SFDebris: Pen Pals

[Captain Seafort]

YouTube

One of the better ones, and from Chuck's comments I think Homeward will be coming up in the not-too-distant future. It'll be interesting to compare the two, both as episodes and reviews.

[Mark]

You know, this episode was always a "meh" in my book. It just kind of struck me as a midseason filler. Of course, it showed us the wonderful TNG Prime Directive, where you'd let an entire species die out to avoid interfering in the natural course of their development.

[Tyyr]

I'm with Mark on this one. This episode never really clicked with me when I was younger. I just remember them prattling on about the Prime Directive and thinking it was all a bunch of bullshit. I probably need to rewatch this one now.

In other news, did Nikki Cox fill out or what? And how has she not done porn with a name like that?

[Mikey]

It wasn't her names I was thinking of. As far as the ep, the new PD didn't concern me as much as the lip service paid to it compared to the willingness to ignore it.

[Deepcrush]

I enjoyed this episode and review for the single reason that we got to see how happy they were to sit by at first. Then they have to face this child and try to tell her that they want her to die.

Its one thing to leave a faceless race to die, its another to have to listen to them and talk to them while doing so. The look that Patrick Stewart gave as the girl's voice came over the comm was prize worthy. It was Picard facing his own inner demon over the PD.

[Tyyr]

The contrast between this and other PD episodes is rather sharp. Who was it that pushed the idea the Picards actions in Pen Pals drew a reprimand which helps explain his much more hard line stance in subsequent episodes?

[Captain Seafort]

*sticks hand up*

I've certainly argued that, although I doubt I was the first to raise it. T'internet's a big old place.

[Tyyr]

Works better than, "The writers decided they preferred genocide."

[Captain Seafort]

Works better than, "The writers decided they preferred genocide."

That would assume that they actually realised what they were writing, and were capable of seeing the wood for the trees.

[kostmayer]

Picard doesn't seem the type to change his stance on such an important issue because of an official reprimand. For all his stiffness, he doesn't seem afraid of ignoring the Chain of command or standing up to his superiors when he felt justified.

[Tyyr]

Except that he does change his stance almost completely. He very much interfered in this situation. Later on with Homeward he's in exactly the same position and refuses to interfere condemning them all to death. While he gave lip service to the PD in Pen Pals his actions are completely different in the two cases.

[Captain Seafort]

Moreover, he's an officer. No-one with the slightest interest in continuing their career simply ignores a bollocking for breaking one of their organisation's key rules, regardless of their personal opinion. They either shape up or ship out.

[Mark]

Or he just forgot to take his meds, and his moodiness shone through.

[Tsukiyumi]

Looked more like he was on meds in this episode to me.

[Coalition]

The other fun part is that he thought he was right to let them die, then he thought the right thing to do was to help her live. He never looked back on his decisions, or questioned if why he changed his mind. There was never any sense that Picard thought he might have been wrong for either decision.