Welcome to the fifth and final blog in the series. Today, we will take a look at two more episodes in the top 10 countdown of Star Trek: The Next Generation. If you have not yet seen the fourth in the series, you can do so here.

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Number 2: Darmok (5.02)

The Enterprise crew meet with the "Children of Tama" over an uninhabited planet. In the past, the language of the Tamarians has been considered incomprehensible by the universal translators. After some frustration at communicating over the viewscreen between the captains, Tamarian, Dathon, holds up two daggers, and his crew beams both him and Captain Picard to the planet and erects a shield to prevent escape. On the planet, Dathon offers Picard a dagger, which Picard refuses, believing it to be a challenge for a duel. As night falls, Dathon starts a fire for both to stay warm. When Picard awakens in the morning, he finds Dathon nearby, being pursued by a transparent beast. Dathon offers Picard the dagger, again, which he accepts. A failed Enterprise attempt at retrieving Picard leaves Dathon momentarily alone, where he is mortally wounded by the monster. Picard takes Dathon back to the fire, and they finally get a chance to try communicating. Over time, the two captains begin to understand each other as Picard realizes that the Tamarians communicate fully through allusions to stories of their past. A particular story of "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" refers to two warriors who form a friendship in their isolation against a common foe. Picard realizes that Dathon has sacrificed his own life so that a friendship could be formed between his race and the Federation. Picard eventually returns to the Enterprise and speaks to the Tamarians, through the viewscreen, about their captain's bravery and the admiration he holds for the man's sacrifice.

Have you ever tried to communicate with someone when you both speak different languages? How do you even begin to know what is being said? When you hold a mug to the person and describe it, are you describing the contents, the color, the object, the weight? Situations like this were encountered throughout time when explorers reached new continents and met completely foreign peoples. This episode is the epitome of Star Trek's prologue "... to seek out new life and new civilizations ...".


Number 1: The Measure of a Man (2.09)

The Enterprise arrives at a starbase where the android Data is ordered under the command of Captain Maddox, who wishes to disassemble him for study in the creation of more androids. Data refuses when he learns that reassembly may not be possible. Captain Picard backs up Data by trying to get the orders reversed but cannot, so Data offers his resignation. Maddox challenges the resignation on the grounds that Data is not alive but is property of the Federation. Picard challenges this with the Judge Advocate General. Understaffed, Riker is forced to act as prosecutor. During the trial, Riker shows that Data is a machine by removing his arm, with no perceived pain, and flipping the off-switch, turning Data lifeless. After a discussion with Guinan, Picard returns from recess with his new argument: Creating a race of disposable androids, all property of the Federation, would amount to slavery. He argues that all beings are created, some just differently than others, and that there is no proof that anyone in the room has a soul just as there is no proof that Data has a soul. The court sides with Data on grounds that, although he may be a machine, he is no one's property, and that he should have the chance to search for his own answers to his existence.

What makes us alive? Are we nothing more than chemical processes, or are we more than the sum of our parts? What is the soul? What is consciousness? Questions concerning existence of life are endless. Religions have existed throughout history as an effort to bring some comfort in the unknowns. Although religions and philosophies provide some answers, we may not know them all until we leave our bodies and return to the great beyond. Star Trek may consider space to be the final frontier, but I close this Top 10 list with the position that there is one more final frontier which we will all reach one day. Life is just a small piece of that puzzle.

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Thank you for reading my Top 10 countdown list. Let me know if you agree or disagree with it. for reference, here is the full list:

10. The Chase (6.20)
9. Inheritance (7.10)
8. Home Soil (1.17)
7. Force of Nature (7.09)
6. Ethics (5.16)
5. Who Watches The Watchers? (3.04)
4. I, Borg (5.23)
3. The Pegasus (7.12)
2. Darmok (5.02)
1. The Measure of a Man (2.09)

If there is enough interest, I will follow this series with other Star Trek shows.