Where Silence Has Lease
"Where Silence Has Lease" | |
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Star Trek: The Next Generation episode | |
Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 2 |
Directed by | Winrich Kolbe |
Written by | Jack B. Sowards |
Featured music | Ron Jones |
Cinematography by | Edward R. Brown |
Production code | 128 |
Original air date | November 28, 1988 |
Guest appearances | |
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"Where Silence Has Lease" is the second episode of the
Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In this episode, the Enterprise becomes enveloped by a void in space where the crew is tested by a powerful alien presence.
Plot
While on a charting mission, the Federation starship Enterprise, under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, discovers a zone of pure blackness in space; probes launched into the area simply disappear. As they study it further, the zone expands and soon envelops the Enterprise, leaving them in a black void with sensors reporting nothing outside. Picard orders the ship on a return course but they find that they cannot escape. They leave a stationary beacon behind them, only to have it reappear ahead of them.
A
Suddenly, an entity with a distorted, almost childlike face as a result of it attempting to look humanoid, appears in the void, calling itself Nagilum. It announces its curiosity about humans and their "limited existence" and would like to test the limits of the human body. It causes Ensign Haskell to experience violent convulsions and he then falls to the floor, dead. Nagilum then states that it wants to know everything about death, asserting absent-mindedly that it would take between a third and a half of the Enterprise's crew to complete its experiments. Picard decides to activate the ship's self-destruct sequence rather than to submit to Nagilum's whims. As the crew prepares for their end, Picard is tested again by Nagilum through peculiar behavior displayed by
Trivia
- The character of Nagilum was originally named "Nagillum", after actor Richard Mulligan, whom the show's co-executive producer, Maurice Hurley, originally wanted cast in the role. "Nagillum" is "Mulligan" spelled backward.[2]
- When Picard is approached by the doppelgängers of Troi and Data, he is listening to one of Gymnopédie No. 1(1888).
- The title of the episode is from the last stanza of a 1907 poem, "The Spell of the Yukon" by Robert W. Service.
- When Picard and Riker decide to set the ship on auto-destruct, the computer asks how long until that should happen (they choose 20 minutes), which is a direct contradiction — or development subsequent — to a first-season episode (11001001) when the captain and first officer set the auto-destruct, and Riker comments that they have no choice as to the length of time until the ship destroys itself (5 minutes).
Reception
In 2018, CBR ranked Nagilum as a strong character for Star Trek; in particular they note how it deceives yet also causes trouble for the crew of the Enterprise 1701-D.[5] The appearance of the USS Yamato was also noted.[5] (The Yamato and the Enterprise 1701-D are both Galaxy-class starships.)
In 2020, Screen Rant noted this as a frightening episode of Star Trek, elaborating, "... the audience were subjected to psychological stress in this season 2 episode."[6]
References
- ^ a b Hunt, James (April 26, 2013). "Revisiting Star Trek TNG: Where Silence Has Lease". Den of Geek.
- ISBN 0962750816.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link - ^ Handlen, Zack (June 3, 2010). "Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The Child"/"Where Silence Has Lease"/"Elementary, Dear Data"". The A.V. Club.
- Tor.com.
- ^ a b Dahl, Angie (June 17, 2018). "Top 20 Strongest Characters In Star Trek, Officially Ranked". CBR. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
- ^ "Star Trek TNG: The 10 Most Frightening Episodes Of The Entire Show". Screen Rant. December 23, 2020. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
- Star Trek The Next Generation DVDset, volume 2, disc 1, selection 2.
- Wikisource:The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses/The Spell of the Yukon