I really don’t have a very good memory of the first two seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. After watching the episodes on DVD and on TV, I’m beginning to see what that is. With many series, it takes a while to become established. The initial episodes either lack direction or try to accomplish a wide variety of things. Episode 9, Justice, is the perfect example.

The basic plot is that the Enterprise, after dropping colonists off at their new colony, stops by a planet called Rubicon III. It’s inhabited by the Edo, who are peaceful, yet not very developed technologically. (At least, not as developed as the Federation.) The crew is in need of shore leave and the Edo are willing to have them. Chief of Security Tasha Yar researches their customs and finds no reason why the crew shouldn’t go down.

Everything goes well at first. That’s not to say that everything will stay that way. While talking to several inhabitants, Yar discovers that the penalty for any crime, no matter how minor, is death. Before anyone can find Wesley Crusher, he crashes into a bed of flowers. It’s illegal to do so and it just so happens that that’s an enforced zone at the time. Since Wesley admits to what he did and there was a credible witness that corroborates the admission, Wesley faces death.

This presents a big problem. The Federation has as its highest law The Prime Directive. It states that no Starfleet officer can interfere with a pre-warp culture and it seems that the Edo are pre-warp. However, no one wants to see Wesley die. To add to the problem there’s some sort of space station/alien entity orbiting the planet. The Edo recognize the entity as a god. Picard realizes that they’ll be judged by how they handle the situation.

I don’t think that this episode was thought out all the way. The first thing to catch my attention (and I don’t think that I’m alone in this) was that all of the Edo are white, have blonde hair and are very attractive. Doesn’t that seem a little odd? Good shape I can understand. From what I’ve seen, though, many of the Star Trek races have quite a bit of variation in skin and hair color. To boot, they all wear very little clothing and are very affectionate. I wouldn’t feel very comfortable watching this with my mother.

The next thing was that the prime directive either didn’t apply or had already been violated. When an Edo is beamed aboard the Enterprise, she’s shown the station/entity. Immediately, she recognizes the station as God. I’d think it would take a couple of seconds at least to make the connection. This leads me to believe that she’s seen the station before. (I think she even said that she had seen the station before.) If this is the case, then they’ve been in space before and might even have warp capability. Either way, they had already encountered the Edo, which is enough to violate the Prime Directive under the strictest interpretation.

I also find it odd that Yar hadn’t found out about the death penalty despite doing thorough research on the customs and laws. Speaking of which, isn’t it just a bit odd that the Edo are so inflexible? Every little thing warrants the death penalty. Yes, they have no crime, but it is a bit extreme.

Overall, this episode isn’t good. The acting from the regular cast was pretty good, but the guest acting was marginal. Add to that the marginal story and you have an episode that isn’t worth watching. I can’t give this episode more than two stars. The only thing that redeems it is the attempt at some sort of moral question.


NetFlix:
http://www.epinions.com/content_142673350276



Recommended:
No

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older