Star Trek: The Next Generation — 3x02 — The Ensigns of Command

Aired 1989-10-02

SpaceOpera.com rating:5

Average reader rating:5.01

Synopsis

Data attempts to save a human colony.

Remarkable scenes

The string scene at the beginning.
Entering Picard: "Are we progressing Mr. LaForge?" Geordi among several failed attempts: "Not like you'd expect, sir." Picard: "Splendid! Splendid! Carry on!" Picard exits.
Data using reverse psychology.
Data's attack on the colonists.
Picard's behavior at the end of the Shelliac negotiations.
LaForge at the end of the episode regarding the transporter.

Review

The Sheliac race is a great idea. I only wish we could learn more about them. The colonists on the planet were a bit stereotypical. A malevolent conservative short sighted leader and an offsetting liberal character. The areas the episode is found wanting are made up for in the performances of LaForge, Data, and Picard and the ending was especially humorous and satisfying.

7 reader comments

At times the Enterprise is so distant that it takes a considerable amount of time to get a message to another ship or planet. For instance, in "The Battle" it took a day to get a message to Starfleet headquarters. Most of the time the Enterprise can communicate instantly. In this episode, Picard wants to talk with the Sheliak home world, Worf says, "Their home world is quite distant. This will take some time." Presumably, Worf comments on the delay because it will take a while for the communications request to reach the Sheliak home world. Yet when Worf finally makes contact, Picard has a dialogue with the Sheliak. There is no delay for transmission time! In other words, Picard would speak a sentence and have to wait while the sentence traveled to the Sheliak. Then the Sheliak would reply, and the reply would travel back.
Data pilots Shuttle Craft "05" to the planet. In this episode, the name of the shuttle is Onizuka. However, in the episode "Times Squared," Shuttle Craft "05" was named El-Baz.
by DSOmo | 07/06/2007 at 3:24 pm

I love this episode's Shelliac story. This is the kind of stuff I would like to see more. The colonist scenes were boring, but the whole diplomacy trouble picard found himself in was excellent.
by paidmailer | 09/24/2009 at 6:32 pm

Again, we have an episode that focuses on people's feelings more than it does on sci-fi. Does Oprah Winfrey write these episodes? More Sheliac and less human interaction and feelings, please!
by thaibites | 09/25/2010 at 2:28 am

You have to love Data when he basically gets up and says "Quit the BS and pack your bags. I'm done effing around with you people."
by John DC | 12/26/2010 at 5:44 am

I generally liked this episode. It was basically two mini-episodes, each with a fun conclusion. My one reservation is that everyone takes a while to see the obvious. As soon as the colonists start to talk about fighting back, my first reaction was, "How?" But it takes Data forever to mention the obvious point that everyone will be obliterated from orbit and there won't be any fighting back! And the usually cunning Picard is rather slow to realize that the Sheliac won't listen to anything not backed by the treaty.
by Christopher Alexander | 03/29/2011 at 8:52 pm

I've always liked this episode. Great character development for data, and great buildup to the scene where he uses the phaser. This time around, the scene at the end between Picard and the Sheliak had me giggling like a little kid! "You enjoyed that!" "You're damn right."
One of my favorite things about this episode was how they didn't handwave/treknobabble away the problem of the transporters not working through the radiation (if it were that easy, it wouldn't be a problem!). No, they really couldn't do it--and they knew that the technological limitations would take years of research to get around. That is a little more realistic!
Too bad we don't get to see more of O'Brien playing the cello in this series or DS9. Maybe he stopped playing in favor of married life and darts?
by Damien Bradley | 01/20/2015 at 7:38 am

Just rewatched the episode . Just noticed that the metal sculpture in Ardys apartment , looks a lot like the battle droids from the Star Wars prequels. Maybe George Lucas was doing some secret Star Trek viewing to get some inspiration.. ????????
by Alan | 05/06/2020 at 1:05 pm