“Unnatural Selection” (2×07)
To read more from this series, select a season:
This one was clearly designed to better define Pulaski and her relationship with Picard.
While this episode was made before the writers decided that the Federation had banned genetic enhancement, it provides plenty of further arguments for why such a ban exists.
A troubling and confounding encounter with the USS Lantree leads the Enterprise to the Darwin Genetic Research Station on Gargarin IV, where scientists have basically engineered the Children of the Damned. They are physically superior to normal humans in every way and communicate telepathically rather than through speech.
In this case, the problem is not megalomania like the Augments but rather an overaggressive immune system that makes them a danger to the rest of humanity.
The technobabble is even shakier than usual here; correcting the genetic alterations cause by the antibodies would presumably halt the rapid aging but shouldn’t reverse it. I did appreciate Picard personally executing the risky and experimental procedure. If it had failed, he wanted it on his own conscience rather than O’Brien’s.
Overall, this was a solidly executed the episode that told an interesting story in a focused way.
About The Author
