276. MasksFORMULA: Darmok + The Schizoid Man + The Inner Light
WHY WE LIKE IT: A grand scientific puzzle.
WHY WE DON'T: Nasal Evil Data rides again.
REVIEW: A surprise. Remembered as a bit of science fantasy with clay masks and equipment turning into styrofoam blocks, I now found it to be a lot more like Darmok. And didn't I love Darmok? Indeed, it has the same sense of Picard working out a culture and a way out of his dilemma using anthropology and archaeology, certainly more interesting than the use of less "human" sciences, which almost inevitably veer into technobabble. His interpolations are all very interesting, and not everything is explained, giving the viewers space to imagine the world of Masaka for ourselves (if the Sun is Death, then perhaps a planet orbiting a red giant, and so on).
It's a good episode for Brent Spiner as well with a number of characters to play. Sure, sure, there's the usual evil voice of Masaka and even of Ehat (though as a trickster clown figure, he's good fun, such as when he's astride the warp core). The old man whose bones were fashioned into the world, the victim so afraid of Masaka... creepy and unsettling transformations. The coda about Data having been an entire civilization is a bit much however.
The Enterprise is transforming too, and the amber glow covering most scenes is nicely atmospheric, but the palm leaves and foam blocks are less effective. The symbols roaming the computer are well realized, as is the rogue comet itself, and the masks. The bit at the beginning with Troi's artistic expression class features a nice clay PADD (as well as the kid Eric first seen in Liaisons), but somewhat ignores the fact Data's been a pretty creative painter in the past. So not a perfect episode, but a surprisingly strong one.
LESSON: The Enterprise computers need a firewall.
REWATCHABILITY - High: A viable heir to Darmok, with a fascinating cultural puzzle and an intriguing use of Data.
Comments