Star Trek: The Next Generation
"Tin Man"
Air date: 4/23/1990
Written by Dennis Putman Bailey & David Bischoff
Directed by Robert Scheerer
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
Starfleet has observed a mysterious space object — believed to be a "living starship" and dubbed "Tin Man" — orbiting a star that's about to go nova, and sends the Enterprise to investigate and make contact with it. But the mission is a race: The Enterprise must reach and contact Tin Man before the Romulans do. Starfleet assigns a mission specialist to the Enterprise, Tam Elbrun (Harry Groener), a man with extraordinary telepathic skills, even for a Betazoid.
"Tin Man" exemplifies the balanced TNG episode. It's good, not great. It puts emphasis, in nearly equal measure, on its central character crisis (Tam's), the seeking out of Strange New Life (Tin Man), and a showdown with a familiar foe (the Romulans). Tam is an intriguing, flawed individual with unique problems — a loner who tries to push everybody away, and is borderline unstable. Troi knows him from the past (he was a patient) and his psychological torment is understandable; he hears every thought of every person on the ship, constantly. Put yourself in his shoes and you'd probably be hard-pressed to consider sanity as a likely outcome. Tam is in contact with Tin Man, which has even more powerful abilities for telepathy. Tin Man is in the TNG spirit of ancient, wondrous, and powerful forms of previously unknown life. Starfleet is curious of such things.
On the other hand, the Romulans would dissect Tin Man given the chance. After the terrific "Defector," in which the Romulans were both smart and ruthless, it's kind of a shame to see the Romulans reduced to such bland thuggery. I guess someone's gotta do it. When Tin Man destroys a Romulan ship while protecting itself, a second ship announces its right to claim vengeance on Tin Man. I don't understand what makes them think they could possibly be successful, but given that intention, I couldn't figure out why the Romulans then just sit there while Tam and Data beam over to make direct contact with Tin Man. Why don't the Romulans attempt to board Tin Man?
The episode's solutions are tidy in the sense that the story has a certain number of pieces (two, really) and they are destined to fit together. Tin Man once had a crew, but the crew died. It has since roamed the galaxy alone and now wants to die, hence it being parked in orbit of a star about to explode. Tam and Tin Man provide each other a symbiosis that was meant to be. Tin Man will no longer be alone, and Tam will have just one voice to contend with rather than hundreds. The episode is the first to be scored by Jay Chattaway, who in season four would eventually replace Ron Jones and go on to write music for Trek for the next 15 years.
Previous episode: Captain's Holiday
Next episode: Hollow Pursuits
54 comments on this review
Thu, May 3, 2012, 3:27pm (UTC -5)
Sun, Oct 7, 2012, 2:42pm (UTC -5)
Mon, Jul 22, 2013, 6:20pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 8:40am (UTC -5)
Tue, Feb 4, 2014, 7:01pm (UTC -5)
At first I thought it was ok. The guest star left a good first impression (an annoying one, but that was the intent), and a lot of the scenes with Riker and LaForge worked pretty well. And the scene with the Hood's captain was nice, giving us a little bit more of what Starfleet is like (showing us a bit of what the non-top of the line ships do). But after thinking about it more, certain events just bugged me too much. It was set up well, but just ended up a letdown.
- The Romulans were portrayed as random brute thugs. I didn't understand why they were so obsessed and why they acted that way. After their brilliant use early on in the season, they just seemed to be generic villains here. I know these words are almost impossible to utter for many, but frankly... this episode would have been better with Ferengi.
- Picard's intransigence didn't make much sense. His orders were to cooperate with Tam; why was he so dead-set on keeping him from beaming over? Yes, I understand the danger to the Enterprise when Tam asked Gomtuu to protect itself. But that was an oversight on Tam's part, not malice or uncaring. Keeping a connection with Gomtuu via Tam would have better protected the Enterprise, as Tam could have requested Gomtuu to be more careful. It makes sense to get Troi's and Data's advice first, but I don't see why he still refused.
- And as Jammer said, once he did decide to let them beam over, why would the Romulans let him?
- Meanwhile, why was Tin Man such a big deal anyway? OK, yeah, he's interesting to a bunch of explorers. But a top secret ultra-high priority? Absolutely must beat out the Romulans to it? Why? Heck, it's not even the first living starship the Federation encountered (no matter how much we might want to forget Encounter at Farpoint).
In fact, this episode reminds me a lot of a season 1 episode. An interesting premise falling flat. Poor Picard utilization. Generic villains. Telling us stuff is important when we don't feel it. The best I can say is that Season 3 has far more polish than the 1st, which probably is enough to give this an extra star or so. Still, a very "meh" episode to me.
Fri, Feb 28, 2014, 7:24pm (UTC -5)
Sun, Apr 6, 2014, 1:04pm (UTC -5)
I thought the episode has good intentions and a ok execution, but ultimately didn't resonate with me.
The thing is (and this is a personal take) at this point in the series I'm more interested in the problems and general progress of the main cast, instead of random dudes that come and go so easily.
Wed, May 28, 2014, 5:06am (UTC -5)
Tue, Aug 19, 2014, 5:29am (UTC -5)
The look of the alien, both inside and out, is uninspired and silly after all the build up.
Tam is also tedious; I felt no empathy for him whatsoever. I don't know if that is the fault of the actor or the writing, but I just didn't much care what happened to him or the alien.
Sat, Nov 8, 2014, 3:34am (UTC -5)
Mon, Nov 24, 2014, 8:48pm (UTC -5)
All in all, plain fare, but nothing offensive.
Wed, Jan 21, 2015, 10:16pm (UTC -5)
Tue, Jun 2, 2015, 2:04am (UTC -5)
This follows show, don't tell, unlike the floppy Borg 2-parter. Picard has lost his humanity? He's just written like he's possessed.
Meanwhile Tam has problems they only hint at, and provide an allegory for with the creature. I've seen this episode many times.
Tue, Jun 9, 2015, 7:47pm (UTC -5)
I also don't understand why Starfleet, and the Enterprise crew especially, is so thunderstruck and awed by the thought of a space-dwelling life-form. Haven't we already seen at least one such creature in this show already? The Crystalline Entity, anybody?
Add to that, the fact that the Romulans are so woefully misused here and you have some serious flaws in an otherwise average episode. Seriously, why are the Romulans suddenly presented as little more than brutal thugs? This isn't exactly a chess game, like it usually is with the Romulans. It would have made more sense if it had been Klingons, or at least rogue Klingons, who were the antagonists. That would have at least added an interesting ripple to the story in that they would have to face the possibility of conflict with their own allies instead of someone who we already know is the enemy.
4/10
Sat, Sep 5, 2015, 1:31pm (UTC -5)
On the other hand we have some pretty terrible Troi season one style acting from the guest cast ("The pain..." "So alone..."), and the Romulans seem somewhat bolted on as a rather unnecessary threat. 2 stars.
Sat, Sep 12, 2015, 4:20pm (UTC -5)
0 stars.
Tue, Oct 27, 2015, 6:31pm (UTC -5)
Thu, Nov 19, 2015, 9:18pm (UTC -5)
Also the music cues for Gomtuu are haunting and almost tribal, a definite departure in sound.
Wed, Jan 13, 2016, 5:29am (UTC -5)
Wed, Jan 13, 2016, 10:17am (UTC -5)
Didn't care for this much?
I think this episode gets a little too much praise both from the fans and the showrunners. I expected so much more out of Tin Man from the way this show builds him up. Then we get stuck with another eyeball-to-eyeball Romulan episode.
Maybe if Tam came off more likable, this episode would work. Because as much as I liked Tin Man himself, there was a part of me that didn't want Tam to get his way in all this.
Oh well, I at least agree this episode has less idiot plotting than "Samaritan Snare".
2 stars.
Tue, Feb 16, 2016, 7:27am (UTC -5)
I also really enjoyed some of the one-off special effects that are unique to the episode (Tim Man blowing up the Romulan warbird with that hyperspace wave thing was awesome) and this was back when the music was still allowed to be cool.
This episode definitely falls into my top 5 for STNG.
Fri, Feb 19, 2016, 4:37am (UTC -5)
Sun, Oct 2, 2016, 6:48am (UTC -5)
Tue, Nov 15, 2016, 5:59am (UTC -5)
Mon, Dec 12, 2016, 3:33pm (UTC -5)
Fri, Jan 13, 2017, 1:45pm (UTC -5)
Why did the Romulans let them beam aboard? How would they stop them? Was Dikembe Mutombo the Romulan transporter chief?
Why didn't the Romulans try and board Tin Man? For the same reason the Enterprise immediately lost transporter lock as soon as Data and Tam beamed aboard. Tin Man raised its shields.
Why was Picard EXTREMELY reluctant to let Tam beam over to Tin Man? 1) He's been warned repeatedly by counselor Troi, someone he trusts implicitly, that Tam's mental stability is questionable, some of which he has observed himself. 2) Tam apparently received much of the blame for what occurred in the Ghorusda Disaster, a first contact encounter of which Tin Man is yet another. 3) Showing increasingly erratic behavior, anxiety, and then outright panic, Tam warns Tin Man without any thought for the safety of the crew. Tin Man instantaneously responds by effortlessly destroying a Romulan cruiser and collaterally causing as much damage to the Enterprise as the earlier Romulan attack.
Although to a lesser degree, people seem not to like Tam for similar reasons why they don't like Captain Jellico. He's an unpleasant individual. But much like Captain Jellico, he's just trying to do his job.
The interaction between Data and Tam was excellent in this. This episode is far from perfect, but 3 stars is well deserved.
Sat, Mar 25, 2017, 7:23pm (UTC -5)
Fri, May 5, 2017, 4:13pm (UTC -5)
Wed, May 17, 2017, 11:15am (UTC -5)
Tue, Jun 27, 2017, 9:44pm (UTC -5)
I guess a lot of the episode comes down to how one perceives Tam. He is supposed to be an unstable character as he gets bombarded with everybody's thoughts. I thought the actor did a decent job characterizing such a person -- somebody who is uncomfortable around others and who gets along with Data. It's pretty clear once he beams aboard Tin Man that he's in his own paradise and ain't coming back.
So some good things about the episode but there are also enough problems with it. I didn't like the use of the Romulans and I as much as I dislike the Ferengi, as SkepticalMI suggests, they'd be better suited for the role of the villain here. I don't think the Romulans should act so 1-dimensionally toward Tin Man. They've been built up in S3 as more deceptive, cunning.
The other flaw is Tin Man itself - so what can't this thing do? It can destroy starships, it can beam Data some 3 billion kms away, use telepathy to reach out to Tam light years away, and presumably escape from a supernova ... All very convenient for the writers. I also thought how Riker's role was conceived here was poor - comes across as too domineering toward Geordi, insensitive toward Tam (though it's his thoughts).
I can see why this is a bit of a polarizing episode, however I'd have to give it a fairly average rating of 2.5 stars. I enjoyed the sci-fi aspect of it and the union of Tin Man and Tam, but the other aspects of the episode weren't up to snuff.
Fri, Sep 8, 2017, 1:12pm (UTC -5)
It would be interesting to know where the pair went off to. It looks like that was a powerful ship.
Wed, Sep 13, 2017, 5:54pm (UTC -5)
It lacks urgency and has a few slow spots. Didn't have the energy I'm used to from a TNG episode
The Data and Tam stuff is good like their discussion in Data's quarters. I liked the final scene with Data and Troi
I also liked the idea of a betazoid who is highly empathic that it overwhelms them. That would be a struggle and him finding peace of mind with Tin Man was nicely handled
Also Tin Man did an excellent job in fulfilling the new life part of Trek that I enjoy. From his design to the fact he was a living starship all wondrous.
I didn't care for the ill will directed at Tam especially by Riker. It put me off though
Fri, Sep 22, 2017, 10:23pm (UTC -5)
It's been two years since I saw this one, but I've probably watched it 20 times over the decades. There was something about it that really struck a chord with me.
The more I think about it, the more I think it would have been better without the Romulans, but I suppose there had to be some URGENCY to it.
The creature was so, so alone, and finally found someone to whom it could talk to. And Tam was so, so alone because he had to isolate himself since he could not shut out the voices.
Symmetry...
I would have loved to see them again, either just passing through, or helping the Feds with a crisis that needed a badazz ally. When the fat hits the fan in later years, where are all of these allies they've helped? :D
Enjoy the Day Everyone... RT
Fri, Oct 6, 2017, 2:10am (UTC -5)
Learn what?
"That being first at all costs is not always the point!"
Sat, Oct 7, 2017, 3:44am (UTC -5)
Wed, Nov 8, 2017, 2:42pm (UTC -5)
Even Tin Man could have come out of those juvenile TV shows .
Still, there were some good scenes with Data and Troi.
Thu, Dec 7, 2017, 2:26pm (UTC -5)
Mon, Jan 8, 2018, 9:05pm (UTC -5)
Assuming they were using visual sensors, because the magic active sensors were still crapped out, it would take more than twenty seconds to see the supernova occur visually.
Even on Earth, it would take us 8m20s to see our own Sun go supernova, and that's a good deal closer than the Enterprise is to Beta Stromgren at this point.
3,784,292,189 km = 0.0004 lightyear.
0.0004 lightyear = 3.506 light-hours.
---
That's the most I got out of this episode. The second more minor element was that Betazoids for some reason can't handle all the voices from childhood, when they would be best suited to learn to process external stimuli and filter out unwanted noise, but can handle it during adolescence, when the brain has already undergone most of its formation and should find it most difficult to process a new sensory input.
As some anxiety or agoraphobia analogue, it was interesting to bring that up and how it can affect people so negatively.
Otherwise, this was a pretty flimsy episode with a predictable outcome and transparent process. But it didn't have Riker standing with his legs spread out and dangling his balls everywhere like the first series, so that counts for something.
1 out of 4.
Tue, Feb 13, 2018, 2:05pm (UTC -5)
Otherwise, a great little episode. Data examining the human condition from an alien persepctive...Troi being used like a professional...excellent effects. Throw in a Federation mission specialist who isn't evil or has a secret agenda (from the start, at least) and it's two thumbs up.
Wed, Apr 4, 2018, 1:00pm (UTC -5)
1. Why would Tin Man care about Tam’s warning if it wanted to die?
2. At 3.8 billion kilometers it would take nearly 4 hours before the exploding star’s light could be seen by the Enterprise, not four seconds.
Fri, Jun 15, 2018, 5:36pm (UTC -5)
@Peter Swinkels In order to die, Tinman put itself in the path of an exploding star. I don't know hat the Romulans had the firepower to kill it but might have wounded it enough to cause it to suffer. Also, now that Tam was near, maybe gave Tin man hope. Joining with a kindred spirit would alleviate it's loneliness.
Thu, Jul 12, 2018, 9:22pm (UTC -5)
That special "something" was lost around the DS9 era. From my point of view, DS9 was a good series on its own merits and I still enjoy it to this day. But in the broader Trek context, I feel that it traded that "sense of wonder" for more tangible, grounded, down-to-earth situations, and Trek as a whole lost something when that happened. To DS9's credit, it did ask critical questions about Roddenberry's vision that needed to be asked, which I appreciated.
And now we have STD, aka Trek in Name Only - the only Trek series I have utterly no desire to see a single episode of (and I do occasionally rewatch old episodes of VOY and Enterprise). But that's a topic which merits its own post - something along the lines of Jammer's ST Enterprise "Precious Cargo" review.
I wonder if modern Trek will ever capture that "sense of awe" feeling again.
But we will always have TOS and TNG to inspire future generations, no matter what happens.
(And maybe the Orville if McFarlane can cut down on the excessive toilet humor)
Sat, Jul 28, 2018, 12:48pm (UTC -5)
Presumably being engulfed by the nova would be over in a few seconds at most. Being wounded by weapons and then scientifically dissected afterward would be excruciating.
Mon, Aug 6, 2018, 4:19am (UTC -5)
I did enjoy Data's interactions with Tam and the closing scene with Troy though. Brent Spiner is fantastic as always, and for me, salvages an otherwise dull episode.
I'd give it 1.5 stars.
Tue, Jan 22, 2019, 12:49am (UTC -5)
Wed, Jan 23, 2019, 3:03am (UTC -5)
Still a favourite of mine 29 years later.
Fri, Mar 29, 2019, 7:59pm (UTC -5)
Mon, Apr 29, 2019, 7:27am (UTC -5)
Thu, May 30, 2019, 12:10am (UTC -5)
Best part of this episode is when Picard tells Tam, "stand back and learn..."
Learn what?
"That being first at all costs is not always the point!"
Mon, Oct 21, 2019, 2:09am (UTC -5)
Like the other recent eps, we get a lot of talk about purpose - what is life without a purpose, the need to have a purpose. Data, who recently lost Lal, asks Tam if caring for another is what gives life purpose. Tam says yes, he thinks so.
But Tam protects himself by not caring, which is what Picard accuses him of - acting on impulse, not caring who he endangers. But Tam, feeling all those emotions, hearing all those thoughts - he can't afford to care.
Yet he has let himself care about Tin Man. And Tin Man lets itself care again, also, about Tam.
Tin Man. The name brings two things to mind: The Wizard of Oz's Tin Man and his desperate desire for a heart, and Robots/Androids (mechanical men).
Tin Man has no heart because it was broken to pieces; Tam Man effectively has no heart because he's cloaked and shielded it from the onslaught.
Our resident Tin Man, Data, figures out where he belongs: On The Enterprise - where he has connections, relationships, and purpose.
There are multiple references to both space and time, and the need to find your place in them.
Not great, but good.
Fri, Oct 25, 2019, 3:13pm (UTC -5)
Anyhow I think it's a realy good take on how Tam has lots of troubles with the crew even though IMO he seems like a perfectly decent guy provided that you're not thinking insulting things about him. The episode is sort of like Ensign Ro in that we have a 'problem person' who is only really a problem because of how others treat them. That's a really good social message to be promoting, and back in 1990 that was by no means a widely understood thing.
Fri, Dec 6, 2019, 12:11pm (UTC -5)
Fri, Dec 6, 2019, 1:16pm (UTC -5)
Yep, I agree. This is a top episode for me. Maybe not in the "classics" category like some myth-level episodes are (BoBW, Chain of Command, etc) but among regular episode it's top-tier.
Tue, Mar 24, 2020, 4:22pm (UTC -5)
As a big fan of Star Trek soundtracks, this episode has one of the few standout or at least notable musical scores of Trek post-TOS. The flute is beautiful -- also used on VOY for Chakotay's vision quests and also in "Journey's End" for the Indian Wesley talks to. Too bad 99% of Trek soundtracks post-TOS are so bland.
Really liked the scene in Data's quarters where Tam emphasizes that what the android thinks about existence is relevant -- that he's not just circuits etc. The 2 really have certain things in common and that is well explored here -- ultimately, Data finds where he belongs on the Enterprise and Tam is where he belongs on Tin Man.
One gripe is when Data says no natural phenomenon can travel at warp -- 2 examples from TOS immediately come to mind: the cloud creature from "Obsession" and the aliens in "The Lights of Zetar". Also (if I'm not mistaken) the space particles (tachyons?) in DS9's "Explorers" -- but that would be in the future for Data at this point of time, unless tachyons were already discovered.
3 stars for "Tin Man" -- this is pure Trek and pure TNG. The actor playing Tam does a pretty good job, which was rare in early TNG especially. There's a Season 1 feel to it with bold ideas but what is not Season 1 about it is the execution and writing.
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