This episode sees the Enterprise contacting the Tamarian; an apparently friendly race whose language appears impenetrable. The universal translator can decipher the words but the sentences make no obvious sense. As the Tamarians get frustrated by the lack of progress their captain and Picard are transported to the planet below in an attempt to force an understanding. After some early misunderstandings Picard comes to realise the Tamarian is speaking entirely in metaphors; that doesn't solve the problem though as Picard has no knowledge of the story the metaphors are taken from. When the two come under attack from a mysterious creature they start to make progress but by then it may be too late. Back on the Enterprise they have also determined that the Tamarian's language is metaphorical but make less progress with any understanding; indeed tensions raise as they try to teleport Picard back to the Enterprise to the point that it looks as if a war could start!.
This is an interesting episode; the universal translator is obviously needed to avoid having confusion every time people meet new aliens but it is nice to have an episode where it doesn't work perfectly so that confusion can be explored. The idea of a 'metaphorical languages' obviously has its flaws; most notably the fact that the metaphors couldn't be created if there wasn't a conventional language to create the original narratives they are taken from that said it proved to be interesting and certainly one of the more creative ideas to be used in the series. The always excellent Patrick Stewart does a fine job expressing Picard's struggle to understand the Tamarian captain and Paul Winfield is good as that captain; their scenes together are top rate. The activities back on the ship are interesting but mainly serve to raise the tension and make it more important that Picard can come to understand at least some of the Tamarian metaphor. Overall a superior episode which is definitely worth watching.
This is an interesting episode; the universal translator is obviously needed to avoid having confusion every time people meet new aliens but it is nice to have an episode where it doesn't work perfectly so that confusion can be explored. The idea of a 'metaphorical languages' obviously has its flaws; most notably the fact that the metaphors couldn't be created if there wasn't a conventional language to create the original narratives they are taken from that said it proved to be interesting and certainly one of the more creative ideas to be used in the series. The always excellent Patrick Stewart does a fine job expressing Picard's struggle to understand the Tamarian captain and Paul Winfield is good as that captain; their scenes together are top rate. The activities back on the ship are interesting but mainly serve to raise the tension and make it more important that Picard can come to understand at least some of the Tamarian metaphor. Overall a superior episode which is definitely worth watching.