When I think of Star Trek, I think of The Next Generation. I was too young to be very aware of the original series as a child and have fond memories of watching Next Gen episodes whenever I could catch them which was sporadic at best. Several years ago I made the decision to watch the series in earnest from start to finish.
While most of the series is a blur, having watched all 178 episodes in the course of a couple of months, there are a number of episodes that stand out. The first of which is titled Justice, This was the first that truly captured my imagination and showed me the potential of the series.
It is a “What if” machine. Any situation you can imagine could exist on the very next alien world. This is the luxury of a show that can go anyplace.
In “Justice” the crew of the Enterprise have just finished setting up a colony on a new M class planet and are in need of a little rest and recreation. They encounter a planet that is seemingly flawless. The native people known as the Edo are happy, healthy, and have a focus on love. It appears to be an Eden of sorts. The original assessment finds no flaws and Captain Picard sends an away team including Wesley Crusher to do a final assessment before allowing the rest of the ship to vacation there.
Meanwhile sensors are getting readings of an object off the side of the ship but there is nothing there.
When the away team reaches the surface, Wesley is sent off with a group of other children his age while the adults make plans for the rest of the crew to join them on the surface. They run and play while Wesley attempts to teach them baseball.
Upon further investigation it is discovered that the readings are not false and there is actually something else orbiting the planet alongside the Enterprise. The object presents itself and seems to be only half real. Geordi takes a look with his enhanced vision and confirms that the object seems to be only half there.
An orb leaves the ship and makes its way inside the Enterprise to the bridge. The orb speaks with a resounding voice that shakes the whole of the ship and asks the crew their purpose on this planet, if they intend to leave life forms as they did on the last planet, and warns them not to interfere with it’s ‘children’ below.
Captain Picard goes to the surface to ask the Edo what they know about the object and discovers that they worship it as God.
When discussing the apparent utopia on this planet and it’s apparent lack of crime or police, the Edo reveal that they do have laws, and in place of police they have what they call mediators. The mediators patrol only one portion of the planet at a time, this zone is random and unknown to the inhabitants. If anyone is caught breaking any law, no matter how small while in the zone they are punished. The punishment for breaking any law is death. This is the foundation of their great peace.
Back on the Enterprise the orb has made contact with Data, attaching itself to his forehead and rendering him unconscious for an information exchange. When he finally comes to, he reveals that the inhabitants of the object were once physical but have evolved beyond that and now inhabit multiple dimensions at once. They also may have seeded the life on this planet and think of the Edo as their literal children.
What captured my imagination in this episode was it’s handling of the God question. It explores the possibility of life being created or seeded by a higher intelligence without appealing to the supernatural. Data remarks at one point that any sufficiently advanced life form would seem to be a God to less evolved beings.
Back on the surface of the planet Wesley is playing catch with the other kids, he runs long for the ball and accidentally falls over a small fence into a restricted area for new plants. Unfortunately the area they are in is being monitored by the mediators and Wesley is sentenced to death. The away team along with Captain Picard are conflicted, wanting to rescue Wesley but not wanting to interfere with the Edo way of life, effectively violating the prime directive.
Ultimately Picard appeals to the trans-dimensional beings, challenging their notion of black and white justice and they allow Wesley to be beamed back to the Enterprise.
It’s episodes like this one that made Star Trek: The Next Generation a joy to watch. They spark thought exercises that ask you to look at the world in a slightly different way if only for a moment. It’s the same thing that makes stories like Star Trek, Doctor Who, or the Twilight Zone a joy to watch, it’s their un-tethered ability to explore any idea, circumstance or philosophy. It’s why I love them.
You can watch this episode and others here.