‘THE INNER LIGHT’ (TNG)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
‘The Inner Light’ is probably one of the most unusual ‘Star Trek’ episodes ever made in the ‘TNG’ series. It is also an episode that is highly regarded by audiences worldwide as well as from the cast and crew.
The episode is directed by Peter Lauritson, who was also co-producer of the episode as well as for the ‘TNG’ TV series. ‘The Inner Light’ episode won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1993.
In the episode, the Enterprise discovers an unidentified probe in space. The probe scans the Enterprise ship before it directs an energy beam at Captain Picard on the bridge. This all renders him unconscious.
Picard then finds himself waking up in the home of a village called Ressik on Kataan, a non-Federation planet. Picard wakes up to see a woman who identifies himself as his wife. This is Margot Rose as Eline.
Picard has no idea what’s happened to him and it gets revealed that he’s actually Kamin, an iron weaver who is recovering from a feverish sickness. However he still has memories of his Enterprise life.
In the first part of the episode, Picard tries to work out what’s going on and why he’s been brought here. He is told by Eline and their close friend, Richard Riehle as Batia, that his former life was a dream.
Very soon, Picard acclimates to his life as Kamin in the Kataan society of the Ressik village. He soon forgets about his life on board the Enterprise, living his life with Eline and raising their family together.
This was interesting to see as we have a version of Picard who could’ve gone on a different path had he never taken the career of Starfleet and the Federation. In this, Picard becomes husband and father.
We have seen touches of Picard’s character where he could be loving as a father and somebody’s mate. But rarely do we see it played out to its full extent until we come to this particular ‘TNG’ episode.
Picard as Kamin also gets to learn how to play the flute. This is one aspect of this ‘TNG’ episode that’s well-remembered. Picard’s flute-playing becomes the signature piece in terms of the incidental music.
The flute melody played by Picard as Kamin was composed by Jay Chattaway for the episode. It’s a melody that I recall pretty clearly and I have even played it on one of my ‘Star Trek’ music CDs at home.
In the episode, Picard as Kamin spends a lot of time outdoors building a telescope to study nature as well as a lab. He soon asks Eline about building a nursery in which they start to raise a family together.
Yeah, Picard as Kamin has children. This includes Meribor, later played by Jennifer Nash as an adult and Batai (who Kamin and Eline name after their dearest friend), played by Daniel Stewart as an adult.
I didn’t realise this until later on, but apparently Daniel Stewart who plays Kamin’s son, Batai, is the real-life son of Patrick Stewart in the episode. Wow! It’s families together in this episode. Very nice!
Throughout the episode, Picard as Kamin realises that the planet is suffering from a wordwide drought that gets worse due to the radiation of the planet’s sun. He sends reports to warn the planet’s leaders.
However Picard as Kamin’s concerns get ignored, including by Scott Jaeck as Ressik’s Administrator. It was interesting how Kamin’s character tried to save his home planet and yet he fails rather miserably.
It was also amazing to see how Picard as Kamin aged throughout the entire episode. He soon becomes an old man and has grandchildren before going out to join his family to see a rocket launch at the end.
It then turns out that Picard has been experiencing the memories of the planet’s culture that was placed in the probe when the Enterprise first encountered it. It’s hoped Picard will share about their species.
In many ways, this was rather sad and poignant by the time we come to the episode’s end. Picard as an old man discovers that he’s been living a life to experience another alien culture before waking up.
Picard wakes up on the bridge of the Enterprise to discover that whilst decades have passed for him, it’s only been 25 minutes. Patti Yasutake also guest stars as Nurse Alyssa Ogawa in this ‘TNG’ episode.
Riker later visits Picard’s quarters and gives him a box which was found in the now inactive probe. It contains Kamin’s flute. Picard soon plays the melody just as he learnt to play it during his life as Kamin.
‘The Inner Light’ is an extraordinary ‘TNG’ episode and features a fine performance from Patrick Stewart. I enjoyed it and found it interesting to see Picard taking a very different path as a family man.
‘The Inner Light’ (TNG) rating – 8/10
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