Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series) Loud as a Whisper (1989) User Reviews

Negotiations

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 19 May 2020]

The mission of the Enterprise in this episode is to bring a mediator from his planet to another world where they've had Guelph-Ghibelline or if your prefer a Hatfield- McCoy type war going on for centuries. They've forgotten why it all got started in the first place.

The mediator is Howie Seago a deaf mute who has 3 interpreters who communicate with him telepathically. When he interpreters are assassinated by a fanatic that throws the negotiations off. Seago is in despair.

Helping save the situation are Marina Sirtis and Brent Spiner. Each helps in a unique way with the talents both Troi and Data have.

Nicely done story about the challenges disabled folk have and ways overcoming same.

Strong themes but not done in a very cinematic way

[snoozejonc · 6/10 · 30 May 2021]

Enterprise transports a mediator to negotiate peace between two warring factions.

This is an okay episode with a good focus on self confidence and overcoming disability. It contains some classic liberal Star Trek philosophy but it is presented in a fairly non cinematic way.

To enjoy 'Loud As A Whisper' you need to be invested for the guest character of Riva who carries the main arc, along with Deanna Troi and have an appreciation for the use of communication to resolve conflict. His first impression is to flirt in a relatively creepy way with Deanna and for me I never really get over that distraction from the higher purpose of the story which shows him overcome his disability and confidence issues to make a huge contribution to the story. You also need to buy into his legendary mediation skills, which to be honest does not go hand in hand with his personality. I think if he turned up to resolve conflict in the Middle East or Northern Ireland his arrogance alone could fuel conflict. In fact throughout it all I kept thinking they should just let Picard do it.

All that being said, the main theme around Riva achieving success in the face of deafness, in a role that relies so much on communicating, is a good one. The scenes where Enterprise crew members such as Picard, Data and in particular Deanna help him find the confidence to make such a valuable contribution are good.

Visuals are a mixed bag with some ropey makeup jobs and costuming.

Performances from all cast are solid.

A Whiney, Self-Indulgent Negotiator

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 5 August 2014]

I don't know. Everything seemed so contrived and almost silly. Here is this guy (Riva, whom I thought may be Reba McIntyre when I didn't hear properly) who looks like a televangelist with his bouffant hair and chiseled visage, who is a master negotiator. The kicker is that he has to carry around three people who form his "chorus." He is mute and deaf and passes thoughts to them. They express his emotions and his wishes to others. He is on his way to a summit to try to solve a centuries old feud between two warring parties. These guys look like refugees from a bad remake of "One Million B. C." Anyway, after he sets his parameters, Riva (with his chorus) and an "away team" are met with murderous intent. Quickly, the members of the chorus are annihilated, as is the assailant. The landing party barely makes it back to the ship. Now its time to pout. Riva, who has never lost a negotiation, takes his ball and is ready to go home. Troi has been the one to connect with him during all this because of her empathic powers. She is designated to do his job. The conclusion is quite non-surprising. The highlight for me is Data explaining to Captain Picard the sign language he learned as a means to communicating with Riva. The episode, however, is so far fetched, I never really got into it.

The issue of deafness

[russem31 · 14 April 2006]

ST:TNG:32 - "Loud As A Whisper" (Stardate: 42477.2) - this is the 5th episode to air in the second season. It deals with the issue of deafness in the form of a famous mediator Riva (played by Howie Seago, who is one of the most engaged deaf actors in the United States). He has 3 people who communicate for him hearing his thoughts and then verbally expressing them (his Chorus). We also get to see how he handles himself without his 3 translators once they are killed. An interesting episode which brings to the surface the issue of deafness including sign language (which Data must learn to help communicate with Riva directly). For trivia's note: Jerry Goldsmith's Klingon theme marks another homage here. And, Colm Meaney marks another appearance as the transporter chief.

"Our mediator is very self assured."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 6 October 2023]

On the planet Solais V, two societies have been at war with each other for fifteen centuries! Why they suddenly wanted to negotiate a peace was never fully explained in the story, but that's neither here nor there. Both sides have requested a renowned peace negotiator to help them resolve the conflict, and he's been brought to the planet by the Enterprise and its crew. What's unusual about the negotiator is that he's deaf and mute, which obviously confounds Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his officers. Riva (Howie Seago), in order to communicate, travels with a trio of interpreters who are tuned into the nuances of his personality, in order to convey his thoughts into words. I have to admit, I thought the character of Riva was kind of creepy throughout the episode, seeming to imply an empathic but romantic connection with Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis), who for her part, maintained a wary association with him. This put her in good stead for the resolution of the story when upon first contact with the Solari, one of the violent members from one faction killed all three of Riva's interpreters! This was only assuaged by the fact that his companion immediately disintegrated him with a laser blast. Totally withdrawn and disconsolate at this point, and with no effective way to get his thoughts known, Riva was determined to return to his home planet and let the warring societies continue their animosity. With that, Counselor Troi and Commander Data (Brent Spiner) stepped up to convince the negotiator to rise above the situation and turn his disadvantage into an advantage. After that, it was a rather underwhelming resolution that found Riva returning to Solais V for a months long negotiation to put an end to the Solari conflict. A side story involved the possibility of Dr. Pulaski (Diana Muldaur) potentially offering a restoration of Lieutenant La Forge's (LeVar Burton) eyesight without the visor. That apparently, was a story left for another day.

An interesting attempt at inclusion.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 12 November 2014]

This episode features a character, Riva, who is a peace negotiator-- even though he is deaf. For his language, he used three interpreters who all represent different aspect of him. Unusual to say the least. However, when these three interpreters are accidentally murdered, the peace treaty that Riva is trying to negotiate looks like it's out of the question. What's next in this highly unusual show.

Most folks wouldn't know this, but "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was actually one of the first TV shows that was closed captioned. The captioning wasn't always great back in the late 1980s, but they deserve recognition for trying. Fortunately, the newer captions included with the shows on Netflix are exceptional and very easy to read--and we use them in our home. This is because my youngest daughter is deaf--and we both sat down and watched this particular episode together. Hannah is not a regular viewer of the show but I wanted her insights. Mostly, she was just surprised how long ago this show was made, as she had assumed that deaf awareness was a much more recent issue. She also greatly appreciated the effort to make deaf people a part of any TV show.

A few things we noticed. Data's sign language is mostly gibberish, but the deaf actor Howie Seago was using American Sign Language--and my daughter laughed at that the same way we laugh when all the aliens just instantly know English in most sci-fi shows! Seago was very easy to read--especially for a non-deaf signer like me. What I noticed is that OFTEN when Data was interpreting, he was saying things BEFORE Riva (Seago) even said them!! Oops! Not perfect--- but I do appreciate the effort nonetheless. Overall, an extremely interesting episode and a great opportunity to include deaf people in a mainstream TV show. Worth seeing.

Another Contrived Problem

[anarchistica · 4/10 · 23 March 2020]

You would think that with all their technology Star Fleet would have some way to ensure a person's safety - either by projecting a localised shield or a field that disables weapon. And if they couldn't do that, at least they would use sufficient security personnel. Here one of the ugly skulking cavemen involved in the conflict can just walk in and casually murder people. It is so lazy.

This episode also has another example of someone being "famous but not famous". Riva brought peace between the Federation and Klingons, Worf is anxious to meet him, his reputation is legendary. But apparently there are no records of the fact that he uses interpreters? Again, lazy stupid writing where something extremely simple goes wrong to cause an issue.

Worf is proven to be useless once again, Geordi rejects being cured once again, Troi is useless once again as well. She couldn't feel the dissatisfaction of the rogue alien? Worf didn't draw his weapon? Why does Geordi keep enduring his pain and poor substitute for vision for no reason?

Any of the interesting concepts in this episode are too undermined by assaults on logic to keep you interested.

Good spirit in this episode

[patrick-lafont · 8/10 · 5 March 2021]

I wanted to write a positive review because I feel like some of the other reviews are done by robots, focusing on things that don't match, and they're missing the point, which is how to achieve communication between people and the confidence to overcome our own issues to take a step towards someone else. This is one of the many episodes that carry positive values and make us think about how we can do or be better. Even if those episodes are sometimes long and are stretching a single idea over 45 minutes, I'll take it anytime over the drama that we find in most sci-fi series nowadays.

Interesting, but...

[Badger1210 · 5/10 · 5 March 2023]

The episode has many things which now, 40 years later, are interesting which includes the insertion of Riva, the negotiator who would take the events of Star Trek VI and the TNG episode with the Enterprise C and negotiate peace with the Kilingons.

What brings the episode down is the amount of useless dialog which borders on preaching of what we call today woke inclustivity.

Another useless plot point, Data having to figure out Riva uses ASL, something Riva couldn't write down?

Then, Data takes what seems to be an eternity to show Picard what he learned. Basically, there wasn't much to the story so they had to insert so much uselessness.

Loud as a Whisper

[Scarecrow-88 · 9/10 · 13 May 2012]

"Loud as a Whisper" comments on disability and how one comes to terms with the loss of one sense, turning a disadvantage into an advantage. Loss seems to be a major emotion that speaks dramatically and thematically in this episode about two factions of Solari people on a planet called Solais, both warring with each other for centuries, on the verge of extinction, reaching out, however reluctantly, to renowned, reputed peachmaker Riva (it is made known in a scene with Worf, in the transporter room when he feels certain unease, brought to light by Troi, that Riva was responsible for peace talks between the Federation and Klingon). Riva is deaf and has a "chorus" of individuals who work in concert as his thoughts, feelings, words to others and a tragedy involving one out-of-control Solari warrior shakes the confidant mediator's resolve and belief in his abilities to end war/conflict, placing an incredible strain on Capt Picard and his crew. The idea that one man, with help from a highly trained, and well in-tune, accompaniment, can end centuries of war is certainly fascinating, understanding his methods will be of focus in this episode as Deanna Troi (who Riva has become profoundly moved by) tries to change his mind when the senseless murder of his chorus may potentially halt Riva's desire to stop the possible slaughter of an entire world's populace. I love this final scene where a relieved Picard thanks Troi for her work with Riva; it is a moment where her importance to him is celebrated/applauded. A fascinating development involving Geordi's eyesight is also featured as Dr. Pulaski offers to perform surgery and perhaps give him the ability to see, although straight-forward that it is not for certain that it will work. I thought Howie Seago was extraordinary as the deaf, mute Riva and his scenes with Troi are the heart and soul of this episode's story. The death of Riva's chorus is shocking and horrifying, as it should be to drive home the point that it will not be easy to settle the ongoing, personal war between these people. I love how this episode incorporates the theme of deafness as it relates to the crew's difficulty with him once his entourage is killed. And Data's learning of the sign language also adds much to this wonderful episode. "Loud as a Whisper" is yet another nice discovery as I make my way through the early seasons of The Next Generation.

Transporting Another Negotiator

[Samuel-Shovel · 5/10 · 15 July 2019]

In "Loud as a Whisper" the Enterprise must transport a famous negotiator named Riva to a neutral site where he's agreed to try to get a peace treaty in place between a pair of warring factions at odds for centuries. The one oddity about Riva is that he is deaf and uses a trio of mindreaders who give emotion to his thoughts. Riva feels a connection to Troi since she is an empath and understands him on some level.

The away team plus Riva and his crew beam down to the negotiation site. One of the factions has an usurper in its midst not ready for peace who shoots and kills Riva's interpreters with his phaser. The rest beam back up to regroup. Data learns Riva's language so he can interpret. Riva wants to give up but Troi is able to motivate him to try again. Riva decides to beam down to the surface and face the two factions by himself. He will teach them how to sign in his language and then teach them all his wisdom that he has on peace and prosperity. It may take a while but then again, creating a peace pact for a centuries old war is not something that can occur overnight.

This episode is a bit strange in my opinion. It really focuses on this Deaf Jesus fellow they call Riva. He comes in a bit too cocky and is quickly shown his place when his team is cut down. If it were up to Worf there would have been a security team there protecting them. My favorite part of this though is that the man who played Riva actually is a deaf actor. It's super cool that they were able to include him in this episode, a nice little touch by the casting director.

But the actualy storyline to this is fairly middle of the road. We've already had multiple "transporting negotiator" episodes and we're barely into Season 2 here! There's no real B plot here unless you count the half-baked one they drum up about Geordi's eyesite and possibly giving him real eyes. This is ground we've already tread a bit in a previous episode with Q but I guess we're giving it another shot here? It never really gets off the ground though and has no real conclusion to speak of.

This isn't a good episode but after the last one we had to sit through, I'd have really taken almost anything.

Interesting examination of disability, and how to accept yourself.

[gilbertayres · 9/10 · 10 October 2018]

This is "the disability" episode, and it is rather good. I have attended lectures done by deaf-mute professors that are verbalized by interpreters. Such people are vital for understanding, for both the mute person and for people who do not understand ASL or other sign language, similarly to Riva's Chorus. The b-plot is about La Forge being able to possibly have eyes, literal eyes. Ultimately both decide to accept themselves for who they are and Riva uses his own victimization to advance peace.

The least interesting episode until this point

[polite-45692 · 2/10 · 9 May 2020]

The least interesting episode until this point, due to being so long, drawn out, and slow-paced. A full 27 minutes passed before ANYTHING of consequence occurred.

Wow.

[mrmystery99 · 9/10 · 24 November 2021]

Honestly, that's my reaction to seeing how this episode is so poorly rated.

I thought the overall concept was absolutely brilliant. The acting is absolutely marvellous. The scene at around 36mins where Riva, Troi and Data discuss via sign language was genuinely fascinating. The way they were all subtly impressed with data learning sign language in like 10 minutes was nice. That ending as well, Picard thanking Troi was very heartwarming I can't lie. All in all this episode really impressed me and you've got to watch it.

Boring Star Trek episode courtesy Producer Maurice Hurley

[jseph1234-262-617488 · 4/10 · 17 July 2022]

I was only able to watch about 10 minutes of this before I had to turn it off. Another boring, uninteresting episode courtesy of that hack Producer Maurice Hurley.

Was not even worth my time.

Whiny, self-indulgent "reviews" don't lower the quality of this episode

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 20 October 2014]

There are a number of good things in this episode. For one, it has one of the best vaporizations of the whole Star Trek franchise. And to top it off, one of the people who was vaporized was Marnie Mossman, Q's (John DeLancey's) wife.

The issue here, is that we have a federation negotiator who has developed a unique way of communication. But unfortunately he is a little bit too self-confident, confidence that gets knocked down when something unexpected happens.

But an amazing thing occurs at that time, the negotiator is shown as a real person, Who can still do his job even with the handicap he is given back after the incident. But what is most important is that it takes Troy and Data to show this man that he can still do what he needs to do.

After all, this is one of the men that helped negotiate the peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. If he has Worf's respect, then his reputation for 100% success has been wholly deserved. This episode shows that even the most successful people can have reversals set up on them but that they can still function and do what they need to do even in the midst of that. One of the most difficult things to deal with is Deafness, this man was born deaf and mute, but he developed a chorus that allowed him to communicate. In a way, this man was carting around a miniature royal court. Well, we have seen through history that even Royals are human beings and have their own difficulties.

The man who had boarded the enterprise was blustery and confident, the man left standing on the hilltop at the end of the episode was to same man, he had taken his disadvantage and turned it into an advantage.

Riva ---- poster child for the 'forgive and forget' society and all around good guy.

[thevacinstaller · 8/10 · 7 March 2021]

Riva has a fascinating journey in this one. He starts off as the rockstar of peace negotiations and through (ironically) not listening to Riker's suggestions his telepathically linked companions are killed by a caveman extremists.

It was interesting to watch a deaf actor play a character who has suffered a perceived debilitating loss. The episode does an excellent job on touching on how words can often be imprecise or surface level (the scene with troi at dinner) and this ties up eloquently with Riva's intention to have the Caveman factions achieve piece throughout learning how to express words in sign language.

I enjoyed this one. Riva was well acted and this episode had excellent pacing and structure.

A Senior Trekker writes...............

[celineduchain · 5/10 · 2 January 2022]

The Second Season of Star Trek the Next Generation has often been downplayed due to multiple production and writing staff problems, and several major cast changes. Although of mixed quality, it does contain some outstanding and brilliant episodes. Senior Trekker is extremely grateful to all those people who worked so hard under difficult circumstances to keep it on our screens.

Senior Trekker loved this episode at the time and still loves it now, mediocre ratings be damned! It has a great guest star, a decent story and is consistently good to look at. As a message episode about the special skills of a deaf negotiator bringing peace to warring races by teaching them sign language, it was undoubtedly overstated. Nonetheless, Howie Seago brought such gravitas to the role he made a convincing senior diplomat with no "disability" to overcome..

Having him initially interpreted by a chorus was an interesting science fiction idea, even if it didn't withstand too much examination. These spokespeople were distinct individuals, after all. How would Riva have been able to function if "decisiveness", or worse still "libido", had needed to take a bathroom break at a critical moment? Actor Randy Oglesby can just be spotted as one member of this chorus before being summarily vaporised. He went on to appear in Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise, becoming something of a Star Trek fan favourite.

(Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5)

Great Episode

[lloyd-hinshelwood · 10/10 · 8 April 2020]

Very underrated episode talking about disability in a progressive and tasteful way

One of my Favorites

[colorsflashing · 10/10 · 11 June 2021]

There are a couple of plot holes in this episode, as another reviewer mentioned. Even so, it is one of my favorite ST:TNG episodes.

Howie Seago plays Riva, an extremely successful, deaf, peace negotiator. Very self-confident, but at the same time likeable. Piccard, Worf and Troi meet him, and are strangely unaware that he is deaf, and they almost act as if they had never met a deaf person before.

Riva has a chorus that speaks for him: one of the voices is the "scholar/artist," one is "harmony/balance," and the third is "warrior/Adonis." Riva is immediately attracted to Troi, and uses his "warrior/Adonis" voice to speak with her (the other members of the chorus speak to the other members of the crew).

They head to a planet that has had civil war for 15 centuries, and whose people look like cavemen. Unfortunately, one of these is against the peace process, and tries to assassinate Riva, but kills his chorus instead. Riva and the away team immediately return to the Enterprise.

The death of his chorus throws Riva into a tailspin. He is bereaved, his confidence is severely shaken, he is angry. He reacts as anyone would, and wants nothing more to do with the warring planet or its bloodthirsty people. He is also isolated, as his chief method of communication has been destroyed. At this point Piccard does something, which made me uncomfortable watching it: he grabs Riva by the head and shouts at him that he is not alone. Letting him know that he is not alone is fine; but I felt that grabbing him and shouting at him was inappropriate.

Data learns sign language so that Troi and Piccard can communicate with Riva. He is still unwilling to move forward with the negotiations, so Troi says she will try. The ensuing exchange between her and Riva is the best part of the episode, and a good solution is reached.

Howie Seago is a pleasure to watch in this excellent episode.

The classic TNG quality episode formula.

[amusinghandle · 8/10 · 4 January 2024]

With some episodes of star trek my eyes start to glaze over when they get into technobabble but that is certainly not the case with this episode.

With Riva being deaf and using physicality to display his emotion, I find that I am focused on the material intently. I enjoyed the journey with Riva in this episode ---- He starts out as confident (almost arrogant) with his assertion that the history of conflict does not matter and he will resolve the conflict because he's just that good. His confidence is shattered when his entourage is gunned down by an extremist and he gets that confidence rebuilt by listening/communication with Troi/Data.

I enjoyed the representation being true to human (alien?) failings and not portraying Riva as being above making an error in judgement.

He also drops many wisdom bombs throughout this episode about listening and true communication being the key to conflict resolution.

Riva's performance throughout is great and he has a charisma about him ---- No wonder Troi was ready to pounce on him!

This is the classic TNG winning formula for a great episode ---- a compelling story with a A-List guest star.