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

The idea of observing another civilization from a holographic duck blind is used again in Star Trek: Insurrection (1998).

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Goofs

Riker and Troi forget that the best way to lie is to tell the truth--just not all of it. When the Mintakans are speculating about why "the Palmer" was cast out by "the Picard", one of them could have suggested that "the Picard" sent "the Palmer" to Mintaka to accomplish a task and now awaits his return, a suggestion that would have been strengthened by the fact that two hunters have just returned after being sent by Nuria to accomplish a task (namely, getting meat).

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Quotes

Nuria: [after being shown around the Enterprise] Perhaps one day, my people will travel above the skies.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Of that, I have absolutely no doubt.

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Connections

Featured in Star Trek Insurrection Review (2009)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

one of the best of Star Trek

This is a super episode of Star Trek, a true classic.

What is so great about this episode? The answer is simple. This episode illustrates one of the great flaws of human beings, namely the insanely extreme actions they will take to force others to believe whatever nonsense they themselves decide to believe.

This massive flaw in human being is at the root of endless billions of instances of humans mistreating other humans. Happens every day, in endless ways.

This understanding is not some religious or atheist lesson. People behave this way about endless issues, not just whether god exists or not. People mistreat others for not accepting socialism or communism or democracy or fascism or any number of political systems (all of which are bogus). People mistreat others for not accepting certain kinds of medical treatments. Hell, people kill each other for supporting "the wrong" sports team!

So yeah, the lesson this episode takes on is far more general than religion. The lesson is intellectual independence... or lack thereof. Shall we deal with other humans by intimidation and force, or should humans simply have conversations with each other, and let each draw their own provisional inferences, and update them as they accumulate more and more experience.

Great idea. Great story. Great writing. Great episode.

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