“The Enemy”
Written by David Kemper and Michael Piller
Directed by David Carson
Season 3, Episode 7
Original air date: November 6, 1989
Star date: 43349.2
Mission summary
A distress signal leads Enterprise to a crappier-than-usual planet, Galorndon Core, where a small away team discovers the remnants of a Romulan shuttle–which was apparently destroyed after it crash-landed. Worf stumbles across an injured Romulan and promptly injures him some more to make him easier to rescue. Meanwhile, the hapless La Forge becomes the proverbial “boy in the well” when the ground crumbles beneath him and he plummets into a crevasse. Because of magnetic interference in the atmosphere that disrupts transporter beams, communications, and tricorders, Riker and Worf have to leave their friend behind, but no one really considers a surly Romulan on the verge of death a fair trade for their engineer.
Dr. Crusher examines their prisoner and informs them that he will die unless he receives a transfusion of precious, precious ribosomes. The search begins for a matching donor on board, while the crew tries to figure out how to retrieve La Forge and puzzle out what the Romulans were up to on the wrong side of the Neutral Zone. Their ailing guest refuses to give up any information.
La Forge is not one to sit at the bottom of a pit and wait for death or help to come to him. His VISOR reveals metal ore in the soft walls of the hole he’s fallen into. He uses his phaser to melt them down and fashions primitive spikes that he uses to climb out. He stumbles around the inhospitable landscape until he spots a neutrino beam that can cut through the planet’s interference and allow him to contact Enterprise–courtesy of Wesley Crusher, boy genius. Before he can get to it though, he is accosted and knocked out, by a second Romulan.
Romulans are popping up everywhere–Enterprise intercepts a signal from Commander Tomalak, who tells them there was only one Romulan pilot, and he wants him back. He’s on his way, but he promises to stay inside the Neutral Zone until the Federation ship rendezvous with him. It’s even more imperative to keep their only bargaining chip alive, and it turns out there’s one match for the ribosomes he needs: Worf.
Worf is not keen on saving the life of a Romulan with the blood of the parents that they killed, so he declines to share his ribosomes. La Forge isn’t making any friends either–his Romulan, Bochra, is holding a disruptor on him, at least until a pile of rocks falls on him. La Forge rescues him, only to be captured again. But once they’ve had some time to bond, he brings Bochra around to his way of thinking. Only it’s too late; the magnetic forces on the planet are wreaking havoc on both their bodies, causing Bochra to suffer neurological damage and breaking La Forge’s connection with his VISOR. He can no longer see the neutrino beacon.
Now completely blind, La Forge is finally ready to give up, until Bochra suggests he link his VISOR to the tricorder to point the way to the neutrinos. The Romulan becomes La Forge’s eyes and hands, and La Forge half-carries him to the beacon. Back on the ship, everyone tries to cajole or guilt-trip Worf into helping the Romulan, but Picard stops just short of making it an order. Worf refuses and the Romulan dies, just as the impatient Tomalak’s warbird appears to reclaim him.
It looks like they’re going to start a war, until Wesley detects La Forge’s signal from the beacon. Picard takes a chance and asks Tomalak to act in good faith as they lower the shields to beam up La Forge and the Romulan that Tomalak claimed didn’t exist. The new buddies make it to the ship in the nick of time, averting a bloody space battle and a costly special effects budget. Picard agrees to hand over Bochra…and escort Tomalak’s ship back to the Neutral Zone.
Analysis
Weirdly, I remembered the two story lines in this episode as being in two different episodes, but they obviously fit together and play against each other well, an excellent example of how writers had finally figured out how to balance the plot in their scripts.
This is simply a standout episode, largely because of the unexpected, dark place it takes one of the main characters. In fact, it constantly subverts our expectations, providing plenty of opportunities where you think, “This is it. Worf is going to come around.” But he never does! The last, most striking moment is after Worf refuses again and Picard sternly says, “Lieutenant.” It seems he might actually order Worf to “volunteer,” but he doesn’t. The captain does the right thing, and whether you think Worf does the right thing or not, he stays true to himself. The more I re-watch the series, the more I realize Worf is one of the most complex and nuanced characters on the show, and Dorn really has been shining this season.
I also loved the bits on the planet–and how cool is the name “Galorndon Core”? I like seeing how resourceful Starfleet crew members can be when they’re really put to the test, and La Forge is rather brilliant, as is his new friend, Bochra. Seeing creativity at work like this is so much fun, and it’s a nice message that even though they rely on technology to do so much, they also have ingenuity. However, I did think it was strange that La Forge instantly assumed that Wesley had set up the neutrino beacon. Maybe if it had been another repurposed science experiment, but La Forge is basically implying that the kid is the only person on the ship who could have come up with it. To which I say, “Really?”
You add in the impending threat of the approaching warbird and Commander Tomalak, portrayed by the fabulous actor Andreas Katsulas, and the episode has even more tension with the highest of stakes. It feels like a mashup of “Balance of Terror” and “Arena.” It’s also content to let the mystery of what the Romulans were doing there go unanswered at the end of the episode; it seems to be fodder for a later plot point, but I don’t recall if they ever come back to it. I mean, I’m sure they were up to no good.
There are many other great character moments. Riker is tormented by having to leave Geordi behind: He snaps at poor Chief O’Brien and ends up drinking shots alone in his quarters. His animosity toward their Romulan prisoner is also apparent (Geordi dials the snark up to 11 too), and Picard once again displays admirable diplomacy and strategic thinking under difficult conditions. Unfortunately, you also have Deanna exlaiming “It’s Geordi!” when they get his neutrino signal, continuing to state the obvious.
Sure, I can pick some nits too. Why couldn’t they put the dying Romulan in stasis until Tomalak arrived? Why do Geordi and Bochra seem perfectly fine immediately after getting to Enterprise, despite the cumulative neurological damage and the fact that the Bochra was on the planet longer than the first Romulan? Why didn’t Picard just give Tomalak permission to cross the Neutral Zone, knowing that doing so could save their prisoner’s life? At the end of the episode, they’re supposed to escort the warbird to the Neutral Zone, but they seem to depart in opposite directions?
But whatever. These are minor quibbles when the emotional and moral core of the episode is so strong and like nothing we’d seen on the show before.
Eugene’s Rating: Warp 6 (on a scale of 1-6)
Thread Alert: Stand down from Thread Alert. No new costumes to mock in this episode.
Best Line: “I never lie when I’ve got sand in my shoes, Commodore,” Geordi lied.
Trivia/Other Notes: An early draft of the script had Troi trapped on the planet with Geordi, which at least would have given her something useful to do.
Michael Dorn and some of the writers objected to Worf letting the Romulan die. Dorn was concerned that people would view the Klingon as a murderer, but the producers wanted to show that he has different values than humans do.
LeVar Burton claimed this episode was an homage to the 1958 film The Defiant Ones, starring Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier as prisoners who are shackled together and must cooperate when they escape from a chain gang.
This is the first of four appearances by Andreas Katsulas as Commander Tomalak. Katsulas is probably best known to SF fans as G’kar from the series Babylon 5, as well as the one-armed man from the film adaptation of The Fugitive. He also played another character in Star Trek: Enterprise.
John Snyder (Bochra) returns to TNG in “The Masterpiece Society.”
Previous episode: Season 3, Episode 6 – “Booby Trap.”
Next episode: Season 3, Episode 8 – “The Price.”
This is probably one of the best episodes of the whole 7 years and might be the best episode that they had aired to date (“Measure of a Man” probably squeaks past it thanks to not needing any technobabble). Worf’s decision to let the Romulan die was a pretty big deal. It stood every single applicable trope on it’s head. They did weaken it a little by having the Romulan be just as opposed to the idea of owing his life to a Klingon. In fact, they could even have used that as a wedge to get Worf to agree; it would have seemed a worse fate to the Romulan than dying, so Worf goes ahead and saves his life. Today, they might even have gotten away with having the Romulan plead for his life and have Worf turn him down, but that would have been completely impossible in 1989.
I suppose you could make an argument that there was something about the neutrino beam that had a Wesleyish flair to it, but really it’s just further proof after last week that Geordie is the only engineer on the whole damn ship.
Andreas Katsulas was a fantastic and under-appreciated actor. He and Peter Jurasik were probably 90% of the reason to watch B5.
A standout episode. Really turns the tropes upside down and dumps them on their head. I mean, we’re supposed to have “evolved past petty grievances,” yes? And make “the sacrifices that come with the Starfleet uniform,” right?
Yet, Worf is exercising his freedom and rights as an individual. He need not submit to an involuntary procedure. Which are also big tropes in the STU. And it is great to see Picard struggle with all this, ultimately submit to this. Is his faith shaken in his officer?
A bookend, I’d say, to “Measure of a Man.”
I wonder if this episode is somehow commenting in a very oblique way on the right-to-life debate. If so, Worf’s choice is especially non-conventional for the era of television.
I agree it is interesting to rewatch these episodes and discover what a rich and nuanced character Worf was, and how superior his story arcs were in comparison to others. Funny to think how GR really didn’t want a Klingon on the show and fought that. This episode almost seems like a thumb in Gene’s eye.
“Ribosomes” just takes me out of it. It just doesn’t make sense. It’s like the writer sat down with the index of his kid’s high school biology book and just picked a word that sounded cool.
That said, I agree this episode is awesome. Definitely one of the best Trek episodes out there.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I don’t necessarily think Worf is wrong… I know, I know, we shouldn’t kill people or let them die or whatever. And they really would’ve benefited from interrogating the prisoner some more. (Note that Picard never even considers lying and disappearing the Romulan to some secret Antarean base…)
But I don’t think I am prepared to say that Worf has an obligation to undergo a medical procedure to save a life. I think generally speaking that it would be a nice thing to do, but I’m not prepared to acknowledge that there is a moral imperative to compromise one’s own bodily integrity. If he doesn’t want to for racist reasons, it doesn’t matter; if he doesn’t want to for trivial reasons, it doesn’t matter…
Now, I’m open to being persuaded otherwise; and I’ll admit I don’t have a very carefully thought-out stance on this issue. It just seems to me that I don’t necessarily find Worf to have been morally wrong to take the stance that he takes.
Are people who do not give blood morally inferior? We’ve cause not to believe so. Worf refusing to be a donor in this instance has immediate and personal (and professional) repercussions, but just because it is an active (and racial) decision does that make it morally less defensible than just passively refusing to render aid in general? Shades of Kitty Genovese!
Does Worf endanger the ship and crew by his failure to render aid? I think this is the one weak link in his chain, that his personal honor does dishonor to people he is bound to. But it’s not really made clear that if this Romulan dies because of his failure to act that the situation between the Romulans and Federation will be demonstrably much worse; it’s already as bad as it can get, and can’t be made much worse by the racism of a Klingon. The wounded Romulan, spitting in the face of any aid from the Klingon, suggests that Worf’s gift would carry little currency among Romulans. His death by Worf’s inaction merely goes into their nebula-sized sack of endless grievances against the Feds, another thing to snarl and posture about in the senate.
DemetriosX suggests, “They could even have used that as a wedge to get Worf to agree; it would have seemed a worse fate to the Romulan than dying, so Worf goes ahead and saves his life.”
It’s an interesting thought, but I think it would make Worf seem petty and mercurial, even meanspirited. Romulans do not deserve life, let alone his life—it is a position of absolute moral authority. And we’re left to ponder it. Well done, ST!
—meh, –while i appreciate the acting done here, and some of the writing—this episode for me is a rehash of “enemy mine”—without bochra getting pregnant, of course–it is a bit early too for this kind of touchy, feely episode with the romulans–this is only the second encounter in 50+ years?–i wish “the defector” was in this slot—this installment–while not being garbage–doesn’t make my toes tingle either—31/2—
Thinking about this, Worf should have had a much greater moral conflict and probably ought to have brooded about it afterwards. Yes, it’s a very Klingon choice, but as we noted earlier about another incident, it is in conflict with the values in which he was raised and the values of his friends. I would think that the choice he makes is one he understands intellectually, but may not really feel deep down. Certainly, the Romulan refusing any aid helps him to make this choice, but there really ought to have been a little more internal conflict here.
One of my absolute favorite episodes of any Trek ever. It’s probably the most thoughtful and most provocative of the entire series.
It highlights numerous inherent conflicts of a federation-like society. First, it importantly draws a distinction between the Federation’s ideals and the individuals that populate it. A society can value peace, coexistence, rising above prejudices and petty conflicts. But individuals often cannot. Even utopias are populated by imperfect people, with their own motives and weaknesses, and just because there are culturally accepted values of what doing the right thing happens to be, it doesn’t mean that culture can necessarily exert enough pressure to force an individual to go against his own personal value system to carry that out. You can pass the 14th Amendment, but that doesn’t actually confer equal rights or opportunities. People have to make that choice themselves (and they often won’t). The most common complaint I get about this show from people who don’t watch it is that the world is “too perfect.” This episode flies in the face of that assertion. It implies that racism will always exist, which is pretty ballsy in a Gene Roddenberry world. Rather, it seems to claim that you can protect against many or even most of its effects, but you can’t always change people’s minds. I like that a lot more than the faux colorblindness you usually see in these kinds of things.
Second, there’s the tension between that value of compassion and the one that ultimately trumps it–individual liberty. I don’t agree with DeepThought–I think Worf’s choice is wrong morally pretty much any way you slice it–but he absolutely has the right to make it. That’s the importance of Picard’s involvement. He will beg and cajole and appeal to reason and politics and morality, but ultimately only Worf can choose to give a part of his body to someone else, and the federation has no business in that decision. The civil libertarian streak is an interesting one that hews very closely to the Prime Directive (where applicable…). It’s a trade-off. If you want liberty you have to pay for it by actually granting liberty, in good times and in bad. One problem: I’ve often wondered why, when the Romulan is presented with the opportunity for a transfusion and refuses, they do not respect his wishes the way they do Worf’s. Institutional racism or just necessary for the plot?
Third, there’s a really great structural parallel among the storylines of Worf/dying Romulan, Geordi/dying Romulan, and Picard/healthy Romulan that illustrates the complexity of prejudice better than any overblown GR speech could have. You have Worf, who we’ve already established is the ship’s conservative, clinging to outdated notions of gender and decorum. His prejudice here is so obviously misplaced that even the other crewmembers call him on it. It’s irrational, dangerous, and cruel. But he AND the dying Romulan both agree that death is preferable to challenging those notions. It’s a value judgment, based on a wildly different value system. As tragic as the ending is, I understand both their decisions and in a perverse way I kind of respect it.
Then there’s Geordi, who refuses to be insulted or even intimidated by Bochra. He’s an engineer. He’s not interested in political posturing and he’s obviously been on the receiving end of a lot of prejudice in his own life. And when it comes down to that choice–die or work together–they both decide that whatever prejudice exists isn’t worth dying for. I really love the conversation they have where Geordi says “Bochra, there are times when it is necessary to die for one’s ideals. Do you believe this is one of those times?” You know that if it had been Worf on that planet, they both would have been dead. But this would be a pointless pair of deaths, so instead they make true Kirk’s parting words to the Romulan commander in “Balance of Terror.”
Finally, there’s Picard, who is playing out his own “Balance of Terror” above the planet. You have two commanders prepared for war, and here the brave thing–the noble thing–is to be the first to stand down and ask for peace.
Also I just completely love Geordi making pitons with his VISOR like a total badass.
Warp 6, without reservation.
@7 Torie
I agree with you though I’m going to look at the issue from a different angle.
I was taught that rights always come with responsibilities. Some may argue that Worf had a moral responsibility to offer the assistance. Those who present this argument are making it based on their moral outlook/code. Where is the line between good and bad in expecting others to live according to your moral code? Where does it pass from expecting/encouraging moral behavior to denying other people their rights by forcing then to abide by your view of the world? That’s what I see this episode addressing. Picard is Worf’s superior officer and could order Worf to do it, but I don’t think his doing so in this case would hold up against whatever passes as Star Fleet’s Code of Military Justice. (In your mind, replace ‘I want you to donate genetic material to save a life’ with ‘I want you to donate genetic material to create a life’ and see if that helps you see why it wouldn’t hold up.) Picard’s position on the issue was clear. He wanted Worf to donate the material. But, As an officer in Star Fleet, and as a citizen of the United Federation of Planets, he had the responsibility to see that Worf’s rights were respected.
And to be clear. I don’t agree with Worf’s decision, but I find that I have to accept it because it was not a question of Worf causing a person to die. The Romulan was already dying. He was being asked to do something that would give the Romulan a chance at recovering and continuing to live. Worf, for his own reasons, acted on his rights and made a decision. That’s why this is such a good episode. They addressed a tough issue and they didn’t give us a candy coated solution. I commented here in another discussion long ago about the difference between TV now and back then. Many, if not most, shows today tell the viewers what to think but there was a time when many good shows gave their viewers things to think about. This episode is a good example of that difference.
@8 Ludon
I agree that many good shows gave viewers to think about. But I think modern television is a LOT more comfortable with moral ambiguity than shows in the past, as well throwing dirt on their heroes. That’s what makes this episode such a standout. If feels thoroughly modern.
Yet another example of how Jean-Lic Picard might be the greatest hero in fiction. In an all too real context, with consequences coming from many directions, he is moral, steadfast, intelligent, and willing to set aside his ego at a moment’s notice with an eye for the greater good.
I recall an old Reddit post in which someone was asked how anyone could become a good person without being guided by religion. The answer was just a picture of Picard, and that pretty much sums it up.
In a broader sense, this relates to a point which I believe made TNG truly original in American media when they hit their stride – a cast of adult characters who are professional and aren’t defined by some fatal flaw. Actual adults dealing with the world instead of oversized personalities pushed together to produce conflict or thin caricatures waiting for the world to define them.
@1 DemetriosX: Re Katsulas and Jurasik on B5. I’ve just started a re-watch of B5 (which first part of which will appear on my blog at http://www.bookzombieblog.com once I finish actually writing it up!) and even in the pilot episode it’s astonishing how much the two of them act everyone else off the screen.
@ 5 lane arnold. While the similarities to Enemy Mine can’t be denied, bear in mind that EM is not the first time this basic plot idea was used. For example, the 1971 episode of U.F.O. ‘Survival’ uses exactly the same idea 8 years before Barry Longyear’s story (on which the movie Enemy Mine was based) was published. So you could with equal validity accuse Longyear of rehashing U.F.O.!
@ 11 Chris-
I love UFO. And I am reminded of that at every Archer pre-episode bump which uses a sped-up slice of UFO’s music. It sounds like it, at least.
And, yes; excellent TNG episode!
@11 Chris
I look forward to your B5 re-watch! I’ve been wanting to watch it again for a while. Can’t seem to turn my friends onto it, though :) I can’t blame them, really. I didn’t get drawn in until the second season, except for “Babylon Squared.”
@13 Eugene. I’ve got most of the write-up for the pilot written and have done for a couple of weeks! But work and health issues have kind of got in the way. Hopefully I’ll get it posted very soon!
I’m particularly interested in it from the viewpoint of how has it stood the test of time (being *gasp* 15 years since it finished! I suspect that I’ll be kinder to some of it than I was at the time, but less kind to other bits!
@13 Eugene. And incidentally I did write a lengthy response to your comment on my Superman II post, but the computer ate it…
@ 9 Lemnoc
I wouldn’t go that far. If it were contemporary then Bochra would shiv Geordi the moment they beamed up, because people always have to be at their worst.
@ 10 Rob
Well said! I really enjoy seeing the conflicting values at work in this episode, and watching them maturely sort through it all. I didn’t realize until this viewing that Riker doing shots in his room was a response to thinking he had lost Geordi. It’s completely unremarked upon by anyone, but I think Eugene’s right–that’s exactly what’s going on and on this rare occasion they are showing instead of telling.
@ 11 Chris and Eugene
On Eugene’s urging I gave B5 a chance, but couldn’t get past the first season. It was a hot mess of awful dialogue, mostly terrible performances, and some laughable costumes and sets. And it felt a little early TNG in that when they did try to tackle difficult/controversial subjects, they did it in the most cliched and cheesy way possible. I know everyone says it gets better but I just didn’t have the interest to keep going.
This episode also features my FAVORITE Deanna Troi moment. After the Great Andreas Katsulas finishes chewing the scenery like a Horta—sneering, hissing and issuing towering threats, hostility spraying from every pore—Troi uses her magic powers to observe, “There’s great hostility behind his smile.”
YA THINK?!?!?! REALLY?!?!
Thank you, Telepath!
It’s a bust-out line that has to rank among the most inane, empty-headed and obvious-unto-stupid comments in television history. Whenever I think of Deanna and how useless she is as a character, I think of this line.
What would they DO without Deanna?
I need to watch this episode tonight — I’ve been stoned on pain killer for the past week recovering from an unexpected surgery. (I’m fine just minus my gall bladder now.)
However I can add this to the conversation.
This plot is much older than ‘Enemy Mine’, it was done on Galatica ’80 with Starbuck and a Cyclon, as it has been mentioned it was done on UFO, and perhaps it all started with ‘Hell in the Pacific’ with Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune as enemy soldiers trapped on a small island together. (What made that product so very interesting is that both actors served in their armed forces during WWII.)
I agree that this is one fo the best episode of the series, there is real complexity to the characters (for the most part) and the perfect characters are starting to show real fault and human failings, while others rise to their challenges. By having both it avoid being overly dark.
@18 bobsandiego
IIRC, Hell in the Pacific was a specific influence for Barry Longyear when he wrote the original “Enemy Mine” novella (which is still the best incarnation of that Longyear title). It undoubtedly influenced the *shudder* Galactica 1980 episode. It might have done so for UFO, too. Longyear is probably the proximate influence for most SF using the trope since his story, though.
@ 17 Lemnoc
Probably what they do WITH Deanna. Absolutely nothing.
@ 18 bobsandiego
I hope you’re on the mend and feeling better!