Lynch's Spoiler Review: "Suddenly Human"
Timothy W. Lynch
episode of TNG, "Suddenly Human", so if you don't want 'em, don't read this
just now.
Sure?
Okeydoke.
Well, it could have been worse, but it could have been a great deal better.
I'll go into specifics later, though. First, a synop:
The Enterprise responds to a distress call, and finds a Talarian training ship,
with radiation leaks. They rescue five of the ship's crew, all teenagers--four
are Talarian, but one is _human_. The human youth, named Jono, refuses to talk
to anyone until he hears Picard's title of Captain--then, he shows strict
obedience to Picard's wishes. Beverly takes Picard aside and mentions that she
found signs of rather severe injury some time ago--possibly abuse.
Shortly thereafter, the crew find out that Jono's real name is Jeremiah Rossa--
he's the grandson of an admiral, and his parents were killed ten years ago by
the Talarians in a border skirmish. Troi tells Picard that Jono needs a father
figure right now--and as the only person to whom Jono's shown the slightest
positive response, Picard's the lucky candidate.
Picard attempts to strike up friendly conversations with the boy, even bringing
Jono into his quarters. However, when he brings up Jono's human heritage, Jono
gets angry and storms out. Picard tries to tell Troi that he's not the best
suited for the job, Troi instead convinces Picard that "no one is born a good
parent", and he'll just have to do the best he can. Picard shows Jono a
picture of his real parents, and as he leaves for the bridge, we see that
Jono's memories of the attack are beginning to resurface.
Meanwhile, the captain of the Talarian ship K'Mer hails them, and when asked
for an explanation of Jono's status, claims that Jono is his son. It seems
that Endar claimed Jono during the attack according to Talarian tradition, and
he absolutely refuses to let Jono return to the Federation, threatening war.
(He also claims that Jono's past injuries were NOT abuse--Jono merely injured
himself in beast-riding and contests with other youths.) With reservations,
Picard allows Endar to see Jono--and when Jono says he wants to stay with
Endar, Endar assures him he will, even if war is a result.
As two more Talarian ships approach (the Enterprise came deep into Talarian
space to answer the call), Picard and company decide to try to convince Jono to
stay, reasoning that Endar cannot take Jono if he is unwilling to leave. After
Jono receives a message from his grandmother, Picard takes him to unwind by
playing the 24th-century version of racquetball. During the game, however,
Jono breaks down and cries. Later, after being assured that such feelings are
part of humanity, he actually laughs in Ten-Forward at an unfortunate accident
involving him, Wes, and a banana split. However, that evening, Picard wakes up
to see Jono over him--just in time to feel Jono stabbing him with a dagger.
Fortunately, the blade was deflected by Picard's sternum, and his injuries are
not life-threatening. However, Jono has now committed a Federation crime and
must be dealt with by Federation justice. However, after hearing Jono say that
he cannot betray Endar by drawing close to Picard, Picard realizes that he's
made a terrible mistake in not considering Jono's feelings in all of this--and
just as Endar's patience finally runs out, Picard informs him that he will let
Jono return. He beams Jono back, but not before Jono bids him farewell with a
ritual normally reserved for Talarian fathers and sons.
Well, that's the story. Now for an analysis:
I noticed that this show credited one person with the story, and another (Jeri
Taylor, a producer) with the teleplay. That screams "massive rewrite" to my
mind. It's not difficult to tell.
To begin with, I'm convinced that the alien race we encountered here was
originally supposed to be Klingon, and not Talarian. Their features are
similar (the Talarians have the same forehead ridges), and their stoic
attitudes towards pain certainly have much in common. However, I suspect that
the PTBaP (the Powers That Be at Paramount) looked at the script and said, "no,
no--we don't even want shades of a hint that the Klingons are child abusers!!!"
This, despite Data's one remark in "The Offspring" about "...and what Klingons
do to _their_ children". Go figure. So anyway, I suspect they decided to pick
another race--and since they had Klingons on their mind anyway, they looked at
"Heart of Glory" and noticed the Talarians mentioned. Well, there we are.
Truth to tell, I would have preferred it if the story had been Klin-based,
rather than Talarian-based. Interesting parallels could have been made between
Jono and Worf, and we could have seen a bit more of a child's view of Klin
culture. Maybe someday.
The rewrite also showed through in the child abuse angle. The first ten or
fifteen minutes of this had my Roddenberry-flag spinning like a dynamo. It
was preachy--preachy to an extreme I don't recall seeing since at least "The
Bonding", and possibly since "Symbiosis", though there was no 90-second Public
Service Announcement [TM] like there was in the latter story. However, after
Picard's first conversation with Endar, the entire focus changed; from child
abuse to the more basic question of when to take someone out of his/her
"natural" environment.
This time, however, I approved of the change--the second two-thirds of the show
were a good-sized improvement over the first third. Not enough to make it
all that great, mind you--but a definite improvement. In fact, I'd have
preferred that the entire show be devoted to that, since that topic has much
more potential than child abuse. (Note: I'm not saying child abuse is boring
or not worthy of attention--far from it. However, it's EXTREMELY difficult to
focus on child abuse in a show like this without being preachy. But y'know,
if they'd stuck with the Klingon angle, it might have had a shot. But I
digress.)
On to other topics. Chad Allen didn't do a lousy job as Jono--certainly not as
lousy a job as the kid who played Jeremy Aster in "The Bonding". On occasions
in the show, I thought he did a fairly good job playing the stoic--even when he
let his feelings show through, as in his next-to-last scene with Picard.
However, he didn't do as good a job when he needed to have an emotional
outburst--and God, but that noise he made as a mourning sound was annoying to
listen to. He did an all right job, but by no means a great one.
As for the only other prominent guest star (Barbara Townsend as ADM Rossa was
a throwaway), Sherman Howard did a decent job as Endar--probably better than
Jono was done, come to think about it. He seemed to be a real person, and his
way of life seemed consistent with his personality. We can't ask for much more
than that.
The regulars were, well, passable. This was one of those rare occasions where
I didn't particularly enjoy Stewart's performance. That's a pity, because he
had the most screen time of all the regulars this week. Next most prominent
was Marina, who gave one of her more disappointing performances, with the
possible exception of one scene with Picard. The others had little more than
walk-ons, unfortunately (Bev played a somewhat strong role, but it didn't feel
like it; she kept to the background a lot).
Now, I've got two major objections to the story--one a "fictional" objection,
and one a little more real.
1) Picard's statement that he wasn't the right man for the job echoed
something I had said several minutes earlier. You want a father figure who's
good with kids? Fine. Picard is NOT the obvious choice--Riker is. He's also
more physically imposing, which could be a factor for one brought up by a
warrior race. Not putting Riker in instead of Picard here was a big mistake,
particularly because this is one of the few situations where I think Frakes
might have done a pretty good job.
2) Jono's sudden outpouring of emotion about his long-dead parents and the
attack of ten years earlier happened far too fast. The kid was less than four
years old when his parents were killed, and has spent ten years in a more-or-
less stable environment--impassive, yes, but reasonably content. (That, after
all, was the whole POINT of the show.) I was roughly the same age when my
newborn brother died, and it doesn't affect me in anything close to the way
Jono was affected. I'll admit that the circumstances are different, but I
still found it completely unbelievable.
Now, there were a few things to like. I thought the scene in 10-Forward was
pretty amusing, but you'll have to watch it for yourself. More importantly, I
was glad to see that the episode did NOT have Jono returned happily to the
human race. Unrealistic as I thought his outburst was, I thought his motiva-
tions later for stabbing Picard were somewhat reasonable, and it would have
been orders of magnitude worse for him to stay with the Federation. That much,
at least, I think they did right.
However, this was by no means one of TNG's finer efforts. The ratings:
Plot: 5. It was a 6, but the Riker plothole brought it down.
Plot Handling: 5. Too much rewriting and not enough GOOD writing.
Characterization: 4. A reasonable Jono and a decent Endar, but very, very
lackluster regulars.
Technical: 6. The Talarian ships were lame, but I liked the racquetball game,
and they didn't make any major errors.
TOTAL: 5. Watchable, but little more.
NEXT WEEK:
Bev gets caught in some strange situations--and was that the Traveler's
silhouette I recognized in one place? I'll never tell. :-)
Tim Lynch (Cornell's first Astronomy B.A.; one of many Caltech grad students)
BITNET: tlynch@citjuliet
INTERNET: tly...@juliet.caltech.edu
UUCP: ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.ca...@hamlet.caltech.edu
"_This_ is called a banana split--and it's quite possibly one of the greatest
things in the universe."
--
Copyright 1990, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
Sarah L. Higley
/I noticed that this show credited one person with the story, and another (Jeri
/Taylor, a producer) with the teleplay. That screams "massive rewrite" to my
/mind. It's not difficult to tell.
TNG often does this. Look at "The Bonding" and "Sins of the Father."
And most of them are "massively rewritten." Whether or not a writer
gets full screen credit is a legal decision, not an indication of the
number of people who work on the script. Sometimes they'll buy a story
and whoever rewrites the script will feel they want to "arbitrate" for
screen credit, since it is the credits that determine the residuals.
/To begin with, I'm convinced that the alien race we encountered here was
/originally supposed to be Klingon, and not Talarian. Their features are
/similar (the Talarians have the same forehead ridges), and their stoic
/attitudes towards pain certainly have much in common. However, I suspect
/rthat the PTBaP (the Powers That Be at Paramount) looked at the script
/and said, "no, no--we don't even want shades of a hint that the Klingons
/are child abusers!!!" This, despite Data's one remark in "The Offspring"
/about "...and what Klingons do to _their_ children". Go figure. So
/anyway, I suspect they decided to pick another race--and since they had
/Klingons on their mind anyway, they looked at "Heart of Glory" and
/noticed the Talarians mentioned. Well, there we are.
/Truth to tell, I would have preferred it if the story had been Klin-based,
/rather than Talarian-based. Interesting parallels could have been made
/between Jono and Worf, and we could have seen a bit more of a child's
/view of Klin culture. Maybe someday.
I agree. A story with a known race (either Klingon or Romulan) would
have been better.
/The rewrite also showed through in the child abuse angle. The first ten or
Again, I don't think you can judge from the end product whether it has
been rewritten or not... all scripts have to go through the pasteurizing
process.
/Picard is NOT the obvious choice--Riker is. He's also
ditto.
Hammer T. H.
>WARNING: The following post contains spoiler information regarding this week's
>episode of TNG, "Suddenly Human", so if you don't want 'em, don't read this
>just now.
>Sure?
>Okeydoke.
>1) Picard's statement that he wasn't the right man for the job echoed
>something I had said several minutes earlier. You want a father figure who's
>good with kids? Fine. Picard is NOT the obvious choice--Riker is. He's also
>more physically imposing, which could be a factor for one brought up by a
>warrior race. Not putting Riker in instead of Picard here was a big mistake,
>particularly because this is one of the few situations where I think Frakes
>might have done a pretty good job.
Well, one thing is that it expanded on what we were told with Picard's
problems dealing with children. It looked like he thought he was getting
the hang of it, until the attack. Then at the end of the episode, he
seemed sad to see Jono go, as if he had just let his own son go. This
may affect how the character will relate with children later on...
however it could go either way.
>Now, there were a few things to like. I thought the scene in 10-Forward was
>pretty amusing, but you'll have to watch it for yourself.
I know Data will take your word for it. :)
>However, this was by no means one of TNG's finer efforts. The ratings:
>Plot: 5. It was a 6, but the Riker plothole brought it down.
Again, I'd have to say that it allowed for some more character
development with Picard. As someone else mentioned, Jono might not like
dealing with a second-in-command. Everything he said seemed to relate to
the title "Captain."
>Tim Lynch (Cornell's first Astronomy B.A.; one of many Caltech grad students)
>BITNET: tlynch@citjuliet
>INTERNET: tly...@juliet.caltech.edu
>UUCP: ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.ca...@hamlet.caltech.edu
>"_This_ is called a banana split--and it's quite possibly one of the greatest
>things in the universe."
>--
>Copyright 1990, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...
You mean you don't find that funny?
No sir. But I will take your word for it. This is very amusing.
--Riker and Data, "Suddenly Human", stardate 44xxx.x
Okay, so I don't remember the stardate. I don't have a tape of the
show. (New work schedule forces me to wait another day to see the
episodes: Late-night Sunday instead of 6:PM Saturday.)
--
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