TNG Flashback: Pen Pals

The first and second seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation had some good episodes, but also a fair share of subpar efforts that went wrong for a variety of reasons. "Pen Pals" is one of the latter, but distinct in the reason why it went wrong.

The Enterprise undertakes a weeks-long planetary survey in a sector marked with widespread geological instabilities. Riker decides to put Wesley in charge of the survey team to teach him some command skills, and Wesley grapples with a lack of self-confidence. Meanwhile, Data undertakes an experiment to improve the ship's communications systems, and establishes contact with a young alien girl named Sarjenka. Her planet is threatened by massive volcanic activity, and Data seeks Picard's permission to try to stabilize it. But the situation brings with it a moral dilemma; Sarjenka's people are unaware of alien life, so helping her would be a violation of the Prime Directive.

My problem with this episode is that I think it focused on the wrong character. I simply don't believe Data in the heart of this situation. After the series bought this story concept from an outside writer, Melinda Snodgrass (who penned the excellent "The Measure of a Man") convinced the writing staff to let her rewrite it with Data as the central character. She argued that only Data, with his child-like innocence, could get into this Prime Directive conundrum so deeply before seeking help from the captain. But I think Snodgrass was too enamored of her favorite character, the one who had served her so well in her fantastic first episode, and mischaracterized the true tone of this story.

This episode asks us to believe that Data would carry on a dialogue in secret for nearly two months, long after learning that doing so was a violation of the Prime Directive. That alone is too much an "ask" for me; literally no one should be a more by-the-book officer than Data. But that's only the beginning. Data spends the rest of the episode essentially inverting the scientific method. He repeatedly sets upon a desired outcome, and then twists an argument to reach it. He wants to save Sarjenka, even when doing so would violate Starfleet principles. He beams Sarjenka up to the ship without permission, for no reason more than the fact that she would have been afraid to be left alone. This isn't Data showing the innocence of childhood, this is him showing the irrational and willful part of childhood -- two characteristics of which Data is literally incapable.

I've been unable to find any mention of who this episode was originally supposed to be about before it was switched to Data, but I believe the story needed a character with the technical know-how to communicate with the alien girl, but the emotional empathy necessary to get neck deep in the situation before realizing it was wrong. I think that Geordi should have been at the heart of the episode. He even has a moment in the episode where he argues in favor of saving Sarjenka. I'm not sure this would have turned this into a "great" episode, but I'm fairly certain it would have improved it considerably by having it make more sense.

Despite this big misstep, there are some good aspects to the episode. There's a surprisingly interesting scene, set in Picard's quarters, where the senior staff debates the Prime Directive. Setting aside the fact that I would expect Starfleet officers all to be pretty much 100% in support of it, it's actually a very interesting debate. Geordi, Troi, and Pulaski all make impassioned arguments in favor compassion, to save Sarjenka's planet. Picard counters with a challenging point: it may seem moral to interfere to stop a natural disaster, but what about a civil war? Where is the line?

The Wesley storyline is not bad either. Again, there's a minor issue you have to overlook (would Starfleet really assign the Enterprise to a planetary survey for two months when we've seen they have dedicated science vessels?), but looking past that issue leads to at least a mildly interesting story. Wesley revisits his great fear, revealed in "Coming of Age," of being in command and giving the wrong orders. Of course, Gene Roddenberry's strict "no fighting among Starfleet officers" edict means that nobody truly challenges Wes' command, but that's actually a reasonable look at military culture. In civilian life, respect must generally be earned; in military life, respect is given up front, and then need only be maintained.

"Pen Pals" also boasts the only on-location filming of the entire second season. Looking to give Picard another hobby, a couple of scenes send him to the holodeck (to an outdoor location) to ride a horse. It doesn't really have anything to do with the rest of the episode that I can tell, but it's still interesting.

But my interest in the horse hobby is actually less intrinsic to this episode than it is when examined with the Next Generation cast's first feature film that would come years later, Star Trek: Generations. In that film, there's a big sequence in which Kirk and Picard ride horses together. William Shatner is a skilled equestrian, and as we all know also has quite an ego. He's told stories of how thrilled he was to ride a horse in the movie, and of how much help and advice he gave to Patrick Stewart for those scenes. Here, years earlier, Stewart demonstrated he was not exactly a novice horseman himself. Consequently I imagine Stewart, the consummate professional, letting Shatner prattle on with his unneeded "advice" out of respect for the elder in the Star Trek lineage. Maybe it didn't really happen that way, but the mere idea of it makes me like Patrick Stewart even more.

But getting back to the episode, a few last observations:

• If these planets are all so unstable and volatile, I have to wonder how intelligent life ever managed to form on one of them.

• It's a bit strange to me that Riker calls a meeting of no less than five senior staff members to discuss whether Wesley should be given a training assignment.

• What's not surprising is that Katherine Pulaski is there to look down on people some more, voicing her opinion that Wesley's not up to the job. Nor is it surprising that, just a few scenes later, she reverses course and tells Wesley she has total confidence in him. Wil Wheaton has observed that sometimes it seemed like the writers were deliberately trying to make fans hate his character, but I think poor Diana Muldaur had it even worse. (At least Pulaski finally pays Data a compliment in this episode, saying near the end that she thinks he's done a good thing.)

• Riker is seen romancing some anonymous hot young crewmember in Ten Forward.

• Picard is seen drinking his "tea, Earl Grey, hot" for the first time.

• Young Sarjenka is played by Nikki Cox, many years before she grew up and became eye candy on the TV series Las Vegas.

• There's some connective tissue missing between a couple of scenes near the end of the episode. When Picard contacts Pulaski to inquire about the possibility of erasing Sarjenka's memory, Pulaski somehow knows the alien has been brought aboard when no one has told her this yet. Similarly, when Pulaski begins the procedure, Data somehow knows what she's doing even though no one has told him of Picard's order.

• I think in the ending, Picard is a bit too cavalier about having violated the Prime Directive. He articulates to Data the reasons why he agreed to help, and he is convincing. But part of me thinks that the "Picard thing to do" would have been to agree to help, yet still formally reprimand Data for what he did.

In all, "Pen Pals" isn't really a terrible episode, but its treatment of Data is too preposterous to be credible. It brings the whole affair down to a C- in my mind.