Who Watches the Watchers
Season 3 Episode 4
Original airdate: October 14, 1989
Netflix Synopsis
A proto-Vulcan culture worships Capt. Picard as if he were a god, and they prepare to offer a sacrifice in his honor.
IMDb Synopsis
A proto-Vulcan culture worships Captain Picard and prepares to offer Counselor Troi as a sacrifice.
My Brief Review
Here’s another one where Netflix obviously cribbed its synopsis from IMDb, fortunately making one key detail more vague, which made for a slightly more surprising viewing.
This is another excellent episode. Season 3 is so far superior to seasons 1 and 2, it’s hard to believe the show even made it to this point, but it probably saved the entire Star Trek franchise. (Might be worth me taking the time to see how the timing of this series lined up with the movies, but I digress.)
It’s a Prime Directive episode, where Federation anthropologists studying a Bronze Age culture (whose development is similar to Vulcans’ and who — inexplicably — resemble them) has its cover blown, one of them gets taken to Enterprise to repair injuries from a fall, and he comes to believe Picard — I mean “The Picard” — is a god.
Oops. How will Picard manage to not only extract his people from the situation, but also keep this rational culture from regressing into superstition? I’ll leave that to you to find out when you watch it.
Memorable Moment
Pretty much any time Liko (who vaguely resembles Phil Hartman as “Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer”) calls him “The Picard.”
Crew Rando
“Rando” Crewman Martinez (possibly the backflip master from the previous episode) makes another appearance, but the ultimate “rando” in this episode is Dr. Barron, played by James Greene… who I immediately recognized as Councilman Milton from Parks and Recreation.
Distance Rating: 6K
IMDb score: 8.1/10