Series: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season 6, Episode 20
Original Air Date: April 26, 1993
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| via Memory Alpha |
An old friend of Captain Picard comes for a visit. Professor Galen, Jean-Luc's archaeology mentor, invites his protégé along for one last adventure. While our good captain declines, adventure comes to him when Galen is killed moments after he departs. It falls to the Enterprise crew to solve the riddle of Galen's final quest.
"The Chase" is really two stories for the price of one. The first half, before Galen's death, falls into the "what might have been" pattern so typical of the Picard arc of late. The second half is a more Roddenberry-esque morality play. Representatives of the Cardassians, Klingons and Romulans all compete with our friends to unlock Galen's mystery, each certain it will be of great benefit to whichever superpower finds it first. Wouldn't you know, instead, they all learn a valuable lesson about their common origin. Kumbaya. We are all truly one.
The episode has its moments. I always enjoy the way archaeology brings out the romantic in Picard. There's also a wonderful exchange between our captain and the Romulan Captain in the denouement, hauntingly reminiscent of the end of the original series masterpiece, "Balance of Terror." True to form, the NextGen version is more hopeful.
Acting Notes
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| via Wikipedia |
Norman Lloyd (Galen) was born Norman Nathan Pulmutter, November 8, 1914 in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was performing professionally on vaudeville from the age of 9. He graduated from high school at 15 and went to NYU, though he left after two years.
Lloyd had a long, distinguished career on the stage, working with the Civic Repertory Theatre, Federal Theatre Project's Living Newspaper, the Mercury Theatre and the Group Theatre. In film, he worked with Alfred Hitchcock for years, appearing in Sabateur and Spellbound, then serving as producer for Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In the '80s, he was a principal on St. Elsewhere. For my generation, he is probably best known as Mr. Nolan, the headmaster in Dead Poets Society.
Lloyd was married to his wife, Peggy Craven, for 75 years. Yes, you read that correctly. 75 years! They had two children. He played tennis regularly until age 99. He died in his sleep in 2021 at the ripe old age of 106.
I always have to watch when this one comes on. Dr. Auschlander from St. Elsewhere is great as Galen. His ceramic jar references Jungian archetypes in a cool way. They actually explain the "humanoids everywhere" trope of Star Trek (and possibly link back to "the Preservers" mentioned in the original series). Plus, there's that Klingon's hilarious reaction when the ancient message ends. :-)
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about the Jungian archetypes. That's cool.
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