Home Soil
"Home Soil" | |
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Star Trek: The Next Generation episode | |
Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 18 |
Directed by | Corey Allen |
Story by | Robert Sabaroff Karl Geurs Ralph Sanchez |
Teleplay by | Robert Sabaroff |
Featured music | Dennis McCarthy |
Cinematography by | Edward R. Brown |
Production code | 117 |
Original air date | February 22, 1988 |
Guest appearances | |
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"Home Soil" is the eighteenth episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. It first aired in broadcast syndication on February 22, 1988. Robert Sabaroff, Karl Geurs and Ralph Sanchez developed the story, with Sabaroff producing the teleplay. "Home Soil" is one of five episodes of the series directed by Corey Allen.
Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In the episode, the crew of the Enterprise investigates the murder of a crewman on a terraforming colony and discover a crystalline life form possessing intelligence.
The production team encountered problems with the sets, casting, and scheduling. Due to issues with the script, it was delivered to Allen just one day before shooting. Nine million viewers watched the episode, the second lowest number of viewers for the first season of The Next Generation. Critical reception was mixed, with one reviewer noting that unlike
Plot
Diverted from exploring the Pleiades, the Enterprise arrives at the terraforming colony on Velara III, as the project is behind schedule. The director, Kurt Mandl (Walter Gotell), insists they are on time but Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) orders an away team to the surface after Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) senses that Mandl is hiding something. After they arrive, one of Mandl's team is killed by a malfunctioning laser drill. During Lt. Commander Data's (Brent Spiner) inspection of the tool, it begins to fire at him, but his quick android reflexes allow him to dodge the shot and render the drill harmless. He discovers that the laser had been reprogrammed to fire upon the staff. Nearby, a crystal is discovered giving off irregular light and radiation patterns. The crystal is brought aboard the Enterprise to study and Picard orders a halt to the terraforming.
Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) and Data discover the crystal may be alive. When the crystal attempts to interact with the Enterprise's computers, it is placed into a containment force field. The crystal begins to grow and gains access to the computer's translation program and attempts to communicate with the crew, treating the humans as an enemy, derisively calling them "ugly bags of mostly water". Picard discovers that Mandl and his team previously encountered the crystals; at the time, they had considered the possibility that the crystals were alive, but Mandl insisted on continuing to terraform. The terraformers used a drilling process responsible for removing the saline water layer from the water table of Velara III. This saline layer acted as a conductor, allowing many separate crystals to function as one life form. In a defensive response to the drilling, the crystal life form rewrote the laser's software and attacked the terraformers.
Data hypothesizes that a single crystal is not intelligent, but when linked to other crystals, their intelligence is formidable. As the crystalline life form accesses higher-level functions of the Enterprise's computer, Picard and the crew try to transport it to the surface but the crystal blocks all attempts to transport it off the ship. Data and Lt.
Production
Re-writes on "Home Soil" continued throughout shooting, with Corey Allen receiving pages on the day before filming, something that Allen described as a "struggle".[1] Of the story in general, The Next Generation writer and producer Maurice Hurley said it was "An interesting idea, but the execution fell apart."[1] He felt that in addition to the script, there were issues with casting, sets and the time in which to shoot.[1] The story bears similarities to the Space: 1999 episode "All That Glisters", which also featured intelligent water-ingesting rocks that communicated with humanoids.[2]
Reception
I think "Home Soil" works, and works well, and it's a terrific example of a kind of story that the TOS never really delved into: hard sci-fi. It's called "hard" because it takes existing knowledge and projects only slightly outwards from it, instead of just throwing in a few words like "space" and "lasers" to make it all seem technological. Kirk's Enterprise ran into all sorts of aliens and oddities, but while it did make overtures to more grounded writing, you never got the impression any of the writers on the show did serious research before putting plots together.
Zack Handlen, The A.V. Club, May 14, 2010[5]
The episode first aired on February 22, 1988. It received
Several reviewers re-watched the episode after the end of the series. Keith DeCandido reviewed the episode for Tor.com, saying that "while this episode has its flaws, it's a wonderful example of science fiction, one that doesn't skimp on suspense, action, and Trek's trademark compassion."[7] He didn't like the film direction by Allen, saying that the director had a "bizarre insistence on unnatural, stage-y blocking and positioning and obsession with extreme closeups".[7] DeCandido also thought that the plot suffered "amnesia regarding the Horta" from The Original Series episode "The Devil in the Dark".[7][8] He gave "Home Soil" an overall score of seven out of ten.[7] Michelle Erica Green, in her review for TrekNation, thought that the episode was "less interesting" than the "Horta attacks and mind-melds" of "The Devil in the Dark". She also felt "Home Soil" was too similar "in the science fiction and in the storytelling" to the previous episode, "When the Bough Breaks".[8]
Zack Handlen, who watched the episode for
Home media release
"Home Soil" was first released on VHS cassette in the United States and Canada on August 26, 1992.[10] The episode was later included on the Star Trek: The Next Generation season one DVD box set, released in March 2002.[11] The season one Blu-ray set was released on July 24, 2012.[12]
Notes
- ^ a b c d Gross; Altman (1993): p. 164
- ^ Muir (1997): p. 173
- ^ a b Nemecek (2003): p. 49
- ^ "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style". MetroLyrics. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ a b c d Handlen, Zack (May 14, 2010). ""Home Soil"/"Coming Of Age"/"Heart Of Glory"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
- ^ "Star Trek: The Next Generation Nielsen Ratings – Seasons 1–2". TrekNation. Archived from the original on October 5, 2000. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
- ^ a b c d DeCandido, Keith (July 7, 2011). "Star Trek: The Next Generation Rewatch: "Home Soil"". Tor.com. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
- ^ a b Green, Michelle Erica (July 27, 2007). "Home Soil". TrekNation. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
- ^ a b Hunt, James (February 1, 2013). "Revisiting Star Trek TNG: Home Soil". Den of Geek. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
- ^ "Star Trek – The Next Generation, Episode 17: Home Soil (VHS)". Tower Video. Archived from the original on July 3, 2013. Retrieved July 2, 2013.
- ^ Periguard, Mark A (March 24, 2002). "'Life as a House' rests on shaky foundation". The Boston Herald. Archived from the original on June 10, 2014. Retrieved April 9, 2013. (subscription required)
- ^ Shaffer, RL (April 30, 2012). "Star Trek: The Next Generation Beams to Blu-ray". IGN. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
References
- Gross, Edward; Altman, Mark A. (1993). Captain's Logs: The Complete Trek Voyages. London: Boxtree. ISBN 978-1-85283-899-7.
- Muir, John (1997). Exploring Space 1999. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-0-7864-0165-9.
- Nemecek, Larry (2003). Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion (3rd ed.). New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 0-7434-5798-6.
External links
- "Home Soil" at IMDb
- "Home Soil" at Memory Alpha