Who Watches The Watchers

DVD, TNG S3 (Who Watches The Watchers)

I experience mixed feelings watching this episode. It denigrates religion and gives the impression that all right thinking, advanced cultures eventually grow out of a need for an 'Overseer', and while the superstitions and fear-inspired cults of ancient times are certainly a good thing to be overcome, an honest understanding of a 'Supreme Being' is something important to come to. But the issue of religion versus humanism in 'Star Trek' would fill books and I'm hardly qualified and intelligent enough to make such arguments, it just means I get less enjoyment out of this story than I might have.

For the majority it keeps us guessing and fills in another niche of information - the practice of hidden observation of less advanced cultures. For the most part it's a sad story of a man driven by the death of his wife and grasping at the strange sights he sees upon being beamed up to create a new belief in almost-forgotten memories passed down. His error is magnified for Picard who is seen as a deity, but as thought-provoking as the concept is I found it hard to believe that this one village's experience would start up a planetwide false religion. Presumably there would still be some villages that still believed the old myths, but most wouldn't and their minds would hardly be changed by one village's conversion. If the Enterprise crew had simply waited for an appropriate moment they could have beamed Riker, Troi and the injured scientist away with minimum of fuss. There might not have been an episode then, but...

There were a lot of little inconsistencies early in the episode, but they soon get forgotten as the Enterprise crew dig deeper holes for themselves until you're left wondering if it's even possible that they can undo the damage. In the end they can't, but it's all worthwhile for Picard's noble attempts to persuade the leader, Nuria, that he is the same physical being as she is. The Mintakans were supposed to be a Vulcan-like race (perhaps some of the Romulans crashed on this planet on their flight from Vulcan?), but they were much more like Romulans, with easily defined emotions and V-shaped foreheads.

We don't often get to see infiltrators going down to planets trying to blend in by changing their appearance so it's fun that Riker and Troi are the two that get to do it, though it could have been anyone as their unique attributes aren't really explored in the situation and it's more a case of giving them something to do. Is that the longer coat Beverly's wearing now or am I just imagining it all? Her slightly arch response to Picard's request about erasing memories is a smirk-worthy moment of continuity from last season when it was Pulaski's technique that was used in 'Pen Pals'. That's probably the only time Dr. Crusher acknowledges her replacement!

The Prime Directive takes a severe beating and even shows that it can be broken without ill effects as long as aliens are open-minded and Picard is there to explain things in a proper way. Maybe Starfleet should abandon it and just get involved. Then again, the film 'Star Trek: Insurrection', which rather upstaged the modest scope of this episode, showed what could happen. One of the scientists paints a doom-and-gloom portrait in his tirade at Picard's bungling, of inquisitions and holy wars, but he never mentions aid for the poor or binding a community closer together or the other positive things that have come out of true religious conviction. I guess, unlike Kirk's ship, Picard's doesn't have a chapel...

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