star trek next gen home soil

Home Soil (episode)

View history
1.2 Act One
1.3 Act Two
1.4 Act Three
1.5 Act Four
1.6 Act Five
1.7 Log entries
2 Memorable quotes
3.1 Production history
3.2 Story and production
3.3 Cast and characters
3.4 Continuity
3.5 Sets, props, and costumes
3.6 Reception
3.7 Video and DVD releases
4.1 Starring
4.2 Also starring
4.3 Guest stars
4.4 Co-stars
4.5 Uncredited co-stars
4.6 Stand-ins
4.7.1 Unused production references
4.8 External links

Summary [ ]

The USS Enterprise -D is on a mission to catalog young planets in the Pleiades Cluster . Along the way, they have been instructed by the Federation to check on the terraforming colony on Velara III , as they were behind schedule. Captain Picard calls down to the station, and after a minute or two of no answers from the planet, Director Kurt Mandl finally responds. On the viewscreen , the director insists there is no need for them to pay a visit as they are back on schedule. Counselor Troi senses that he is extremely nervous about something, especially when Picard insists that an away team be sent down to have a look around. Troi, Commander Riker , Lieutenant Yar , Lieutenant Commander Data , and Lieutenant La Forge beam to the facility.

Act One [ ]

" We don't get many visitors here. "

They are greeted by hydraulics specialist Arthur Malencon , biosphere designer Luisa Kim , and Chief Engineer Bjorn Bensen . Outside the complex is Velara III's dark, windswept desert, a hostile place, which Kim tells them to remember; in a couple of decades, she plans for it to look like a Garden of Eden . Kim apologizes for their director's rudeness. She points out that they don't get many visitors and mentions that Dr. Mandl has been under a great deal of stress lately.

Kim offers a look around, proudly explaining their amazing procedure of taking a lifeless planet and converting it into a class M environment. Afterwards, La Forge and Data can't help but go to Malencon at the controls for the hydraulic probes. He mentions he has been having problems with the erratic power surges in the servos that control the probes. La Forge offers assistance, wondering if the high saline content of the soil is disrupting conductivity. Mandl finally enters, appearing gruff and moody. He reminds Malencon of their tight schedule and sends the reluctant tech off to work in the laser drilling room. Mandl directs the away team's attention to a schematic diagram of their planning; everything is specific and exacting.

Laser blasted

Suddenly, Troi senses terror and announces that Malencon is in serious trouble. A warning siren sounds and the group runs to the hydraulic station. As they approach, they hear the blasting of a drilling laser and cries of pain. The door to the room is sealed; they try to force the hatch when the laser blasts and screams abruptly stop. Upon opening the door, they find the room is a complete mess and spot Malencon, so badly injured he probably cannot be saved. In the center of the room a large drilling laser hangs from a control arm, still pointing down at him.

Act Two [ ]

Quick like an android

Riker has Malencon transported to the Enterprise -D sickbay, but indeed Crusher cannot save him. In the meantime, they have the power to the hydraulics room shut down. Kim, Mandl, Troi, and Riker head to the ship as well; the rest stay to survey the damage. Data finds it interesting that the laser drill seemed to stop at the moment Malencon stopped screaming. He reactivates power to the room and reruns the drilling program. Data watches the drill run its cycle as it blasts down into each of the bore holes. As he turns away for a moment to check the readouts, the drill suddenly pivots toward him from behind and the door closes by itself. Fortunately, Data is saved by his android reflexes and quickly dodges the drill's beam as it blasts past him. Hearing the drill firing repeatedly, La Forge and Bensen come to the rescue but find the door is sealed again. Beyond it, they hear a horrendous crash and the smashing of equipment. La Forge screams Data's name but receives no answer. They finally get the hatch open, and find that Data has ripped the drilling machine down from its mounting. The whole device lies mangled on the floor, and Bensen laments that a year's work has been destroyed. Data simply tells Bensen he had no choice.

A flash in the dark

In Picard's ready room , he tells Mandl he is shutting down operations until the matter is investigated; Mandl is outraged, stating that Picard is overstepping his authority. Picard says a member of his crew has been attacked, which gives him the right to intervene. Mandl reminds him that he has a delicate schedule to maintain, but Picard says it is on hold until he has answers. Yar escorts Mandl to his temporary quarters and now La Forge and Data inform him the drilling laser was somehow reprogrammed to kill anyone who entered the room. The three remaining terraformers seem to be the only possible suspects. Picard instructs La Forge and Data to return to the planet to look for any sabotage or tampering. He also tells Yar to dig up the service records of all the terraformers for himself, and Counselor Troi to review and look for a possible motive.

Data and Geordi La Forge discover the microbrain

" Speculation. Could it be alive? " " How could it be alive? It's inorganic. "

Data and La Forge return to the station. Data notices a strange flicker of light down at the far end of one of the bore shafts. He makes sure it isn't a reflection, then scans it with his tricorder . He gets no readings, so he asks La Forge to look at it with his VISOR . Using its various visual modes, La Forge scans the object. It's inorganic , yet the pulses of light and color are unexplainable. Data wonders if it could be alive; it might be what the terraformers are trying to cover up… and why someone killed Malencon.

Act Three [ ]

The object is beamed to the Enterprise -D, where Dr. Crusher has it placed inside a glass bell jar for analysis in a medical lab . The computer makes scans and verifies that it contains no organic molecules . Crusher enhances the scan on the wall display, which shows a complex pattern of crystalline forms. Energy patterns flow throughout a beautiful network of structures. It begins to emanate an audible hum. Crusher asks the computer what is causing the flashes and noise, but it is uncertain, since it is theoretically impossible for the substance to produce such an effect. However, it gets louder as they approach the object. She asks the computer for a hypothesis, to which it replies: " Life ".

Picard relays the findings to Mandl and his staff. Mandl reiterates that the Federation verified Velara III to be lifeless, but Picard says this was an understandable mistake given the novel nature of the lifeform. Regardless, Picard mentions his suspicions that Mandl knew there was life down there; if so, he was in direct violation of the Prime Directive . Mandl makes it clear that he is in the business of creating life, not taking it. He leaves, and now Troi and Yar make it clear he suspected the truth but did not intend to commit murder. Furthermore, only he and Malencon would have necessary skills to program the drill in the manner it behaved.

Microbrain, macro problems

Back in the medical lab, Crusher calls for Picard for new information. Picard arrives, and La Forge indicates he has detected a shift in the infrared spectrum; its internal structure is somehow changing. Suddenly, the small flicker of light brightens, nearly blinding everyone in the room. The hum grows louder as well. The hum and light subside, revealing two points of light inside the bell jar. Data points out that only life can replicate itself. As a precaution, Crusher activates a containment field around the bell jar, but the computer has trouble maintaining the field. The computer indicates that a "translation request" is being made; the glowing objects are trying to communicate with the computer. Power is increased to the containment field, but the fight for control continues. It looks as if Data is right; it's a lifeform, and also intelligent, with the power to access the computer. Everyone evacuates the lab.

Act Four [ ]

In the observation lounge , Picard now directly confronts Mandl, asking if he knew there was life on Velara III. He admits he knew of random energy patterns that disrupted their drilling, but that hardly indicated life by anything he is aware of. He adds they're meaningless silicon crystals that rebroadcast sunlight. Picard tells him they are hardly meaningless; they are clearly alive and intelligent, and are trying to communicate.

Growing in the lab

By now, the bell jar contains a cluster of several points of light. Data, La Forge and Worf further the analysis and confirm its structure and properties. From engineering , however, an ensign reports that the power fluctuations are increasing, causing numerous systems around the ship to go haywire; something is taking over. Soon, the universal translator comes online by itself, saying " Ugly giant bags of mostly water. " Picard is confused, and Data indicates it is an accurate description of Human physiology ; he points out that Humans are 90% water surrounded by a flexible container. The crystals speak, saying they had asked the Humans to leave, but they did not listen. It has driven them to kill. Picard tries to reassure the crystals that they come in peace; they didn't understand the message, and were unaware there was life on the planet. The crystals object, stating the "bags" at the station knew. They tried peaceful contact, but were ignored, and some were killed. They have no choice now but to declare war. Before Picard can respond, the crystals end communication. At this point the whole ship is jarred by a force. Data indicates that the crystals have joined together into a kind of living computer he calls a " microbrain "; the more there are, the stronger they become.

Act Five [ ]

Data identifies the flashes of light they emit appear to be program instructions allowing them to interface with the ship's computers. Additionally, it is intelligent enough to interface faster than the crew can. After a quick flare up of energy and more disturbances in the ship, the crystals seem to power down. Crusher indicates that with single-celled organic life, replication is followed by a resting state; perhaps it is the same for the microbrain. Picard orders Yar to beam the entity back to the planet. She tries to energize the beam, but the beam is redirected. Picard is agitated; lifeform or not, the safety of the ship is at stake. He tells Data to remove the atmosphere from the medical lab. Data tries, but again, the controls are locked out.

Game over on Velara III

Picard meets with the terraformers, explaining that the entity said it has tried to contact them before, but they ignored it. Mandl claims that if it tried communicating, they didn't understand it; how were they to know? Picard wants to know what the terraformers did to cause the crystals to fight back. Kim indicates Malencon was siphoning off a layer of saline water on the surface of the sand. Crusher suggests that life needs water; perhaps it was sustaining them. Data suggests that as saline water conducts electricity, it might have been what linked them together; individually, a single brain cell is not intelligent, but when linked to others, intelligence is formidable. To prevent the loss of the saline, which would have destroyed them, it understandably drove them to kill. Any one would declare war after such action against them, notes Picard.

" Come back three centuries. "

The image of the medical lab shows the mass in the bell jar growing brighter. Suddenly, the glass shatters and now the crystal is large enough to see. Data and La Forge come up with an idea; they had detected cadmium salts, which create electrical current under infrared light. Perhaps the crystals are photoelectric in nature. Picard orders the lights in the medical lab killed, but again the controls do not work. Picard sends Riker, who opens an access panel outside the lab, and disables the lighting that way. Kim realizes now that the species must have evolved within the thin layer where light penetrated the sand enough to reach the saline water; if the water level dropped even one centimeter beyond the light, the lifeforms would have starved to death. Now in total darkness, the glow of the microbrain begins to soften, and the crystals communicate, begging for more light. They reluctantly declare the war to be over if they are returned to the "wet sand". Picard has Riker bring the lights back up, just a bit, to relieve them of their torment. He expresses his apologies for having caused them harm, it was not intentional and asks if the microbrain believes him: they do. However when he says it's important that the beings trust them, they opine that they can't yet, as they believe Humans to be too arrogant and primitive, and ask that they return no earlier than three centuries ; perhaps by then, Humanity can be trusted. Picard replies that he understands, and agrees to leave after sending them home. After Riker check up on the microbrain in the medical lab, he has the transporter chief lock on to its coordinates and reports to Picard that the transporter is ready, at which Picard has the entity beamed back to the sand layer on Velara III.

Data is disappointed that they couldn't learn more about the strange lifeform, to which Picard says that they will in time, when they're better prepared. Afterward, Picard places an indefinite quarantine on the planet. They set course to the nearest starbase to drop off the surviving terraformers, Picard noting in his log that he hopes the lessons they learned at Velara III will prevent it from happening elsewhere.

Log entries [ ]

Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2364
First officer's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Someone that tense could be very unpredictable. Stay on your toes, Number One. "

" Ugly giant bags of mostly water. "

" I sense deliberate concealment, sir. " " Of what? " " I don't know, but it's intense. "

" I'm Luisa Kim, gardener of Edens. "

" She is as open as she seems. "

" I create life… I don't take it! "

" A year's work… destroyed! "

" Terraformers are often obsessive. It frequently goes with the career profile. "

" …But is it alive? " " Probability: positive. " " I wasn't asking you. "

" Terraforming makes you feel almost God-like. "

" Agreed. We will send you home, to your wet sand. "

Background information [ ]

Production history [ ].

Second draft story outline ( titled "The Sandy Soils of Home"): 27 October 1987
Two-page memo of story notes from Gene Roddenberry : 4 November 1987
Preliminary script draft: 23 November 1987
Four-page memo of script notes from Gene Roddenberry: 25 November 1987
Third revised final draft script: 2 December 1987 [1]
Filmed: 3 December 1987 – 14 December 1987
Premiere airdate: 22 February 1988
UK premiere airdate: 30 January 1991

Story and production [ ]

This was the final episode of the series on which Gene Roddenberry acted as head writer. Maurice Hurley took over control of the writing staff starting with the following episode, " Coming of Age ". ( William Shatner Presents: Chaos on the Bridge )
According to Hurley, the production was troubled. " An interesting idea, but the execution fell apart. I thought it was a wonderful idea. If you could think of all the problems you could possibly put together in one episode, we had it in that one. Casting, sets, location, time, the fact that the director was getting pages the day before we had to shoot … that was a real tough show to do. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 164)
Director Corey Allen noted, " I think we struggled with that script for a very long time. The 'Q' in that one was, 'Do I recognize that there could be other life forms than the kind of life I'm used to?' To ask that question was okay, but I don't feel it was asked as strongly as it was in " Encounter at Farpoint ". " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 164)

Cast and characters [ ]

This episode was the second time on Star Trek for Carolyne Barry . Twenty-one years earlier she appeared as a Metron in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode " Arena " under the name Carole Shelyne.

Continuity [ ]

Like TOS : " The Devil in the Dark ", this episode also has people with good intentions unwittingly killing and being attacked by creatures that wish to continue to exist.

Sets, props, and costumes [ ]

Among the items and costumes from this episode which were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay was a distressed costume worn by Mario Roccuzzo . [2]

Reception [ ]

A mission report by Robert Greenberger for this episode was published in The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine issue 5 , pp. 46-47.

Video and DVD releases [ ]

Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 9 , catalog number VHR 2438, 4 February 1991
UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment ): Volume 1.6, catalog number VHR 4647, 10 August 1998
As part of the TNG Season 1 DVD collection
As part of the TNG Season 1 Blu-ray collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker

Also starring [ ]

LeVar Burton as Lt. Geordi La Forge
Denise Crosby as Lt. Tasha Yar
Michael Dorn as Lt. Worf
Gates McFadden as Doctor Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data
Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher

Guest stars [ ]

Walter Gotell as Kurt Mandl
Elizabeth Lindsey as Luisa Kim
Gerard Prendergast as Bjorn Bensen

Co-stars [ ]

Mario Roccuzzo as Arthur Malencon
Carolyne Barry as Female Engineer

Stand-ins [ ]

James G. Becker – stand-in for Jonathan Frakes
Darrell Burris – stand-in for LeVar Burton
Dexter Clay – stand-in for Michael Dorn
Jeffrey Deacon – stand-in for Patrick Stewart
Susan Duchow – stand-in for Denise Crosby
Nora Leonhardt – stand-in for Marina Sirtis
Tim McCormack – stand-in for Brent Spiner
Lorine Mendell – stand-in for Gates McFadden
Guy Vardaman – stand-in for Wil Wheaton

References [ ]

2360 ; 2363 ; 2395 ; 28th century ; ability ; accusation ; achievement ; air ; alien lifeform ; amount ; analysis ; android ; announcement ; apology ; apprehension ; aquarium ; area ; artificial intelligence ; assimilation ; atmosphere ; attack ; attention ; authority ; away team ; bag ; base drilling program ; basin ; bell jar ; biomed research unit scanner ; biosphere ; biosphere designer ; body ; brain cell ; cadmium selenide ; " calm before the storm "; carbon ; career profile ; carbon ; career profile ; cell ; cell division ; centimeter ; certainty ; channel ; chief engineer ; choice ; class M ; colony ; color ; communication ; computer ; computer console ; computer program ; computer science ; concept ; conclusion ; conductivity ; conductor ; conduit ; conference room ; container ; Constellation -class ; contact ; containment field ; control console ; coordinates ; damage ; data ; darkness ; day ; death ; debate ; decade ; definition ; degree ; diameter ; desalinization ; desktop monitor ; desolation ; detective ; director ; discovery ; discussion ; dome ; door ; drilling system ; Earth ; Eden ; effect ; efficiency ; electricity ; element ; Emergency Manual Override station ; emergency power ; energy field ; energy level ; energy pattern ; energy surge ; environment ; environmental systems ; excretion ; existence ; expertise ; explanation ; facility ; fantasy ; fear ; Federation ; feeding ; file ; firing program ; fish ; fixed program ; gallium arsenide ; gardener ; geometric shape ; germanium ; god-like ; gravity ; growth and development ; guest ; hailing frequency ; harm ; hearing ; Henry V ; holodeck ; home ; hum ; hydraulic chamber ; hydraulic landscaping ; hydraulic probe ; hydraulics ; hydraulics engineer ; hydraulics room ; hydraulics specialist ; idea ; image ; imager ; infrared ; initial contact ; injury ; inorganic life ( inorganic lifeform ); input ; inspection ; instruction ; intelligence ; intelligent life ; intent ; ion ; job ; knowledge ; laser drill ; lesson ; life force ; lifeform ( life ); life support system ; light (artificial); light (natural); Livingston ; location ; magnification ; main viewer ; malfunction ; mass ; master servomotor drive system ; master subsurface pump ; medical lab ; memory bank ; microbrain ; microorganism ; mind ; miracle ; mistake ; mister ; model ; month ; motive ; MSD ; murder ; nature ; negligence ; newcomer ; night ; non-essential personnel ; number one ; nursery ; observation lounge ; obsession ; ocean ; opportunity ; organic life ; overload ; painting ; panic ; pattern ; peace ; percent ; permission ; person ; personnel record ; phenomenon ; photoelectric ; photosynthesis ; place ; planet ; Pleiades Cluster ; power ; power drain ; power surge ; Prime Directive ; probability ; problem ; programmer ; psych profile ; quarantine ; quarantine field ; quarantine seal ; quarters ; question ; rapport ; rate of rotation ; ready room ; reality ; reason ; recon expedition ; recon scout ; refraction ; report ; reproduction ; reproductive cycle ; respiration ; resting state ; rest room ; rhythm ; ribbon ; right ; rock ; room ; sabotage ; saline fluid ; saline water ; salt ; sand ; scanner ; schedule ; science laboratory ; scientific method ; sea ; secretion ; section ; sensor ; series ; servo-mechanism ; shipboard video feed ; shock ; silicon ; single-celled lifeform ; situation report ; size ; skant ; snow ; social graces ; sodium salt ; speculation ; spectral analysis ; staff ; standard orbit ; state of war ; starvation ; status ; storm ; subject ; substance ; subsurface ; sulfide ; sunlight ; surface ; tactics ; talent ; tear ; Terraform Command ; Terraform Command uniform ; terraformer ; terraforming ; terraforming site ; terraforming station ; theory ; thing ; third-in-command ; thought ; time ; timetable ; topsoil ; trace ; training ; transistor ; translation ; translator circuit ; transporter power ; transporter room ; tricorder ; truth ; tunnel ; turbolift ; type 1 phaser ; universal translator ; universe ; unnamed plants ; unnamed starbase ; utility uniform ; vacuum ; Velara III ; Velara Base ; vegetation graph ; victim ; viewscreen ; vision ; visionary ; visitor ; VISOR ; visual contact ; war ; water ; water table ; will ; window ; work ; wound ; year

Unused production references [ ]

Velara system

External links [ ]

" Home Soil " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
" Home Soil " at Wikipedia
" Home Soil " at the Internet Movie Database
" Home Soil " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
"Home Soil" script at Star Trek Minutiae
1 Daniels (Crewman)
3 Calypso (episode)

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Star Trek: The Next Generation

“Home Soil”

Air date: 2/22/1988 Teleplay by Robert Sabaroff Story by Karl Guers & Ralph Sanchez and Robert Sabaroff Directed by Corey Allen

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

Review Text

The Enterprise checks in on a small group of scientists in charge of a terraforming project on a lifeless planet. An away team beams down, much to the ire of project head Kurt Mandi (Walter Cotell), who doesn't particularly want to be disturbed. The terraforming project is explained in a fair amount of detail by Louisa Kim (Elizabeth Lindsey, whose performance is so false in the science-expository scenes that it's frankly painful to watch). While on the planet, one of the scientists is killed by a laser drill gone awry. Picard opens an investigation to figure out which of the other scientists programmed the computerized drill to commit murder.

"Home Soil" begins as a homicide investigation before gradually becoming a solid TNG example of hard science-fiction — a story made from equal parts "sci" and "fi" (which is more "sci" than most). Discovered on the planet is a mysterious, glowing, crystal-like substance. The crew brings it back to the lab for study, at which point the story's priorities change.

What makes this episode work is its dutiful attention to the scientific process and a realistic (and often intriguing) portrayal of study and observation. The Enterprise crew members are interested in what lies in front of them and use analysis to find the answers. What they discover is an inorganic intelligent life form — previously considered impossible — which they dub a "microbrain." The microbrain subsequently taps into the computer and threatens the ship.

Okay, so it's not a great episode. The jeopardy premise is routine. The crew's peaceful negotiations are Trekkian-humanistic almost to an overstated fault. The microbrain's personality strikes me as far more arrogant than the humans it's accusing of just that sin (ignorance and arrogance aren't the same thing). But this is an episode that's actual science-fiction as opposed to the phony kind.

Previous episode: When the Bough Breaks Next episode: Coming of Age

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Comment Section

59 comments on this post.

I would rate this episode a 2 at best. I agree they try to make a somewhat scientific analysis of the phenomenon but the story lacks dramatic tension and terror-interest.The feeble threat of the magic, glowing crystals leaves Romulan bad guys or even Ferenghi to be desired. At least those enemies have a culture and don't talk like some infantile mix of Tonto/Tarzan:(paraphrasing) "Me noble savage. You bad guy. Hurt feelings. Make sad." This level of communication from members of a supposedly morally and intellectually superior "culture"? Then comes the highly anticipated (from 40 minutes back)abject apology from Captain P. C. Picard and, as you note, this to a species that seems as confused and arrogant as the humanoids they condemn. As a humanist, I say dig 'em up and make 'em into jewelry.

The plot was kinda ok, but looking at a bunch of actors trying to interact with a speaking cube it's a bit ridiculous. And how many times they are going to introduce an "energy life-form" that's able to do whatever they want to do with it? At least Q is charismatic, but when you get stuff like this crystal and the skin of evil (gosh) I just want to roll my eyes and move on to another episode.

Wooden acting aside, this is one of TNG S1's finer entries. The science feels plausible, the silicon-based life form, despite not being the first such life form ever discovered in Trek-land (Horta, anyone?), was a nice touch, and if only the actors came across jubilant instead of imitating pine trees in a drought... The threat of the crystal critter isn't there, but the scientific intrigue (to me) makes up for it. 3 of 4 stars

This one was a bête noire of another great reviewer, Tim Lynch, who described it as having 'no redeeming features' - For once I'd disagree, and after the last two dreadful instalments, this is a welcome lurch back in the right direction. The Enterprise is called to a Terrforming project whose Leader (according to Troi) is hiding something and that discovery may threaten the survival of the Enterprise! This is a strange amalgamation of the good and bad. The concept is an intriguing one - a genuinely alien life form and although later CGI development make the effects of the 'Microbrain' Silicon based life form look quite quaint now, it's a genuinely interesting concept. The early scenes on the Terraforming colony are also quite interesting and well played as Data gets trapped and has to out think the mining laser which has already killed one of the Terraformers. The late Walter Gotell (General Gogol from the James Bond series) is a first rate guest star, and the other male Terraformer with a classic 80's mullet is also fairly competent. However, the episode as a whole never really executes the concept as well as it could. The pacing, especially in the middle, sags, and the wooden performance of the Third Terraformer, who delivers every line with exactly the same intonation (although she is easy on the eye) hampers any sense of emotion. The end result seems a little too pat as well. However, it's an eminently watchable entry and one of the stronger episodes in the season. Most definitely much more than an 'Ugly bag of mostly water' - surely a highlight of dialogue from Season 1 - not without serious flaws but a big improvement on the last two instalments. 2.5 stars from me..

I do wonder why Tim Lynch hated this episode so. I just rewatched this episode -- and in fact, in some senses, it may be the first time I ever really watched it, since I don't think the episode registered to me when I was a child. Somehow, I found it enthralling. I appreciate why people find the Trekkian humanism (or rather, all-life-forms-ism) overstated and silly, but what I appreciate about this episode is the genuine commitment to the idea that life, especially intelligent life, and especially unusual and heretofore undiscovered intelligent life, is worth treating with not only respect but with awe. I like DPC's point above that this is not new material in terms of having a silicon-bsaed life form -- and indeed, the episode here seems to owe a lot to "The Devil in the Dark," not just borrowing the basis for the life form but the dedication to understanding even the strangest and most seemingly alien of life forms. More so than in "Where No One Has Gone Before" (the other most awe-inspiring episode), I feel very much like this crew is in Starfleet, on this ship because they really genuinely are explorers in the best sense, excited and fascinated by the possibility of learning something new. I love that every character (possibly excepting Worf) -- both terraformers and Starfleet personnel -- recognizes immediately the gravity of destroying a life form, even a bizarre one. As the episode's effect wears off, I do see significant flaws. Not only is the jeopardy premise routine, I think that it undermines the things that I had admired about the episode so much earlier. "The Devil in the Dark" didn't require the Horta to threaten to blow up the Enterprise to push the crew into brokering a peace agreement. And indeed, the idea that these guys are not only intelligent life but also ostensibly superior to human life (by more than three centuries) is a bit much.

It ain’t no “Devil in the Dark”, but nevertheless, it’s a very good episode. For the most part, solid plot, good characterization, improved acting. Not perfect (for instance, the female technician was flat and Riker’s scene with her seemed unnecessary), but definitely a step in the right direction. I do think the Enterprise-in-jeopardy premise could have been dispensed with though. Overall, one of TNG’s better efforts to emulate TOS. 3/4

A pretty good concept but ropey direction of the actors and editing choices, plus in one scene Data gets emotional. 2.5 for me.

SkepticalMI

Not a bad episode, but hardly a great one. It just seemed to be a bit too slow and had too many cliches thrown in. The initial antagonism of the terraforming chief, the mystery of the random dude's death, the discovery of life, and then a little war. The episode just seems to jump from topic to topic without putting enough thought into it. It didn't help that in this instance, Picard et al really were as stupid and arrogant as the microbrain suggests. As soon as it was discovered that the microbrain was sentient, why wasn't it immediately a suspect in random guy's murder? (Answer: because the plot completely ignored said murder 5 minutes after it happened) Also, more importantly, why did Picard continue to keep it a prisoner in order to study it? That doesn't sound like the diplomat that Picard is. Pretty stupid of him, and hard to blame the microbrain for going to war under those circumstances either. At least there wasn't annoying preachy speechifying about how evil 20th century Earth was in this episode. On the positive side, "ugly bags of mostly water" was a pretty clever line, the methodological study of the microbrain was interesting albeit kinda simplistic, and the concept of the silicon based life form itself was interesting enough to make this a decent episode.

Reading between the lines-- fascinating to see Enterprise crew respect the alien life form so much they shut down the entire Terraforming operation--once they realize it is life--just a different from themselves-- ugly "bags of mostly water" What about the "alien" life on earth? Different than us? Would we treat it differently if we arrived from another planet to terraform ancient Earth? hmmmm Lately because of the influence of my buddhist wife I have myself had a chance to study another form of life (ants) that crawl all over our house. In the past with a brush of my hand I could wipe out a few of them with ease. Yet now I find it very hard since when you look closely they are intelligent life beings (small, they don't make much noise) yet they are alive. So a few days before this episode I made a vow no more conscious killing of these lifeforms. I still squash mosquitos as they are attacking me. When I saw this episode it reminded me even though life often cannot communicate with us...imagine what it would tell us if it could? For me this is the beauty of Star Trek--the human culture must make way for other life forms to live along us especially the smaller less fragile ones. If someday we encounter giant evolved ants on other planets...we will be forgiven.. will we? PS. Reminds me of Spock's mind meld of Horta and the miners eventually ending up living side by side with the Horta and benefiting from the partnership.

Again, another episode with an interesting premise, but the execution of the script was quite poor. Season 1 was bogged down by bad acting, bad directing, and bad production. Ugh.

Diamond Dave

An episode that at least takes the story forward in unexpected directions - from looking like a straightforward murder mystery it spins off into a new path with the discovery of the life form. And while the jeopardy element indeed fails to develop much dramatic tension, there is nevertheless a satisfactory resolution. And "ugly bags of mostly water" has to be the line of the series so far. A definite move back in the right direction - 2.5 stars.

Worf's response to the computer of "I wasn't asking you." Classic.

It is amazing that a pig-headed murderous being ignored peaceful negotiations and accuses the crew of being arrogant and Picard just lowers his head and smile Iike "Yeah you're right." in actuality that creature is dangerous and arrogant and untrustworthy and they are the ones who need three centuries to clean up their act and mature not the Enterprise crew.

I agree that as far as silicon based lifeforms the Horta from Devil in the Dark has this beaten by a long shot. Mind you the Horta was economic with its words too ('No Kill I'). Much of the praise for this episode is related to its apparent hard sf feel and certainly in terms of the tenets of hard sf-ie one dimensional characters it succeeds . I think Tasha may have had a few more lines than average. I would give this 2 stars and was mostly bored.

"It is amazing that a pig-headed murderous being ignored peaceful negotiations" But it states that it did try to communicate peacefully several times, with the messages in the sand etc. while the humans thought nothing of it because they couldn't understand, the being took this as a rejection of peace as the humans continued to kill it/them. I could understand why it felt desperate and distrusing. It does seem a little TOO dismissive of the explanation that the humans simply couldn't understand the messages though

RandomThoughts

Hello Everyone! @Trek I have seen this three or four times over the decades, and I always thought it wasn't that they didn't understand the messages, it's they they didn't want to understand them. Because if they looked deeper, it might threaten their terraforming project. Perhaps not all of them, but some of them, turned a blind eye to the possibility. If they found something, all the work they'd done up to that point would be for naught. Just a thought... RT

If the lifeforms need saline water to be interconnected, how were they able to work collectively to disable the Enterprise? The shipboard sample didn't have it.

The opening sequence where the Director REALLY REALLY REALLY doesn't want visitors, and Troi tells Picard that he's hiding something and is panicky about having visitors... Um... That the Director was having a big ol' orgy with the female technician (or even the entire staff) would also explain the situation. Especially considering the reason for his panic wasn't really ever firmly established. That would also explain why the female technician is EXTREMELY gracious upon the Enterprise crew arrival... it smacks of over compensation. Anyway, it did look kind of goofy when Captain and company were in sickbay bent over staring at the life-form, but it nevertheless seemed like the way real people would act.

Okay, the woman's acting job was HORRIBLE and the Director's panic at the thought of the away team coming down was never adequately explained. Otherwise, i enjoyed this one a lot. 3 1/2 stars from me.

Sarjenka's Little Brother

Within the many episodes of "life forms we don't understand," this was a fair entry. I'm OK with the actress who played the female terraformer. They wouldn't strike me as a particular lively, extroverted, animated bunch. I'm on this kick of being driven crazy by what the crew knows and what it doesn't. They can know very specific things sometimes, and other times seem almost clueless about things they should know. While they may not know the details of terraforming, Data and the landing team treated it like some kind of mysterious alchemy. For Pete's sake, terraforming in that century ought to be a pretty common branch of science. But if nothing else, the episode gives us the classic line: "Ugly bags of mostly water." Clever touch to throw the "ugly" in there. By Season 1 standards, a pretty decent show.

One final thought. Someone also mentioned the emphatic way Riker was pronouning the name "Aldea". Looking and listening closely, you can tell "Aldea" was being looped in post-production and Frakes was actually saying "Aldair", which was the planet's original name and changed after the first day of shooting. Dubbing always makes things sound more pronounced than normal. But yes, the expositing between Riker and Yar was a little overwrought.

The beginning of this episode flat-out sucked. All the false dramatic tension and misdirection caused by General Gogol's manstrating was a waste of time. Poor Troi. Like all she had to do was report on all those red herrings. The actual discovery and investigation of the life form was well done and more the mission of the Enterprise. (Though I spent my first viewing about this heretofore undiscovered idea of a silicon based life form screaming "REMEMBER THE HORTA???" lol)

There's a good story here but wooden guest acting, bad directing and writing undermine the final product. The 1st half made it clear there was a mystery -- what are the terraformers concealing? But it was needlessly slow to develop. The second part when the ship is dealing with a serious threat from a new life form is better. Cool concept of this kind of inorganic life and I liked how the Enterprise crew methodically went about establishing this conclusion. And damn, that universal translator is good! I don't see the Horta as a suitable comparison to this life form (as it is organic) but I actually think the Companion ("Metamorphosis") is perhaps more similar. "Ugly bags of water" -- appropriate description for humankind in this case! Thought the dialog between the microbrain and the Enterprise crew seemed reasonable (after getting past the formidable capabilities of the UT). The microbrain thinks humans are arrogant and it is defending itself -- can't ascribe human qualities to it -- though it tells them to get back in touch in a 200-300 years or something -- maybe a touch of arrogance there! Some of the plot machinations are arbitrary -- as they have to be in this type of story -- like Riker short-circuiting the lights from a nearby panel. Shouldn't the microbrain be able to deal with this type of action if it can basically control the ship? 2.5 stars for "Home Soil" -- some points for creativity here but really hard to tolerate the weak acting of the terraformers. The old head scientist wasn't too bad, but his misdirection at the start of the episode seemed misplaced -- he didn't know what he had on his hands, but he could hardly think it was something of tremendous value that he'd keep it secret. What would he do with it? Fairly typical TNG S1 here -- a decent idea but poorly executed.

Mediocre episode but data shouting "CAPTAIN! OUR SENSORS..", leaning over the desk and getting very excited was incredibly out of character.

"We're just about to start pumping. And filtering the water." Watching the crew entranced by this woman's comatose acting while the opening credits were rolling wasn't a flying start to this episode, and frankly that monotone monolog turned out to be eblematic of the whole story: a decent sci fi idea executed with all the tension or excitement of a documentary on gargling. And why can Data read a database in ten seconds, but can't dodge a laser and talk at the same time? There was nothing howlingly wrong with this episode; it was simply plodding.

I've always had a soft spot for this one. The premise of terraforming a planet so that it can sustain life is plausible enough. The team overlooking a potential life form in order to get the job done quickly is something we can identify with as well. The early scene where a man is murdered by a laser drill was fairly intense, and again when it attacked Data. One plothole I saw was that the lifeform evolved pretty quickly in a short period of time. It was a little silly when it began speaking to the crew but I thought this was a decent mystery episode.

"Ugly bags of mostly water". I've remembered that line for 25 years. Worf getting mad at the computer, classic Worf.

Murder mystery solved. The new species did it. Don't worry, you'll never see them again.

This is a great season 1 episode. First off, no Wesley! Second, this is the first we have of Data being a badass. Yes , there is some scenes that I would characterise as "Shakespeare in the park", see Kurt Mandi's entrance. (8:31). Overall compelling. (15:10) Patrick Stewart shows this dude how to act! Great Picard stuff throughout this episode!

This was one of my favorites of the first season. By virtue alone of showing the awe, curiosity, and respect upon discovering a threatening new life form.

Best episode of the season so far and maybe the best overall. Watching Data in the room with the lasers is epic. The sci fi in this episode is pretty solid as far as Star Trek goes. The crew interacts well and the acting from the main cast is good. Biggest drawback is it’s a little on the slow side. 3 stars.

8/10 "ugly bags of mostly water" I remember those iconic words to this day. A great episode. I feel TNG has fully met its stride. I missed a bit in terms of how the terraformers knew and didn't know about the lifeform. I confused this episode with another where multiple people die. ???

I just read over the other reviews I didn't find the woman Terraformer to be wooden at all. I thought she played the impromptu tour guide role the plot gave her scientist character well. As usual Star Trek made her teary and emotional over the potential genocide on the planet but, hell, for once that reaction was healthy. The main Terraformer continued to bluster and pontificate. The lifeform on the planet was more advanced than the Federation. It found a way to communicate after all. The federation didn't. And it was able to infiltrate the computer.

It's interesting how TNG's first season takes TOS tropes but then puts its own spin on them. For example, TOS' "The Deadly Years", where Kirk and the gang suffer rapid aging, becomes "To Short a Season", where a character suffers "rapid onset youthfulness". And with "Homesoil" we have TNG's spin on TOS' "Devil in the Dark", only instead of a mining operation destroying a biological life-form, we have a terraforming operation destroying an inorganic life-form. In both episodes, "first contact" is made with the species, the species launches a counterattack, the "miners" are schooled for being selfish, thoughtless brutes, and an ecological/environmental argument is subtly rolled out. "Homesoil" isn't as good as "Devil", of course, but it does some things well. The terraforming operation feels like one of those "Wrath of Khan" era scientific facilities, alone and doing research out in the outback. There's also a nice "globe" special effect (a big 3d model of the planet), Data gets a neat action sequence, Crusher gets some good "investigate the nature of this thing" scenes, and the "alien life-form" is used to generate a genuine sense of wonder, beauty and discovery. Yes, this alien's "hijacking of the ship's computers" is hokey, as is most of its speech, but with the first season of TNG, like TOS, we at least see an attempt to create interesting, non bipedal, non anthropomorphized aliens. In this regard we've had space jellyfish in "Farpoint", weird energy aliens, mongoose and cobra aliens in "Lonely Among Us" and "Where No One Has Gone Before", Q, the Crystaline Entity, the networked Binars, the methane (?) breathing blue guys in "Coming of Age", the black oil creature in "Skin of Evil" and the insects in "Conspiracy". I don't think any other season of TNG did more to veer away from "forehead of the week" aliens.

Don't have much to say, here. Am struggling a bit to get through Season 1. I'd forgotten how less than wonderful it was. The episode mostly held my interest. My favorite part was when Data had to dodge the laser and ended up destroying it. I also liked how the crew was interested and excited about the life form, and worked together. Everyone played a part in the resolution. We also get some teamwork vibes from the crew on the planet. Perhaps it's meant to deliberately parallel the way the life forms work together in the saline solution. Got a bit preachy in the typical ST way, but not overdone. A good, solid offering.

Oh boy! Where do I begin? Shades of the Horta and a prefiguration of the nanites. At least the nanites and the tech crisis they generated were interesting. To say that this was a soporific would be an understatement. But more than that, it's technically deficient. Firstly, it's filmed practically without stage light. In one scene Picard's red uniform is so dark that I couldn't tell his rank insignia from the stars outside the window. Is that Orion's belt I see? Oops one too many stars. Secondly, it definitely has the look and scripting of a really early episode. The characters regularly seem to be stepping on each other's feet. And who was responsible for that early bit (before the opening credits run) where Deanna's cleavage is sent hurtling directly toward Camera 1? She is then followed in that respect by all the male characters and their less impactful cleavages. I really think that someone switched on the holodeck and programmed it to produce a simulacrum of an episode before Code of Honor or The Last Outpost. The only problem with that theory is that Wesley is wearing his rainbow striped velour pullover rather than the baggy pink sweater knitted by the director's grandmother.

I agree with Jammer's rating. This is a rare 1st season gem of an episode. It's just basic, essential idealism and star trek at its core: protect the innocent---protect life. It also manages to instill a sense of wonder and awe in the subtle magic of the universe and life in all its forms, which again is star trek at its most basic and most compelling. Sometimes the simple stuff is some of the best. But what makes this work so well for me are the performances, especially from the guest stars and especially from the female scientist Kim. She is played by the actress Elizabeth Lindsey, and she just does a fantastic job injecting this episode with the required charm and emotion.

This is maybe a good episode to highlight the difference between what Star Trek was and what it is now. There are no bad guys. The people who caused the problem did it by accident and hurt when they find out what they did. The problem is slowly worked on by scientists and diplomats working together and in the end it's leads to understanding with a new lifeform. That is the episode. It is quite beautiful.

So far I'd say this was the best S1 had to offer. Which isn't saying much, I wasn't riveted or blown away but it was...watchable.

Frake's Nightmare

Wesley's jumper - still the blue-grey thing with the red/gold/blue striping.

It's hilarious and surreal how excessively the lady colonist cries. It's way beyond being bummed by what actually occurs in the episode. She's pretty much having a nervous breakdown.

Jeffrey Jakucyk

"It's hilarious and surreal how excessively the lady colonist cries. It's way beyond being bummed by what actually occurs in the episode. She's pretty much having a nervous breakdown." Why wouldn't she? Her life's work was just canceled with no warning, and she found out that they were unknowingly committing genocide. I'd be pretty messed up after learning all that too.

If ever an episode needed a B story, this was it. That’s not to say it wasn’t interesting - it was, in a wholly scientific way. It just lacked the kind of tense or humorous subplot that would have made it more memorable. Pluses: humans being described as “ugly bags of water”! The gradual realisation of intelligent life. The genuine regret of the terraformers at what they had done wrong. Good science. Minuses: the declaration of war by an incomprehensible inorganic life form. The use of regular crew members in little bits without giving any of them a chance to shine in this story. The lack of tension or an engaging subplot. 2.5 stars. Next episode please...

Added note: two English actors with “gravitas” in this. One can act really well (our own Jean-Luc), the other overacts in a ponderous way. I think someone like Dinsdale Landen would have played Mandel just beautifully.

It's like the Genesis device, but takes years instead of seconds.

I thought is was not bad. The third terraformer is a bad actress. She was excited about terraforming when we first meet her, and from then on her lines were delivered in a monotone wooden fashion. Also in these earlier episodes, Data's make up was so chalky. And his eyes were extra creepy. When he fell down, at one point, I really noticed his normal human colored hands vs. his white face.

I think people are being too hard on actress Elizabeth Lindsey. Her lines were obviously all re-dubbed, possibly not even by her. Her body language was fine and in character. Dubbed voices never sound natural.

I really don't get why the Federation invests resources in terraforming. Aren't there enough Class M planets suitable for colonization?

"I really don't get why the Federation invests resources in terraforming. Aren't there enough Class M planets suitable for colonization?" Maybe the Prime Directive is in issue where a planet already has indigenous life? I am reminded of their scrupulousness in selecting the Genesis test world for fear of eradicating even microbial life. Perhaps full scale colonization of naturally evolved class M worlds is verboten? Would make sense. Though that doesn't explain what they did with the Skreeans in DS9 so damned if I know.

I should add though that assuming I am right about the Prime Directive it would make sense for the Federation to go out and terraform worlds and then deliver settlements on those worlds to individuals on a waiting list who have signed up for colonization. It would be sort of like how modern developers work. It would make sense as a means to relieve population pressure amd also address land use issues in a supposed "post scarcity" utopia. Maybe the Skreeans were headed for one of those new build Class M worlds right off the highway.

There may be issues in play other than whether a world is class M. For instance maybe there is a fairly wide range of planets under the umbrella of class M, which are technically breathable but not ideal. So they might be doing tweaks to the environment to change gas levels. I also imagine an important element in terraforming would be introducing plant and animal life so that they're safely and fully integrated into the ecosystem. The fact that a planet has breathable atmosphere and reasonable temperatures doesn't also mean that it contains an ecosystem fully capable of supporting a new human (or alien) population. Which brings me to the next issue: for budget reasons the colonies we visit always contain humans, but I imagine the Federation is laboring to find worlds for all sorts of member races, and perhaps some of them have rather stringent requirements for habitation.

But then it wouldn't be called terraforming, but eg betazediforming. :)

William, you want to know something? Everybody's human.

@Peter G. Except Spot (Data's cat). Spot is a superior being.

There's a joke in there somewhere about Spot being superior enough to anticipate switching genders as the series goes on, but in making it I'd probably be poking the bear.

A joke about switching genders? Isn't that kind of in bad taste considering the last mass shooting of lgbtq people happened less than 48 hours ago?

This ep could have been much better. The “actress” (and I use this word in the loosest possible sense) who portrayed the female terraformer was so godawful that “painful to watch” is an apt description. She apparently was Miss Hawaii a couple years previous, and TV newsreader on a small Idaho affiliate station perhaps a career path more in keeping with her “skills”. The concept of a life form so different from us that we can’t recognize it as alive is wonderfully full of possibilities… oh, Season 1. What will we do with you???

I thought this was a little slow, and the Enterprise crew should certainly not have needed to be taught the "baby level" basics of terraforming. I was also confused by how the life form needs light “where it comes through the sand,” but in the schematic we saw earlier, the water looked way too deep for that. Nevertheless, the positives outweighed the negatives: the terraforming team were treated with respect, not as stupid or uncaring jerks - even the director, once he was convinced, became contrite. When the life form went into its final shape, it was absolutely gorgeous. And finally, I'd have to give this a plus just for "ugly bags of mostly water," a line which will live forever.

I liked this one. I appreciated the sense of scientific discovery and wonder throughout the episode, from the excitement over terraforming to the analysis of the alien life form (even though that consisted mostly of just asking the computer). How often do you get to see a show in which two characters geek out over a screen of information about underground hydrology? It’s all pretty clunky but endearingly earnest. I’m a bit puzzled by the various commentators siding strongly against the alien life form. From its point of view, its planet has been invaded by hostile aliens who ignore its attempts to communicate and are busy demolishing the environment it needs to live. I’d say it’s entirely justified in trying to fight back, and Picard’s entirely right to adopt an apologetic stance towards it!

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Star Trek: The Next Generation – Home Soil (Review)

To celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation , and also next year’s release of Star Trek: Into Darkness , I’m taking a look at the recent blu ray release of the first season, episode-by-episode. Check back daily for the latest review.

I’ve been complaining pretty consistently throughout this rocky first year of Star Trek: The Next Generation that the show is trying too hard to be a carbon copy of the classic Star Trek , rather than trying to define its own distinct identity. By that logic, I concede that I should detest Home S oil . Much like the less-than-classic The Naked Now , it is pretty much an attempt to update an episode from the original show.

In this case, the story of a bunch of terraformers provoking an unconventional native lifeform recalls The Devil in the Dark , one of the best-loved episodes of Star Trek ‘s pretty stellar first year. While Home Soil doesn’t quite measure up to its rather wonderful progenitor, it does manage to put its own slant on the story, to the point where Home Soil doesn’t feel like a recycled Star Trek script; rather, it feels like a story told from the perspective of The Next Generation .

Spark of life…

The original Star Trek did pulp amazingly well. It’s a bit of an over-simplification to talk about Kirk leading with his fists and Picard with his head, but I think that the original Star Trek did an exceptional job balancing weighty moral and philosophical issues with adventure storytelling. In contrast, the style of The Next Generation is typically a bit more introspective and ponderous. Every time I make that argument, I feel the need to justify that it’s not to argue that one is superior to the other, but merely to emphasise that there is a clear difference in tone between the shows.

A lot of these early episodes of The Next Generation might play better in the pulpy surroundings of Star Trek . Despite the fact that it requires the Enterprise to carry children, When the Bough Breaks seems like it would make a better-than-average third season instalment of Star Trek . Similarly, the battle sequences at the start of Hide & Q feels like a strange hybrid between The Squire of Gothos and The Savage Curtain . It took a while for The Next Generation to find its groove and – when it did – it wasn’t with episodes like those.

A giant frickin’ laser…

Interestingly, The Next Generation really grew into its own show with episodes like Home Soil . The basic premise of the script is familiar. A bunch of humans on a distant world decide to tame the environment to their needs. In doing so, they inadvertently cause harm to a local lifeform. That local lifeform strikes back in the only way that it knows how. So you end up with a fatal misunderstanding stemming from humanity’s stubborn inability to acknowledge intelligent life that doesn’t conform to our own rigid definition of it. It’s a powerful moral from a show that prides itself on its moral philosophy, and that’s one of the reasons that The Devil in the Dark stands out.

However, the Horta of The Devil in the Dark is still obviously alive. While it looks wonderfully alien, the shuffling form suggests (at the very least) an animal living in an environment under threat from the encroachment of mankind. The miners in that classic Star Trek episode are too eager to kill the monster, evoking villagers with flaming pitchforks. I don’t make these observations to criticise the show – it is a person favourite – but to illustrate a few of the concepts and ideas that Home Soil builds upon.

Shakin’ it up…

I’ve argued that The Next Generation is a more intellectual show than that original Star Trek ever was, and Home Soil develops some of the ideas and themes just a little bit further than that much-loved sixties episode. For one thing, the mistake on the part of the terraformers is easier to forgive. Faced with the prospect he may be responsible for attempted genocide, Mandl assures Picard, “Picard, I must point out again that we were assured, not once but many times, by the best scientific minds in the Federation, that this planet has no life. No life! And we were not looking, and therefore we did not see.”

It’s one of the first times in The Next Generation that the Federation is shown as fallible – and not do to a rogue officer, internal corruption or some other easy-to-dismiss factor. All of a sudden, Home Soil turns the slightly unnerving “humans are superior” subtext back on itself. Episodes like The Last Outpost and Lonely Among Us saw the crew lording their inherent superiority over other lifeforms, and the show has already repeatedly emphasised that humans are oh-so very special. Here, their perspective is limited by that arrogance and self-centredness.

Terrorforming…

The Federation couldn’t possibly be wrong in how it defines life, right? We’ve been hearing how the organisation is flawless and hyper-evolved for years now, so this massive error in judgment casts a pretty big shadow. It’s far greater than anything Admiral Jameson did in Too Short a Season , because at least he knew he’d made a mistake. The concession that it is possible to make that sort of mistake (with these sorts of consequences) represents a major departure from Roddenberry’s idealise version of humanity – as is the implication that the misunderstanding arose from the fact that his normally-enlightened human characters were exposed as relatively close-minded.

The “micro-brain” of the episode might look like a repurposed Christmas tree decoration, but there’s nothing wrong with that. (Just look at Way of the Warrior , for example.) It still looks decidedly alien , and much more so than the Horta, which was basically a guy crawling around in a sheet. Indeed, there’s something conceptually fascinating about a planet that is its own intelligence, rather than housing it.

Cutting through it all…

“The microbrains may be like our own brain cells,” Crusher explains at one point. “Individually, a cell has life but not intelligence. Yet when interconnected, their combined intelligence is formidable.” The grains of sand on the terraformed planet combine to form one mass intelligence, a concept that feels relatively unique in a series that has mostly confined itself to funny forehead aliens in goofy costumes. While the special effects might not be the best in the show to date, the idea is absolutely fascinating.

Home Soil also marks a bit of a departure from its predecessors in that it doesn’t have a happy ending. The Next Generation had a habit – in its first year – of wrapping up the story so that everybody ended up winning. It turns out that the notion of conflict was really just an illusion, and some plot contrivance would allow the crew and the guest stars to all live happily ever after. This could be done quite well (in 11001001 , for example), but it also undermined other conflicts (as in When the Bough Breaks or Haven ).

Not so “micro”, eh?

Home Soil allows itself some measure of a happy ending, in that the genocide of an intelligent lifeform is averted. However, the episode makes it clear that Mandl has wasted years of his life. It would be easy for the show to paint Mandl as a malicious old man who refuses to let reason stand in the way of his success, and Home Soil does tease that possibility. Instead, however, Mandl is show to be stubborn and irritable, but never inhuman.

Indeed, Mandl seems almost broken by the revelation he almost wiped out a sentient species. “I wanted to create a place where living things could thrive,” he realises at the climax of the episode, “and all the while I was about to destroy the life that is there.” Walter Gotell, recognisable to James Bond fans the world over, makes Mandl much more than he might otherwise have been, and his portrayal suggests that his failure will have pretty severe psychological repercussions for the old man.

Lying down on the job…

Part of the reason this works is because Home Soil injects a lot of time and effort into convincing us that this terraforming business is hard work. The Enterpise flies through space on a mission of exploration, encountering new lifeforms and new civilisations on a weekly basis. These terraformers don’t have that luxury. They invest years of their lives in the same place, working towards one grand goal. It’s not something they can easily give up on. It’s a fascinating look at what must be going on behind the scenes while the Enterprise is adventuring, a look at the more “mundane” day-to-day life in the 24th century.

Riker seems surprised at how much work and time go into terraforming a planet. “Incredible,” he remarks, reviewing the process. “It’s planned month by month, decade by decade?” Mandl clarifies, “Every single thing is specific and exact. You see grand, romantic concepts. I see unyielding rock under an ocean of sand.” It’s a nice way of subtly attacking the unrelenting optimism and idealism of Roddenberry’s future. Technology like replicators make the future seem like some sort of utopian paradise, but Home Soil suggests that even in utopia there must be some amount of effort involved, some hard work.

Getting out of dodge…

This sense of the work the team are doing helps give the climax of the episode weight. The fact they have been on the planet for years (and plan to be around for years more) means that it isn’t simple for them to leave. Granted, there’s never really an alternative, but it means that the decision to leave has weight. If the story simply had the Enterprise showing up at an abandoned planet to realise that the planet was alive, only to then continue on its way, it wouldn’t feel like anything had really been lost, or that the realisation had cost anybody anything.

There are some problems. The similarities to The Devil in the Dark occasionally threaten to overwhelm the episode. More than that, it seems like everything moves a little bit too fast. Once the Enterprise arrives, we almost immediately discover what is going on. There’s a nice moment early in the episode when Picard is almost certain he has figured out what is going on – he suspects that the accidents are due to human sabotage. “And so the question becomes not who, since it clearly was one of the three remaining terraformers. The question becomes why?”

The sands of time make it clear…

However, the answer becomes obvious a little too quickly. The result is that there’s no real mystery to the story, despite the inviting premise. It also prevents us from prying into the human characters on the terraforming station a bit more – as a few minutes of an inquiry might have given each of the guest stars a bit more character. On a more basic level, it also serves to make the terraformers look especially stupid for not seeing the reality earlier. If events had moved a little slower, if communications with the alien had been a little less obvious, I think Home Soil would be a much stronger show.

While Gotell is pretty great as Mandl, Elizabeth Lindsey is fairly weak as the only other developed terraformer, Louisa Kim. She has this terrible stilted delivery that you get from the weakest actors in the franchise. Although Kim does provide fodder for a really strange moment where Deanna seems to make a passive-aggressive swipe at Riker’s obvious interest in her. “She’s possessed of highly abstracted reality,” Troi explains, in what rapidly becomes a back-handed compliment. “Lovely visions, little data. You might do better than I.”

Into darkness…

I’m glad that this sort of cattiness is rare, as it’s really not the best way to handle the character (Riker always seemed the more immature of the pair) and Marina Sirtis seems distinctly uncomfortable delivering the line. I feel really bad that I keep noticing these unfortunate little touches about the female characters on the show, as I can’t help but wonder if my perception of the first season is coloured by my opinions of Code of Honour and Ange l One . Hopefully, things will get better when I deal with the second season. Well, once we get past The Child .

There’s another – relatively minor – aspect of Home Soil that I quite liked. It’s the idea – suggested in Where No One Has Gone Before – that there’s still a lot of room for human growth and evolution. “You are still too arrogant,” the microbrain tells Picard when the Captain proposes the possibility of interaction. “Too primitive. Come back three centuries. Perhaps then we trust.”

Don’t know much biology…

Gene Roddenberry’s take on The Next Generation tended to stress the idea that this was human civilisation at its pinnacle. While Q might have dismissed humans as a “grievously savage child race” , the irony was that Q was the one acting like a spoilt brat. Similarly, we were meant to laugh at the Ferengi’s acerbic remarks about humans in The Last Outpost , as if to make the aliens the butt of a cosmic joke. It’s a romantic idea, but it’s not one conducive to drama.

It’s romantic and endearing to suggest that we might one day be better than we are, but perfection is not anything that can ever be attained. If the humans of The Next Generation are perfect, what more is there to learn? What can they discover about the universe, or about themselves? More than that, though, a civilisation at its pinnacle has no upward thrust. If you are “the best you could be” then you cannot get “better.”

The strands come together…

This was, I think, part of the problem with Star Trek: Voyager and it explains a lot about why so many of the post- Enterprise pitches (like Bryan Singer’s Federation or the animated Final Frontier ) used the decay and collapse of the Federation as a starting point. What is the point of exploring if you have nothing to learn? If there’s no prospect of improving, then I think you lose a lot of the aspiration of Star Trek . We are not perfect and we never will be, so we can’t relate to perfect figures. We can, however, strive to be better.

And I think that the best of Star Trek acknowledges that struggle and optimistically embraces the idea that we can improve. Home Soil suggests that there are some things in the universe that we’re just not ready for yet, but we might be at some point in the future. That is a lot more interesting and enjoyable than watching a show without any conflict or excitement.

Ugly bag of mostly water…

I’m a big fan of Home Soil . According to the ever-reliable The Next Generation Companion , the script was still being worked on at the point that the episode went into production – with script pages being re-written on the day of the shoot. With that in mind, it actually looks pretty damn great. Home Soil might not be the best of The Next Generation , but I think it’s an indication of what the show is capable of. Contrasting the show with The Devil in the Dark seems like it might be asking for trouble, but I think it offers hints at the fundamental differences between Star Trek and The Next Generation .

It hasn’t quite delivered on that promise yet, but at least it seems to be finding itself. It’s about damn time, too.

Read our reviews of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation :

Supplemental: The Lost Era – The Buried Age by Christopher L. Bennett
Supplemental: Star Trek – The Next Generation (DC Comics, 1988)
Supplemental: The Sky’s the Limit – Meet with Triumph and Disaster & Trust Yourself When All Men Doubt You by Michael Schuster & Steve Mollmann
Supplemental: Star Trek – The Naked Time
Code of Honour
The Last Outpost
Supplemental: Star Trek – The Wounded Sky by Diane Duane
Lonely Among Us
Supplemental: Reunion by Michael Jan Friedman
Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1989) #59-61 – Children of Chaos/Mother of Madness/Brothers in Darkness
Hide & Q
The Big Goodbye
Too Short a Season
When the Bough Breaks
Supplemental: Star Trek – The Devil in the Dark
Coming of Age
Heart of Glory
Arsenal of Freedom
Supplemental: Survivors by Jean Lorrah
We’ll Always Have Paris
Supplemental: (DC Comics, 1989) Annual #3 – The Broken Moon
Supplemental: Deep Space Nine – The Lives of Dax: Sins of the Mother (Audrid) by S.D. Perry
Supplemental: Operation Assimilation
Supplemental: The Lost Era – Serpents Among the Ruins by David R. George III

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Saturday, December 25, 2010

The Next Generation, Season 1: Home Soil

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525,600 of your Earth minutes
The Next Generation, Season 1: Heart of Glory
The Next Generation, Season 1: Coming of Age
The Next Generation, Season 1: When the Bough Breaks
The Next Generation, Season 1: Too Short A Season
The Next Generation, Season 1: 11001001
The Next Generation, Season 1: Angel One
The Next Generation, Season 1: Datalore
The Next Generation, Season 1: The Big Goodbye
The Next Generation, Season 1: Haven
The Next Generation, Season 1: Hide And Q
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Home Soil Stardate: 41463.9 Original Airdate: 22 Feb, 1988

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Recap / Star Trek: The Next Generation S1E17 "Home Soil"

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Original air date: February 22, 1988

The crew of the Enterprise discovers a crystalline lifeform with murderous intelligence after it kills one of the scientists on a terraforming project.

Tropes in this episode:

Arbitrary Skepticism : The way the crew treat an inorganic life form as so unexpected and astonishing is odd considering they (and the original series) have previously encountered living beings made of Pure Energy or even more unorthodox things.
Artistic License – Biology : No, Data. Humans are composed of 60% water not 90%. For reference, that's as much water as there is in a watermelon. This is a carryover from the Original Series episode “The Omega Glory,” in which McCoy says the human body is 96% water.
Call a Human a "Meatbag" : Or rather, an "ugly giant bag of mostly water." Data points out that it's a fairly accurate description, from a crystal's perspective.
Captain Obvious : Troi is a particularly bad example of this, even by her standards, in this episode. Notably, she insists on pointing out that Director Mandl and the lab techs are being secretive and suspicious early in the episode, even though one would need to be Captain Oblivious not to notice that.
Dodge the Bullet : When Data is trapped in the room with the laser drill firing at him, his android reflexes allow him to repeatedly dodge the attacks until he disables the drill.
When Picard mutes his end of the conversation with Mandl, the computer says "channel closed," something it has never said before or since.
Data speaks and poses in a way that suggests visible urgency when he's informing Picard of his discovery about how the microbrain works. While one could maybe justify this as him trying to imitate human behavior, it still comes across as kinda jarring.
End of an Era : The last episode of the series — and by extension, Star Trek in general — where Gene Roddenberry was the showrunner. After this episode he stepped back into more of a supervisory role and let Maurice Hurley take over the writing staff, which is noticeable in that this is one of the last episodes of the show to essentially just be a repackaged TOS episode.
Family-Unfriendly Death : Malencon is burned to death by a laser...and we hear it happening .
Hostile Terraforming : The episode features a Federation terraforming project that is doing this by accident, and the locals don't like the "Ugly Bags of Mostly Water" mucking up their planet.
Humans Are Ugly : Humans Are Ugly Bags of Mostly Water. Troi assures the crystalline "microbrain" that they find it beautiful.
It's a Long Story : When Bensen asks Data where he was manufactured and if there are others like him, Data replies that both matters are subjects of protracted discussion .
The Main Characters Do Everything : After the crew gets the idea to starve out the microbrain by turning down the lights in the lab, instead of getting an engineer to do the job, Picard sends Riker to do it.
My God, What Have I Done? : When it becomes clear that, in attempting to create a life-bearing world, the terraformers nearly wiped out an intelligent civilization , they're all clearly horrified. Luisa Kim, who was established early on as the most idealistic of them, takes it especially hard.
No OSHA Compliance : The laser drill is operated from a console inside an enclosed room that contains the laser itself. The operator must face away from the laser in order to use the console. The laser is clearly meant to fire into two boreholes in order to drill deeper into the planet's surface, but instead of being limited to this function, the laser is mounted on an arm capable of rotating to fire in any direction.
Red Shirt : Malencon's sole purpose in the story is to get sliced-and-diced by the microbrain-controlled laser drill.
Say My Name : When Data is trapped in the lab with the active laser, Geordi starts screaming his name.
Skewed Priorities : After Data is forced to destroy the laser drill in order to avoid Malencon's fate, Bensen's only reaction is to gripe about the drill being broken, even though it subjected his colleague to a gruesome death and nearly also destroyed the (almost) one-of-a-kind android he seemed so fascinated by.
Whodunnit : Picard mentions that they are becoming detectives due to the sheer amount of mysteries they seem to be given.
Star Trek: The Next Generation S1E16 "When the Bough Breaks"
Recap/Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation S1E18 "Coming of Age"

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Star Trek: The Next Generation : "Home Soil"/"Coming Of Age"/"Heart Of Glory"

"Home Soil"

I never did well in science class. I got by, and it wasn't until I took Physics my senior year of high school that my grades started to truly suck, but I've always been more of a broad strokes kind of guy. Science requires patience, logic, and a meticulous attention to detail, while I'm hyper, intuitive (which means I jump to conclusions and never show my work), and lucky if I spell "meticulous" right, as anyone who's read these self-edited recaps can tell you. What I'm getting at is, while I love reading science fiction, I'm not clever enough to be able to tell you if a concept is absurd or practical. If it works in the context of the story, that's good enough for me.

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Walter Gotell

Elizabeth Lindsey

Gerard Prendergast

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Lethal Weapon and Star Trek actor Alan Scarfe dies at home after cancer battle

Alan Scarfe, known for his role in 'Lethal Weapon', has sadly died after being diagnosed with cancer .

The beloved actor's family has announced he died at his home in Quebec on April 28, at the age of 77. British-Canadian Scarfe made his mark with roles in shows such as 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' and was noted for his performance as Magistrate Augris in an episode of 'Star Trek: Voyager'.

He also starred opposite Mel Gibson in 'Lethal Weapon III'. Scarfe had sadly been diagnosed with colon cancer , after his late brother Brian also battled the same condition. Scarfe travelled extensively across Europe, the United States, and Canada for work, having studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art from 1964 to 1966.

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Over the following two decades, he amassed an impressive portfolio of over 100 roles. Reminiscing about his aspiration as an actor, he said in 2007, "I wanted to be a great classical actor in the long tradition of Burbage, Garrick, Kean, Booth, Olivier. Forty-five years ago when I began it was still possible to think in such a romantic, idealistic way."

In a touching tribute, the Scarfe's family revealed that he would have been "lost" without the loving care of his daughter Tosia and son-in-law Austin. The obituary detailed Alan's life, noting: "Son of Gladys Ellen Scarfe (Hunt), and Neville Vincent Scarfe, he was born June 8th, 1946 in Harpenden, England. He emigrated to Canada with his parents and two brothers, Colin and Brian Scarfe, as his father pursued an academic career, finally settling in Vancouver. The current education building at the University of British Columbia (the Scarfe Building) is proudly named after his father, Neville."

The family continued: "Alan is predeceased by his parents and his brother, Brian, who also succumbed to the same disease. He is also predeceased by his cherished and beautiful wife, Barbara, who passed away from cancer on August 11th, 2019."

They concluded with words of remembrance for those he left behind: "Surviving are his beloved daughter Tosia, and son-in-law Austin, who lived with and cared for Alan up until his death, and without whom Alan, 'would have been lost'. He also leaves behind his brother Colin, son Jonathan Scarfe, and his darling grandchildren Kai and Hunter Scarfe, university students at the University of Victoria, and McGill, respectively."

Alan's late wife Barbara also appeared in Star Trek, taking on the role of Lursa. In his later years, Alan turned his attention away from the screen and state and instead turned to writing.

His 2019 novel, The Revelation of Jack the Ripper saw him win an award. Following the success of his debut, he went on to write The Vampires of Juarez, The Demons of 9/11, and The Mask of the Holy Spirit.

His last acting credit in Babylon 5: The Lost Tales (2007) saw him take on the role of Father Cassidy. Although he took a step back from acting, Alan remained dedicated to the Star Trek franchise and often appeared at conventions, meeting fans and discussing his acting training for sci-fi roles.

He previously said: "Science fiction on film and television, especially if you are playing some kind of alien character with fantastic make-up, is great for actors with a strong stage background. The productions need that kind of size and intensity of performance. You can't really mumble if you're a Klingon."

Fans have since paid tribute on X, formerly known as Twitter, with one writing: "Sad to see Alan Scarfe has passed, I loved his evil farmer role in The Wrong Guy." A second added: "A damn shame. He's one of those actors who I always enjoyed seeing on TV and in the occasional movie... #AlanScarfe."

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336 - Analog Bynar Bob Ceti Alpha 3: A Star Trek Podcast

TNG First Season Stories for Trek Games The game, "Star Trek: Resurgence", came to various platforms in 2023. It introduced several new characters (as well as some old favorites) in its post-Nemesis 24th Century storyline. At the heart of the game's story was a sequel to the first season Next Gen episode "The Last Outpost." Since the trio are revisiting the beginnings of TNG, they look at what other episodes could be mined for stories for new Trek games. Join this round-robin pitch of ideas that takes one first season episode, one of its storylines, and applies it to a new Trek game based on an existing (or entirely new) Trek series. How does "Home Soil" continue in game form? How can "Lower Decks" go further into the ideas of "Haven"? Grab your console of choice and let us know your favorite Trek game pitch.

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Home soil (1988), gerard prendergast: bjorn benson, photos .

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Saturday, December 25, 2010

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Recap / Star Trek: The Next Generation S1E17 "Home Soil"

Tropes in this episode:

Star Trek: The Next Generation : "Home Soil"/"Coming Of Age"/"Heart Of Glory"

Related Content

Cast & Crew

Information

Accessibility

Lethal Weapon and Star Trek actor Alan Scarfe dies at home after cancer battle

336 - Analog Bynar Bob Ceti Alpha 3: A Star Trek Podcast

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Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)