Friday, May 14, 2021

Star Trek: The Wounded

Episode: "The Wounded"
Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season 4, Episode 12
Original Air Date: January 28, 1991

via Memory Alpha

Benjamin Maxwell, captain of the USS Phoenix, has gone rogue in Cardassian space, violating a recently signed peace treaty between the Federation and the Cardassians.  The Enterprise is sent after him.

Every once in a great while, a Trek episode comes along that takes a darker and frankly more realistic view of warfare.  The Enterprise flits in and out of local skirmishes every other week but rarely gets involved enough to suffer any real damage, physical or otherwise.  "The Wounded," inspired by Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, offers a more meaningful glimpse of the long-term toil on the warrior's psyche.  Maxwell simply can't let go of seeing the Cardassians as the enemy.  A man of war, there is no place for him in a time of peace.

"The Wounded" is the first episode in which Chief O'Brien plays a prominent role.  He had served with Maxwell during the war with the Cardassians and was thus called upon to help reel in his former captain.  As it turns out, Miles has his own prejudices to work through.  In the episode's climactic scene, just after the moment of crisis passes, O'Brien and Maxwell sing together in memory of a fallen comrade.  It's genuinely touching, on a human level even more than a Trek level.

This is the story that introduces the Cardassians who, like Miles O'Brien, will become much more important in DS9.  Best of all, Marc Alaimo, the future Gul Dukat, plays a Cardassian for the first time.  It's not Alaimo's first appearance, though in previous episodes he was an Antican and a Romulan.


Food Notes
  • In the teaser, Miles and Keiko are at the breakfast table.  He turns up his nose at the health food she sets before him: kelp buds, plankton loaf, sea berries.  "Sweetheart, I'm not a fish," he complains.  Later, he makes a potato casserole for her.  She is equally unimpressed.
  • We see kanar, a Cardassian beverage, for the first time.

Acting Notes

via Memory Alpha

Bob Gunton played the role of Ben Maxwell.  He was born November 15, 1945 in Santa Monica, California.  His original plan was to join the priesthood, going so far as to attend seminary in Baltimore.  He ultimately graduated from UC-Irvine.  Gunton's military bona fides are genuine.  He served as an army radio telephone operator in the Vietnam War, awarded a Bronze Star.

Gunton's Broadway resume is stellar.  He was in the original cast of Evita and the lead in a Sweeney Todd revival.  He received Tony nominations for both.  He was also the original King in... wait for it... Big River.  Frequent readers may recall the many ties between Trek and that show, based on Huck Finn.  The role of the Duke (the King's partner in crime) was originated by Rene Auberjonois and later performed by Brent Spiner.

On screen, Gunton has made his career playing the hard ass.  Credits include Demolition Man, Patch Adams and Argo.  The undeniable highlight role: the unforgettable Warden Samuel Norton in The Shawshank Redemption.

9 comments:

  1. Such a great episode. Seems incredible to believe it took this long to give Meaney something substantial to do. I would love for him to show up in Picard.

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    1. Well, he did eventually get quite a bit of work... second most episodes total after Michael Dorn.

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  2. This sounds like a interesting Star Trek some of which we could or can be dealing with today.

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    1. Absolutely. The world has always been at war, somewhere or another.

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  3. Hate to write it, but I'm closer to Maxwell's way of thinking than Captain Picard's. I'm all for peaceful coexistence and cooperation but all parties have to want to dance to the same tune.

    I like how the writers heavily implied in the episode that the Cardassians were up to something but that the Federation wasn't capable of making a big deal out of it.

    As far as that is concerned didn't Churchill say something about there has never been a good war or a bad peace.

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    1. Well... can we at least agree Maxwell's approach to the problem wasn't the greatest?

      It's a beautifully constructed narrative. Picard: Maxwell was wrong to do what he did but not wrong to be suspicious, was he?

      I don't agree with Churchill. He's right about no good wars. But no bad peace? The Treaty of Versaille was definitely a bad peace - set the stage for all of the trouble that came after. The parsing of the Ottoman Empire between the British and the French was also disastrous long term.

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  4. Oh wow...I need to see this one again. It is excellent and has so much meaning and thought behind it. I love how Picard deals with the situation. The ending was excellent. This character actor is excellent and I had no clue he could sing! He was so evil in Shawshank, one of my all time favourite movies.

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    1. Such a good movie! We recently shared it with our daughter, now 17.

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