the writers just didn't completely understand how to write professional-acting officers, but here it seems like they just don't care. A self-respecting, standards-holding Federation wouldn't consider these aliens for admission in a million years. Also, it seems there really is no protocol for relieving a Captain of duty on medical grounds - he can just shout you down and ignore procedure whenever he wants to. Way to ensure the safety of the crew.

The silver lining is the acting; Patrick and Stewart and Brent Spiner do a good job here - even if Data is acting in a way that I don't think Data should ever have acted (the writers hadn't decided on how to write his character yet).

1/2 Star

I don't know what I was smoking when I first seen this ep, because I liked it.

...

A couple of days later I came back to my senses and realized how boring it is, in fact. The starter plot-B, with the two alien races, it's pointless and badly executed. The main plot(Lost energy-lifeform)moves at a snail pace, with no real logic to it(for many reasons as stated by Percivale above).

The only saving bits are those of intended and unintended comedy. Intended: Data as Sherlock Holmes (not his brightest moments, but much better than misterious energy shifting bodies. Unintended: "P For Picard?" -Said by Riker when Picard makes his physically impossible comeback moment; and Data's face when he finds out about the whole Sherlock Holmes mythos.

I have to disagree with the general consensus here, and say that I actually liked this ep, slightly better than the last ep. Not to say there weren't flaws- in fact, this ep just narrowly falls short of a recommendation in my book - but overall I found this to be a pretty well executed, not-too-shabby episode.

The Things I Didn't Like: Well, the plot was predictable almost to a fault. I didn't quite understand the ending when Picard was rescued - some mumbo jumbo involving physical patterns was all I got out of it. The music during that very same rescue scene was anemic to the point of nonexistence, like much of Season 1, and drained away all the dramatic tension. The actors could have used more emotion during that scene - during much of the episode in fact, but especially that scene - watch the transporter rescue scene from TOS's "Obsession" and you'll see that this scene pales in comparison. Guess I'm kind of spoiled with seeing Bill Shatner chewing the scenery a lot.

Things I Liked - Well, the acting was weak, but much stronger than in previous episodes. I liked the Data does Sherlock scene, even if a bit out of place. The debate between the officers whether or not to relieve Picard was pretty good either, even if not fully up to potential. And I was ok with the subplot - "Sorry, wrong species" got a bit of a laugh out of me. But you'd think the Enterprise would have assigned better security... (Repeat after me: It's only TV. ) speaking of security, first redshirt dies in this ep too.

2.5 Stars is what I'd give it.

A somewhat strange episode, 'Lonely Among Us' is somewhat typical First season fare - Not execrable exactly but with serious flaws. In the middle of transporting two mutually loathing races to a Neutral planet for peace negotiations, the Ship takes on a nonCorporeal entity which begins affecting the crew and it's operations. It's the premise of 'The Naked Now' only this time the Offender is an energy cloud rather than a virus.

The twin Alien Species, although badly written at least looked genuinely alien, rather than merely humans with facial prosthetics, but the idea that races this backward (even without hindsight of watching later episodes) would have been considered as membership candidates is absurd.

The scenes with Crusher being possessed drag on interminably and again the acting of Sirtis and Crosby are arguably the 'weak links' in the cast. As Jammer points out, the idea the Captain can be transferred into an energy field and survive seems highly unlikely but then I guess, this is Star Trek -perhaps the writers were trying to go for another high concept?

Spiner's scenes in the holodeck as Sherlock Holmes (foreshadowing later, much more worthy outings ) are probably the highlight, but that isn't enough to sustain what is a fairly undistinguished hour. This is no 'Code of Honour' but it isn't much cop either, 1.5 stars for me

Always got a goofy kick out of the notion of an entire planet named "Parliament".

"Toolboxians and Lamerons" -- classic, Jammer.

I think the closest this episode gets to interesting is when it seems for a brief time as if Picard may genuinely have merged with the cloud life form thing and want to explore the galaxy. This would be dereliction of duty, of course -- but I could imagine a Picard/energy-cloud hybrid being making the choice to go on the ultimate adventure, especially in the way Picard is characterized in early season one, with lots of wanderlust. I don't know that this really works, but it's an idea that has potential. When Picard (improbably) is beamed back aboard the ship, he's lost his memory though -- and it seems likely that that was only that energy cloud thing talking through Picard.

The other interesting element is watching the crew try to figure out how they can relieve the captain of duty through official channels, which is fairly effective. This happens for a very brief time.

Otherwise, the episode is mostly devoid of interest. 1.5 stars.

Oh, and Data-as-Holmes, of course, is a delight.

After coming back to the show after awhile watching the first six episodes, this is the weakest of that bunch. Both "Farpoint" and "Where No One..." had great moments, and at least "Naked," "Code," and "Outpost" have amusing camp... but this one falls terribly flat. There's no connecting thread--the delegate storyline goes nowhere, Data as Holmes is amusing but comes out of nowhere, the episode explains the entity's motivations nowhere, and it stretches credibility to believe that energy-pattern Picard could be beamed back out of nowhere. Truly an episode that deserves to be forgotten.

2 reasons:
1) It created Data's fascination with Sherlock Holmes.
2) It gave us Colm Meaney's 2nd Trek appearance which would later lead to Chief O'Brien.

The rest is boring.

So, historically we need this episode in the tapestry of Star Trek making, but we don't really have to watch it. :p

After seeing a lot of DS9 I caught this random episode recently (had not seen it earlier) and have to agree with Percivale that this episode is a complete shambles without any redeeming features at all.

A 45min cringefest. Its like watching all the worst bits of Sci-Fi all edited up and presented in one compendium of amateurish incompetence. Having seen this - its a miracle that TNG survived to improve and become quite a decent TV show in my opinion, there is certainly nothing in this episode that hints that any writing, directing or acting talent is at work here...

Terrible, but not completely without some interesting moments. The first 20 minutes or so aren't utterly unwatchable, and the bits with the senior staff discussing relieving Picard of command is interesting.

Other than that, the energy cloud, body snatching, and immature delegates are all elements that - on their own - would drive a terrible episode of Trek. Together, they ultimately have nothing going for them and even interfere with each other. What was the point of the two rival races? Comic relief? Good lord. It's not even the camp factor that sinks this one - it's the utter incompetence of the writing. There's no reason for this show to be THIS bad. 1-1/2 stars, and I'm probably being generous.

So, no, "Lonely" isn't utterly unwatchable. But that's only because it's surrounded by some absolute trash by comparison. "The Naked Now", "The Last Outpost", and "Code of Honor" come before it while "Justice" comes right after. All four are legit contenders for the worst episode of TNG and would rightfully be at the bottom of probably the whole franchise.

This isn't offensively bad such as "Code of Honor" was but it's still pretty bad. A few redeeming moments that are of note include the Data/Sherlock scenes and some of the crew's dialogue concerning the missing captain. The rest of it goes absolutely nowhere and says absolutely nothing while almost seemingly existing outside of it's own premise. As if this is a story about characters acting out a TNG episode with characters acting out same said story.

1 star.

I did like the dog and snake aliens in this one. Really some of the best aliens in the entire series where "alien" usually just meant spots, bumps, or just plain ordinary human. The "dog" alien is also reused in the episode "Tapestry" in the bar scene.

Bit of a shocker, this one. The main story moves glacially slowly with no sense of threat until about 5 mins from the end - and then, to be fair, an interesting element is thrown in that suggests Picard might actually want to explore with the energy being. That of course gets tossed straight into the trash bin.

The B-story with the warring factions serves no purpose but to provide an amusing denouement, and added to the overall slow pace of the episode makes it a bit of a grind to watch. The increasingly common left-field comic moment comes with Data's Sherlock Holmes impersonation - but again it feels out of place and contrived. 1 star.

Gotta love early TNG, where a diplomat that the Enterprise is ferrying can me murdered, and the person bringing the news is asked "This couldn't have waited?"

Yeah, the reaction to the murder was pretty offensive.

I guess because they look like earth animals they are not to be taken seriously? Funny how Gene looked at things back then.

Recwatching the original series and the first season of TNG I gotta wonder why Starfleet is in deep space at all. As long as the aliens look and act human its all good, otherwise they receive looks that don't seem to feel very starfleet.

After the last episode's promise we are right back down to sub optimal again.
It is only 3 minutes in and we are back to the ludicrous looking down your noses at aliens because they are so primitive they fight each other.
Jonathan ( I can't actually act for toffee) Frakes scoffs he never understood violence when studying earth history. For goodness sake not this 'wack-a-doodle' utopian drivel again .

As to the plot of this one-it is a hotch potch of Journey to Babel,several episodes of Space 1999 and Mutiny on the Bounty.
It is a wonder this show wasn't cancelled

Things I liked:
-The Selayan design. There not humans in funny clothing or with stuff glued to their head. Apparently their one of the few Aliens Roddenberry allowed to have face covering makeup.
-Worfs face when the thing zapped him.

Things I didn't like
-The Anticans design, and their annoying amount of screentime.
-Wesley's sweater
-Picard is pretty much beamed into space but survives because he fused with an energy being. I think
-Ultimately the Ambassador plot is useless and only used for padding.
5 out of 10

Hated this ep when I saw it. If you hold to what happened here the real Picard apparently died in this episode and the one that carried through the rest of the series is just a clone created by the replicator. That's not the kind of thing you want your viewers to be wondering about, especially so early into the series.

I HAVE FOUND IT! THE REASON DEANNA IS ON THE SHIP!

Y'all know how we often bemoan the fact that Troi really has no purpose? That most of the things she observes are things that are perfectly obvious to any half-awake person?

Well, I point you to this episode. Picard has beamed off the ship as an energy thingie, and Riker says he's lost and "We need to get to Parliament," then orders the ship to leave. He is eager to abandon the Captain in the energy cloud! But then Deanna senses the Captain and suggests they may be able to get him back!

Riker responds, "As WHAT? He's just energy now!" (I'm paraphrasing.)

So now we know why Riker stays as first officer all those years, and why Deanna has a purpose. Without her, Picard would have been a cloud critter for the rest of the series. And Riker never accepts a promotion because he is wracked with guilt over almost having condemned his captain to a permanent existence as a lightbulb.

That was fun. lol

@Percivale

"A self-respecting, standards-holding Federation wouldn't consider these aliens for admission in a million years."

I was thinking the same, but in relation to the "Justice" aliens and the "Code of Honor" ones. Why would the Federation ever consider intercourse with aliens who think it's fine to execute someone for a trivial offense, or aliens who think kidnapping is fine and dandy?

You know, I'm all for respecting the beliefs of others, but not when those beliefs are stupid.



@William B
"When Picard (improbably) is beamed back aboard the ship, he's lost his memory though"

The way they talk in the transporter room, I thought they rematerialized Picard from the pattern left on his first beam-out, so the Picard that rematerialized was simply a copy of the pre-energy Picard. We know they use a similar function of the transporter in later episodes and series, but maybe they hadn't quite figured out how to phrase it yet?

@Troy

"I did like the dog and snake aliens in this one."

Me too! They made me laugh! I wish we'd seen more of them. Especially the doggy-faces. Did anyone notice that the doggies were very similar to the castle guards from King's Quest VI? That came out in 1992, so maybe they copied Star Trek?

Yeah, I didn't mind it, the crew deliberating over the Captain's mental state was interesting (although they waited way too long to take the obvious point of action, the Captain asking literally everyone but him to take a medical exam should have been the clincher), and the idea of an alien taking over Picard to get back home was interesting, even though there' really no motivation for most of what the alien actually does.

The thing that most annoyed me was that ending. They went for a lighthearted moment at the end, but for some reason it had to involve the murder of a peace delegate. I mean, what? "Oh, someone got murdered, but I just feel tired. I'll let you handle it Number One." And there's Yar yucking it up to Riker. It's just a completely bizarre note to end on.

Hiding in this bad episode were two good ones that would have made great Season 1 getting-to-know you episodes.

Episode One: "Prudence and Prejudice"

Goals of episode: 1. Give viewers a little snapshot of Alpha Quadrant/Federation. 2. Show how the crew handles conflict and diplomacy. 3. Have the crew examine their prejudices.

Synopsis: The Enterprise is sent to ferry delegates from Antica and Selay, two planets in the same solar system, to a peace conference on the planet Parliament.

The solar system lies near Federation space but is also near a part of space where the Ferengi have recently become more active, so it's strategically located.

The two planets fought a war more than 100 years ago when the Anticans achieved space flight and landed on the more primitive Selay. Since then, the Selay have also achieved space flight but are still behind the Anticans in technology. They've had a cold peace for almost 80 years but a new war is threatening to break out.

It's crucial to the Federation to make sure a firm peace is established so the Ferengi can't exploit a conflict so close to Federation space. (We can learn all that in briefing early in the episode with Data).

Here's where it gets interesting. The Anticans are very humanoid looking and get along great with Terrans, sharing many of the same attributes, culture and food. There's informal talk they'd like to join the Federation, and the Enterprise crew thinks that's a grand idea. The Selay are reptilian. They are aloof and demanding and eat disgusting things (to us). Also, Troi can't read them. She can only "feel a presence." They have no interest in joining the Federation and have only reluctantly agreed to the conference out of desperation because they are also practical.

Each side is accusing the other of acquiring weapons from the Ferengi to mount an offensive attack and the Selay say the Antacins are courting the Federation as well.

Troi, Riker and Picard have an initial meeting with both groups and have positive impression of the Anticans. The Selay meeting doesn't go as well. Troi meets with them alone a second time. Right after the second Selay meeting, Troi falls mysteriously ill.

Dr. Crusher believes she's picked up a type of venom from the Selay, which the Antacins subtly encourage. They even hint the venom was transmitted on purpose. After talking with the Anticins, Beverly administers a treatment but it has the opposite effect and sends Troi into shock.

(And that's our B-plot: Beverly frantically trying to save Troi's life and her guilt at making her worse, not better).

Meanwhile, hostilities mount between the Antacins and the Selay, and an Antacin is found dead and appears to have been killed by a Selay weapon. Tasha and Worf are assigned to security.

As the episode progresses, the Selay look more and more guilty and the Atacins make more inroads with everyone but Worf. He sees the Selay as noble and honest and admires their stark philosophy.

Eventually, a Ferengi vessel attacks the Enterprise, and it turns out it was a rogue Antacin delegate (and arms dealer) who has been working with the Ferengi to incite a new war. He sent coordinates to the Ferengi ship and was caught by one of the Selay. He attacked the Selay, who killed him in self-defense. The Anacin is also the one who infected Troi, and they also learn he learned the ability to block empathic probing from the Selay. (Worf is the one who figures all this out, with the help of Data).

Crusher almost loses Troi during the Ferengi attack, but the Selay leader helps her figure out the right antidote (using some of his own blood). The Ferengi attack is repulsed.

The Selay demand to turn back from Parliament because of the human prejudice, while the Antacin leader begs them to reconsider. They decide to work together toward a peaceful resolution on their own without Federation help or Ferengi interference.

Ends with staff meeting where Picard praises Worf for his prudence and admonishes himself and the others for letting their prejudices against a reptilian life form cloud their judgment and they must do better next time. (And in the B plot, Beverly goes through same thing making assumptions about Troi's medical condition).

With any luck, that paints a little picture of the political and cultural climate in the Federation, reinforces the Ferengi threat (such as it is), gives us some character growth and maybe gives you two species you might could bring back again.

I'll do Episode 2 later.

3 stars. I liked it. It’s not stellar but it hit enough of the right notes to hold my attention and is entertaining

I enjoyed seeing the sensor maintenance room aboard the ship, the two junior officers Worf and Geordie, Dr Crusher’s nifty medical helmet, seeing the crew debate relieving the captain of command, the far out blue electric bridge scene when the crew try stopping Picard but are rendered absolutely helpless, possessed Picard’s chilling order to Crusher to run tests on those concerned about his odd behavior, Picard just tossing aside the results after the tests were performed The makeup for the Anticans And selay was really impressive especially for 1987, the Selay snaring Riker roaming the corridors

Among the first in a long line of sci-fi mystery/problem-solving TNG episodes -- overall mediocre with the odd bit of humor thrown in. Picard is great when he gets invaded by the alien energy. The episode's definitely got that weird, mysterious feel to it and the musical score really brings that out. The ending is rather original with Troi sensing Picard's energy and the captain coming into the Enterprise's computer as the energy alien initially did.

The 2 warring alien factions being transported were your standard stock adversaries -- definitely cliche. The half human / half feline species was hilarious. And then Riker gets lassoed by the half human / salamander species -- just seemed to come across as random bizarre events tossed into the episode as a somewhat amusing B-plot that doesn't go anywhere.

Data starts acting like Sherlock Holmes with a fascination for being a detective -- pretty funny stuff here given some of the crew's reactions to him -- another random bit of humor but it obviously blossoms into something bigger later on.

The important part about Crusher/Riker sensing Picard is not himself and trying to go about relieving him was well conceived but one has to wonder how it could be carried out if Picard responds as he did -- demanding the mutineers get medical check-ups. I guess force would have to be used...

Liked the idea that the energy being is sentient and the Enterprise ripped one of them away on its first pass through and that it leads to opening up a whole bunch of possibilities for Picard. Decent sci-fi here, albeit not explored in depth because of wasting time on transporting the cliche aliens.

2 stars for "Lonely Among Us" -- slow-paced for the most part, at times boring, but business picked up when the alien energy being invades Picard. Would have been a better pure sci-fi episode but for the nonsense with the 2 alien species going to Parliament -- this is where better writing is needed. Definitely some implausibility thrown in with Picard existing as energy with the mysterious cloud phenomenon. But it's TNG S1 growing into a certain type of episode, not an awful start, but could have easily been better.

I detest episodes involving involuntary mind abduction. The abductor always gets off too easily after causing days of mayhem.

Hypnosis coming up is like a record scratching moment— it reminds that the show wasn’t that far removed from the 70s.

There were some good bits, like when Picard freezes everybody on the bridge and Riker keeps shouting for someone to restrain the captain. It looked a bit goofy, but kind of a believable goofy.

A planet named Parliament ? Sorry, but I just can’t take that seriously. And why is an android posing as a fictional detective ?

2 stars. mostly because the aliens were interesting enough to prevent the silliness completely ruining the episode.

Some neat moments in this one: Cobra vs Mongoose alien delegates, Data pretending to be Sherlock Holmes, an Indian officer called Singh (rare to see Indians on western TV in the 1980s), the sequence in which the command staff discuss mutiny, and at least 4 other scenes in which Picard acts his mighty heart out. Not a very ambitious episode, but you can see the series has begun to figure itself out.

The whole plot of the movie doesn't make up to me. It starts with the mysterious energy cloud, they decide to fly right through. Shouldn't safty always be top priority? Shouldn't the crew have learned from earlier episodes, that their scanners can't always detect threads?

So why don't they fly over or below it? Or make a turn. It sounds odd to not taking into account even the slightest risk, when it's so simple to avoid. Similar to how planes avoid storms. Is that really what they teach students in their academy? Is that how they educate their captains and head staff? Then how did humanity survive for so long in space?

Another major issue I have is about how the crew deals with mind controlled captain situation. They know that something's going on and suspect it to take control over people. Geordi even spots this energy emerging with Picard with his own eyes (not really), leading to Picard making irrational decisions, further risking the wellbeing of the ship and its crew.

What exactly more proof do you need to take actions? Why doesn't Riker execute his plan to temporary unseat Picard, due to his odd behaviour and recent events? There seems to be a consens along the officers to do such.

I just don't buy it.

I didn't watch this show when it first aired on TV, *having not been born yet :)* but when I finally starting watching it, I saw most of the seasons somewhat out of order, so I already knew about Data's fascination with Sherlock Holmes and was so excited when I realized this was where it all began. I couldn't help but yell at my TV *yes! You will love him! Read the books!!* but then everyone was kinda rude to him about it. Yet another lame thing about S1 is just how mean they all were to Data most of the time. Of course everyone had such an attitude back then. Which really shows in this episode especially with the alien delegates. Sure they were kind of a nuisance but they were being considered for Federation membership.

All in all a pretty forgettable and dull episode. And what was with the ending? "Sir, one of the aliens was just brutally murdered, but that can wait, after all what's more important than mooning over the captain?" And why does Denise Crosby always sound like a teenage girl on the verge of blushing? *except in those moments where she's yelling about how mad she is. Sheesh.*

What's wrong with your mind doctor!

I liked this one.

The aliens were great and the ending, with Picard passing off his duties to Riker in the wake of the alien-eating crisis, was amusing.

It (mostly) didn't bore me and was a very ensemble episode, with all the characters playing a role and being better defined.

The ep seems to be about the challnge of understanding each other. It's about how isolated, by our differences, we can be from one another - we get a lot of references to differences: Klingons are different, the aliens are different from each other and from us, we're a mystery to each other, mystery, mystery, etc. Wesley's so delighted when mom shows an interest in his interests.

Our energy alien understands everything better once he gets inside. Maybe the Anticans will understand the Selay better once they eat one.

Solid ep.

'P for Picard?' Laugh out loud moment for me.

And the captain being 'too busy' to entertain Crusher and Rikers medical examination whilst having his feet up on the ready room desk.

Completely ludicrous, but strangely watchable

Creepy Beverly Crusher was funny - especially with how she spoke while under the influence.
And no-one caught on. Unbelievable.
I have difficulty in taking seriously a planet named Parliament. As world-building, that is weak.
Does Riker, calling him “history’s greatest consulting detective”, think Sherlock Holmes was a real person ?!?!?!?!? The folk on the Enterprise D may be far superior to us in technology, but they seem to have a rather tenuous grasp of the distinction between history & fiction.
Wes has no fashion sense whatsoever - that jumper looks like a sack.
And now, Bev has de-aliened and is talking normally to Wes. Leaving the alien to kill Singh. Every silver lining has a cloud. Why does Singh die of the alien, when Bev & JLP, who are also human beings, do not ?
How many Assistant Chief Engineers are there on the Enterprise anyway ?
Data as Sherlock Holmes is cringe-inducing. Thank goodness for Babylon 5.
Data , meet garbage compactor. If only.
Troi may be only half-Betazoid, but if she can sense a disturbance in the Force from other aliens, why not from this one ?
Darth Palpacard’s Force Lightning display was fun.

Not more than 1 and a half stars, I think. Intermittently amusing, but a thing of shreds and patches.
And now...the Eloi - sorry, Edosians.

There’s something about the tone of “Lonely Among Us” that I find to be unpleasant. It’s hard for me to put my finger on but I’m left with a bitter taste in my mouth after watching it. Normally I’m a big fan of scores by Ron Jones but I think I find this one to be his weakest.

The episode is slow and boring. There’s not much going on and it takes the crew far too long to act when they realize Picard has been possessed. Shouldn’t there be some Starfleet regulation that allows for this scenario? Instead, Riker, Crusher and Troi tiptoe around the issue and allow themselves to be manipulated by an obviously possessed Picard.

The conclusion is also puzzling. Once Picard beams off the ship, shouldn’t he just be gone? How is it that they’re able to reconstitute his body from energy? It doesn’t make sense.

The subplot featuring alien delegates who antagonize one another to the point of hunting each other around darkened corridors is pointless. It also leads one to wonder why they’re being considered for membership in the Federation in the first place.

Overall, forgettable.

🖖🤟

I had an odd experience of this one. For years I watched the trailer for it, which got recorded on a vhs tape by a friend, but never had the episode. I found the trailer to be hilarious: it showed a a fluffy Antican swiping at a Selayan in a hallway while making a finny noise. Beverly then says "Jean-Luc Picard, I judge you to be disabled and mentally incapacitated" while the captain chuckles sinisterly; then fingers of blue ground lightening shoot out of the dashboard and magnetize everyone on the bridge. Troi is heard saying "It's blinding me!!" As a result of that badly edited trailer with its absurd juxtapositions I never wanted to watch the full thing.

The first time I summoned enough enthusiasm to attempt a viewing, about five months ago, something else must have distracted me, because I remembered nothing but the "live meat" storyline.

With lowered expectations, I tried again, and I amazed myself by actually liking it. A lot. It's a mystery that develops slowly, it's true, but I found the connection between the system malfunctions and trances overtaking key people to be interesting. I liked the fact that the possessive force jumped around and became difficult to analyze.

The ridiculous fluffy and reptilian aliens who were once nothing more than incredibly annoying in my earlier perspective, now were recognizably important to the plot. The writers put them in to be a drain on the crew's mental and emotional resources at a time when a real crisis is developing. They were silly, nay disgusting, but introduced just the right amount of noise allowing a creeping menace to grow unimpeded.

Data's first embrace of Sherlock Holmes is noteworthy.
The music by Ron Jones foreshadows BoBW.

More importantly, I have come to think that this really is the FIRST episode to display characteristics seen in the best of TNG outings:

1) Crew interactions in which little oddities in behavior in one character are noted, but nonetheless shrugged off by another 2) characters meeting behind closed doors to discuss the growing mystery and its ramifications ....'wouldn't that be mutiny?'

3) REAL RAPPORT between all members of the major cast!

This is all fascinating to watch amidst conditions of near complete chaos. Picard's possession is the real treat. He's so good at throwing the medical examination back at Beverly and Riker, and then hunches over to look out the readyroom window.

So many things happening in this episode! Picard is Capt. Queeg, but unlike Queeg, he succeeds.

I love it when Picard says to Geordi, who has just announced that the helm is broken "Malfunctioning? You're wrong. Look again" and then orders an illogical 180 and claps, causing Geordi some chagrin. "You have a problem with that heading lieutenant?" At this point the camera switches to Troi, who is nauseated, and questions the action. Then even Data asks why. "Counsellor, Do you believe a ship captain should explain every order?" Great scenes. Great television
7/9.

I found it unsettling that assistant engineer Singh dies and everyone is generally OK with it. No one was upset about their crew mate dying?

Trent, the Singh thing was nice, but it was also deeper than this officer. Gene Roddenberry was trying to reconnect with a WWII friend. The name came up several times, Khan Noonian Soong, Data’s creator Dr Singh. Sadly, it never happened.



This episode has problems... the talk of going against the Captain is intriguing, but after concern among the senior staff of Picard’s strange behavior, Crusher asks Picard point blank if he’s Picard and he says “I am here”.

If I were Bevs, you would have to lock my big ass in the brig before I’d let that fly.

(Lol, of multiple problems... this was in the early growing phase, where they went for a “happy” TOS era ending)

@Jay, LOL!!!!! “Lonely Among Us” was clearly a rehash of a few TOS episode, including most obviously “Journey to Babel”. But while “Babel” was an all-time Trek classic, “Lonely” is sadly sub-standard fare. The reaction, as @Nigel says, to the news of a murdered emissary only further crystallizes that.

Mutiny/relieving Captain of command was never done well in TOS. The competency hearing in “The Deadly Years” was an absolute disaster. Why, oh why, would they even consider doing that again?

This episode has two things going for it,

1. Data smoking,

https://youtu.be/TGZ3QQf9-6A?t=7

2. An early description of turning shit into meat that plays just about as well as it did on Discovery,

https://youtu.be/k8N7XuxThdQ?t=33

Sickening. Barbaric. Yes, @Ivanov, I’m talking about Wesley’s sweater :)

@Rahul, I have to say that I was a bit disturbed to see you say in the “Code of Honor” thread that that episode reminded you of "Elaan of Troyius”. If any TNG episode reminds me of Elaan, it is “Lonely”.

I agree with @Tornado, this is the weakest episode so far. Though, as @Troy says, the aliens are better than the usual. But even so, 2 stars. Barely.

RIP Mister Singh.

Shame. Wesley reprising the orangey/red roll neck with chevron ribbing. Didn't know how incredibly baggy it was before. Hoping that he will grow into it, very furgal. What do they spend that budget on ?

Oh dear. An object lesson in how to cram too much into a single episode. Three half-baked stories (third-baked?). An alien conflict which seems utterly unresolved and pointless; a mysterious energy being whose transfer to the Enterprise is never explained; and a hilarious but ultimately absurd Data/Sherlock Holmes comedy theme (Jeez, he’s an ANDROID ffs! Where is the motivation?). The whole thing goes nowhere fast (warp factor 11) and ends up inside a Trek black hole that instead of being a singularity, is an unwanted multiplicity.

1.5 stars, for trying...

The main dog alien was played by Marc Alaimo, better known as late as Dukat. The mask hides him and his notable neck and the voice is so distorted he's pretty much unrecognizable. However at one point he stretches out his arm in the dramatic way Dukat sometimes did. "an entire universe set in flames"

"later as Dukat"

Love the TOS shuttle craft model in Riker’s quarters!

One notable thing for this episode. ‘We no longer enslave animals for food.’ This seems very advanced for its time and kind of a relief that our future will be like that.

Rest was quite poor.

@Paul C :
))‘We no longer enslave animals for food.’((

Weird formulation.
Does that mean that the Federation does not tolerate any form of animal husbandry? Including the holding of *dairy* animals? Is holding a milch cow a form of "slavery?" What about holding riding horses?
Capt. Pike still rides horses ("The Cage"). Is "Tango" Pike's "slave" (even if not for food - rather, for mere pleasure; is that less worthy of condemnation?)? Animals destined for slaughter are, as a rule, not our "slaves."
What about Kirk's request that the protein loaves served on Thanksgiving ("Charlie X") be made to look and taste like real turkey meat? How would any crewmember even *know* what turkey meat looked or tasted like, if the Federation had long ago banned animal husbandry "for food?"
Kirk also eats pastrami on rye ("The City on the Edge of Forever"), while buying Spock vegetables.
All too difficult to reconcile with established canon!

What I find my objectionable to this episode is that it does the reverse of what TNG should be doing, which is to show the ship's crew as being ahead of us. Instead this story requires that they be perpetually behind the audience, with us just waiting around for them to figure out what we knew almost immediately. I can think of a few cases in writing where that might work, for instance in creating suspense or tension in a thriller. But not here.

At least we get a classic Gates McFadden performance here. Nothing else to like about the episode.

Captain, we think you have been infected by an alien. We want to examine you.

Your both wrong, examine yourselves.

Okay.

The streak of garbage episodes continues.

This episode was slower moving than the ship when it dropped to impulse, over and over and over. Just a sh*tshow from beginning to end. Definitely the worst yet on TNG. And why did this alien settle on Picard after scampering from one crew member to another?
Did it meet its soulmate finally? The ending was beyond dreadful, luckily offset by the fact that it was an ending.

0.5 stars fit the minimally entertaining aliens.
Hated the data holmes stuff too.
Did Tascha’s actor even study acting?

This episode is a bit of a mess. There are two concurrent plots going on that really don’t connect in any meaningful way, rather the A plot is introduced, the conflict is laid out, and then promptly sidelined into a B story while the B story that had been introduced takes center stage as the A plot. And the two story tiers don’t really intersect, they fail to influence one another, with the diplomatic taxi service A plot being virtually abandoned, continuing off screen with the delegates apparently killing and eating each other, and then reaching no conclusion whatsoever. Meanwhile the impenetrable B turned A plot of an energy being hopping from host to host, all the while remaining unnecessarily aloof, sort of sputters along until it reaches its baffling conclusion. And by the time the episode reaches its end, even our heroes are burned out, shrugging off what appears to be an unfolding diplomatic catastrophe with surprising disinterest. It’s a bizarre episode structure which ends somewhat abruptly on a very strange note. I think this might be the first truly bad episode of TNG. Sure, a few of the previous five shows had issues, but this one is really not put together well. And to make matters worse, it’s kind of boring. We don’t get enough meat on the bone from either plot strand to really build into anything engaging.

TOS inspiration: a light sprinkling of Journey to Babel, Elaan of Troyous, and Turnabout Intruder.

1/4 VERY interesting animals.

Some notes:
-early TNG can be a bit clumsily on the nose with its sub textual commentary. Picard’s smirk at the absurdity of fighting over “god concepts” and “economic systems” left little to the imagination.
-I love how Crusher barely acknowledges the poor medic Worf hurled across the room. “Are you ok?” said with nary a glance over her shoulder. Yeah, doc, I’m fine, just laying here semi-conscious with a fractured skull, don’t mind me…
-of course Tasha Yar is a judgy vegan..
-why doesn’t Crusher tell anyone about her disorientation right away? Keeping weird stuff secret is not very in step with TNG norms.
-our first TNG redshirt death, and it’s a doozy! Assistant chief engineer? That’s some premium canon fodder. RIP mister Singh.
-the Sherlock Holmes stuff is introduced earlier than I remembered.
-Worf, buddy, you don’t remember memories if you don’t remember them. Know what I mean?
-hypnosis? Really Troi? Where’d you get your medical license again?
-for an energy being this thing sure knows how to turn the tables on picard’s staff. Also, possessed Picard spills the beans to Crusher but they all continue to hide behind regulations? She could have relieved him right then and there.
-what a strange ending. Murders and space cannibalism getting almost zero reaction, or worse, being met as a mere inconvenience. And why does the enterprise have multiple cooks? What a weird vibe.
-so, the real Picard merged with his saved transporter pattern that was rematerialized using what? Is this like a replicated Picard body with his energy spirit possessing it? Is Picard made from rematerialized waste material from this point forward?

"This episode is a bit of a mess"


This story is by Michael Halperin, who really didn't have very many credits to his name when he wrote this episode. The only sci-fi credit he had was a single episode of Jason of Star Command from 1979. This raises some questions in my mind.


Why didn't TNG have a stack of solid scripts waiting to go for season 1? Look at the big name authors attached to TOS: Ellison, Bloch, Sturgeon, Matheson, Spinrad. That was for a show that no one had ever heard of. 20 years later and Trek is a cultural phenomenon, and yet they're buying scripts from a guy whose biggest claim to fame is writing an episode of Airhawk.

Or, maybe it was actually a good script to begin with and Roddenberry butchered it? From the discussions here it's clear that a lot of these episodes did have some intelligent, or at least interesting, ideas at their heart. Roddenberry seemed to have a habit of rewriting everything, and according to D.C. Fontana he was having physical and mental problems even in early season 1 so maybe that's where things went wrong.

I would love to see some of the original scripts for these early episodes. Actually, I'd love to see the scripts for every episode.

I guess maybe what this episode is doing is looking at the "dogs and snakes" (as the production team called them) and letting us see how little they seem to have in common, to the point of being in a nonstop routine of trying to kill each other, and then showing us a lifeform that *really* has very little in common with the humanoids on the ship. And yet this lifeform somehow coexists in at least a not totally explosive fashion with the crew, and has a sort-of kind-of amicable parting from them at the end. It's a bit weaksauce, but at any rate I think the outrageous conduct of the Anticans and Selay is supposed to say something of how limited one's imagination can be in regard to diverse species having peaceful relations, compared to having interactions with species so alien that you don't even realize they're life forms.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Roddenberry got in a few script notes that muddied the waters. Seems like he had a mixed influence on early TNG. It'd be interesting to know if the production team recognized the script as weak while making it. There are some things that are pretty good, the music and effects for example. But the story seems built to fail. Whatever the episode is trying to say, perhaps some message about the difficulty in communicating past the projection of one’s own expectations, the it fails to make itself understood in my opinion.

I think the problem with you theory, Peter, is that the entity was constantly trying to escape from the moment he was picked up by the Enterprise. If he was trying to coexist with the crew you might be on to something. Maybe. Hell, I don't know.


Near the end, the alien makes it sound like Picard wanted to be part of the cloud. This might have been an interesting story if it had been about a lonely crew member who found their destiny via a chance encounter with the Cloud Being. But that isn't what we got. Was Picard kidnapped? Did he get cold feet? Who knows? He has amnesia.


The being also says that it tried to communicate with the crew but that they couldn't understand. Which is obviously not true. It communicated perfectly well while inhabiting Picard's body.



And I have no idea how this ties into the Parliament plot. There's no theme of loneliness or communication or anything really. It's just a bunch of scenes about devouring each other while the crew pompously scolds them.

The ending is another wtf moment:

TASHA: Captain!
PICARD: Yes, Lieutenant.
TASHA: Sorry, Commander, but Security Team Two reports they've discovered a puddle of blood outside the Selay Quarters and they can't find one of the delegates and so
RIKER: Lieutenant. This couldn't have waited a moment?
TASHA: It's good to see you, sir. The problem is that one of the cooks has just been asked to broil reptile for the Anticans, and it looks like the Selay delegate.
PICARD: Riker, with the peace delegates and all, I think I do need a rest. Take charge, Number One.

^
An ambassador was just KILLED and EATEN and the show ends like one of the freeze frame gags that they used to end every episode of Police Squad.

There are a few episodes where it feels like they just had two separate plots that were too short to fill the runtime, but they didn't have anything else, so they just stuck them together.

Is it possible that the Cloud Being plot was running short so DC Fontana cribbed a bit of the murder mystery plot from Journey to Babel to fill time?

It almost feels like Tasha Yar and Riker are participating in a scene that was sort of glued on top to the ending. Tasha bursts in and yells “captain” as though she’d forgotten that Picard was basically dead until two seconds before, and Riker is all kinds of confusing, admonishing Yar for her insensitivity to the captain I guess. But, no Riker, I don’t think this CAN wait a moment.

@ Black Oat,

"I think the problem with you theory, Peter, is that the entity was constantly trying to escape from the moment he was picked up by the Enterprise. If he was trying to coexist with the crew you might be on to something. Maybe. Hell, I don't know."

Right, but it was still sort of coexisting with them in their bodies; they shared the space of that body in some way.

Hey man, I'm not really standing up for the episode, just offering an explanation of how the A and B plots may be seen as being connected in some oblique way.

Understood. 👍

Sometimes it's more fun to try to "fix" a bad episode as it is to re-watch a good one.

I'm still thinking about this stupid episode.

Just for fun, here's my "fix":

Instead of the Energy Being taking Picard back to the cloud, have Picard offer to let the Energy Being stay onboard the ship, inside the computer system. This keeps the themes of exploration and loneliness and you don't have to do the self defeating scenes where Picard is beamed out and then comes right back again. This is, of course, similar to the solution of the "Pup" problem from DS9's "The Forsaken."

You could tie in the B plots with the ambassadors by showing them as two races who only want to join the Federation for economic reasons or view it as joining a military alliance. In contrast, the Energy Being values mutual understanding and the spirit of exploration.


As an added bonus, seven years later, you could reference this episode in "Emergence."