Finally, we arrive at one of the greatest Star Trek franchises ever made, and said arrival was surprisingly mediocre. Fans of the show remember it for the iconic Captain Picard, the deeply philosophical issues it explored, and its high production value, the last of which finally brought Gene Roddenberry’s original vision to life. It is surprising to look back at this series with a critical eye and acknowledge that the first few seasons were not strong. It is a shame, because this pilot episode presents an intriguing philosophical issue, which is undermined by a muddled plot. To explain why, I will have to set aside my philosophy cap and put on a writer’s hat.
Most stories contain multiple plots, which are often weaved together or related in some way. Longer and more complex stories can support many subplots, but TV episodes usually only have two: the A plot and the B plot. In the strongest stories, the A plot and B plot are directly affecting one another. For example, the main plot could see a detective working to find out the identity of a dangerous serial killer. The secondary plot could be an emotional exploration of the shaky relationship with his son. After a heated argument, the son could run away and find himself unknowingly crossing paths with the serial killer. Actions and choices by the characters affect and feed into both plots. However, many short stories do not interweave the A plot and B plot so closely but still work fine. For example, an episode could have a number of plots which, although unrelated, center on a theme. Each character explores his or her family history and discovers something about themselves, for example. Alternatively, the subplots could have nothing to do with each other and still be entertaining. “Encounter at Farpoint” does none of this. It is one of the rare occasions in which, far from being complementary, the subplots work against each other.
The new flagship of the Federation, the USS Enterprise D, embarks on its maiden voyage to Farpoint Station to investigate an amazing new energy generation technology. Along the way, a super powerful entity calling himself “Q” appears aboard the Enterprise and kidnaps the senior officers. Q and the other beings like him are the (possibly self-appointed) guardians of the space and time continuum. They keep an eye on all beings in the universe, and they are quite put off by the violent history of mankind. Q wants to put humans on trial for their crimes, and proposes a test to see if the species is worthy of existence. The task will involve how Picard and crew handles the issue at Farpoint Station.
The pilot episode of any show rests on a shaky foundation, as it establishes a tone, characters, and direction from nothing. Even the Original Series had a complete rework of its premise. The Next Generation however, was already built on the established history of Kirks adventures with his Enterprise crew, and it had the added challenge of trying to find its own identity. Although fans were expecting a Star Trek in the same vein, they also did not know quite what to expect, and the writers were finding their footing as well. This first episode was originally a TV movie and therefore stretched out, to its detriment, with some unnecessary fluff, leaving the audience with two stories working against each other. The trial of mankind, inflicted by the guardians of everything, is an interesting concept, which would have been fascinating to explore considering both the redemption of mankind and the purported moral authority of the judges, but neither are examined here. Instead, Picard is judged by his reaction to someone else’s moral choices.
Farpoint Station presents a strange anomaly, as the aliens who control it, the Bandi, are able to synthesize anything they want out of thin air. It turns out, these magical powers emanated from a giant space jellyfish, which was found injured on the planet. The Bandi trapped it and exploited its power to create Farpoint Station. To ‘prove the worthiness of humankind’ to Q, all Picard needs to do is free the space jellyfish. It is just about the easiest moral choice any captain could be faced with. Picard and crew never even captured or exploited any space jellyfish themselves. With replicator technology, the Bandi would not even be harmed by the inability to create anything one wants out of thin air. Star Trek had already been doing that for years with their own technology! It begs the question, if you are tasked with correcting an immoral action carried out by someone else, where correcting it will hurt no one, is it even a dilemma? Also, why are humans being put on trial for something that the Bandi did? Nevertheless, Q and the continuum are satisfied with Picard’s actions, and reluctantly concede that he has passed the test. Supposedly, for not taking revenge on the Bandi he proved that humans are not so savage after all. This is not the last we see of Q, and his later tests prove to be much more philosophically challenging, giving Picard a chance to redeem himself, his crew, all of humanity, and this unfortunate episode.
Hopeless Trekkie 