3.11 — “The Hunted”
Plot: The Enterprise is completing a visit to Angosia III, whose residents seem prime candidates for joining the Federation. On departure, the Prime Minister informs Picard that a prisoner has escaped from their penal colony on Lunar Five and asks for assistance in capturing him. The escapee, Roga Danar, turns out to be a highly clever, engineered supersoldier who helped Angosia win its recent interplanetary war. Deeply affected by their wartime experiences, Roga and his comrades were not welcomed home, but were exiled into permanent isolation. Roga’s skills and volatile temperament now make him highly dangerous.
Thoughts: Star Trek returns to its roots this week, by which I mean it confronts the issue of the war in Vietnam, as it did so often in TOS, in episodes like “Friday’s Child” and “A Private Little War.” This time the metaphorical focus is on the plight of soldiers returning from combat with psychological distress and PTSD. Heavy subject.
On top of this, we have a well-executed action show. Yes, Roga feels a bit overpowered–I really don’t know how he breaks out of the transporter beam (note to self, the transporter is terrifying)–but I was engrossed.
This is the first appearance of the brig in TNG. I’m happy to see them adopt a design which hearkens all the way back to TOS 1.3, “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” (and to a lesser extent “The Cage”). The presence of the brig does raise the question of how criminal justice is handled aboard the Enterprise, although I know they’re supposed to be over all those difficulties.
The final confrontation, in which Picard sternly tells the Angosians to work out their troubles by themselves, is something I think the episode earns. What an earnest show this is, coming forth during the second half of the Reagan administration (this particular episode aired 1/08/90, during George H.W. Bush’s presidency and eight months before the invasion of Kuwait). The idealism, it almost hurts.
James Cromwell, who plays Prime Minister Nayrok, would of course go on to become a famous movie actor, and played three more characters in Star Trek, including Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact (1996).
Torie and Eugene at TheViewscreen disliked this one (http://www.theviewscreen.com/the-hunted/). I liked it a whole bunch. Watching these episodes is almost disorienting. I’ve been familiar with TNG for 28 years, but my direct experience with the show was based almost entirely on Season One and the feature films. This TNG is like a show I’ve never seen before, and that is exciting. The emphasis seems more on action adventure instead of highbrow concepts like TOS, but that’s okay. The show now has my full attention. Coming to think of it, the return of wounded warriors is a rich and ambitious concept to explore, if a bit simplistically.
4 out of 5 phasers set on overload.
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