Wanderlust

3.4 — “Who Watches the Watchers”

3.4 — “Who Watches the Watchers”

Plot: A group of Starfleet anthropologists watches a society of “Bronze Age proto-Vulcans,” a.k.a. the Mintakans, through a holographic blind. Generator failure brings the Enterprise rushing to the rescue, but not before one of the anthropologists is captured wandering into a Mintakan encampment and the research station is espied by two roving MIntakans, one of whom, Liko, is taken aboard the Enterprise by Dr. Crusher after suffering injuries in a fall. Dr. Pulaski’s memory wipe technology from last season is called upon, but the technique has unfortunately been lost with Dr. Pulaski, so when Liko returns to the village, he remembers everything. Wouldn’t you know, the Mintakans are soon worshipping “the Picard” as their God. Well and good, but there is still a Federation scientist to rescue, so Riker and Troi disguise themselves as villagers. What do you do when you’re in a hole with the Prime Directive? Keep digging.

Thoughts: Season Three continues and I still feel like I’m watching a totally different show. It’s amazing how much goodwill TNG earns for doing simple things right, like ending the teaser on a strong dramatic beat, after failing this television 101 task consistently for 48 episodes. sunny jim’s comment was “they’re finally at the level of Magnum P.I.!” It’s funny because it’s true.

I am especially fond of Prime Directive episodes. I give this episode credit for initially taking the premise seriously. Picard questions why Crusher does not leave Liko to die of his injuries. Could that be the best course? I think it would be hard to be trained as a doctor and ignore a patient in need of medical attention. There has to be a limit, however. Crusher could presumably extend the lifespans of all the villagers considerably by establishing a permanent clinic, but it’s not immoral for her to floosh off in the ship instead. Right? Yet instinct rebels against abandoning Liko in this situation.

It’s plausible, nevertheless, that Crusher’s intervention does more harm than good. Where I have trouble with “Who Watches the Watchers” is its optimism that her meddling can be fixed. Let Picard just reason with these hut dwellers, and he will show them that he is not magic and all-powerful. News flash, Dude: you are magic and all-powerful. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. “If only I show her my starship, she will comprehend my limitations.” Nuh-uh. Does not wash. 

Then comes the thematically incongruous religious overtones. I will show you my body, to prove that I am flesh, not God. You know who else was made flesh? Jesus. Look how much trouble He caused.

Jesus was also unable to raise the dead, but had miraculous healing powers over the living, like those employed to save Liko. Picard even wins the Mintakans over by dying for their sins, before his “resurrection” during the commercial break by Dr. Crusher. Guys, I don’t mind some good Christ imagery when it’s employed well, but this is ain’t it. Picard’s whole point is that religion is a bundle of dangerous superstition, right?

All these hijinks necessarily place the Mintakans on a different course. Is it a better one? You might think so, based on all the scenes of the villagers sitting around saying “Gosh, thanks for teaching us everything we need to know, Mr. Chips!” In the end, two wrongs make a right. I have to call bullshit. To think Picard can talk the Mintakans out of having their minds blown is silly. Knowledge is power, and the Mintakans will surely be using their new knowledge to oppress each other (or other planetary tribes) lickety split.

“Who Watches the Watchers” is a fun episode, however, with variety and twists and turns. It clears the low bar set by previous seasons in that I don’t get the sense that it was produced by people who hate women. The producers even allow Troi to cover herself up, and not dress in a loincloth or something.

We learn that Riker is expert with knots. And that in 1989 it was still okay to be openly derisive of religion on American television.

I grade the episode down a point for being too Mickey Mouse about its conclusions, then back up again for featuring the Prime Directive in a way that doesn’t make me feel like the producers don’t understand (or care) what it means. 3 of 5 faulty hologram generators.

http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Who_Watches_The_Watchers_(episode)

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6 responses to “3.4 — “Who Watches the Watchers””

  1. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    Hahahaha!  It’s funny, Kev, I had exactly the opposite prediction that you did regarding the villagers’ ability to adapt to new information.  Could it be a reflection of our respective professions?

    How awesome.  A prime directive episode that makes sense and in which Starfleet personnel don’t act obnoxiously condescending toward other cultures for a change.  They actually have faith in people’s ability to take in information if it is properly explained to them.  I think most intelligent people can do this regardless of the level of technology that they may be born with.

    In other news, do you think that’s the first person to die “on the table” in the Star Trek universe?  Usually they are either dead on contact or ultimately can be saved, from what I recall.

    Anyway, I am giving this episode 7 stars out of 5, or 4, or whatever we are doing.  Not because it is spectacularly entertaining (although I did find it gripping), but because people actually try to follow the spirit of the Prime Directive rather than the letter of it.  Finally.  FINALLY.

    (My one quibble is I don’t really follow the logic of aiming an arrow at G-d to prove he is G-d, particularly if you are trying to get a favor from him, but whatevs.  The guy had had high hopes for his wife so he was acting a little crazy I guess.  Oh, and also, the Vulcans were not particularly rational in their younger years as a civilization, so not sure how being related to them makes these guys prone to logic, but again, whatevs.)

    PS – Maybe this is an attempt at Christian imagery, obviously completely lost on me, ha!   That would explain why I didn’t follow the logic at ALL.

    Reply
  2. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    There seemed to be a little wishful thinking going on to me….

    Reply
  3. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    This is from Torie Atkinson’s review (http://www.theviewscreen.com/who-watches-the-watchers/):

    So The Picard has a new idea: he’s going to convince the leader, a woman named Nuria, that he’s not a god. His plan looks a little like this:

    Step 1: Beam her to his spaceship.

    Step 2: ????

    Step 3: Understanding!

    Reply
  4. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    While I had a few problems with the episode logic, I love that this is an episode filled with interesting things to think about, and even argue over. I haven’t had that feeling very often since TOS! C’mon lurkers, we need other people to weigh in here.

    Reply
  5. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    I dunno, I kind of think people are pretty open to changing their minds about things when:

    1) they don’t have to give up anything super-important to them to do so (and remember, this society was not invested in the existence of magic at baseline; they had grown past that and only had a few hours to start getting interested in the idea again)

    2) the explanation offers them a more advantageous situation (would you rather be subject to the whims of a god or look forward to one day your people

    being like gods themselves?)

    3) the explanation makes some sense

    In a way, you could say my job is to offer people a chance to change their belief system (in my case, about their emotions), and I find that if these 3 criteria are met then people are usually open to change.  Of course, my sample is a skewed one.

    Reply
  6. R. Alex Reutter Avatar
    R. Alex Reutter

    This is great!  We have alien abduction + Prime Directive (Crusher gets to clash with Picard in defense of her patients!) + primitive mythologies (Picard, when someone asks you to masquerade as a god, you say YES!) + crewmembers going undercover among the natives (Troi gets to be useful!) all rolled into one.  Who knew STNG was capable of this?  Heck, I can’t remember a TOS episode that handled the Prime Directive nearly this well.  It’s certainly light years more mature than “A Piece of the Action”.

    Minor nitpick: After she dies, you can see Warren’s hand moving in the lower right corner with the rise and fall of her chest as she breathes.  Hee.

    Could they have come up with a better way for Picard to try to convince the Mintakans that he’s not a god?  Yeah, possibly.  But he’s under time pressure, and he’s trying to not let Troi die after serious damage has already been done to the Mintakan culture, and the attempt isn’t totally ludicrous or unreasonable.

    Reply

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