Who Watches the Watchers

This is one of the best episode of Star Trek that involves the seriousness of the Prime Directive. It handles it really well, that's all I can say without spoiling it. You realize by watching this episode how important the Prime Directive is and how difficult it is to decide what to do when it may have been accidentally violated. It's a fun episode from start to finish.

I was watching back through the first three seasons to select episodes that would make a good sampling for a friend of mine; this episode is the one (out of the first three seasons) that I would be absolutely certain to recommend to anyone. It requires little to no background information and tells an engaging story. Also, to my recollection, no other episode conveys so well the wonder of reason and cultural progress.

Just as another reviewer observed about The Inner Light (my personal favorite), this episode shows that sci-fi, at its best, is not so much about the technology as it is about good storytelling.

Living under the prime directive should preclude carelessness. The people researching a race of people (who look like Vulcans) end up blowing their cover. This draws the Enterprise crew into the mix and they are observed by the inhabitants. Beverly, following her Hippocratic oath beams up a native who falls from a precipice when startled. When he awakens on board the Enterprise he sees Picard in a soft light and assumes he is a god who has used his powers to save him. Of course,things get truly complicated because the confusion that ensues presents complex moral situations that need to be remedied.To complicate things, Riker and Troi, dressed like the inhabitants, are stuck on the planet. As they bide their time, trying to convince these people that their beliefs are simply superstitions, a man is captured who had disappeared when all hell broke loose. Since "the Picard" is seen as a god, they have to figure out what to do with this incapacitated stranger. Jean-Luc beams the female leader aboard to do what he can to try to show her that they are not gods, the Enterprise isn't Valhalla, and he is only a human at a different stage of history. The prime directive certainly complicates things. It's sort of like the U. S. Bill of Rights. It may not allow you to do what you interpret as right, but at its foundation it is right and proper. Without it, all sorts of bad stuff can happen and civilizations would be changed forever. It also keeps those who think they have all the answers in check. Excellent episode.

This episode puts the history of humanity into perspective. Religion, superstition, ignorance, desperation; these are all topics expressed in this episode, with masterful writing and directing. This episode does not hold your hand, it forces you to come to your own conclusions and find your own solutions. Just as some episodes of TNG show humanity to be extremely primitive (even in the 2300s), this episode displays them as supreme beings, gods even. It puts the history of our species into perspective. Perhaps our gods are just aliens that didn't follow the prime directive.

It gets me right in the feels. My favorite episode after The Inner Light.