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Danny

Why I didn't like The Inner Light

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I know many of you like the Inner Light but I find this episode messes things up for me. We have Picard who lives another life for about 40 years and is returned to his regular life afterwards. I realize Picard is a very competent and extraordinary character but I think an experience like this would destory anyone's life. I looked at the episode listings to find out which episode was next and it's Time Arrow. I was hoping there would have been an episode like Family where Picard has time to reflect on his ordeal with the Borg. To me, the ordeal from The Inner Light is much more traumatic then being a Borg. I can't believe he would be the same person after that.

 

Just my $0.02

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Yeah I hear you. This is the drawback of episodic TV instead of serials, so many precious, potentially great little story arc’s get swept under the rug and forgotten. Unless an author pens a tale expanding on the idea or you can find a fan-fic written by another fan that shared your passion for the thread cut short, all you have is your imagination. Canon or not, it is in the novels that it all comes together because novels specialize in picking up these forgotten threads and weave the Saga into a tighter mesh, for me at least.

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Uh..wasn't there an ep where someone comes across his flute (?) and Picard totaly swipes it away...my memory is bad tonight.

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I have to agree with Danny on this one, I mean don't get my wrong the story line was really good, but what were they lost for new ideas?

 

 

 

Danny I love the Avatar nice own on Jdigs!! :bow:

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This is something I have always noted. I watched this episode on tuesday as I found it lying around on video. I think you just have to suspend your disbelief in oreder to enjoy what is otherwise a very touching storyline. Another flaw pointed out was the fact that this society that didnt even have a decent telephone system could manufacture a probe that could scan an alien's brain and transmit 40 years of memory in a second! But anyway. The episode was very touching and I loved the ending. Maybe the memories faded into a little ball in the back of Picard's brain, afterwards - a sort of time concentrate or something so that the 40 years of experience actually took up little in his brain afterwards and became a memory only. Like a dream.

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Have you ever left your home for a long pirios of time and then returned only to find it exactly like you left it? Though I've never left "my life" for 40+ years I have managed to escape it for months at a time.

 

Example: Last summer I was on the road for two and half months as a driver/rhodie for my friends band. After about a month of touring the idea of doing anything else seemed about as forign to me as living in a small hut in India. The band I was with became my family, the other bands on the tour became my friends, the RV became my home, and driving for 8-12 hours a night became my job. I can remember at one point trying to remember what it was like to get food anywhere except in the food line every day. The thought of showering in non-public places seemed strange as well. After 2 months of living on the Warped Tour I returned home. It took me less then 30 minutes to remember what everything was like. I was around my old friends again, my real family, back at my old job, and living at my old home. Almost imedetlly life on the road seemed more like a dream then anything else. It was all of the sudden very distent to me.

 

All though much more extreem I can imagine Picards experience being much like this one. The human brain has roughly nine billion brian cells in it so it's not un-belieable that it can and does store everything that a person experiences during their life. Just because a person can't recall something doesn't mean that the information is lost. A simple sight or smell can bring it back up to the surfice in a milla second. So as soon as Picard woke up on the bridge of the Enterprise the alternate life that he experienced would instantly seem more like a dream then anything else. A very odd dream mind you...

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Interesting point, Tank. A year ago, I returned to the U.S.A. after spending several years

in Japan. It was like getting culture shock coming home. Many things were the same, and many were different, including myself, having adapted to Japanese culture and language.

 

I've also found it somewhat concerning that Picard has been through some pretty traumatic events, such as what happened in "The Inner Light," his Borg assimilation, and his capture by the Cardassians. I guess he's just a pretty strong person.

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Interesting point, Tank.  A year ago, I returned to the U.S.A. after spending several years

in Japan.  It was like getting culture shock coming home.  Many things were the same, and many were different, including myself, having adapted to Japanese culture and language.

 

I've also found it somewhat concerning that Picard has been through some pretty traumatic events, such as what happened in "The Inner Light," his Borg assimilation, and his capture by the Cardassians.  I guess he's just a pretty strong person.

Just wondering.. After the imedate culture shock, how long did it take you to adjust to being home?

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Just wondering.. After the imedate culture shock, how long did it take you to adjust to being home?

Not too long. It was the changes that wree most interesting - friends that moved away, new products on the market, slang and colloquialisms, etc. The biggest effect came from habits

acquired in Japan. For example, upon returning, people found it strange that I bowed to them, eating habits, removing shoes in buildings, etc. It wasn't a problem to fit in, but the

changes while I was gone, and the habits picked up (many of which I still do without

thinking) made for some interesting situations. I've been back a year, and still do some

"Japanese" things that are unusual in America. Does that answer your question?

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Just wondering.. After the imedate culture shock, how long did it take you to adjust to being home?

Not too long. It was the changes that wree most interesting - friends that moved away, new products on the market, slang and colloquialisms, etc. The biggest effect came from habits

acquired in Japan. For example, upon returning, people found it strange that I bowed to them, eating habits, removing shoes in buildings, etc. It wasn't a problem to fit in, but the

changes while I was gone, and the habits picked up (many of which I still do without

thinking) made for some interesting situations. I've been back a year, and still do some

"Japanese" things that are unusual in America. Does that answer your question?

Now just think how much different it would be if you had come back to America to the exact moment that you had left. Non of your friends would have moved, no one would have aged, you would be a year younger, ect... The more things that change while your gone the longer it will take to adjust. And since for Picard nothing had changed in his absence the adjustment period would be almost instant. At least IMO.

 

On an off note: I really want to go to Japan!

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Guest Ktrek

OK, I think this episode is being viewed all wrong. TNG never did depend on story arcs like DS9. Each show was a story unto itself. Yes, over time certain elements from previous shows entered the stories, like the flute, BUT that was not how TNG was written or meant to be. The Inner Light IMHO is one of the very best episodes ever written. It has nothing to do with follow up but with a self-contained story that said all it really needed to say in one episode. Sorry you don't see it that way! TNG was not DS9 and was never meant to be. If you want storylines that continue over one episode look to DS9 to fulfill that need not TNG.

 

Ktrek

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Well I do agree with the fact that there probably should have been follow ups to that episode and that these “follow ups” would of conveyed the displacement Picard is set in. It would of course be very emotional and at first would be hard to get use to his old environment. They probably should have gone back to the core of that episode.

 

However, I think the episode it self is great. Stewart plays wonderfully! His acting abilities really should on that episode. It has a great premise and it was executed very well. I do concur with your fact about any real follow ups on that episode which would (or should) show Picard’s transition, but if I just look at everything in general it does not bother me that much. Knowing the character of Picard and how he has dealt with the incident with the Borg (and several other events) he would not portray his feelings and would really keep them with himself. Also, knowing the character of Picard he might have studied up a bit on his transaction. (Of course that’s really up in the air)

 

 

Master Q

StarTrek_Master_Q@yahoo.com

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There were several "follow-ups" to the "aftermath" of this experience for Picard. Most notably in "Lessons" where Picard explains to Nella Darren that his music is something very private and personal to him. We get a glimps of what that experience meant to him.

 

I don't think a follow-up episode would have done any more to add to the story of his experience with the probe, it was more or less a positive thing for Picard and I think was viewed as a "gift" from the past by the time the episode ends.

 

I do think that story arcs work much better in DS9's setting and I would have liked to see more of that with TNG but being on a Starship that is always moving across the quadrant they really needed to go from one story to the next.

 

Speaking of Story Arcs I wish they would arc some movies like TOS did with ST II, III and IV. If they are willing to make more TNG movies then I see Data's death as a good starting point for some movie arcs.

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yes, an arc for the tng cast over another movie or two would be good, but i dont think another tng movie will EVER happen, but i've been wrong before, and will be again.

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I see your point and have thought about it myself many times but it still doesn't change my opinion that it was an extremely original and thought-provoking episode because it gave Picard everything he couldn't have as a star fleet captain.

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Another thing to consider is that the timing between episodes is around 2 weeks in time (26 episodes = 1 year). So we can assume that Picard went through his "sole searching" during those 2 weeks. We could also assume that something was programed into the probe that would allow the person that it encountered to recover from the experience very quickly.

 

The one show that did something similar but didn't deal with the "aftermath" very well was DS9's "Hard Time".

 

Click For Spoiler

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I actually quite liked The Inner Light. It seems to me that what you guys are saying is that the placement of its airdate is what bothers you, just following the experience with the Borg. To me, that's a pathetic reason to hate a single episode.

 

As far as the critique of the planet, my thought was simply that they figured they had to start skimping on resources, using them conservatively, and scaled back somewhat in technology to focus more on making sure their planet could survive. That was the impression I got.

 

Let's not forget, we've got our own version of that probe in interstellar space right now: Voyager 2, I believe it is. Not as sophisticated, but it's even got Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" in it as an example of our culture.

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Just wondering.. After the imedate culture shock, how long did it take you to adjust to being home?

Not too long. It was the changes that wree most interesting - friends that moved away, new products on the market, slang and colloquialisms, etc. The biggest effect came from habits

acquired in Japan. For example, upon returning, people found it strange that I bowed to them, eating habits, removing shoes in buildings, etc. It wasn't a problem to fit in, but the

changes while I was gone, and the habits picked up (many of which I still do without

thinking) made for some interesting situations. I've been back a year, and still do some

"Japanese" things that are unusual in America. Does that answer your question?

I had the same experence when I return to American after living in Japan for 3 years. I still take off my shoes when I enter my home and tell other people to do the same. It feels very natural after doing it for 3 years. I now can out eat anyone with chop sticks, and I can pick-up a grain of rice. Speak of rice I miss the rice I got from Japan. Its so much better there than what I have gotten it the states.

 

As far as Picard, when he was living a different life he still had memories about living on the Enterprise. Of course there would be adjustments, but for the most part nothing had changed on the Enterprise. For me when I returned to States after 3 years I had lots of adjustments to take in.

Edited by Odie

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I really enjoyed this episode, actually. I totally disagree with most of you. It's the best one ever made.

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I agree that this is one of the best Star Trek TNG episodes, and I do not have any difficulty with Picard returning to his usual routine after it, with perhaps some very private help from Troi.

 

Two things mentioned above are explanation enough as to why Picard did not appear to have an adjustment from the experience.

 

As Troi said to a surprised Vash when none of them had heard of her: Captain Picard is a very private person. He very rarely lets his private feelings out for public viewing. That is what made the last episode of TNG so compelling.

 

Secondly, it could have been like emerging from a dream state. I have very complex dreams at times that appear to range over years, even decades, of my life. Sometimes my dreams even raise my blood presure, being so intense. Picard could have placed his experience in such a context.

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