The High Ground

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.

This is certainly one of the best of "The Next Generation." An away team is enjoying a meal in a restaurant when there is a terrorist attack. An explosion results in several casualties. Unfortunately, Beverly Crusher, who as a doctor feels a moral imperative to help the wounded is captured and brought to the den of the insurgents. This turns into a classic representation of a civil war where there has been murder and mayhem for some time. Beverly is enlisted to attend to the needs of the insurrectionists as they also have casualties. She does her job but will not speak. A young charismatic man named Finn talks to her and tries to convince her to look at the events from two sides. The dominant culture has had a stranglehold on people for as long as he can remember and he is willing to die for his cause. Beverly smugly reminds him that there are other ways to do things and violence is never the way. He reminds her that the universe is scattered with bodies, the result of her own ship's actions, even if they are righteous. Many have compared this to the conflicts in Northern Ireland and it is no coincidence that the leader of the rebel forces is named Finn. A really provocative episode.

The Enterprise crew get caught up in the internal politics of a planet suffering from terrorist activities.

This is a reasonably good episode that tackles a relevant subject in a fairly simplistic way. There are however a number of decent moments for the regular characters, particularly Dr Crusher.

The plot is quite simple with Crusher being kidnapped whilst Picard and the crew work to rescue her and battle terrorists. It starts off with a relatively unremarkable first half, but it gets more compelling later on as they direct their hostilities towards the Enterprise. There is nothing particularly memorable in what is presented on the subject or terrorism, other than that it's bad and this is underpinned by what becomes of Finn. Saying that the Northern Ireland reference does stand out, but more for the fact that it was controversial at the time of production and now because it's looking to be an inaccurate prediction.

Speaking of Finn and the guest characters, they are not particularly memorable for me. I do not think he is written particularly well and feels like a caricature. Devos is slightly better and she has a decent chemistry with Riker.

The main characters have a number of good moments. Dr Crusher holds firm on her ethical beliefs throughout the episode and has plenty of solid screen time. The likes of Data, Geordie, Wesley, Worf, Picard and Riker also make their own contributions to the resolution of the story.

The visuals are fairly good, particularly the action sequences. The sets are okay, but largely forgettable.

Performances of the regular cast members are all good, with Gates McFadden standing out with what I think is her best performance so far. As for the guest stars, Richard Cox does not convince me as a terrorist leader at all, but Kerrie Keane is fairly solid.

For me this one is a 6.5/10 but I round upwards.

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.

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.