When I watched "Lonely Among Us" again, I was surprised at how crappy the look was of the show. The graphics for the planet looked poor and the costumes of the snake-like and mouse-like aliens were very poor (stiff and with unmoving mouths). This is NOT to say the show was awful--but through the course of the series, they sure got better!! Think about how the Andorians looked in the final series, "Enterprise"--they were BRILLIANTLY made and seemed like real aliens. So much we have come to expect with costumes is the result of earlier efforts like "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
The Enterprise is escorting two really annoying and aggressive enemies to a conference--no easy feat. However, when they come near a giant cloud in space, a new and far more serious problem develops. Soon, an electric shock attacks Worf and it passes to various crew members--and even kills Mr. Singh*! What's worse is that eventually the electric shot hits the Captain and he begins giving seemingly irrational orders.
This is a pretty decent episode--even with primitive costumes and graphics. I could easily looked past this. However, I could not look past a portent of dumb things to come-having Data acting like Sherlock Holmes. This plot is just awful and would lead to one of the worst episodes of the series--the one where Moriarty takes over the ship. So, we have an interesting plot, a dumb subplot and some odd graphics compared to later ones. A mixed bag, but worth seeing if you are a fan of the series. If not, I say try another episode instead.
*This is VERY sad. This was a great opportunity to FINALLY include an Indian crew member and they kill him off!! The show tried VERY hard to be ultra-politically correct yet they somehow killed the guy. Sad, but at least they'd EVENTUALLY bring on crew members like Dr. Bashir in "Deep Space 9".
