Man of The People

DVD, TNG S6 (Man of The People)

Cheerfulness is good medicine, and in this episode the reverse is true, bad feelings cause premature ageing and extreme behaviour. Stress being the cause of an early death isn't that radical a notion, but the rate at which Deanna Troi ages certainly is. At one point she's looking fairly normal except for her grey hair, she scratches Riker who then heads to sickbay, and after treating him, he and Crusher go to find her. In that short time she's aged radically. Unless Riker had a little wander of the ship before he stopped by sickbay it seems a little too rapid. On the other side the de-ageing sequence for Deanna as she lies on the biobed looked convincing, except for one minor point: when she returns to her youthful self her hair has apparently permed itself! Now that's an achievement far greater than the ability to cast off one's unwanted emotions: self-styling hair.

The trouble with this episode was that it was too derivative and the aliens were too generic. Every season there's a story where some uninteresting alien delegation visits the ship and does something untoward. This is almost a remake of last seasons 'Violations,' but not as atmospheric. There was an attempt at creepiness, such as the martial arts class mirrors, but it doesn't go anywhere. By the time of the only enjoyable moment in which Troi attacks Picard with a massive knife, the story had lost me. Alkar was a rather bland person thanks to his secret ability to dump all his negative thoughts and feelings into a chosen 'receptacle,' killing off these unknowing followers for the greater good of his diplomatic missions. His first impression was dishonest and unlikely - why would you take your aged mother with you on a dangerous mission into space? So it turned out it wasn't his mother, but it wasn't a terribly plausible excuse. The only character with any drive was the old lady posing as Mum. She had a strong presence and added a lot to the scenes she was in, namely a real mad malevolence. Alkar was merely psychopathic, she was violent, just as Troi became.

It's funny how Troi seems to be the one these crazy people always attract or are attracted by. She got a chance to be crazy herself this time, with some pretty good ageing makeup, the best moment being when she storms into her quarters and screams with blind rage right up against the camera. This is probably the episode in which she's closest to her own mother what with an overactive emotional drive and wacky hair and costumes, her Mum would have been proud. Or horrified. Either way it would have been interesting to see her reaction. Riker talks about them being old and grey one day, like that woman, and sadly, that time has practically arrived now. It was nice that he reassured Troi he'd be around for her even when she was old and grey, and he was right. Could the mentioned Ensign Janeway be a relation of Captain Kathryn?

The ending wasn't bad, but a little obvious, with Alkar's own power aimed back at himself, though his old-age look was nowhere near as effective as Troi's. He staggered out of the story in an uneven way, befitting such an uneven episode. I thought I recognised the old woman from another role, but it doesn't appear to be 'Star Trek.' Watching this episode possibly wasn't the best way to celebrate the 45th Anniversary of 'Star Trek,' but 'Happy Birthday' anyway, and let's hope for a new TV series this side of 50!

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