Darmok

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Episode of the series Spaceship Enterprise - The Next Century
title Darmok
Original title Darmok
TNG DE title neu.svg
Country of production United States
original language English
length 45 minutes
classification Season  5 , episode 2
102nd episode overall ( list )
First broadcast 28 Sep 1991
German-language
first broadcast		 March 29, 1994 on Sat.1
Rod
Director Winrich Kolbe
script Joe Menosky , Philip LaZebnik
production David Livingston
music Jay Chattaway
camera Marvin V. Rush
Guest appearance (s)
chronology

←  Predecessor
The battle for the Klingon Empire

Successor  →
Ensign Ro

Darmok is the 102nd episode of the US television series Spaceship Enterprise - The Next Century . It was first broadcast in the USA in September 1991 and in Germany in March 1994. It is about the captain of a species that only communicates with metaphors , who tries to persuade Captain Picard to take part in a joint fight against a monster on a planet. The episode is one of the most popular in the series.

action

In the vicinity of the planet El-Adrel IV, the Enterprise crew tries to communicate with the Tamarans, whose mysterious language has not yet enabled understanding contact. When the Enterprise comes into contact with a Tamarian ship, the bridge crew recognizes that the Tamarian are friendly, but doesn't understand what they say. After Dathon, the ship's captain, vehemently addressed Picard with the sentence "Darmok and Jalad on Tanagra" , Dathon and Picard are beamed onto the surface of the planet. A particle field also built up by the Tamarians in the planet's ionosphere prevents the Enterprise from communicating with Picard or beaming him away , but does not represent an obstacle for the Enterprise's sensors. Therefore, the Enterprise is able to track Picard's and Dathon's movements on the Chasing planets. Riker's request to the ship to release the captain remains unsuccessful. An attempt by Worf , ordered by Riker, to land with a shuttle ship on the planet is thwarted by the Tamarian ship by phaser fire . Later, during a database search, Data and Troi discover that Darmok is a mythical-historical hunter on the planet Shantil III and that Tanagra is an island continent that exists there. However, they are unable to use the Tamarian language.

Meanwhile, Dathon repeats the sentence "Darmok and Jalad on Tanagra" to Picard and offers him a knife. Picard believes Dathon wants to challenge him to a duel and rejects Dathon's offer. Dathon reacts to this, looking disappointed, with the statement "Shaka, when the walls fell". After dark, Dathon made a campfire and lay down to sleep next to it. The freezing Picard fails to light his own fire, which is why Dathon, shouting "Temba, his arms wide", helps him out with a burning piece of wood. Picard comes to believe that Dathon communicates through examples in the form of metaphors . The next morning, Picard finds Dathon in a clearing, waiting for an enemy to attack. The Enterprise crew understands this situation as a threat to Picard, which is why O'Brien immediately tries to beam Picard onto the Enterprise on behalf of Riker, but fails even after minutes because La Forge tries to get the transporter to overcome the particle field modify, has not progressed far enough. Since Picard is practically trapped during the burial, he cannot help Dathon when he is attacked and wounded by a mysterious, suddenly appeared creature.

Back at the campfire, Picard tries to communicate with Dathon, who is in severe pain. Picard realizes that Darmok and Jalad once traveled independently on an ocean and were stranded on the island of Tanagra. There they allied with each other and managed to defeat a threatening monster so that they could then travel across the ocean together. Knowing of the existence of a monster on El-Adrel IV, Dathon now hoped to befriend Picard by having himself and Picard fight a monster together - just as Darmok and Jalad did. Showing understanding for Dathon’s explanations, Picard in return tells of Gilgamesh and Enkidu from the Gilgamesh epic and thus of a similar story. Dathon shows understanding before succumbing to his injuries.

At the moment when Picard threatens to be attacked by the reappeared monster, he is beamed onto the Enterprise, which was able to overcome the particle field before. In response, the Tamarian ship attacks the Enterprise at gunpoint. By intervening immediately in the conflict and using the Tamarian language, Picard can pacify the Tamarians, whereupon they withdraw.

reception

The US film magazine Cinefantastique rated the episode three out of four possible stars and praised the achievements of Kolbe and Stewart, but criticized it as implausible that the universal translator does not work with the Tamarian language.

The episode is one of the most popular not only in the series, but Star Trek as a whole. For Wired magazine , among others , she was one of the best in the series in 2012. In 2013, IGN magazine ranked it 19th among the 25 best Star Trek episodes. It was adapted for the parody Pointless in Space .

The content of the episode served as teaching material in foreign language classes .

Merchandising items were also distributed based on the episode , including Dathon action figures and T-shirts featuring Dathon's statements such as "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra." The name of an internet-based network of telescopes that aggregate information about astronomical phenomena is based on the episode.

production

Captain Picard was presented with a uniform jacket for the first time in this episode. In this episode, the jacket has a black leather hood with grooves over the shoulder line. A black suede hood with honeycombs can be seen in all subsequent episodes. Paul Winfield has already played the role of Captain Terrell in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , where he died on the script. In this episode he was barely recognizable due to his mask. Ashley Judd made her first appearance as Ensign Robin Lefler in this episode. The exterior shots were filmed at Bronson Canyon , where the filming of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Land of Rura Penthe was also filmed. The night shots were filmed in the studio.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mark A. Altman: Episode Guide , in: Cinefantastique No. 2/3, October 1992, 23rd year, here: p. 37 f.
  2. ↑ Scott Thill: Best Star Trek: The Next Generation Episodes, According to You , in: Wired, October 19, 2012, accessed January 5, 2014
  3. ↑ Scott Collura, Jesse Schedeen: Star Trek: The Top 25 Episodes , in: IGN, May 20, 2013, accessed January 5, 2014
  4. ↑ Bryce Hedstrom: Darmok. Science Fiction Teaching that Language is More than Words and Grammar , 2011, accessed January 5, 2014
  5. ↑ Trivia , in: IMDb, accessed on Jan. 5, 2014
  6. ↑ Ralph Sander " The Star Trek Universe " - Volume 1 - Pages 480-481 - Heyne Verlag - ISBN 3-453-07759-8