The High Ground

Dr crusher would of never passed her entrance exam to star fleet. I wasn't a fan of this episode, it has lots of logical and story goofs and the focus on crusher always makes me snore. Her son is annoying enough.. Somehow he always has answers that work and that the officers and even data never can figure out.. shut up Westley!

While visiting a planet in the midst of an upsurge in terrorist activity, Dr Crusher is abducted and held hostage. While Wesley assists in trying to combat a unique teleportation device deployed by the terrorists, his mother witnesses the casualties of war first-hand and tries to appeal to their fanatical leader, Kyril Finn.

It may have taken two and a half seasons but Dr Crusher finally gets the spotlight, allowing McFadden to demonstrate her talents as an actress. Unfortunately, the episode is a fairly forgettable effort that asks the question about the difference between being a terrorist and an instigator of political change with some alarming points made. Frankly, none of the supporting cast do well in a number of unlikeable roles and the episode never feels like it gets going. Still, at least Dr Crusher has a personality now - even if it is a dumb one.

It's obvious that this episode is based on various terrorist organizations of the day--such as the IRA and PLO. This isn't surprising, as all the Star Trek franchises have a history of making episodes with contemporary parallels.

In this episode, the Enterprise is visiting the Ruthian planet--a place which has been plagued with terrorist attacks for many, many years. It seems that the Ensatan separatists want their own homeland and they seem willing to do just about anything to bring about this change--including kidnapping Dr. Crusher. But there is another reason for taking her prisoner, as the Ensatans are experiencing serious genetic damage due to their use of dimensional shifting--a practice long abandoned by the Federation since it will eventually kill those who use it.

Naturally the Enterprise want the Doctor back but they also don't want to be picking sides or get pulled into the conflict. Unfortunately, the Ensatans don't see it that way and soon are targeting the Enterprise and its crew.

Overall this is a decent episode, though some might be offended at the moral relativity. In other words, terrorists and those fighting them in this one are basically the same. This is sometimes true...sometimes not in real life. But its message is compelling nevertheless.

This is another annoying, non-sequiteur episode that has nothing to do with the wider conflict within the Federation. The ridiculous capturing of Dr. Crusher was just annoying beyond belief.

I couldn't watch this episode because of the heavy-handed way of preaching and trying to make me swayed to a particular view-point.

Intelligently written, doing what good science fiction always does, and what Star Trek sometimes excelled at. Using the backdrop of fictional situations to illustrate the more contentious issues and aspects of contemporary societal and political life.

And it manages to do this while maintaining the tension within the plot of a good story.

Yes it features the Crushers, but long gone is the somewhat mawkish relationship between mother and son of the first series.

The writer even manages to work in an old fashioned fist fight in the final act.

Sorry, no Buck Rogers stuff here for the space cadets, just a well executed, thoughtful allegorical tale of what happens when a division of a society is marginalised to the point that they are driven to extremism.

It asks questions that are very relevant, especially now, and doesn't attempt to answer them, and nor should it, to do so really would be preaching.