“The Inner Light” (5×25)
To read more from this series, select a season:
This episode is an undeniably strong science fiction story that also really highlights the limitations of strictly episodic storytelling.
It’s another example of a civilization that evolved technologically on a very different path from most of the Federation member species; in terms of space travel, they were somewhere between Sputnik and the Saturn V. But in certain neurological technologies they were far more advanced than the Federation.
There is a real elegance and grace to the idea that Catan’s civilization, facing imminent destruction, decides that its culture is the thing it will ensure survives when everything else is dead or destroyed. And the culture as a living breathing thing rather than a collection of dusty artifacts, separated by the centuries from their original context. In some ways it feels like a Holocaust story, only the genocidal force is nature instead of human cruelty. And it’s an especially poignant story to tell with Picard, the journey offers him all of the things he gave up to pursue his career.
The problem with taking such a bold swing, though. is that it makes it very difficult to accept simply returning to the old status quo the following week. When the probe’s download finishes, only 25 minutes have gone by on the Enterprise, but Picard has experienced decades since he served in Starfleet. He married a woman, raised children, played with grandchildren. And once the download ends, all of those things are all suddenly, traumatically gone.
The people he has spent the last quarter-century with have entrusted him to preserve and share their culture. All of that would, by all rights, have irrevocably changed him. But even if he wanted to forsake his obligations to his friends and neighbors and return to being a starship captain, he hadn’t sat in the center chair for decades. He would have been extremely rusty, would have needed to be refamiliarized with his ship, its protocols, and his duties.
About The Author
