The Dauphin

DVD, TNG S2 (The Dauphin)

One of the few I still hadn't seen, this was the first time I watched it, and I was impressed. Often when you see an old episode, because you don't have any connection to it, it won't be as enjoyable, but this must have been good because I found it humourous, sad, beautiful and a nicely put together show for several characters. The spotlight's on Wesley for a change, with the age-old boy meets girl thing. Wes isn't the obvious choice for such a tale, being boy scout-like, polite and generally all-round good, but he meets someone who has a similar level of intelligence and interest and it's a pleasure to see the guy hit it off with someone.

He also gets something of a raw deal, with Geordi getting impatient at his lack of concentration, Riker and Guinan forgetting about his lesson in speaking to the opposite sex because they're enjoying the exchange so much, then Picard angrily barking at him to stay away from Salia, and Anya, her governess, turns into a massive beast to frighten him. Yet in all these travails you know it will be the old broken heart that'll upset him! It's interesting to see another side to him, one that isn't focused on work and career, and some of the funnier scenes are his attempt to gain understanding from several of the crew, with their varied suggestions on approaching Salia. In the end it's Guinan, as usual, who gets the best scenes, and caps the episode with some useful advice that never patronises.

So far they've used her really well. Sparingly, to be sure, but with drips of wisdom and the ability to say things in unexpected ways, she really has been a standout of the season. O'Brien appears again, though he's not pivotal in any way, but it's always nice to have him there. Worf is the other character to get the best stuff - his feud with Anya, including a dramatic sickbay battle (short though it were), culminates in the burly Klingon professing it would be honourable to fight alongside this tiny old woman, which certainly makes for an unusual moment. Her standard form looked decidedly fish-like, with bulging eyes, defined and grimacing teeth, and the green fin-like garb around her head reinforcing an image of a Pike. She was as entertaining a character as Salia, and her mission to protect the girl makes her seem almost legendary, and widens the canvas - clearly other events are occurring in the galaxy around our heroes, even when they don't know about it.

According to Wesley they've charted about 17% of the galaxy, so there must be a lot more out there (not sure where he gets the figure from, since the universe is expanding, so surely the galaxy is too, and how can you measure part of something you don't know the full extent of anyway?). The shapeshifting (or maybe Allasomorphing in this case), predates the better known Odo by a few years, but don't forget changing shape was something first encountered in the Original Series. A little surprise is how Picard uses the main viewscreen to communicate with Salia's quarters, as I don't think that's ever been done before, unless Kirk did it in his quarters, but I can't remember...

The episode name's a bit of a mystery. It can't be Salia's title since she said we didn't have a word for it. Apparently it's from the French king's son, originally from the word 'dolphin', but I guess 'The Allasomorph' doesn't work that well either.

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