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Lessons (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

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"Lessons (Star Trek: The Next Generation)"

"Lessons" is the 19th episode of the sixth season of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and was originally aired on April 5, 1993 in broadcast syndication. The episode was written by Ron Wilkerson and Jean Louise Matthias, with some uncredited revisions by René Echevarria. "Lessons" was directed by Robert Wiemer.

The series follows the adventures of the crew of the Starfleet starship Enterprise. In this episode, Captain Picard's (Patrick Stewart) shared love of music with Lt. Commander Nella Daren (Wendy Hughes) leads to romance. After sending her on a dangerous mission which results in her death being incorrectly reported, he realises that he is incapable of carrying out a relationship with someone under his command.

Stand-ins were used to perform the pieces by Picard and Daren, which required the use of close-up camera angles by the director. The episode was received warmly by critics reviewing it after the end of the series, who praised by the performances of Hughes and Stewart.

Plot

Picard is irritated at the stellar cartography department shutting down several systems on the Enterprise, and heads down there to find out what is going on. He meets the head of the department, Lt. Commander Nella Daren, later discussing this with Dr. Beverley Crusher (Gates McFadden). At a musical recital by Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner), he is surprised to see Daren playing the piano. They two discuss music, and later meet in Picard's quarters and participate in a duet with Daren on a portable piano and Picard on his Ressikan flute.

The two meet more often, including in a Jefferies tube which Daren claims has the best acoustics on the ship. While in the tube, the pair's share their feelings with a kiss. They enter a turbolift, and when another crewmember enters, Picard's demeanour changes to professional. The Enterprise is redirected to a Federation outpost, which is reporting a number of firestorms. Picard consults Counsellor Troi (Marina Sirtis) on his actions, and afterwards goes to Daren to apologise. He explains that after he was scanned by an alien probe, he awoke on Kataan as a man named Kamin, with a wife and family. It was there that he learned to play the flute. Some time passed, he became a grandfather and lived a full life but then re-awoke on the bridge of the Enterprise as the probe shut down. When it was dismantled it only contained his flute (previously shown in the episode "The Inner Light").

Daren speaks to Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) to request for an officer to transfer transfer departments, but Riker turns it down. Afterwards he speaks to Picard as he found that Picard and Daren's relationship made the decision complicated. The Enterprise arrives to find that the firestorms are heading towards the outpost. Daren suggests a means of deflecting the storms, but the equipment needs trained personnel on the ground to operate and she is assigned along with a number of other crew.

The outpost is completely evacuated, but the firestorms overwhelm position that Daren's team occupies before they can be retrieved. Believing her to be dead, Picard sits in his quarters when he hears that survivors are being transported aboard, and heads to the transporter room. Daren isn't amongst the survivors already there, but is then transported up to the ship. Eight members of the team died. Picard and Daren afterwards discuss their relationship, and they realise that it cannot continue as Picard could not put her in danger once more. They discuss giving up their Starfleet careers to be together, but Daren realises she has to transfer off the ship. They kiss once more, and Daren makes Picard promise not to give up music.

Production

Ron Wilkerson and Jean Louise Matthias had previously written the episodes "Imaginary Friend" and "Schisms", but in both instances the writing of the teleplay for the initial story idea had been given to a staff writer due to time constraints. Co-executive producer Jeri Taylor instead allowed the pair to write the teleplay for "Lessons", their first for Star Trek. René Echevarria did some minor uncredited re-writes to the final version of the script as staff-writer Brannon Braga wished to avoid working on "Lessons" after recently working on another love story related script for the episode "Aquiel". Writer and producer Michael Piller likened "Lessons" to the 1945 Noël Coward film Brief Encounter.[2]

The production crew sought to give Picard a romantic peer and equal in Daren, and were pleased with the actors' performances. Director Robert Wiemer said that "we had really turned-on performances ... if we'd had only moderate performances it would have fallen flat".[2] However, as neither Stewart nor Hughes could play their instruments, it required a number of camera techniques to be used in order to disguise the musicians playing just off screen. Husband and wife duo Natalie and Bryce Martin played the piano and tin whistle respectively to portray Daren and Picard's abilities. Bryce had played his instrument to represent Picard's Ressikan flute since it first appeared in "The Inner Light". However, while Stewart did the majority of his flute fingering, he was doubled in several scenes by Noel Webb and John Mayham. Webb also doubled for Brent Spiner early in the episode when Data was playing Frédéric Chopin's trio in G minor.[2] A variety of pieces are played throughout the episode, including Frère Jacques, Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 and Johann Sebastian Bach's Third Brandenburg Concerto.[3] The "Flute song" by Jay Chattaway, which originally appeared in "The Inner Light", reappears in this episode.[4]

The firestorm itself was created by Dan Curry and Ronald D. Moore by pouring liquid nitrogen onto black velvet and then blowing it with an air hose. The effect was then enhanced by digital effects and was digitally inserted into the background of the exterior standing set (usually referred to by cast and crew as "planet hell").[2] "Lessons" was the first appearance of the stellar cartography on board the Enterprise, but the set would be completely replaced for its reappearance in the movie Star Trek: Generations.[3]

Reception and home media

James Van Hise and Hal Schuster wrote in their 1995 book, The Complete Next Generation, that they thought the relationship between Picard and Daren was believable,[5] and that the story itself was very effective. They thought that the loneliness Picard feels at the end of the episode was part of an ongoing story which would culminate in the subplot about Picard's loneliness in Star Trek: Generations.[6]

Several reviewers re-watched Star Trek: The Next Generation after the end of the series. Keith DeCandido watched the episode for Tor.com, and described the performance of Wendy Hughes as "magnificent" and "never not wonderful".[3] However, he commented that whenever a double was not used to play the piano, it was obvious that Hughes wasn't playing. Overall, he appreciated the script and thought that the ending was not contrived; however, he would have preferred for the episodic structure of The Next Generation to have been changed a little to allow for the romance to be portrayed as a subplot over several episodes. He gave the episode a score of 9/10, saying "this is one of TNG's best romances and an absolute joy."[3] DeCandido subsequently named "Lessons" as one of the best episodes of season six, which he said was the best season of the series.[7]

Zack Handlin, who reviewed "Lessons" for The A.V. Club, thought that the episode works because of Patrick Stewart and that the episode was well-handled. He gave "Lessons" a score of B+, saying that he "wasn't hugely sold on Daren, but when Picard makes a special point of explaining the flute's significance to her, it helps solidify the connection between them."[8]

The episode was first released on VHS cassette on August 4, 1998.[9] The episode was later included on the Star Trek: The Next Generation season six DVD box set, released in the United States on December 3, 2002.[10]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Nemecek (2003): p. 241
  2. ^ a b c d Nemecek (2003): p. 242
  3. ^ a b c d DeCandido, Keith (November 20, 2012). "Star Trek: The Next Generation Rewatch: "Lessons"". Tor.com. Retrieved January 20, 2013.
  4. ^ Broadfoot, Amanda (June 12, 2005). "Star Trek Composer Jay Chattaway Strikes a Chord". Yahoo! Voices. Retrieved January 20, 2013.
  5. ^ Van Hise, Schuster (1995): p. 144
  6. ^ Van Hise, Schuster (1995): p. 145
  7. ^ DeCandido, Keith (December 21, 2012). "Star Trek: The Next Generation Rewatch: Sixth Season Overview". Tor.com. Retrieved January 20, 2013.
  8. ^ Handlen, Zack (August 4, 2011). ""Starship Mine"/"Lessons"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved January 20, 2013.
  9. ^ "Star Trek: The Next Generation - Episode 145 (VHS)". Tower Video. Retrieved January 20, 2013.
  10. ^ Ordway, Holly E. (December 6, 2002). "Star Trek the Next Generation - Season 4". DVD Talk. Retrieved January 20, 2013. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |newspaper= (help)

References

  • Van Hise, James (1995). The Complete Next Generation. Las Vegas: Pioneer Books. ISBN 9-781556-983771. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Nemecek, Larry (2003). Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion (3rd ed.). New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 0-7434-5798-6.
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