Darmok

"Darmok"
Star Trek: The Next Generationepisode
Episodeno.	Season 5 Episode 2
Directed by	Winrich Kolbe
Story by	Joe Menosky Phillip LaZebnik
Teleplay by	Joe Menosky
Featured music	Jay Chattaway
Cinematography by	Marvin Rush
Production code	202
Original air date	September 30, 1991(1991-09-30)
Guest appearances
Richard Allen - Tamarian First Officer Colm Meaney-Miles O'Brien Paul Winfield- Dathon Ashley Judd- Robin Lefler Majel Barrett- Computer Voice

"Darmok"is the 102nd episode of the Americanscience fictiontelevision seriesStar Trek: The Next Generation,the second episode of thefifth season.

Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of theStarfleetcrew of theFederation starshipEnterprise-D.In this episode, the crew of theEnterpriseis unable to establish meaningful communication with the crew of an alien vessel, which is resolved by the struggle of the ships' captains to defend each other from a vicious beast. It is often cited as one of the best episodes of bothThe Next Generationseries and the entire family ofStar Trektelevision series.

The alien species introduced in this episode is noted for speaking inallegories,such as "Temba, his arms wide", which are indecipherable to the universal translator normally used in the television series to allow communication across different languages.Captain Picard is abducted by these aliens and marooned with one of them on the surface of a planet, and must try to communicate.

Plot

TheEnterprisemakes contact with a Tamarian ship in orbit around the planet El-Adrel. The Tamarians had been previously contacted by the Federation, but could not be understood — although the universal translator can translate their words, they communicate by using brief allusions to their history and mythology to convey thoughts and intentions. Likewise, the Tamarians cannot understandCaptain Picard's straightforward use of language.

The Tamarian captain, Dathon, has himself and Picardtransportedto the planet's surface. The Tamarians then cast a scattering field that blocks further transporter use. Dathon utters the phrase "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" and tosses Picard a dagger; Picard mistakes Dathon's intentions, believing he wants a fight to the death. The next morning, Dathon comes running and Picard realizes there is a hostile predator in the area. Picard begins to understand the Tamarians' jargon when he recognizes oneallegoryas a tactic to fight the beast. The two attempt to battle the beast together, but theEnterprise's unsuccessful attempt to beam up Picard prevents him from participating at a crucial moment. Dathon is severely wounded.

On theEnterprise,First OfficerRikerand the crew struggle to understand the aliens' language. They make several efforts to rescue the Captain, all foiled by the Tamarians. While tending to Dathon's wounds, Picard slowly deduces that Darmok and Jalad were warriors who met on the island of Tanagra and were forced to unite against a dangerous beast there, becoming friends in the process. Dathon tried to recreate this event with Picard, hoping to forge a friendship through shared adversity. Picard recounts for Dathon theEpic of Gilgamesh,a story that parallels the allegory of Darmok and Jalad. Dathon seems to understand the story but succumbs to his injuries.

TheEnterprisefires on the Tamarian ship, disabling the scattering field, and beams up Picard. A battle begins, but just when mutual destruction seems certain, Picard enters the bridge and uses his newfound knowledge to communicate with the Tamarians, who are overjoyed at the development. Picard offers them Dathon's diary and dagger after telling them of their captain's sacrifice. The Tamarians tell him to keep the dagger in remembrance of Dathon, and record the incident as "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel" — a new phrase in their language.

Picard later reads theHomeric Hymns,explaining to Riker that studying their own mythology may help them relate to the Tamarians. He mourns that Dathon sacrificed himself in the hope of communication, and wonders if he would have done the same.

Production

This episode had the longest gestation period of any episode ofTNGduringMichael Piller's tenure, taking around two years to make it to the screen.Rick Bermanhated the premise, but Piller thought it was interesting and was determined to make it work. Piller gave it to writer Joe Menosky, who completed the script and focused the story on the idea of two leaders attempting to communicate, as well as using theEpic of Gilgameshas a plot device.

Primary filming for "Darmok" occurred July 18−26, 1991, on Paramount Stages 8, 9 and 16, as well as on location atBronson Canyon.An additional day was August 8 for the blue screen unit to film the creature scenes with stuntman Rex Pierson on Paramount Stage 9.Second unitfor this episode filmed on August 26 on Paramount Stages 9 and 16. When production for the following episode, "Ensign Ro",returned to location at Bronson Canyon on August 5, another sequence was filmed for" Darmok "involving Pierson and photo doubles Ron Large and Lanier Edwards. Photo double Dana Vitatoe filmed additional second unit shots on August 28 on Paramount Stage 9.

Casting

The episode featuresPaul Winfieldas Dathon, who previously played Captain Terrell inStar Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,andAshley Juddin her debut acting performance.The call sheet dated on July 18 featured an "uncast actress" in the role of Lt. Larson; in the final episode, this role became Robin Lefler, who was played by Judd.She later reprised this character in "The Game".

In other media

A Tamarian appears inStar Trek: Lower Deckswith a regular character featured as a crew member of theUSS Cerritos,Lt. Kayshon (voiced byCarl Tart). Kayshon is shown learning and using Federation Standard as well as the Tamarian language.

Tamarian use of language

The Tamarian language and its societal implications, as portrayed in the episode, have received considerable attention, both from fans of the series and also in mainstream media.

Most Star Trek plots used a Universal Translator to avoid language issues, but it failed here, providing conflict. The episode describes a language built upon metaphors and allegories, in which Tamarians cite incidents from their cultural history, to communicate the emotions they feel, their perceptions of situations, and their wishes and opinions about actions. For example, the Tamarian captain Dathon uses the expression "Temba, his arms wide", to indicate his intent to give an item to Picard, and his motive of generosity and friendly helpfulness, by referencing an event in Tamarian history involving a Tamarian, Temba. Similarly, the expressions "Darmok on the ocean, Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra, Darmok and Jalad on the ocean", convey a sense of two opposing persons, who arrive separately at an isolated place and, forced to cooperate when faced with a fierce beast, leave together as friends. The expression conveys his intentions and purpose in requiring his crew to transport Picard and himself to the planet (where there is also a dangerous creature), and isolate them there together. At the end of the episode, his diary is read by his crew, and a new piece of language emerges: "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel".

In examining this structure as a language basis,Ian Bogostwrote inThe Atlanticthat the language had been criticized as unsuited to technical dialogue of an advanced space-faring race ( "hand me the ¾-inch socket wrench" ), or as metaphor or imagery.In his analysis, "something much stranger" is depicted, since the language as depicted is described as "imagery", "metaphor", or "symbolic", and it seems to preventany distinction between an object (or event) and its figurative representation.

Bogost suggestsallegoryas a better term, because in allegory, events arereplacedby others instead of just referring to other events. Noting that 20th centuryphilosopherWalter Benjamincriticized this use of allegory as flawed and harmful (it replaces real concerns by a fetishized kind of mythology), he then commented that the answer to these points was to be found elsewhere.In Bogost's view, the Tamarian language portrayed is neither imagery nor allegory, although it can take these roles. Its deeper structure is an abstraction, a form of logic. There is no need to ask explicitly for a socket wrench, because the reference suggests what should be done, as well as how those involved should organize and execute the tasks involved. He suggests that the better term to describe this language is that it instantiatesstrategyandlogic,and all concerned can then perceive how to follow it with a shared understanding. He comments that in this sense, the term "Sim City"would represent and evoke an entire process and strategy for creating the simulations within that game, and that:

"If we pretend that 'Shaka, when the walls fell' is a signifier, then its signified is not the fictional mythological character Shaka, nor the myth that contains whatever calamity caused the walls to fall, but the logic by which the situation itself came about. Tamarian language isn’t really language at all, but machinery."

The Tamarians' language has been compared to the modern use ofInternet memesandimage macros.The paperDarmok and Jalad on the Internetby Kristina Šekrst builds upon the idea and compares the Tamarian language toLakoff's andMark Johnson's theory of metaphors fromMetaphors We Live ByandWomen, Fire, and Dangerous Things.

The bookHailing frequencies open: Communication in Star Trek: The Next Generationby Thomas D. Parham, III says that in "Darmok", the episode focused onepistemologyby using interpersonal interactions.They found that several other episodes in the series used interpersonal interactions to explore concepts.

Tamarian language was compared to the difficulty of communicating with anautistic19-year-old patient by Elizabeth Kim et al.

Amachine-learningtranslation by Peter Jansen was employed for English-to-Tamarian translation, assembling a Tamarian-English dictionary of utterances from the original episode and several follow-on novels, as well as an automatic translation system for this language pair.

Reception

Zack Handlen ofThe A.V. Clubgave it a grade "A", and although he finds the core concept improbable he says "the episode is carried by terrific performances, particularly Stewart and Winfield".In his 2012 rewatch, Keith DeCandido ofTor.comrated the episode nine out of ten.

The 1999 bookThe Music of Star Trekdescribes composerJay Chattaway's score as offering "memorable dramatic support" to "Darmok" and other episodes he had worked on.

"Darmok" is generally regarded as one of the greatest episodes ofStar Trek,as well as one ofPatrick Stewart's best performances as Captain Picard. In 2016,The Washington Postranked "Darmok" the second best episode of allStar Trektelevision.Io9ranked it as the fifth best episode of allStar Trekin 2011, and again in 2014.In 2016,Empireranked it sixth of allStar Trekepisodes.In 2016,Voxlist this as one of the top 25 essential episodes of allStar Trek.In 2019,The Hollywood Reporterlisted "Darmok" among the twenty-five best episodes ofStar Trek: The Next Generation.

In 2013,The Guardianrecommended this episode as one of six "examples of a smarter version ofStar Trek",out of all the episodes of the franchise up to that time. They remarked it was a" beautifully executed episode ".

In 2014,Ars Technicatriggered an online controversy when one staff member said it was a "bad episode"; in the ensuing discussion they noted that overall it is considered not just a good episode, but a great one.

In 2015,Geek.comrated "Darmok" as the fifth greatest moment inStar Trek.

In 2016,IGNranked "Darmok" the 19th best episode of allStar Trekseries. They call this one of "Picard's finest hours" as he tries to communicate with an alien that despite understanding the words (seeuniversal translator), does not understand the meaning. They are stranded together on an alien planet while threatened, and Picard eventually figures out they are speaking in metaphors. A communication breakthrough comes when he relates their situation to the alien's description "Darmok and Jalad – at Tanagra."

In 2016,Radio Timesranked the interaction between Picard and Dathon inStar Trek,as the 20th best moment in allStar Trek.

In 2017,Screen Rantranked "Darmok" as the third most optimistic and hopeful episode of allStar Trekepisodes up to that time.They also ranked the Tamarians, the alien species featured in this episode, as the fifth most bizarre aliens ofStar Trek.They remark thatStarfleethas difficulty in communicating with them due to a failure of their technology, theuniversal translator.

In 2017,Nerdistranked "Darmok" the fifth best episode ofStar Trek: The Next Generation.

In 2017,Den of Geekranked this episode as one of the top 25 "must watch" episodes ofStar Trek: The Next Generation.They also listed it as one of the top ten ground-breaking episodes of this series.They note how Picard must overcome the failure of the universal translator technology to communicate with an alien culture. They note how these aliens communicate using stories.

In 2018,Tom's Guiderated "Darmok" one of the 15 best episodes featuring Picard.

In 2018,Entertainment Weeklyranked "Darmok" as one of the top ten moments of Picard.In 2018,Popular Mechanicshighlighted "Darmok" as one of the twelve best Picard episodes, and as recommended viewing for audiences to prepare for a new television series based on that character,Star Trek: Picard.

In 2020,Primetimerranked this one of the top ten episodes for Picard.

In 2020,Screen Rantranked "Darmok" the third best episode of the series, noting its unique but great take on contact between alien cultures as Picard must contend with failure ofStar Trek's universal translator technology. They point out the episode features a "harrowing" confrontation, that features some tense situations as they struggle to communicate.

In 2020,The Digital Fixsaid this was the seventh best episode ofStar Trek: The Next Generation.

In 2021,Cinemablendranked this one of the top ten episodes ofTNG.

A character introduced in this episode, Robin Lefler (played by Ashley Judd), was ranked as the 71st most important character ofStarfleetwithin theStar Trekscience fiction universe.TV Guidelisted Judd's acting role as Ensign Robin Lefler as one of 28 surprising guest acting roles onStar Trek,noting that she appears in this episode "Darmok" and also in "The Game".The future romance between Robin and Wesley's character is also noted. In 2021, Robert Vaux writing forCBR,said that Paul Winfield was a "terrific" co-star for Stewart, and highlighted this episode among a trio of season five episodes (along with "The Perfect Mate"and"The Inner Light") that he really shined in.

Releases

The episode was later released in the United States on November 5, 2002, as part of the Season 5DVDbox set.The firstBlu-rayrelease was in the United States on November 18, 2013,followed by the United Kingdom the next day.

See also

• Ascian language
• Utamakura– Rhetorical concept in Japanese poetry

External links

• "Darmok"atIMDb
• "Darmok"atMemory Alpha
• Tamarian languageatMemory Alpha