‘A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE‘ (TNG)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
In this ‘Star Trek’ episode, Riker gets into a spot of trouble. He’s accused of committing murder when visiting a research space station. But as the holodeck trial progresses, things are not what they seem.
I like ‘A Matter of Perspective’ as a ‘Star Trek’ episode, as it matches to some of the court episodes like ‘Court Martial’ and ‘Wolf In The Fold’ from the original series. But it isn’t a very perfect episode.
The Enterprise visits the research space station called Botanica Four orbiting around the planet Tanuga Four. The ship dropped off Commander Riker and Geordi La Forge to get a progress update.
The episode starts with the Enterprise picking up Riker and Geordi after their inspection is finished. Geordi returns to the Enterprise first, as Riker was asked to have a private meeting with Dr. Nel Apgar.
Riker soon asks to be beamed back, but in the process of transporting back to the Enterprise, the space station explodes. This kills Apgar on the station and Riker manages to survive during the transport.
Colm Meaney guest stars as Chief O’Brien who manages to rescue Riker at the beginning of the episode. I liked it when Chief O’Brien told Riker that the space station was destroyed after transport.
Very soon, Craig Richard Nelson as Tanugan investigator Krag visits the Enterprise with one purpose in mind. He’s come to arrest Riker on suspicion of murder. Picard steps in to prove Riker’s innocence.
It’s interesting that under Tanugan law, Riker is guilty until proven innocent. This builds up to the fabrication of evidence presented in the trial against Riker to make him out he’s guilty instead of innocent.
Picard requests to Krag that they hold a hearing aboard the Enterprise to determine Riker’s guilt. Krag eventually agrees, as they recreate events aboard the station via the use of the ship’s holodeck.
The evidence is based upon data logs and testimonies. This from Riker as well as Mark Margolis as Dr. Apgar, Gina Hetch as Manua, Apgar’s wife and Juliana Donald as Tayna, Apgar’s science assistant.
I like how the hearing begins where Riker is presenting his evidence first. Although it’s unusual, as it’s usually the prosecution’s evidence first before the defendant’s evidence. Do trial hearings change in the future?
It seems like Riker is innocent, especially when Deanna Troi is in the hearing to sense the emotions of others. But as the episode progresses, other people present their evidence and it gets different.
Essentially in Riker’s version of events, it seems that Manua, Apgar’s wife is openly flirting with him. But in Manua’s version, she claims that Riker killed her husband and that he openly flirted with her.
I’m not sure whose version of evidence is correct, as it never gets resolved. It also seems, according to Deanna, that Riker and Manua are right according to their versions of events. That makes no sense.
How can Riker and Manua be both telling the truth? And yeah I know, it’s all a matter of perspective according to the episode’s title, but these two versions don’t add up to explain what really occurred.
For me, the best stories to tell ‘a matter of perspective’ is a ‘Doctor Who’ audio called ‘Creatures of Beauty’ and the film ‘Vantage Point’. They had the same versions of events matching each other from different views.
Based on what I’ve seen in the episode, I’m inclined to believe the Riker version of events than Manua’s and Tayna’s. Tayna’s testimony is from what Dr. Apgar said, which somehow counts as evidence.
Eventually however, despite these three versions of evidence given, Picard soon has the evidence to prove Riker’s innocence. This is helped when the Enterprise gets affected by some sort of radiation.
I like how Picard conducts the final piece of evidence with Geordi’s help to prove to Krag, Manua and Tayna that they’re wrong. They also prove the case that Dr. Apgar killed himself in the attempt to kill Riker.
It seems there’s more to this case than anyone realised. Picard points out some of the hidden meanings in people’s testimonies. I like how it ended with what actually happened in the explosion.
‘A Matter of Perspective’ is an enjoyable if flawed ‘court case’ episode in ‘Star Trek: TNG’. It’s pretty complex and you may need to watch it more than once, but it was very thought-provoking to watch.
‘A Matter of Perspective’ rating – 7.5/10
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