I probably saw this episode when it was new, but I don't really remember it. I do however remember the line, "Ugly bags of mostly water," which is the most famous part of this episode. It was actually a pretty cool tale both of of scientific discovery and of hardheaded frontiersman unwilling to turn aside from their chosen mission. But in the end even the terraformers learn their lesson and everything turns out alright. Also Troi manages to be pretty damn useful at the beginning of the episode telling Picard that the apparently calm chief terraformer is freaking out on the inside.
The episode opens with the Enterprise stopping by to check in on a remote terraforming operation. We are told they are only allowed to terraform planets that have been demonstrated to be totally devoid of life. When they arrive they are greeted, but Troi informs Picard that the leader is trying to hide something so Picard insists on beaming down an away team. They are greeted with genuine warmth and given a tour of the facilities by one of the scientists. They meet one of the guys who operates the mining lasers and after a bit he leaves. Suddenly they hear him screaming and rush to the mining chamber. The worker is dead, shot by his own laser.
Data goes in to investigate, but when he turns on the laser it tries to kill him as well. It even appears to adapt to his strategy of evasion, but eventually he manages to smash the laser. Picard beams everyone including the terraformers back to the Enterprise so they can investigate. The head terraformer isn't pleased but the other two survivors seem pretty ok with it. Data and Geordi beam back down and Data spots something down the hole the laser was shooting into. Geordi's visor sees a pattern of flashes coming from a random speck of what looks like mostly silicon. They beam it up to the ship and the doctor has never seen anything like it. The scanners show it to be totally inorganic but the patterns it is giving off seem to be non-random and non-repeating.
The speck starts growing and even tries to communicate. Eventually the universal translator detects it calling them, "ugly giant bags of mostly water," it is both intelligent, and pissed off. It tells them it is at war with them since they tried to destroy its kind and starts taking over the computer. It destroys first the bell jar and then the containment field. Efforts to transport it aren't effective. Eventually Geordi figures out that it needs light for energy and Riker turns off the lights in sickbay and it agrees to talk. The life form considers humans too uncivilized to talk with but says to come back in 300 years. They quarantine the planet and get the hell out of their.
Review: I really enjoyed this episode. Even the villainous terraformers turned out to just be ignorant rather than evil. When they learn what they almost did they are horrified. It turns out the head guy didn't even kill the guy with the laser. Despite the lack of a B story this still manages to be a solid episode.
7 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment