This is, hands down, my favourite TNG episode, and I have seen all of them, some numerous times. I had the opportunity to see this again today, and felt compelled to comment on it. Perhaps it is because I am aging (60-something), and now a grandfather, and seeing my life so rapidly slipping by me. My theory of the perception of the passage of time is that your perception of the length of of any finite period of time is in inverse proportion to the amount of life experience you have. If you are 10, one year is 10% of your life -- a long time. When you are 50, one year is 2% of your life. It seems to pass 5 times as quickly as when you were 10. So, my life is passing quickly, as Picard's did in this story. Maybe that's why I relate to it so readily.
Then there is the acting. Eline is beautifully and skilfully portrayed. I almost fell for her myself. She is sweet, loving, kind and gentle. Yet she challenges Kamin when she should, and he listens to her. When she returns at the end, my throat tightens up with emotion. She also is beautiful without being flashy (I hope you know what I mean).
Batai is a great friend. Perhaps because I have found very few really good friends in my life, I find the relationship of Kamin with Batai as appealing. It is touching when Kamin and Eline name their second child after Batai. It is even more touching when he also returns at the end.
Kamin's daughter Meribor is a delight. I have two daughters, and see parts of both of them in her. She seems so natural for the part. When she says "I love you father"... it gets me every time.
The only slightly disappointing point is that the aging makeup for Kamin got less believable as the show progressed. At the end it was difficult to continue to suspend belief.
Patrick Stewart deserved acclaim for this portrayal. The scene at the end, when he exclaims "Oh, it's me -- it's me that it finds" when he realizes that the probe is destined to contact him -- is so believable. And his reaction to the crew when he returns to the Enterprise seems just right. Finally, as he clutches his flute to his chest, I can almost feel his character's angst at having loved and lost, and the depth of the plethora of emotions that would necessarily encompass someone who had experienced something like this.
I am saving this one on tape. It is so poignant and touching that I simply must see it again from time to time, to touch some of those thoughts that are too often submerged in my own life.
Then there is the acting. Eline is beautifully and skilfully portrayed. I almost fell for her myself. She is sweet, loving, kind and gentle. Yet she challenges Kamin when she should, and he listens to her. When she returns at the end, my throat tightens up with emotion. She also is beautiful without being flashy (I hope you know what I mean).
Batai is a great friend. Perhaps because I have found very few really good friends in my life, I find the relationship of Kamin with Batai as appealing. It is touching when Kamin and Eline name their second child after Batai. It is even more touching when he also returns at the end.
Kamin's daughter Meribor is a delight. I have two daughters, and see parts of both of them in her. She seems so natural for the part. When she says "I love you father"... it gets me every time.
The only slightly disappointing point is that the aging makeup for Kamin got less believable as the show progressed. At the end it was difficult to continue to suspend belief.
Patrick Stewart deserved acclaim for this portrayal. The scene at the end, when he exclaims "Oh, it's me -- it's me that it finds" when he realizes that the probe is destined to contact him -- is so believable. And his reaction to the crew when he returns to the Enterprise seems just right. Finally, as he clutches his flute to his chest, I can almost feel his character's angst at having loved and lost, and the depth of the plethora of emotions that would necessarily encompass someone who had experienced something like this.
I am saving this one on tape. It is so poignant and touching that I simply must see it again from time to time, to touch some of those thoughts that are too often submerged in my own life.