Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series) The Inner Light (1992) User Reviews

I can't watch this episode without crying.

[tavives · 10/10 · 4 September 2009]

This beautiful, profound episode gets me every time I watch it. It hits me on so many levels. Having had 2 wives die unexpectedly, the first from cancer and the second during childbirth, and living with the memory of the love that we shared, this episode stirs up emotion in me that I just cannot contain. From another ST:TNG episode there is a line that says something about death being that point in which one exists only in the memories of others. But it is not an end. The reappearance of Eline and Batai near the conclusion and the final scene with Picard and the flute reaffirm this in a marvelous and inspiring way, and resonates with me in ways that make me feel both sad and joyous at the same time.

The way the Resikans preserve their memories and lives through Picard is one of the most touching, deep, and profound stories that has ever been told in any genre and through any media. And the fact that it has this impact on me (and obviously others considering the comments posted here) makes me feel alive and energized.

For anyone who has not seen "The Inner Light," you must do so. Buy it. Rent it. Catch it in reruns, but do not miss it. Let it wash over you and if it makes you weep, then let the tears flow. You will be a better person for it.

Everyone's favorite TNG

[orthogonal6 · 10/10 · 9 December 2007]

Ask any Star Trek TNG fan to list their five favorite episodes and The Inner Light will make almost every list. Rightfully so. This is one of the best episodes in Star Trek lore. Maybe the best – and built on a good story. Other reviews have described the plot of Picard living another lifetime in 20 minutes while mentally tethered to an alien probe. It is poignant, touching, beautiful, painful. What strikes me is the unseen epilogue.

Think about it. How can a person resume one life after experiencing another? From Picard's standpoint, he lived about 30 – 40 real years as someone else, only to be dropped back into his Starfleet life in an instant. Can he even remember how to be Captain after that long? Can he remember procedures and technical details and even the names of people he hasn't seen in decades? How painful his grief must be to have lost his wife years before, then his children. He outlived them all, and nobody else he encounters has any memory of them. In fact, it never really happened at all. Where is a support group for this? Recovering from a Borg assimilation seems almost pedestrian by comparison. He has lost a family, a world and a life. He is further tasked with honoring the wishes of a dead civilization that longed to be remembered. One wonders how a man as private as Picard will be able to tell of these people and share his pain and deal with his grief.

In all likelihood, he would handle this mostly in private. Maybe he would pull out the old flute – the only tangible reminder of his other life – and play it in the quiet of his own quarters. Great idea. The simple little melody is incredibly poignant as it speaks in just a few notes of the loss he must feel. It seems most viewers feel that loss as well. This viewer certainly did – the almost tangible sadness has made the tears well up some at the end. Kudos for a great episode.

The Wife

[rad1025 · 10/10 · 19 May 2008]

I have heard many comments, all true I might add, about how great the cast in this one was.

However,I think the wife really sold it and the entire show makes it because she plays it so well. In a few of the scenes she is simply radiant.

I think this wonderful actress may have surpassed her own abilities with this script. I think most actors that are fortunate to find work find that one role where it all just comes together.

This episode should have cleaned up at any awards show. Too bad no one was looking. How is it possible that anyone watched this and didn't think it worthy of an award?

Someday maybe Hollywood will get it. While the technical stuff is all fine and good, only a good story can be made into a great movie or episode. And this story was really good.

To heck with Romeo & Juliet...this teaches true love...

[lara-34 · 7 March 2006]

I cannot watch this episode without a box of tissues. I can cry on cue now without even thinking about it.

There are layers upon layers of depth to this tale. We learn about love and sacrifice and the desire to keep the memory of people alive.

I get sucked in at how Eline loves Picard absolutely despite his failings, and how he learns to love her unconditionally and give himself into the moment. When she's dying and says to him "Put away your shoes." I absolutely lose it. She handles her dying with dignity wanting to be alone with her husband letting him know exactly what he means to her.

He learns that having children can be life altering. And yet, that's how we continue on is through our children. He loves how he teaches his daughter to love science and his son to love art.

The acting in this was superb. The actors really gave themselves over into the characters that were richly developed in the script. I also like how they left you feeling a bit raw at the end with the haunting melody playing as the ship flew on. I could feel Picard's pain as he watched her die, as he looked at his grandson knowing the planet was dying.

My husband and I once sat there and tried to figure out which of the ST:TNG episodes were really sci fi and which were "Romeo and Juliet in outer space" (Thank you Philip K. Dick for that quote). I don't feel this one was truly sci fi. Nor is it a morality play. It's an intense story of how we as people live our lives and hope that we make a difference somehow. And it's one of our favorites. Thank you, Morgan Gendel, for an amazing story, and thank you to all of the actors for trusting the tale and making it come alive.

Just an echo of everyone else's comments !

[realbombadil · 10/10 · 17 March 2008]

The best episode of TNG ever. I have never bought a video of any episode of any TV series. However, I came across this one a few years after it was shown and bought it just so I could watch it anytime I wanted. Getting a lump in my throat just thinking about it ! I agree with the overall opinions of others the episode and Patrick Stewart should have received an Emmy. I have seen some of his Shakespearian roles and the character he portrays here is as close to, if not as good as some of the roles he has played on stage. As a matter of fact, there are times throughout the scenes on the planet, it seems as though they are acting out the roles on a stage, rather than on a TV set. The entire cast of the people on the planet deserve credit for their efforts and acting abilities.

The best Star Trek episode ever

[AgentSauvage · 10/10 · 2 September 2018]

By about one thousand, million, billion times, this is the best Star Trek episode of all time. there are no phasers, no attacking aliens, simply a civilisation that wants to be remembered long after it ceased to exist. The writers excelled themselves in creating memorable and lovable characters that inevitably had to die - and Patrick Stewart/Jean-Luke gave one of his most memorable performances ever, underplayed but excellent all the way. Of all the Star Trek episodes ever broadcast this is the one that will forever stay in my memory - a real tour de force. Congratulations to all those involved in its productions - I salute you all.

One Of The Next Generation's Best

[timdalton007 · 9/10 · 26 November 2008]

I will admit that I am not a die-hard Star Trek fan. I am more of casual fan who watches the show occasionally and nabs the occasional DVD. In fact before watching this on the recently released "Alternate Realities" DVD box set, I really don't think I had seen this episode before. I say that with regret because out of the many episodes of The Next Generation I have seen, I would have no issue with calling this one of the best i have seen if not the best.

For one thing there's the performance of Patrick Stewart. Stewart gets to step out of his role of Jean-Luc Picard to play Kamin, a simple man living in simple world. Stewart portrays first Picard then to Kamin and the truth is that if it wasn't for the occasional scenes on the Enterprise the transition would be complete because even though Stewart plays both roles they are completely different people. It's a fantastic performance to say the least and a true shame that Stewart wasn't even nominated for an Emmy for this performance.

Around Stewart is a terrific supporting cast. There the villagers made up of Richard Riehle and Scott Jaeck in speaking roles who both do well. Then there's Kammin's family including Jennifer Nash as his daughter Meribor and Patrick Stewart's own son Daniel Stewart as Batai. The true standout though of the supporting cast is Margot Rose as Kamin's wife Eline. Like Stewart, it is a shame that Rose wasn't even nominated for an Emmy Award because she gives an excellent performance.

Yet behind all the excellent performances there lies the script. Writers Morgan Gendel and Peter Allan Fields created a story that while set on another planet is more of a human drama then it is a science fiction story. True it has science fiction elements all in it (it wouldn't be Star Trek without them) but these two writers in this script reveal a basic truth about science fiction: a science fiction story is only as compelling as the human story within it. The Inner Light be lack space battles but it has more then enough heart to make up for it and is all the better for it.

From the performance of Patrick Stewart to the supporting cast and the script, The Inner Light is a first rate episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. That is because, that while it may be lacking in the seemingly prerequisite space battles and aliens, it has a fascinating human drama playing out not beneath it all but at the forefront of it all. In fact, The Inner Light is all the better for it. If you want to see what makes a great science fiction story see this episode.

My vote for the best single episode of any of the Star Trek shows.

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 24 November 2014]

"The Inner Light" is a brilliantly written and haunting show. It is by far the best episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" but I also think it's the best show of any of the hundreds of episodes of any of the Star Trek shows...it's THAT good.

The show begins with a probe nearing the Enterprise. Suddenly, a beam shoots onto the bridge and hits Picard. In the next scene, Picard awakens on a planet--one he's never seen and never heard of. When he tries to talk about his life on the Enterprise, no one seems to believe or understand--to them, he is just a member of their community and always has been. And, through the course of the show, Picard's new persona lives, loves and grows old in this new world. What happens next I won't say...you just have to see this one.

It's hard to put into words what's so great about this one. Suffice to say that it IS and this is why it has an enormously high score of 9.3! Overall, it's haunting, very intelligently written and totally unique. See this show!

Why is this so beautiful?

[robin-55689 · 10/10 · 12 August 2018]

This is my favourite episode by far of ST:TNG and it makes me emotional thinking about it, let alone watching it. It must be something that I hold dear that it links with; maybe the idea that as humans we have such a short time on this earth and the best we can hope for is to be remembered, and remembered fondly. We should all hope for such a beautiful journey through life, to cherish the ones we love and to be cherished, and to be gifted that experience, especially for a character such as Picard who's devotions are so often selfless, to have that experience of having a life with such shared experiences gifting him the guilty pleasures of familial love at an intimate level, is a beautiful thing.

A Masterful Episode

[pdavis68-1 · 10/10 · 23 September 2006]

This episode, in my mind, has always been the absolute best of the series. Stewart really got the opportunity to show what he can do. The writing is exceptional as well.

The relationship Picard builds with Eline is very believable and you get the sense that he has really experienced many years as a husband and father. The characters, especially his family, all have a great deal of depth and it's easy to build an emotional attachment to them all.

This episode shows what can be done with really good Sci Fi. It's not about the technology. It's about the story.

A Touching, Moving Story

[leepetmar · 10/10 · 5 June 2009]

This is, hands down, my favourite TNG episode, and I have seen all of them, some numerous times. I had the opportunity to see this again today, and felt compelled to comment on it. Perhaps it is because I am aging (60-something), and now a grandfather, and seeing my life so rapidly slipping by me. My theory of the perception of the passage of time is that your perception of the length of of any finite period of time is in inverse proportion to the amount of life experience you have. If you are 10, one year is 10% of your life -- a long time. When you are 50, one year is 2% of your life. It seems to pass 5 times as quickly as when you were 10. So, my life is passing quickly, as Picard's did in this story. Maybe that's why I relate to it so readily.

Then there is the acting. Eline is beautifully and skilfully portrayed. I almost fell for her myself. She is sweet, loving, kind and gentle. Yet she challenges Kamin when she should, and he listens to her. When she returns at the end, my throat tightens up with emotion. She also is beautiful without being flashy (I hope you know what I mean).

Batai is a great friend. Perhaps because I have found very few really good friends in my life, I find the relationship of Kamin with Batai as appealing. It is touching when Kamin and Eline name their second child after Batai. It is even more touching when he also returns at the end.

Kamin's daughter Meribor is a delight. I have two daughters, and see parts of both of them in her. She seems so natural for the part. When she says "I love you father"... it gets me every time.

The only slightly disappointing point is that the aging makeup for Kamin got less believable as the show progressed. At the end it was difficult to continue to suspend belief.

Patrick Stewart deserved acclaim for this portrayal. The scene at the end, when he exclaims "Oh, it's me -- it's me that it finds" when he realizes that the probe is destined to contact him -- is so believable. And his reaction to the crew when he returns to the Enterprise seems just right. Finally, as he clutches his flute to his chest, I can almost feel his character's angst at having loved and lost, and the depth of the plethora of emotions that would necessarily encompass someone who had experienced something like this.

I am saving this one on tape. It is so poignant and touching that I simply must see it again from time to time, to touch some of those thoughts that are too often submerged in my own life.

a nursery.......

[gritfrombray-1 · 10/10 · 9 June 2007]

This episode is proof of how brilliant an actor Patrick Stewart is. When a probe's beam knocks Picard down he is suddenly in this 'other' life. He refuses to accept his predicament and insists he is not supposed to be there. Minutes pass on the Enterprise and years pass within Jean Luc, now known as Kamin's life. Crusher tries to revive the Captain to no avail. The warmth and friendliness on the planet Kamin is on, Kataan, is beautiful and somewhat blissful. The planet is doomed because of a massive draught and it's people are aware of their plight and have accepted it and, with a sense of spirit have united to plant trees as an affirmation of life. Kamin's beloved wife, Eleen asks repeatedly for him to give up the life he so clings to and start living in this one and start a family. Eventually Kamin has a family, two children and plays a flute. Eleen dies and Kamin is left a widower. Into old age we see a launching that a grumpy old Kamin reluctantly attends. His daughter tells him he's already seen the probe before he came here. Eleen appears, as does his dead friend and they explain that they wanted someone from the future to be a teacher and tell of their planet in a touching heart warming scene. Picard awakens on the Enterprise and is startled to discover that less than a half hour has elapsed. The probe is taken aboard and Kamin's flute is on it and Picard wistfully holds it to his chest and then plays the Kataanian tune remembering the people. Fans should know that Batai the older is played by Daniel Stewart, son of Patrick. This is one of the best episodes of the series by a wide margin

There was a very similar story in ancient China

[sylviewan · 7/10 · 19 January 2012]

First, I have to say, no offense to all the-inner-light lovers. Before I have watched this episode, I heard everyone said this was his/her favorite. So I had a high expectation, and after watching I was a little disappointed.

The story was good, but I wasn't surprised by the plot. I was wondering if the writer referred to a very famous story in ancient China: "Yellow Millet Dream". (You may find it on WIKI) To make a summary, a man dozed off as his yellow millet was cooking in a hotel. He experienced 18 years in a dream. He got married, had children and succeeded to be the prime minister. But then he attracted jealousy of others and was betrayed. Finally he lost all he had. As he was dying on the street in the dream, he woke up, and the cooking of his yellow millet was just done.

Maybe all the best stories share an universal spirit. So if they have similar plots, it's not surprising. Many ancient China stories have a motif that compares lives to dreams. If you are interested, you may check them out.

They kidnap Picard

[tuepfelsumpfhuhn · 3/10 · 10 May 2021]

While i have sympathy for the sentimental notion of not wanting to be forgotten, I can't condone the kidnapping of Picard for a lifetime!

I guess it's one of those episodes that did not age well at all.

From my point of view, Picard was kidnapped and then gaslight to the extreme. Imagine you where torn from your reality and forced to live on another planet with people insisting they know you, but really they don't. For decades, you live among them, all your family and friends lost and you may never see them again. This is a really horrible concept and its only bearable because we all know he's going to end back on the Enterprise. Well, HE doesn't know that which is a gigantic flaw I think.

comparing Inner light with City On The Edge Of Forever

[patxi1460 · 26 September 2011]

I feel certain that the writers of Inner Light intended a comparison with The City On The Edge Of Forever, and it's good to see it recognized by Star Trek affictionados, and reviewers here.

The premise of how Picard enters this alternative life, is not particularly strong, any more than how Kirk and Spock enter their's in search of McCoy, but it doesn't matter because what then follows is totally believable and totally absorbing. We are allowed to lose ourselves completely in the non-Federation story line and the Enterprise and its crew are sensibly left almost completely out of it. In Inner Light we see the Enterprise only as a reminder of where Picard should be, but for the rest of the time we enter his world and alternate life as fully as he does. Giving the painfully private Picard an entire family is genius. He was the only man in TNG that could have been chosen by the Probe. And it ends like waking from a blissful, though heart-renderingly sad dream. Brilliant acting, stupendous writing and totally absorbing, it puts Inner Light up there with Time Squared and Darmok as the best TNG episodes for me. and yeah, I cry when I watch it too.

The Best Trek Ever

[thirteenprime · 10/10 · 20 August 2013]

It's been almost twenty years now since I first saw "The Inner Light," and I still think it's the best episode of any Star Trek series. The writing, acting and direction are nothing short of brilliant. I was sitting there on 8 Sep 1966 for the premiere of what we now call Trek Classic, and I have never seen them do better than "The Inner Light." Hence, it gets a perfect 10 from me. Whoever called it TNG's "City on the Edge of Forever" was not mistaken, although I think the edge for "best ever episode" goes to "The Inner Light."

It seems odd, really, that the best episodes of Classic and TNG are more or less Star Trek in name only. The Trekkish trappings are all there at the top and bottom of both episodes, but in the middle we get a wonderful story about these characters, who in each case are far removed from their normal time, place and circumstance.

What an achievement this episode was. Writing about this has made me miss the series all over again.

Damn Good Episode

[vorlonhomeworld · 10/10 · 4 September 2008]

Toddhavista (review above me) must be smoking CRACK !!!! That was possibly the best episode of Star Trek TNG ever! It's primarily focus is Patrick (Jean-Luc Piccard) and how he lives an entire lifetime (within 1/2 hour) on a planet that's been extinct 1000 years, due to a supernova. Rather than focus on some new technology, it brings home the point that life is for living, in the now, not later! It's, if nothing else, an episode in the style of the original Star Trek, where social commentary was veiled with SCI-FI Metaphor. I remember it vividly and was pleased to see it again, recently on the SciFi channel! The music, especially the flute melody is haunting. Definitely NOT a holodeck episode (like toddhavista says).

To live half a lifetime in half an hour

[phenomynouss · 10/10 · 15 June 2010]

In this episode, the Enterprise comes across an oddly shaped probe dating back thousands of years, with no habitable world for lightyears around it. Suddenly it 'shoots' something at Picard, and the Captain wakes up in a desert town, with people who have supposedly known him all his life, and a wife who listens as he tells of his "delusion" of being a Starship captain named Jean-Luc Picard, when their own race is just on the cusp of space technology.

For the next 45 minutes of air time, and 25 minutes of Picard's life, he lives out an entire 50 years or so in this life, not returning to the Enterprise, raising a family and working to solve the problem of a drought that is threatening the entire planet.

Picard's experiences on this planet gradually shape him, as he begins to reject his life as "Jean-Luc Picard" as a delusion, and spends the next several decades of his life living on this world, dealing with the typical issues of family life such as raising his children, trying to accept his son's decision to drop out of school to become a musician, and his life-long project of trying to save the planet from drying up and dying.

Then comes the very end, which took what could have been just an odd and arbitrary, yet still very good episode, and made it spectacular, mind-blowing, and heartbreaking.

Haunting episode

[jani-varpujarvi · 10/10 · 12 February 2020]

I cant say anything, that has not been said before. This episode and that beautifully sad melody, has been in my mind for many, many years. (I really liked when that song was played again in later episode). This episode is in its own league. Simply one of the best moments ever (if not the best) in television.

We were here

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 28 August 2019]

This TNG story brings us a development that we may not like to think about, our sun going supernova and obliterating us and all the things about us good or bad.

Who will let whatever space explorers of the future know about earth and it's culture?

A planet facing such a problem from a star expanding and then going supernova sent up a probe that the Enterprise finds that sends a beam aimed at Captain Picard which knocks him unconscious.

For the rest of the episode Patrick Stewart plays an unconscious Picard and also a man named Kamen , a citizen of this deceased world. He grows old and wise in the Kamen portrayal given the advances his planet didn't make because they just weren't ready.

The mind dwells on the possibilities of countless such worlds whose civilizations didn't outrun nature herself.

One of the best TNG episodes.

Simply the best episode of TNG

[Nuke_Gunray · 10/10 · 16 December 2018]

Never in my life as an adult did I weep as much as I did in this episode. It is touching on so many levels of feelings that I cannot even begin to analyze which part I love the most and I am sure everyone who has watched this piece of art will agree:

For me, the mere tought of space is always bound to give me goosebumps and feelings of sadness... Because I always think about how many worlds and civilizations may have been out there that have vanished maybe tenthousand years ago; wiped away by a meteor impact or a supernova.

And this episode just takes all these feelings and transforms them into a solid, almost theatrical performance of great actors. Captain Jean-Luc Picard is forced into the life that is not his own and even his character developement inside this episode - from trying to escape from the "dream" to accepting it and living his life there to the fullest - would be enough for a thrilling experience. But this episode goes much deeper: As we see Picard falling in love with "his" wife, having children, growing old and becoming a person so much different then what we would ever think of him, a feeling of sadness and melancholy emerges as we begin to comprehend that the planet he is living on is dying and the civilization about to become extinct.

Seeing his children rise from infants to adults, falling in love, starting careers and having children of their on with Picard becoming an old man is a great example of showing the "circle of life" inside a movie and combined with the approaching end of his civilization, this episode delivers a 45min long ode to life and its beauty.

This is by far my most favorite episode of Star Trek, maybe even of all TV-shows and to be honest I think this would have made a great movie... 10/10 any time of the day.

Best writing, best acting come together

[madfedor · 9/10 · 6 August 2006]

My greatest joy in watching this series, after discovering the actors for the first time in Season 1, was in watching the writers challenge the actors to show their talents. 42-minute episodes in continuing series are difficult circumstances for an individual actor to shine, especially when the series depends so heavily on the strength of the ensemble.

"The Inner Light" is right up there with "City on the Edge of Forever" from TOS for that rare blend of writing and acting that is necessary to be recognized by peers and given an award. Every character in the story, every development as well, was true to the series core (and not just to the Star Trek universe). The culture of the Kataanians was nuanced, evoking its differences efficiently (something that's very hard to do in the limited time given). I was particularly taken by the use of language, with such phrases as "go carefully" and "happy day", familiar for meaning and context, very different by comparison to what the viewer is used to hearing.

I can imagine the shuddering going on around the "holodeck episode" syndrome, and in large part I can sympathize with it. I would urge the viewer to give "The Inner Light" a break, though, because this story stands alone in every respect, and makes best use of the plot device.

I'm 50 years old. I've seen four TV shows that brought tears to my eyes. This one stands at the top of that list, because the first time I saw it I cried as well. No higher accolade can I offer.

Her part was small, though very important to the story, but I'd like to give special mention to Jennifer Nash as Meribor. She was an equal partner with Patrick Stewart in every scene they shared, which was every scene she appeared in. I could well imagine Meribor in command of a starship one day, if it wasn't clear that she was already dead and gone for a thousand years. Truly her father's daughter in the story.

I had to stop short of giving this a 10 out of 10. The aging effect, particularly for Picard, was distracting towards the end and not very believable. I would have hoped they'd spend a little more of their budget and get his transformation right (something TOS seemed able to do successfully with a lot less money). The face became rigid for both Picard and Eline. The actors might as well have been doing voice over at couple of spots, for all they could emote through the prosthetics.

Best TNG episode

[shelley-60315 · 10/10 · 19 November 2018]

Even all these years later, I still cry every time Picard hugs the flute near the end.

Never understood the appeal

[zenmateisshite · 7/10 · 3 March 2021]

I'm a huge TNG fan since I was a wee lad. Watched most episodes many times and dream of a future like Gene's imagined (not like JJ wants: war and corruption!!).

However I never understood why this episode is the highest ranked in imdb. I understand what other reviewers are saying. Its a warm and soulful story about family and the meaning of life. As well as being philosophical about the memory and loss of loved ones for us as individuals and eventually humanity when/if humans will die out before we find other intelligent species (all our existence will be lost for ever). It offers some good sci-fi but to me its just an average episode that doesn't reach the top 20 TNG episodes.

In terms of the production values, they are lacking to say the least. I mean the make up should actually be criticized (compare that to All Good Things). The decor is, well horrible like they went back to old Greece. The writing is so lame, its like an alien came to earth and tried to describe how humans would discuss issues within a family. "Through it all, there was my music. I think you know that, Father. This is the life I want." "If music is what he wants, why should I stand in his way?" Right!

Last point, it kind of tries to show the beauty of family life, how you build a life of love and sacrifice, but it fails miserably for two main reasons. Immediately after Picard goes back to the enterprise, he is shaken up and tries to deal with all of what happened to him but then in the next episodes you don't see him mention this at all. His experience only came up once or twice when he was playing the flute so not even anything related to having children or grandchildren as if that experience had very little impact on him and he couldn't care less about family life.

The proof is in the pudding. After the seemingly amazing and fulfilling family life, why didn't Picard choose to settle down and have a family of his own in real life? I'll tell you why, because he prefers his own life and to him he knows family life is not all roses and peaches all the time like they would like you to believe.

Why do fans like this episode so much???

[ahlsrobe · 3/10 · 28 June 2020]

Picard is forced to live somebody else's entire life and it only lasts a minute. It just isn't exciting and too hard to relate too. Set phasers to stun and get this episode over with!