The Inner Light (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

"The Inner Light"
Star Trek: The Next Generationepisode
Episodeno.	Season 5 Episode 25
Directed by	Peter Lauritson
Story by	Morgan Gendel
Teleplay by	Morgan Gendel Peter Allan Fields
Featured music	Jay Chattaway
Cinematography by	Marvin Rush
Production code	225
Original air date	June 1, 1992(1992-06-01)
Guest appearances
Margot Rose– Eline Richard Riehle– Batai Scott Jaeck– Ressik Administrator Jennifer Nash – (adult) Meribor Patti Yasutake– Alyssa Ogawa Daniel Stewart – Batai, Son of Kamin

"The Inner Light"is the 125th episode overall and the 25th and penultimate episode of thefifth seasonof theAmerican science fiction televisionseriesStar Trek: The Next Generation.The episode was written by freelance writerMorgan Gendelbased on his original pitch. It was partly inspired bythe Beatles' song "The Inner Light",written byGeorge Harrisonand based on verses in theTao Te Ching.Gendel is credited as writer of the story and co-writer of the teleplay withPeter Allan Fields.It was first broadcast on June 1, 1992.

Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of theStarfleetcrew of theFederation starship Enterprise-D.In this episode, CaptainJean-Luc Picard(Patrick Stewart) is struck unconscious by an energy beam from an alien probe. While just 25 minutes pass for the rest of the crew between Picard being struck unconscious and eventually regaining consciousness on the Enterprise bridge floor, the probe makes Picard experience 40 years of lifetime as Kamin, a humanoid scientist whose planet is threatened by thenovaof its sun. The probe is later found to contain a flute, which Picard keeps as a memento.

The episode is widely considered by critics and fans as one of the best episodes of the entireStar Trekfranchise. In 1993, "The Inner Light" won theHugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.The flute melody, featured prominently in the episode, was composed byJay Chattawayand has since been re-arranged for a full orchestra.The episode has also been cited as a favorite by members of the show's cast and crew, and is a fan favorite, even resulting in a 2021 auction of the prop flute – once thought byChristie'sauction house to be worth equivalent to $450 in 2023 dollars – for$190,000(equivalent to $213,636 in 2023).

Plot

Onstardate45944.1, theEnterprise-Dfinishes a magnetic wave survey of the Parvenium system and finds an unknownprobe.The device rapidly scans the ship and directs an energy beam atCaptain Picard,who wakes up to find himself on Kataan, a non-Federationplanet. A woman, Eline, tells Picard that he is Kamin, an iron weaver recovering from a fever, and that she is his wife. Picard speaks of his life on theEnterprisebut Eline and their close friend Batai try to convince Picard that his memories were only feverish dreams andincorporatehim into their society as Kamin. Picard begins living his life as Kamin in his village, Ressik, having children with Eline and learning to play the flute. Kamin spends much time outdoors and with hisDobsonian telescopestudying nature. As years pass, he begins to notice that the drought is caused by increased radiation from the planet's sun. He sends reports to the planet's leaders, who seem to ignore his concerns.

OnEnterprise,the crew continues attempts to revive Picard. They try to block the influence of the probe but Picard nearly dies, so they are forced to let it continue. They trace the rocket's trajectory to a system whose sun wentnova1,000 years before, rendering life extinct in the system.

Years pass and Kamin outlives Eline and Batai. Kamin and his daughter Meribor continue their study of the drought. They find that it is not temporary; the extinction of life on the planet is inevitable. Kamin confronts a government official who privately admits to him that they already know this but keep it secret to avoid panic. The official gravely points out to Kamin that they have only recently launched artificial satellites using primitive rockets: their race simply does not possess the technology to evacuate people before their planet is rendered uninhabitable.

One day, while playing with his grandson, Kamin is summoned by his adult children to watch the launch of a rocket, which everyone seems to know about except him. As he walks outside into the glaring nova light, Kamin sees Eline and Batai, as young as when he first saw them. They explain that he has already seen the rocket, just before he came there. Knowing that their planet was doomed, the planet's leaders placed memories of their society into a probe and launched it into space, in the hope that it would find someone who could tell others about their species. Picard realizes the context: "Oh, it's me, isn't it?", he says, "I'm the someone... I'm the one it finds", realizing that Kamin was the avatar they chose to represent their race.

Picard wakes up on the bridge of theEnterpriseto discover that while he perceived many decades to have transpired, only 25 minutes have passed. The probe terminates and is brought aboard theEnterprise.Inside, the crew finds a small box. Riker gives the box to Picard, who opens it to find Kamin's flute. Picard, now adept at the instrument, plays a melody he learned during his life as Kamin.

Title

Morgan Gendel named the episode after "The Inner Light",a song written byGeorge Harrisonand released bythe Beatlesas the B-side of their 1968 single "Lady Madonna".The lyrics of Harrison's song were based on the 47th chapter of theTao Te Ching,which reads:

Without going outside his door, one understands (all that takes place) under the sky; without looking out from his window, one sees the Tao of Heaven. The farther that one goes out (from himself), the less he knows. Therefore the sages got their knowledge without travelling; gave their (right) names to things without seeing them; and accomplished their ends without any purpose of doing so.

According to Gendel, the song "captured the theme of the show: that Picard experienced a lifetime of memories all in his head."

Ressikan flute

Replicaof Ressikan flute byMorgan Gendel

The brass Ressikan flute resembles, and has a similar sound to, a penny whistle or atin whistle.It is considered a lasting reminder of Picard's virtual life on the planet throughout the rest of the series.Picard's flute could occasionally be seen in its box sitting on his desk. It plays a role in the episode "Lessons"where Picard develops a romantic relationship with a stellar cartographer assigned to theEnterprise,Nella Daren, an accomplished pianist who encourages his musical side and with whom he performs a duet version of the "Inner Light" theme.Earlier in the sixth season, a scene shows Picard practicingMozarton the flute in the beginning of "A Fistful of Datas".It later appears in adeleted scenefromStar Trek Nemesis;Lieutenant Commander Data picks it up and examines it while discussing human life with Picard. The original placement of this scene was to have been immediately following the wedding ceremony shown early in the film. The most recent appearance of the flute is inStar Trek: Picard,in which Picard picks up and observes the item among his belongings at his château.

A simple recurring theme that Picard plays on the flute was later developed into a full orchestral suite for the 30th anniversary ofStar Trek.Another tune heard on the flute in "The Inner Light" was incorporated into the opening theme ofStar Trek: Picard.

From October 5–7, 2006, the Ressikan flute, in the simple storage box seen in the episode, was one of the items up for bid atChristie'sofficial studio auction ofStar Trekmemorabilia. The prop flute, which cannot actually be played, was originally estimated to have a sale price ofUS$300(equivalent to $453 in 2023), and was thought to be a possible item for "[f]ans with more modest budgets", though auction directors admitted that their estimates for many items did not "factor in that emotional fury generated around this kind of material".The estimate was later raised to $800–$1,200 on Christie's web site.In the days leading up to the auction,Denise Okuda,formerTrekscenic artist and video supervisor, as well as co-writer of the auction catalog, said: "That's the item people say they really have to have, because it's so iconic to a much-beloved episode."The final bid for the flute at the auction was US$40,000. Including the additional 20% fee Christie's collected on all items from the winning bidder, the total price for the flute was$48,000(equivalent to $72,547 in 2023).

On June 29, 2021, the Ressikan flute and storage box, along with a script from the episode complete with costume continuity photos and handwritten notes, was auctioned during a Prop Store collectibles auction, with a pre-auction estimate of up to $70,000 (equivalent to $78,700 in 2023);the package sold for$190,000(equivalent to $213,636 in 2023).

Critical reception

The episode is the favorite episode of actorPatrick Stewart,who played CaptainJean-Luc Picard.Star TrekwriterSusan Sackettnotes that it is also her favorite episode even though it is not one she wrote.

In 2011,io9ranked "The Inner Light" as the eighth best episode of all (then)six television seriesin theStar Trekfranchise.

In 2015,The Hollywood Reporternoted this episode's presentation of Picard remembering his probe-life and quietly playing the Ressikan flute in his cabin, ranking it as the fifth "most stunning" moment ofStar Trek: The Next Generation.

In 2016, marking the 50th anniversary ofthe first ever episodein theStar Trekfranchise, "The Inner Light" received high recognition within the body of 725 episodes, over 30 seasons, of the then-aired first six television series in the franchise:

• The Hollywood Reporterranked it the fourth bestStar Trekepisode.
• Empireranked this the tenth bestStar Trekepisode.
• Radio Timessaid that Picard playing the flute at the end of the episode, having experienced the loving family life of Kamin, showed how "[n]ever has the dutiful captain looked so lonely", ranking it the sixth greatest scene inStar Trektelevision history.

In 2017:

• Varietylisted it as the best episode ofStar Trek: The Next Generation.
• Nerdistranked this the second best episode ofStar Trek: The Next Generation.
• Screen Rantrated it as the second most romantic episode ofStar Trek,for the relationship between the Picard (as Kamin) and Eline characters.
• Fatherlyranked this as one of the top 10 episodes ofStar Trekfor kids to watch.
• Den of Geekranked it as one of top 25 "must watch" episodes ofStar Trek: The Next Generation.
• Vulturelisted this as one of the best episodes ofStar Trek: The Next Generation.

In 2018:

• Popular Mechanicslisted it as one of the top 12 episodes for the Picard character, and also calls the climax "among the most stunning turns in any Star Trek script".
• Syfynoted the flute solo, composed by Jay Chattaway, as one of the famous pieces of music fromStar Trek.

In 2019:

• Screen Rantranked "The Inner Light" as one of the top ten important episodes to watch in preparation for the seriesStar Trek: Picard.
• The Hollywood Reporterlisted this among the 25 best episodes ofStar Trek: The Next Generation.

In 2020:

• Ranked the best episode of Star Trek on Episode Hive by 8,500 voters
• The Digital Fixsaid this was the second-best episode ofStar Trek:The Next Generation,calling it a "rich, powerful, piece of storytelling" and praising Patrick Stewart's acting as Picard contending with an experience outside his usual job of Starship captain.

In 2021, Robert Vaux, writing forCBR,highlighted this episode among a trio of season five episodes (along with "The Perfect Mate"and"Darmok") that Patrick Stewart shone in. He points out the episode is" widely cited as one of the bestTrekepisodes of any kind. "

Awards and nominations

This episode won the 1993Hugo AwardforBest Dramatic Presentation.The award was given at theWorldconin San Francisco."The Inner Light" was the first television program to be so honored since theStar Trekoriginal seriesepisode "The City on the Edge of Forever"won in 1968. The other Hugo Award-winningStar Trekepisodes are two different two-part episodes,The Original Series'"The Menagerie"andThe Next Generation's series finale, "All Good Things...".

The episode was nominated at the45th Primetime Emmy AwardsforOutstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Series,but lost toStar Trek: Deep Space Nine's "Captive Pursuit".

Media releases

A DVD release came as part ofThe Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation – Volume 2on November 17, 2009, in the United States.

Further reading

• Bond, Jeff (1999).The Music of Star Trek.Lone Eagle Publishing Co.ISBN1-58065-012-0.
• Gendel, Morgan; Peter Allan Fields (March 24, 1992).Star Trek: The Next Generation - "The Inner Light" #40275-225.Paramount Pictures Corporation.
• Richards, Thomas (1997).The Meaning of Star Trek.Doubleday.ISBN0-385-48437-2.
• Gendel, Morgan(July 2, 2013)."Morgan Gendel Celebrates 'The Inner Light'".StarTrek.Archivedfrom the original on October 23, 2023.RetrievedJanuary 8,2024.

External links

• "The Inner Light"atIMDb
• "The Inner Light"atMemory Alpha