BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//InvisionCommunity Events 4.7.23//EN METHOD:PUBLISH CALSCALE:GREGORIAN REFRESH-INTERVAL:PT15M X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT15M X-WR-CALNAME:RMWorkCalendar NAME:RMWorkCalendar BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London TZURL:http://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20250330T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20251026T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Echo Of Tanit's Cries 04/19/2025 DTSTAMP:20250419T064053Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:251-5-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":troy@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The Echo Of Tanit's Cries \n\n\n\n A poem\n\n https://ww w.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/1184895918\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENTT he Inner Light- a review of my favorite star trek next generation episode\ n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZpZfJC21lM\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n Transcript\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 0:00\nStar Trek the Next Genera tion is a very\n0:02\nwell-written show and there are many\n0:04\nepisodes that one can point to as\n0:06\nexamples of great storytelling but among\ n0:09\nthese there is one episode that's often\n0:12\ncited as the best in the series and that\n0:14\nepisode is the inner light in which Jean\n0:17 \nluk Bard lives an entire life in the\n0:19\nspan of 25 minutes this epis ode is\n0:22\nPatrick Stewart's favorite and also my\n0:24\npersonal favor ite and I find myself\n0:27\nrevisiting this episode more than any\n0:29\n other and every time I do I find\n0:31\nsomething new to appreciate so in this\n0:33\nvideo I'd like to break down why I think\n0:35\nthis episode o f all the incredible\n0:37\nstories in the TNG series stands out for\n0:40 \nso many as its\n0:44\nfinest so the very first thing that must\n0:46\nbe known about the inner light is that\n0:49\nit was written for broadcast t elevision\n0:50\nin the early 90s and that means it has a\n0:53\nvery part icular format a 1-hour slot of\n0:55\nTelevision generally had four or fiv e\n0:57\ncommercial breaks and this naturally\n0:59\ndetermined the shows dramatic structure\n1:01\nmost episodes of TNG start with a short\n1:03\n2 to 4 minute teaser followed by the\n1:05\ntitle sequence then five dramat ic acts\n1:08\nwith commercial breaks in between total\n1:10\nrun time is generally between 45 and 48\n1:12\nminutes and each Act generally ends on a\n1:15\nlittle Cliffhanger to keep the viewer\n1:16\nwatching through the commercials it was\n1:18\na simpler time before the dark ages of\n1:20\nm ultiple subscriptions now if you're\n1:22\nfamiliar with this format you'l l\n1:24\nremember that the writers often used\n1:26\ncommercial breakes to Signal the passage\n1:27\nof time in the story and in the case of\n1:29\n TN\n1:30\nthis was sometimes really creative a\n1:32\ngood example is caus e and effect in\n1:34\nwhich the Enterprise is caught in a Time\n1:35\nLoo p and keeps getting destroyed only to\n1:38\nrestart after the break great episode so\n1:40\nthe commercial break is actually really\n1:42\nintegral to this format of Storytelling\n1:44\nand this is definitely the case for the\n1:46\nInner Light in which each commercial\n1:48\nbreak is also a 5 to 10year time skip\n1:51\nnow I think the best way to analyze any\n1:53\n story is to try to understand its moral\n1:55\nargument and for that you g enerally want\n1:57\nto look at how its main character\n1:59\nchanges from beginning to end this\n2:01\nepisode is about the transformation of\n2:03 \nJean luk peard who as we all know is the\n2:06\nIntrepid and somewhat gu arded captain of\n2:08\nthe Enterprise he's a man of great\n2:11\nstature and responsibility who has very\n2:13\nfew personal relationships Beyond t hose\n2:15\nwith his crew he seldom shows\n2:17\nvulnerability and his lif e is somewhat\n2:20\nlonely but by the climax of the Inner\n2:22\nLight he 's quite the opposite he's\n2:24\nsurrounded by family and he doesn't seem \n2:26\nto care about much else now in order to\n2:28\ncover that much gro und in such a short\n2:30\nrun time the writers not only have to\n2:32\nfa st forward time they also have to fast\n2:34\nforward Picard's character d evelopment\n2:36\nwhich isn't really something you're\n2:37\nsupposed to d o as a writer characters\n2:40\nideally develop gradually the whole\n2:42\ npoint is to see them grow and change in\n2:44\nthis story we only get a s elect few\n2:46\nmoments in which to Glimpse the life\n2:48\nthat Picard i s living and yet the climax\n2:50\nof the story is somehow very emotional\ n2:53\nit's one of the most affecting dramatic\n2:54\nsequences in the ent ire Series so how\n2:57\ndid they do it this episode was pitched\n2:59\nto the show producers by freelance\n3:01\nwriter Morgan gendall originally a s a\n3:03\nstory in which both Picard and reker\n3:06\nlived an alternate life on an alien\n3:07\nworld devastated by War the concept went\n3:11\nth rough many iterations before they\n3:12\neventually settled on a story abo ut a\n3:14\ncivilization sending a probe into space\n3:17\nas a way of pre serving their culture\n3:19\nearly versions of the script included a\n3:20 \nmore involved subplot on the ship as the\n3:23\ncrew tries to figure out what's\n3:25\nhappening to their incapacitated Captain\n3:27\nbut it was ultimately decided that the\n3:29\nepisode should Focus almost completely\ n3:31\non the transformation of Jean Luke's\n3:33\ncharacter and his relat ionships on the\n3:35\nplanet Katan and I think part of the\n3:37\nreason that this episode works is that\n3:39\nit's very focused and concise not a \n3:41\nsingle line of dialogue is wasted not a\n3:44\nsingle action or sc ene is extraneous to\n3:47\nthe plot and the action of the plot\n3:49\nart iculates very clearly the moral of\n3:51\nthe story so I think the writer is\n3:53\nreally understood that this episode is\n3:55\nprimarily a charac ter study another\n3:57\nreason the story works is that it's\n3:59\ndeeply relatable it deals with universal\n4:01\nstruggles in The Human Condition it's\n4:03\nessentially the story of Jean Le Picard\n4:05\nrealizing what 's important in life he\n4:08\nbegins by having to confront the fact\n4:10 \nthat a life he once knew is now gone and\n4:12\nthat the person he thoug ht he was is no\n4:14\nmore that's something anyone can relate\n4:16\nto n ot because we've had our brains\n4:18\nhijacked by a nucleonic beam but be cause\n4:21\nlife sometimes changes abruptly with no\n4:23\ngoing back som etimes the certainty of\n4:26\nwho we thought we were falls apart in\n4:28 \nthe face of circumstances is beyond our\n4:30\ncontrol the First Act of the episode is\n4:32\nspent with the familiar version of Jean\n4:34\nLuke the one who never married and who\n4:36\ndoesn't particularly like childre n and\n4:38\nhe does not accept the story that he is\n4:40\na man named Ca yman living on the planet\n4:42\nKatan and suffering from a fever that\n4: 44\nhas taken his memory he goes to Great\n4:45\nLengths to methodically p rove that his\n4:48\nnew life is some kind of holc Illusion\n4:50\nbut eve ntually he accepts his\n4:52\ncircumstances and this is where we're\n4:53\ nintroduced to the episode's iconic flute\n4:56\nnow in a story about chan ge the flute is\n4:58\nthe only constant and it's an important\n5:00\nstor y device beard is told that he's\n5:02\nbeen learning to play it though he \n5:03\ndoesn't appear to have any skill just\n5:05\nyet and the First Act ends when Bard\n5:08\nnotices that his wife's pendant looks\n5:10\nlike t he probe that sent him there then\n5:12\nwe cut to the Enterprise Bridge\n 5:13\nrevealing that virtually no time has\n5:15\npassed since Bard was st ruck by the beam\n5:17\nand go to commercial now that's a work\n5:20\nof a rt the 99 cent Daily Double what you\n5:23\nwant is what you get at McDona ld's\n5:25\ntoday when we come back it's revealed\n5:28\nthat many years h ave passed since the\n5:30\nprevious act bicard has begun accepting\n5:32\ nhis identity as Cayman even if he is\n5:34\nstill a bit preoccupied with finding the\n5:36\nEnterprise in any case he's committed\n5:38\nenough to his new life that he promises\n5:40\nto have a baby with his wife elen and \n5:42\nthis signals to the viewer that peard\n5:44\nhas already really mo ved on from his\n5:46\npast and he's kind of ready to fully\n5:48\nlive as Cayman now one way that this\n5:50\nstory stays concise is by implying\n5 :53\nthings about Picard's life rather than\n5:55\nshowing them directly a nd much is\n5:57\nimplied about Picard's character in this\n5:59\nsecond a ct his friendship with Bai\n6:02\nimplies that he's integrated into the\n6 :04\ncommunity the intimacy and tenderness\n6:06\nbetween bicard and elen implies that\n6:08\nthey have a strong bond despite his\n6:10\napparent me mory loss and the fact that\n6:12\nhe can play frera jhaka on the flute no w\n6:15\nmeans he's begun to embrace his identity\n6:17\nas Cayman but he' s still playing an\n6:19\nEarth's song and so he's still attached\n6:22\nt o his old life to some degree now\n6:24\nthat's a really important detail that\n6:26\nwe're going to come back to when we come\n6:28\nback from the break for act three we see\n6:30\nCayman and elen celebrating the birth of \n6:32\nnot their first child but their second\n6:34\nchild who they Nam b atai after cayman's\n6:37\nfriend who passed away off screen while\n6:39\n you were watching an ad for Wendy's\n6:41\nPicard's flu playing has come a long\n6:42\nnicely which helps you to feel the\n6:44\npassage of time sinc e the previous act\n6:47\nnote that he's no longer playing faka\n6:49\nthi s is a new song at this point you\n6:51\nrealize that the story is skippin g huge\n6:53\nperiods of time and that Jean L Bard as\n6:55\nwe knew him i s really in the distant\n6:57\npast by this point and that's surprising\n7 :00\nbecause it means peard isn't trying to\n7:02\nget back to the Enterpr ise and solve the\n7:04\nmystery of why he's on this strange\n7:06\nplanet and yet we're reminded that for\n7:08\nthe crew back aboard the Enterpris e only\n7:10\nminutes have passed in fact the crew\n7:12\ntries to sever t he connection causing\n7:14\npeard to collapse this is a clever way\n7:16\ nof synchronizing these two timelines for\n7:19\nthe viewer so that we und erstand just\n7:21\nhow little time has actually passed we\n7:24\nskip ahe ad again and see that Bard's\n7:26\ndaughter marbor is now fully grown and \n7:28\nshe's a scientist now until this point\n7:30\nin the story there h ave been references\n7:32\nto some kind of drought happening but\n7:34\nno w it's hinted that the drought is\n7:36\nactually an existential threat to the\n7:38\nplanet Jean Luke is trying to convince\n7:40\nhis daughter to spend less time worrying\n7:43\nabout soil samples and more time with a\n7 :45\nyoung man who is interested in her and\n7:47\nit's here with the real ization that this\n7:49\ncivilization might not have much time\n7:51\nleft that the moral of the story begins\n7:53\nto emerge live now make\n7:57\n now always the most precious time at\n8:01\nthis point in his life as Caym an Beard's\n8:03\nmotivations have radically changed his\n8:06\nefforts as a scientist and Explorer have\n8:08\nyielded no fruit but for the realiza tion\n8:10\nthat time is running out all that\n8:13\nmatters to him now ar e his relationships\n8:15\nwith his friends and family something he\n8:17\ nnever had in his life on board the\n8:19\nEnterprise act three ends with the\n8:21\nRevelation that the Katon system was\n8:23\ndestroyed when the sun went Nova a\n8:25\nthousand years ago this sets up act four\n8:28\nin which Jean Luke discovered that\n8:29\nkatan's government is already aware that\n8:31\nthe planet is doomed and that some kind\n8:33\nof plan is und erway Picard's son now an\n8:36\nadult has followed in his Father's\n8:38\ nFootsteps by becoming a musician\n8:40\npresumably because of his own fat her's\n8:41\nflute playing by the way this character\n8:43\nis played by P atrick Stewart's actual\n8:45\nson elene passes in a heart-wrenching\n8:48 \nscene beautifully portrayed by Margo\n8:49\nRose and Patrick Stewart doe s an\n8:51\nincredible job of making you feel this\n8:54\nloss even though we've had very little\n8:56\nscreen time with these two characters\n8:58\ nactually Patrick St steart has said that\n9:00\nthis episode was the bigg est acting\n9:02\nchallenge that TNG ever presented him\n9:05\nwhich is re ally saying something\n9:06\nconsidering the sheer breadth of this\n9:08\n series and it's scenes like this that\n9:10\nreally make you appreciate hi s\n9:12\nversatility as an actor and we come back\n9:14\nfrom the final co mmercial break for the\n9:15\nfifth and Final Act and Bard is very\n9:18\n elderly he's saddened by the fact that\n9:20\nhis grandson has no future a nd he's\n9:22\ncompletely uninterested in the fact that\n9:25\nthe communi ty is apparently launching\n9:26\nsome kind of Rocket into space something \n9:28\nthat bicard of 40 years ago would surely\n9:30\nhave been interest ed in the launch is\n9:32\nthe climax of the story and it's where\n9:34\nt he story finally reveals its moral\n9:36\nlesson first we get this beautif ul\n9:38\nreveal of\n9:45\nBai he explains the probe and Picard\n9:48\nimm ediately understands the mystery of\n9:51\nthe episode has been solved but that's\n9:53\nnot what this scene is primarily about\n9:55\nbecause there 's another reveal\n10:02\nnow I think the Brilliance of this scene\n10:04\ nis that when peard realizes that he is\n10:06\nactually jeanu Picard and this probe\n10:09\nfound him in the future that's not what\n10:11\nmatters to him in the moment because\n10:13\nthat would undermine the moral of th is\n10:15\nstory what does matter is elen his wife\n10:19\nis standing the re in front of him and\n10:21\nthat's what matters to bicard and that's\n1 0:23\nthe moral of the story it's a simple\n10:25\nlesson that we often he ar but don't\n10:27\nfully absorb until later in in life that\n10:30\nwe t end to take for granted the most\n10:31\nimportant things often because we dwell\n10:34\ntoo long in the past or because we're\n10:36\nsearching for something we can never\n10:37\nfind all of the little moments in this\n10 :39\nstory have led to this beautifully\n10:41\ndramatized moral conclusio n one with\n10:44\nreal depth and\n10:46\n[Music]\n10:49\nwisdom now of co urse the episode cannot\n10:51\nend there the scene of Jean Luke waking\n1 0:53\nup on the bridge is also brilliantly\n10:55\nacted by Patrick Stewar t who basically\n10:57\nwakes up from a coma and has to process\n10:59\nth e impossibility that he's only been\n11:02\nunconscious for 25 minutes as always\n11:05\nStuart takes this kind of far out\n11:07\nscience fiction p remise and somehow\n11:09\nmakes it feel completely real and\n11:10\nbelie vable I love this little moment\n11:12\nwhen he looks back at the bridge a nd\n11:13\nsmiles which is the moment that we know\n11:16\nthat peard as w e know him is going to be\n11:17\nall right but of course the most famous\ n11:20\nscene in the episode is its incredible\n11:22\nending where it's r evealed that cayman's\n11:24\nflute was stashed inside the probe and\n11:2 7\nhere Patrick Stewart gives us an\n11:28\nincredible poignant depiction of a man\n11:31\nwho's just been given a second chance at\n11:33\nlife but who has also lost everything\n11:36\nthat matters to him Picard plays Cay man\n11:39\nsong now his only connection to his past\n11:42\nlife just as he did with fraka when he\n11:45\nwas on Katon this isn't just good\n11:47 \nwriting it's poetry as the music plays\n11:50\nwe cut to the Enterprise D soaring\n11:52\ngracefully through the emptiness of\n11:54\nspace peard has finally found the\n11:56\nStarship he spent a lifetime searching\n11:5 8\nfor but in returning to who he was he is\n12:02\nonce again alone and o nce again mourning\n12:04\na past that he can never return to wow\n12:08\n it's pretty amazing to me that such a\n12:10\nprofound bit of Storytelling found its\n12:12\nway onto Prime Time television in the\n12:14\n1990s and it's also a great example of\n12:17\nwhat Star Trek overall is capable of \n12:20\nwhen it approaches storytelling not only\n12:22\nas a fun adventu re in outer space but\n12:24\nalso as a deeper exploration of The\n12:26\n Human Condition I'd love to hear your\n12:28\ninterpretation of this episo de and other\n12:31\nepisodes that you think reach similar\n12:33\nHeights check out my patreon if you'd\n12:34\nlike to support the channel thanks for\n12:36\nwatching and I'll see you on the next\n12:37\none\n\n\n\n  \n \n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250419 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR