History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E2Darmok

* KnifeNut: Tamarians use daggers for their sidearms. It seems to have ritual significance as well.

* RewatchBonus: The episode is a ''very'' different watch after you mostly know what the Tamarians are saying. For example, Dathon's argument with his first officer. You can clearly hear the latter say, "Mirab, with sails unfurled," in frustration at one point, which would likely translate to, "This is a waste of time, let's get out of here," while Dathon replies "The river Temarc, in winter" which more or less means "Silence, I don't want to hear anymore of your arguing."

** Picard tells the story of Gilgamesh and Enkidu from ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh''

* ShoutOutToShakespeare: Brought up when the bridge crew is discussing how the Tamarian language works, and Counselor Troi suggests "[[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet Juliet on her balcony]]" as an analogous example of a metaphor people would recognize the underlying meaning of; humans would realise that this reference was intended to suggest a romantic encounter, but without knowing who Juliet was or what she was doing on the balcony it doesn't make sense to an outsider.
* SpiritualSuccessor: To "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E18Arena Arena]]". Both episodes deal with well-meaning human and alien captains stuck on a planet separated by cultural differences. The difference is that Kirk and the Gorn captain have to fight it out while Picard and Dathon have to diplomacy it out.

* AlienBlood: Tamarians have white blood

* KnifeNut: Tamarins use daggers for their sidearms. It seems to have ritual significance as well.

* TranslatorMicrobes: A standard ''Star Trek'' trope, which this episode deconstructs by introducing a language composed entirely of cultural metaphors. The crew's translators are working fine, but they still can't understand the Tamarians because half their words are proper nouns, which mean nothing to them.

** Another instance occurs as an {{Invoked|Trope}}. This is Dathon's plan, recreating the story of Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. It also seems to be a massive advantage of the Tamarian language; he gets across the entire multi-day plan to his crew just by saying the title.

* WholePlotReference: This is pretty much a ''Star Trek'' version of ''Film/EnemyMine''.
** {{Invoked|Trope}}. This is Dathon's plan, recreating the story of Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. It also seems to be a massive advantage of the Tamarian language; he gets across the entire multi-day plan to his crew just by saying the title.

* WholePlotReference: This is pretty much ''Star Trek'' version of ''Film/EnemyMine''.

* EnemyMine: The meaning of "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" is a combination of this and FireForgedFriends, and Dathon successfully invokes both tropes.

* WholePlotReference: {{Invoked|Trope}}. This is Dathon's plan, recreating the story of Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. It also seems to be a massive advantage of the Tamarian language; he gets across the entire multi-day plan to his crew just by saying the title.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: The Tamarians kidnap Picard and force him into a survival situation against a deadly adversary, but they simply see no other way to break through the language barrier keeping their civilizations apart.

The ship’s sensors show that Picard is being attacked, so Riker tells Geordi to rush his field-scattering beam and get Picard out of there. He tries, but ultimately fails, and the attempt at transporting prevents Picard from protecting the Tamarian, who gets badly injured by the creature. Nevertheless, the creature runs off. They set up camp again, and Picard asks to know more about Darmok. The Tamarian tells the story: Darmok was a hunter, who met another man named Jalad at the island of Tenagra. They fought the beast, and left the island together. That was the idea of coming to the planet--to help them come together by facing danger together. The Tamarian asks for a tale in return, and Picard recounts a bit of ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh'', a story in much the same vein… except for the fact that in that one, one of the heroes dies.

* EurekaMoment:
--> '''Picard:''' That's how you communicate, isn't it? By--by citing example. By metaphor!

* HigherTechSpecies: The Tamarian ship is more than a match for the ''Enterprise'', and can both beam through shields and prevent the ''Enterprise'' from using the transporter at all. It helps that the ''Enterprise'' crew is in an extremely defensive posture because they don't want to make enemies of the Tamarians. It's hinted that they are pretty equal in technology, but the ''Enterprise'' [[WillfullyWeak deliberately held back]] (only targeting weapons and the scattering field emitter), while the Tamarians on the ship have no such inhibitions.

* KnifeNut: Tamarins use daggers for their sidearms.

** Picard eventually grasps this by sharing an equivalently powerful, and clearly somewhat analogous, phrase from human mythology: "Gilgamesh and Enkidu at Uruk."
** This then leads to a new allusion: "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel."

* ShoutOutToShakespeare: Brought up when the bridge crew is discussing how the Tamarian language works, and Counselor Troi suggests "[[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet Juliet on her balcony]]" as an analogous example of a metaphor people would recognize the underlying meaning of.

* The47Society: Guess how many references there are to "Darmok" in the Starfleet database.

* WellIntentionedExtermist: The Tamarians kidnap Picard and force him into a survival situation against a deadly adversary, but they simply see no other way to break through the language barrier keeping their civilizations apart.

* RewatchBonus: The episode is a ''very'' different watch after you mostly know what the Tamarians are saying. For example, Dathon's argument with his first officer. You can clearly hear the latter say, "Mirab, with sails unfurled," in frustration at one point, which would likely translate to, "This is a waste of time, let's get out of here."

* RewatchBonus: The episode is a ''very'' different watch after you mostly know what the Tamarians are saying. For example, Dathon's argument with his first officer. You can clearly hear the latter say, "with sails unfurled," in frustration at one point, which would likely translate to, "This is a waste of time, let's get out of here."

The ''Enterprise'' arrives at the uninhabited El-Adrel system to meet with an enigmatic race of people called the Children of Tama. This is not a FirstContact situation; the Tamarians have been contacted before, but the records indicate that previous diplomats found it impossible to communicate with them. The crew of the ''Enterprise'' is hoping that they can do it better. When they make contact, the problem the previous teams faced becomes crystal clear: the language of the Tamarians is bizarre gibberish that none of the crew can make sense any of. The translators are double-checked and found to be in perfect working order. The problem is that nearly everything the Tamarians say is a proper noun; the names of people and places without any context that would let the translators (or crew) guess at the meanings being alluded to. Picard makes a futile attempt to establish an alliance with them, but the conversation goes nowhere. Equally flummoxed, the Tamarians have an argument amongst themselves, evidently about the best way to proceed. Then the captain of their vessel holds up two knives, announces, "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra," and beams himself and Picard to the surface of a nearby planet. The Tamarians’ ship intentionally blocks the ''Enterprise'' from beaming Picard back or communicating with him.

* ChekhovsGunman: One officer assisting Geordi in Engineering is Ensign Robin Lefler, who'll play a bigger role later this season in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E6TheGame The Game]]". Later in the episode, she and Worf attempt to rescue Picard by shuttle.

->'''Darthon:''' Uzani, his army with fists open.\\

'''Darthon:''' His army with fists closed.\\

* ChekhovsGunman: One officer assisting Geordi in Engineering is Ensign Robin Lefler, who'll play a bigger role later this season in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E6TheGame The Game]]". Later in the episode, she and Worf later attempt to rescue Picard by shuttle.

* OurMonstersAreWeird: A...glowing styracosaurus-man?

* WrongGenreSavvy: Picard thinks Dathon is trying to force him into a ritual knife fight right up until the monster arrives, and keeps throwing away the knife he's been given to demonstrate his refusal to participate. Dathon gets more and more frustrated by this; his expressions make it clear he thinks Picard is kind of dim.