Star Trek TNG - Season 3 - Episode 12
Star Trek TNG - 3x12 - The High Ground
Originally Aired: 1990-1-29
Synopsis:
Dr. Crusher is kidnapped by a terrorist group. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
- According to Data, the Irish unified in 2024 due to terrorism.
Remarkable Scenes
- The doctor's bravery in the beginning.
- Wesley's resolve toward saving his mother.
- The concept of the inter dimensional transporter.
- Beverly's captor does a great job of making himself seem noble.
- Geordi saving the ship.
- Picard attacking the intruder.
- Picard: "You plant bombs in shadows yet you accuse us of cowardice?"
- Dr. Crusher's captor drawing sexy pictures of her. Disturbing!
- Riker: "Maybe it ends with one boy putting down his gun."
My Review
Another race that looks exactly like humans! This story nicely parallels middle eastern terrorism. The solution to the show's problem is to overpower the terrorists. A basic and bloody though effective solution. The question of whether or not independence is to be granted to those who seek it is largely ignored. As if they deserve no rights. A decent but not perfect episode.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
Several times during the episode the terrorists use their dimensional shift to board the Enterprise. Beaming up to an orbiting spacecraft requires a great deal of accuracy. First of all, how do these terrorists locate the Enterprise? They would have to have access to sophisticated sensor equipment. Even then, they would also need detailed drawings of the Enterprise to accomplish the kind of raid that occurs in this episode. The terrorists beam directly to Engineering - one to the upper level of the dilithium chamber and one on the lower level. After the first attack fails, they beam to the bridge and take the captain. Is information about Galaxy Class starships freely available?
This episode leaves me flat. I generally like it when Trek does shows that can be seen as an allegorical take on real-world issues, but sometimes they can be pretty heavy-handed, like the TOS episode "Let This Be Your Last Battlefield," which is a fan favorite I've always considered fairly weak.
What's not clear in this episode is why, exactly, the separatists feel oppressed. Like the review above states, the question of whether they deserve independence is ignored. Another thing that bothers me about this episode is the action sequences. The music and the pacing of the episode remind me of cheesy 80s tv shows like the A Team. That combined with the surface-only exploration of the problem of terrorism seriously detracts from this episode for me.
On a side note, I wonder how this episode would have been viewed had it come out in a post 9/11 world?
I think ALL of the opinions about this episode show that the commentators are so wrapped up in their self-righteousness that they missed the fact that 50% of this episode is devoted to hearing the "terrorists" explain their position.
The terrorist leader is truly chilling as a multi-dimensional, well-spoken, but totally ruthless man who can easily justify any action he takes, no matter how many lives it costs. It is interesting how Dr. Crusher develops a hostage mentality (as Picard points out).
- I totally agree with DSOmo that the attack on the Enterprise showed startling sophistication. But then, so did the dimensional transporters; these were not your ordinary terrorists, they were equipped with superior technology. Maybe they were being supplied with tech by some hostile power?
- It is odd that the episode doesn't go the way you expect for a morality episode. But that may an intentional plot twist; you expect it to be resolved by diplomatic Federation mediation, but that isn't what happens. The situation on the planet is portrayed as way beyond the crew's ability to solve, all they can do is take decisive action against the immediate threat to themselves and hope that peace will some day come.
The BBC banned this episode when it was first aired due to his political content regarding the unification of Ireland. It was a bit of a hot potato for them!!!
A really rotten, repulsive episode.
The freedom fighters are supposedly heard and supposedly sympathized with. And then their leader is most certainly murdered by the side The Federation has the fucking nerve to have remained bolstering...
Riker has his little good-for-nothing comment and then it's over-and-out -- off to episode 13! Cue fan-fare music! Daaa dadada dadadaa!
It's a wrap.