Welcome to the fourth 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 third in the series, you can do so here.
Number 4: I, Borg (5.23)
The Enterprise crew discover a small crashed vessel on a planet. The sole survivor is a young Borg, one of their enemy, disconnected from the collective. They beam him to the Enterprise's science lab, where La Forge and Dr. Crusher see to him. Captain Picard, once abducted by the Borg, shows no sympathy to this being and wants to use its communications implants to their advantage: destroying the Borg neural network. Other crew members agree with the captain, but Dr. Crusher does not. As the crew members each meet face-to-face with the Borg, now named Hugh, they learn that he is harmless and feels human emotion. Picard stands by his plan to destroy the Borg, with Hugh as a pawn. Guinan, whose entire race (aside from a few survivors) was wiped out by the Borg, speaks with Hugh. Originally planning on taking out her anger on him, Guinan has a change of heart toward Hugh and convinces Picard to speak with him. With another Borg vessel on the way, the captain decides to let Hugh choose his fate (after seeing ways as the crew did): return to the planet to be picked up or stay aboard the enterprise with his new friends and sense of individuality. He reluctantly picks the former, for the safety of the Enterprise, and is reunited with his old race.
The Borg have always been a symbol of communism. This particular episode aired while the former Soviet Union was collapsing and the citizens finally tasting freedom and individuality. The Cold War was finally over without a shot fired. Hugh is a symbol of the innocent face behind the perceived nationwide enemy of capitalism. To make an analogy: memorials for situations of mass death list names of each person killed, while a history book provides numerical stats. Hugh is the name on that list. He is no longer just a drone in the collective: he is a person, just like anyone else.
Number 3: The Pegasus (7.12)
Commander Riker's former captain of the Pegasus, Admiral Pressman, comes to the Enterprise on a secret mission at an asteroid field that involves Riker. The mission, authorized by Star Fleet Command, is to retrieve a secret and illegal phase-cloak device (allowing invisible passage through matter) that resulted in the death of most of the Pegasus crew. Romulans, who are on the opposing side of the treaty making such devices illegal, have arrived on the scene to search for the device, too. Captain Picard, knowing Riker and Pressman are keeping something secret from him, presses Riker for information. Reports show that the final mission of the Pegasus ended in mutiny with numerous deaths and that Riker sided against the mutineers. Riker tells Picard he did so out of duty and says little more about the current mission besides its importance. Pressman, as ranking officer, orders enterprise inside one of the asteroids. Inside the asteroid, they find the Pegasus fused to the cavern walls. Riker and Pressman board the ship and retrieve the device. When it is revealed that the Romulans have blocked the Enterprise inside the asteroid, Riker reveals the device. The crew reluctantly makes use of it to exit the asteroid, then Picard places both Riker and Pressman under arrest.
Call it duty, honor, or loyalty: Riker was exhibiting the rules of the chain-of-command to his superior, Pressman. Sometimes we do not agree with our authority figures. There is a time to blindly follow them, and there is a time
to question them. (When questioning them, there are rules to follow, as well.) Finding the right balance can take a lifetime to learn. If Riker had disobeyed Pressman earlier, the results would have been unpredictable. He does break the chain-of-command in the end to save lives - at the cost of his own arrest. Should he have gone with his conscience earlier or continued the same path he did? I will leave that decision to the readers.
By @HullBreach
