Who Watches the Watchers 

A proto-Vulcan culture worships Captain Picard and prepares to offer Counselor Troi as a sacrifice.

Director:

Robert Wiemer

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (created by), Richard Manning

Stars:

Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Patrick Stewart	...	Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes	...	Cmdr. William Riker
LeVar Burton	...	Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn	...	Lt. Worf
Gates McFadden	...	Dr. Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis	...	Counselor Deanna Troi
Brent Spiner	...	Lt. Cmdr. Data
Wil Wheaton	...	Wesley Crusher (credit only)
Kathryn Leigh Scott	...	Nuria
Ray Wise	...	Liko
James Greene	...	Dr. Barron
Pamela Adlon	...	Oji (as Pamela Segall)
John McLiam	...	Fento
James McIntire	...	Hali
Lois Hall	...	Dr. Mary Warren

Storyline

The "Enterprise" is to provide technical assistance to a 3-man anthropological field team on the planet Mintaka III, which is observing, in hiding, the Vulcanoid Bronze Age native population. When the holographic hiding place is ravaged by an explosion, the landing party and its advanced technology are observed by two natives, one of whom, Liko, gets hurt badly and is beamed up for life-saving treatment; Picard orders his short-term memory wiped out to prevent a breach of the Prime Directive, but that fails as Commander William Riker and Counselor Deanna Troi find out, after they are beamed down again, temporarily altered to resemble Mintakans, to look for missing anthropologist Palmer. The culture now revives an abandoned belief in a supernatural overseer, worships the Picard, and soon considers offering Counselor Troi as a human sacrifice.

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Plot Keywords:

primitive culture | anthropological field team | equipment failure | camouflaged observation post | cultural contamination | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Mystery | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

First time Dr. Pulaski is mentioned since leaving the series

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Goofs

When the Mintakans are following Troi, Oji turns back because she says the sun it's near zenith and she needs to take her astrometric measurements. Zenith means the point overhead, yet the shadows indicate that it is late afternoon.

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Quotes

Counselor Deanna Troi: Mintakan emotions are quite interesting. Like the Vulcans, they have highly ordered minds. A very sensible people. For example, Mintakan women precede their mates. It's a signal to other women.
Commander William T. Riker: "This man's taken, get your own"?
Counselor Deanna Troi: Not precisely. More like, "If you want his services, I'm the one you have to negotiate with".
Commander William T. Riker: What kind of services?
Counselor Deanna Troi: All kinds.
Commander William T. Riker: They *are* a sensible race.

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Connections

Featured in re:View: Mike and Rich's Top 5 Star Trek TNG Episodes! (part 2) (2020)

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Soundtracks

Star Trek: The Next Generation Main Title
Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage

User Reviews

great story

I was watching back through the first three seasons to select episodes that would make a good sampling for a friend of mine; this episode is the one (out of the first three seasons) that I would be absolutely certain to recommend to anyone. It requires little to no background information and tells an engaging story. Also, to my recollection, no other episode conveys so well the wonder of reason and cultural progress.

Just as another reviewer observed about The Inner Light (my personal favorite), this episode shows that sci-fi, at its best, is not so much about the technology as it is about good storytelling.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 October 1989 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

45 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1